Our weather has been warm, but less humid. An evening stroll along the river is even more welcome as the day cools.
Constructed wetlands are now a common feature of new housing developments in London. These act as stormwater retention ponds to temporarily store rainfall and surface runoff. They are meant to allow sediment and contaminants to settle out before water is released into a natural watercourse.
The settlement pond at Uplands North often attracts a variety of birds including migrating egrets and shorebirds. Although a couple of shorebirds had been reported there in the morning, there were none in the afternoon.
The Great Egret and Great Blue Heron spotted in the morning were still there.
In all, we counted 14 species of birds, mostly summer residents such as Song Sparrow, American Goldfinch, Turkey Vulture, Cedar Waxwing and Red-winged Blackbird.
The area has been planted with a wide variety of native trees, shrubs, reeds, grasses and other plants.
The ecosystem of the pond includes a variety of insects.
Osprey Update
In the past week, we have seen our young Osprey at some point almost every day, usually waiting on the nest or nearby for a delivery of fish. It seems that the youngster is still somewhat dependent on adult support. We haven’t see the adult female lately, so perhaps she finally is on her way south.
On Monday this week, there was an unexpected visitor to the nest – another juvenile Osprey that landed alongside our juvenile and our adult male. Neither juvenile or adult seemed at all concerned by the presence of the visitor. Perhaps this was because there was no food to share. After a few minutes, the male departed and then the visitor did too.
Wandering Bee flowers
A bouquet made fragrant by purple basil.
Music with Audience Involvement
Some of the most uplifting song performances involve audience participation. The first three songs elicited a joyful noise from the audience.
Bruce Springsteen accompanies Pete Seegers at Obama’s inauguration.
The Live Aid performance was something very special. Queen’s performance at Wembley Stadium was being broadcast worldwide, especially to the US concert location. Queen had perfected the art of “stadium rock” and both the local and remote audiences joined in clapping and singing.
Sometimes, the attendees at a sporting event will join in. They need no prompting to sing along lustily.
Bruce Springsteen continues Queen’s tradition of involving the audience. He does it playfully. To solicit an invitation to sing more, he asked his audience in Argentina, “Estas cansado?” (Are you tired?). He may have shouted “Estoy cansado?” (Am I tired?). Either way, the answer was “NO!!!!”
Finally, Rod Stewart is like some artists whose fans come to sing along to his songs. Sometimes, they start singing before he does.