As a change from fungi and bugs, I thought you might like a few birds!
The Broad-winged Hawks were breeding by a small pond in our woods. This is a fledgling, still being fed by its parents, and it spent hours on a branch calling insistently for food:
I recorded its plaintive high-pitched call here:
It hoped the pine cone might be edible, but it was out of reach:
It knew I was there, but although it could fly short distances, but it stayed put:
Two weeks later, it was still around, but most of the calling had stopped, and it flew much more:
By the same pond, a heron was hunting in the reeds:
It flew up when I moved:
A mudlarking Solitary Sandpiper caught some sort of crayfish:
In the branches above, two young Bluejays played:
A Ruby-throated hummingbird gorged on a pond-side clump of Touch-me-not (Impatiens capensis) flowers, aka orange jewelweed:
Back in the garden, a Grey Catbird had a scarlet berry trophy, but a female Northern Cardinal landed close by and disturbed its feeding:
In shock, it dropped the berry:
And a song sparrow hopped along the stone wall.
Nothing rare, but being surrounded by such creatures brings me happiness.
Eyes on the Wild 
Beautiful, beautiful birds, surprising hawk sound to me. Any special time of day for these sightings?
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The best chances are usually early morning and early evening, but some of these don’t at all fit that mould!
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The 4th and last photo of the fledging hawk got to me in such a deep way, I don’t have words to describe how that photo makes me feel. I am blessed with hummingbirds as the scarlet sage around my garden brings them every day, feels so wonderful to see them. Such beauty Moira! Thank you.
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Dear Moira I love all your ‘nature’ emails, but this one touches me in a particular way. What joy to have so many birds around your home – happiness indeed. In Bristol, we are just 3 miles from the city centre, but our house is on the edge of a 40 foot drop to a large quarry lake, and we are surrounded by trees. However, the number of little birds in our garden has massively decreased in the 10 years we have been here. The ‘heavy gang’ – jackdaws, crows, magpies, and seagulls – dominate the garden. As do many grey squirrels. They are additionally destructive to the food sources for the little birds and indeed to their nests. (They also damage the vegetables we grow, but that is a small matter in comparison.)
Your most recent blog is a great endorsement of our recognition that habitat is everything for small birds. My young friend Ben Macdonald in his award-winning book ‘Rebirding’ introduced me to this idea some years ago and I think about it often.
All good wishes and thank you for everything you share with us, Christina (long-term friend of Jane and lecturer at UCL many years ago.)
Christina Shewell
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