After the fair is over.

I visited Hastings Park today for the first time in over a month, due to a combination of travel on my part and the annual PNE on the park's part.  Workers were busy de-constructing the booths, stages and displays.  To my mild surprise, a Green Heron was at the usual perch across from the fishing dock.  Green Herons appear to be more tolerant of human presence than I had originally thought.  A couple of Wilson's Warblers and a couple of immature or female Common Yellowthroats were present.  A group of ten or so Bushtits contained a couple of short-tailed individuals that may have been fledglings only a short time ago.  Few other birds of note were seen.

The ponds continued to be nearly covered with a film of duckweed.  Only a area of perhaps 20 metres in diametre surrounding the aerator at the north end of the pond remained open.

Upper pond

A few blossoms of fireweed and an even fewer blossoms of Wapato or Duck Potato remained.  One of two of what I first thought were bees were visiting the small number of persisting Snowberry flowers, most of them having matured into the white berries from which the members of the Symphoricarpos genus get their common name.  Further research leads me to believe that what I was seeing were Bald-faced Hornets.

Wapato

Snowberry fruit, blossoms and Bald-faced Hornet

Other ripening fruits were seen on Red Hawthorn, Mountain Ash, Blue Elderberry and Pacific Crab-apple trees.

Red Hawthorn

Mountain Ash

Blue Elderberry

Pacific Crab-apple

Leaves on a variety of trees were changing colours and even falling.  The season was changing, with no doubt.  Bring on September.

Mallards and Herons

One morning a few days ago a Great Blue Heron was perched on the railing of the bridge at the east side of the main pond, eyeing something below.  As I approached, the heron flew off.  When I crossed the bridge, a hen Mallards and her brood of very young ducklings swam underneath.  In the previous week two new Mallard families, both with nine ducklings, had appeared.  Great Blue Herons are known to prey on ducklings but, after careful counting, all nine floating fluff balls were still there.

Mallard hen with very young ducklings, likely only a day or two old.

The next morning, while looking for a singing Red-winged Blackbird at the south end of the pond, I heard a squawk coming from behind some reeds.  Out flew a Great Blue Heron vigorously pursued by a female Mallard.  I know that nature is red in tooth and claw, but I must admit I was was rooting for the under-duck.

Mallard plumage

I have been thinking about plumage in Mallards, for several reasons.

I have been watching the older family (hatched in early May) of Mallard ducklings grow up and have been looking for any signs of the appearance of sexual differences in plumage, so far unsuccessfully.  Research turned up the concept of a "drake feather" but this develops only after three or four months of age. That age appears to be when differences in bill colour and breast feathers occurs, as well.  I could not categorize any of the ducklings as to their sex.

I have also been watching the adult male Mallards moving into eclipse plumage.  Their bright glossy green heads are fading to a dull purple.

Soon the only clue left that will differentiate a male Mallard in eclipse from a female will be the greenish cast of its bill.

Hawthorn berries

This morning my friend Paul and I walked down to sanctuary.  Even before seven the sun was demonstrating its heat.  As I was pointing out the ripening Black Hawthorn (Crataegus douglasii) berries and speaking of their attraction for fruit-eating birds, several Cedar Waxwings and a couple of robins descended on the berries and proved my point.  One of the robins was showing the speckled breast that designates it as a juvenile and also shows why the American Robin (Turdus migratorius) is a member of the thrush family that includes other speckled breast species such as Swainson's and Hermit Thrushes.

Sentinel crows and busy bees

Several crows were making their "We've got something spotted!" racket at the NE side of the sanctuary yesterday morning.  It took me some time to spot this young raccoon with uncertain look on its face.

I had been noticing the distinctive arrow/heart-shaped leaves of the colony of Wapato (Sagittaria latifolia) at the north end of the pond by the board walk for several weeks and today one was in bloom.  Other common names for the species are Indian Potato and Duck Potato.  Early First-Nations peoples ate the plant's tubers, as do beavers and muskrats as well as geese and ducks.

Wapato blossom

Several types of bees were visiting the patch of Fireweed (Epilobium angustifolium) at the north end of the sanctuary.

Honey bee

An early July morning

The sanctuary remained very quiet when I visited it early yesterday morning for the first time in a week.  I noticed different human frequenters, perhaps because of the earlier hour.  Violet-green Swallows were swooping and soaring over the water, where fish were rising to the surface.  An Osprey announced its arrival with its distinctive cry.  The only bird song of note was that of a Warbling Vireo, likely the same one I have been hearing for the last week or two.  A Blue Elder bush, Sambucus cerulia, was in full blossom.

A small group of Black-capped Chickadees was feeding on the ripening Black Hawthorn berries.  The hen and lone duckling Mallard pair were on a rock enjoying the morning sun.

Last day of June

I visited Hastings Park today for the first time in two weeks.  Birds were scarce.  The only songs I heard were from one loud Warbling Vireo plus single Song and White-crowned Sparrows.  One Mallard brood was done to one lone duckling.  It was getting harder to tell the adults and maturing juveniles Mallards apart.  As some compensation, dragonfly numbers were up and I spotted a number of exuvias (the cast-off shell of the nymph, from which the adult dragonfly emerges) clinging to reed stalks near the board walk.  Several Western Tiger Swallowtail butterflies were also wafting about.  Flowers and shrubs in flower included Fireweed, Douglas's Spirea and Ocean Spray.  White sprays of this year's flowers of the Ocean Spray alternate with the faded yellow blooms from last year.  Less welcome blooms included numerous Field Bindweeds and buttercups.  Saskatoons and Thimbleberries were ripening.  I found several maturing hazelnuts.  A youthful fisher had arrived by skateboard.