Flatwoods Park looked like Water World today! Because of all the recent rain, there is standing water everywhere. I've attached a picture of the water flowing over the trail at Clay Gully. Only cyclists who didn't mind getting their feet wet rode through the water. When the rainy season begins, I am extremely grateful that we have well constructed boxes that provide nesting cavities where our little chicks don't get wet and suffer hypothermia. Thanks volunteers for building such well made boxes!
We have a total of 116 fledglings (109 BB, 4 CC, 3 TM), with 34 chicks and 28 eggs, all bluebird. See attached spreadsheet for details. Attached are also pictures of the 2 chicks in F10, the 2 chicks in F19, the 4 eggs in F23, and the 4 chicks in F28. Although there is no picture, I was also happy to see the 4 chicks in box F25, who are sitting on top of the 5 infertile eggs that the mother laid before and never removed.
I expected to see a lot of water birds today, but I only saw 2 mallards enjoying a swim in a flowing ditch. I did see lots of other birds though: ground doves, downy woodpecker, towhee, cardinals, red-shouldered hawk, northern parula, ruby-throated hummingbird, and bobwhite quail.
In addition to the abundant wildflowers, there were some shrubs that are blooming. Pictured are the beautiful Tarflower (Befaria racemosa), St. John's Wort (Hypericum spp.), and one of my favorites, the Beautyberry (Callicarpaa americana), which is beginning to put out its flowers that will eventually turn into beautiful magenta berries that the birds really love.
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