Do We Watch Them Or Do They Watch Us?

For the last couple of weekends I've been taking walks at various locations along the Connecticut River. As to be expected this time of year, conditions have been hot, humid. I've tried to protect myself by staying covered head to toe and dousing myself with deet, but the dastardly little bloodsuckers still manage to get me. Sometimes when I'm walking, I run face first into spider webs. When this happens I quickly brush the webs off me fearing that a spider might have landed on me. I'm glad I didn't run into the spider in the photo. I was really impressed with its size and color patterns. From what I was told, this spider might be of the Argiope variety. If you know what kind of spider this is, please let me know. I've been surprised by the number of Green Herons I've seen near the Connecticut River since the beginning of August. The swampy areas near the river are rich in food sources for the herons. This photo of the heron in this tree was taken at George Dudley Seymour Park in East Hampton. It was making loud shracking sounds to warn a second heron on the opposite side of the swamp that I was approaching the area. This was a reminder that birds and wildlife watch us as much as we watch them. The difference being that they have to stay aware of their surroundings in order to survive. I do wonder if they sometimes watch us for no other reason than curiosity.

Do you think this truck would qualify for the "Cash For Clunkers program" ?

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I frequently walk a trail which passes through Wangunk Meadows in Portland. It's a good area for birding but is littered with abandoned cars and trash. Much of the land through this stretch is broken up into parcels belonging to multiple owners. Some small parcels of land have been purchased for conservation purposes but trying to buy more of this land for conservation is difficult because there are so many different land owners.

I've seen hundreds of frogs along the Wangunk meadow Trails this month. I believe many of them are Leopard Frogs. Since these herons have showed up, hundreds of frogs have become dozens of frogs. I wonder how many were eaten by the Green Herons and Blue Herons? Green Herons are one of the few species that make use of tools. They have been seen dangling bait on the surface of the water to attract prey.

Some of the notable birds I've been seeing at the meadows include Solitary Sandpipers (above), Bobolinks, 1 Worm-eating Warbler, 1 Northern Waterthrush, Common Yellowthroats, Yellow Warblers, 12 northern Flickers, 3 -Blue-winged Warblers, 3 Great Egrets, 3 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, Great Blue Herons, 4 Wood Ducks, Willow Flycatcher, Great-crested Flycatcher, 4 -Eastern Phoebe, Eastern Wood-Pewee, and during one visit-20- Indigo Buntings.

I enjoyed watching this young Bald Eagle trying to pry some food (can't figure what it is) from this grassy area at the Portland Fairgrounds. When I'm watching birds like this eagle it sometimes occurs to me that we are not so different from the birds that we watch. We go about things differently but in the end we are both doing our best to survive.

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I enjoyed watching the way this young eagle hopped and lumbered around looking for food.