Monday, August 31, 2009

Wood Duck Boxes at Carver Pond

Today is the last day of August and even if it kills me I'm going to catch up on my August birding! I started commuting into the city using the Commuter Rail 4 weeks ago and I haven't yet figured out how blogging is going to fit into all of this. But I'll at least catch up on my pictures from August. That's a start!

The first weekend in August we went to Carver Pond, right here in Bridgewater. Steve had driven by it a bunch and wanted to check it out, and it's a really nice spot. Most of the other people we saw that day were fishing, including a father and his young sons- they had to be around 4 or 5 and were so cute.

I didn't see many birds, but wanted to share these pictures of Wood Duck boxes. I'm always interested in seeing where they're mounted and of course I'm curious to learn of their success rate. Incidentally, we were hiking in New Hampshire yesterday (Mountain Lake trail in Intervale, NH) and saw one that had been knocked down in a storm I'm presuming, and was in a big pile of trees and debris.

While we're in off-peak birding season, I like to hone my other nature identification skills. I'm very interested in learning the names of wildflowers so let's get started.

I'm referencing an old book from 1961 that I picked up at a flea market. It's called Wildflowers of North America in Full Color, by Robert S. Lemmon and Charles C. Johnson, published by Hanover House.

Wouldn't you know, the first picture is actually an easy ID- I started at the back of the book (that's how I read magazines and similar publications- for some reason I always start at the back) and the first flower I need to ID is right there- the Cardinal Flower:

According to my book the Cardinal Flower blooms late in the season (August into September) and likes shaded streams and moist thickets.

Here are some pictures of different stages of Groundnut Flowers:


This one is a mystery to me, although I feel like I saw it in the Audubon Field Guide (*UPDATE: this is Buttonbush- thanks Pete for the tip):

Pearl Crescent?:
Mute Swan:

Painted Turtles:

4 comments:

meg said...

beautiful pics catie!!

Anonymous said...

looks like button bush to me. let me know what you think? how have you been catie ?! great blog im looking forward to checking it out more.

im going to try to learn more wildflowers too but im waiting until next year as it is so late in the season.

pete wrublewski

Birdinggirl said...

@Pete: I think you're right! The name sounds familiar and I just double-checked Google Images. Looks like a match to me- I'll update my post!

Things are good. I just started commuting into Boston by commuter rail so I'm still getting used to my new schedule. I admit I haven't been birding as much as I'd like but I'm sure if I get creative I can find a way to fit it in.

I'd love to visit you sometime at your sanctuary- Broadmoor, right? Do you work on weekends?

Dawn Fine said...

Really nice shots!