April 16, 2023 – Toyota Wetland
We took advantage of one of the last sunny days to visit a wetland surrounded by development and near a Toyota dealership.
Our brief outing yielded 17 bird species, many of them flying overhead at a distance – Great Blue Heron, Belted Kingfisher, Turkey Vulture, Osprey and two Tree Swallow high overhead, visible only with binoculars. Red-winged Blackbirds, Northern Cardinals, American Goldfinches, Song Sparrows, American Robins, Killdeer and Mourning Doves were all in fine voice. A pair of Blue-winged Teals stayed safely behind shelter in one pond.
The Red-winged Blackbirds made themselves visible, repeating their songs to stake out territory. Some say the song sounds like “conk-la-ree” while others interpret it as “potpourri”. Judge for yourself when you listen to the recordings here:
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-winged_Blackbird/sounds
There are no signs of Chimney Swifts in London yet. We are just beginning to see the return of a few swallows. Besides the Tree Swallows foraging high above the wetland, there was one Northern Rough-winged Swallow perched over the water.
There were also Midland Painted Turtles sunning themselves on logs in the ponds.
That day’s “parking lot bird” was a Brown-headed Cowbird.
In the afternoon, as the clouds were gathering, we went to see the magnolia trees blooming at Eldon House. The heat had brought the trees into bloom, but we were worried the coming rain would make short work of them. The good news is that the rain and cooler weather did not damage the blossoms. There are magnificent magnolias blooming throughout the city.
Here is our view on April 16th showing spring green, one of the magnolias, and the sky as the rain set in.
Video Suggestions
Let us celebrate the great musician and social activist, Harry Belafonte. First with some of his performances with The Muppets.
As is the case with so many famous people, he was celebrated in great style at the Kennedy Center Honors.
At the same time that Belafonte was supporting civil rights, we had Peter, Paul and Mary. There is a larger collection of YouTube videos, many in colour.
To save you all an ear-worm, I’ll skip their song about a dragon. Meanwhile, I can live with this one in my head from 1963.
I can’t leave without sharing my personal favourite song:
If you have the time for them, there is a nice BBC concert recording from 1965.