Familiar Bluet damselfly.
Photo by Kevin Denice

Eighteen participants led by Bryan Henson, Joe Coleman, and John and Kevin Denice showed up for the monthly bird walk on August 20 at Bles Park. During the surprisingly cool morning with clear skies, we found a total of 42 species. The walk went a little longer than normal, around 2 hours and 45 minutes, and it was just a little more than a mile.

Small Milkweed Bug.
Photo by Kevin Denise

The 42 species included three Wood Ducks hanging out on a log in the pond, 29 Chimney Swifts, two Bald Eagles, a Belted Kingfisher, two Great Crested Flycatchers (one of which gave us really good looks), an Eastern Kingbird, four Red-eyed Vireos, two Pileated Woodpeckers, three Yellow-billed Cuckoos and a Common Raven. The full list of species can be found on eBird at: https://ebird.org/checklist/S147696532.

In addition to the wonderful birds, some other very interesting plants and insects were found.  Wingstem were in partial bloom and there were Paw Paw fruit on many of the trees.  Unfortunately,  we also saw Purple Loosestrife blooming in the retention pond, which is an invasive species.  There were many dragonflies and damselflies including: Eastern Pondhawks, Blue Dasher, Common Whitetail, Russet-tipped Clubtail, Arrow Clubtail and American Rubyspot. Most people got a good look at a Northern Pearly-eye butterfly as well as some skippers.

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