I took a walk both yesterday and today on the rail trail south from Copper Hill Road. Today, company was sparse, and what there was were mostly bicycle riders. One of the joys of the walking pace is seeing more of what is happening in nature. Yesterday I noticed a flock of birds in the blow-down area of the swamp and stopped to watch. One looks a little odd staring off into the swamp without binoculars and sure enough, someone going by asked me what I saw out there. I responded that there was a flock of beautiful warblers. At the time, I couldn’t remember the identity, but I got a close enough view of one or two so I could look them up when I returned home. Today I looked them up — yellow-rumped warblers. The male is among the most colorful of our Northeastern birds. I went back today with my binoculars and found the flock or a similar one a little farther south along the trail in a more wooded area. The bonus this time was catching a glimpse of a blue-gray gnat-catcher at work in the same area. There were plenty of gnats so he was living up to his name.
The reptiles are out now too. Last week JoAnne and I saw a garter snake on our walk up Broad Hill Road extension. Today I snapped this picture of a turtle sunning himself with a bullfrog poking his nose out a little behind him. I needed my camera with some zoom. But at least my phone camera is nearly always with me.