היומן של alflinn329

We have watched as the ponds and tanks have dried up all around. We wonder if that isn't why we are seeing more and more herons in Yettie Polk Park.

Today was a high - 4 Yellow-crowned Night-Herons, 8 Green Herons, and 3 Great Blues. At one point a GB flew over to move a YCNH from a prime fishing spot we guess. (I need a better camera).

We were in the park a few minutes earlier - maybe that made the difference. I wish I'd been keeping daily lists, but I haven't - it's been a now-and-again thing.

The crows were out too. As were the pigeons and sparrows and swallows. A new feral cat showed up. He was "backed into a corner of sorts" - on a rock in the stream. Every cell was prepared to fight. He watched our dogs closely as we passed by.

We have missed a number of watches this year. We finally got out to Berry Springs Park and discovered terrible water levels (I sound like a broken record, but this is what we are seeing everywhere). We walked in the creek bottom and didn't get muddy.

An Eastern Kingbird greeted us in the parking lot. That was a bit of an indicator of things to come.

It was a surprisingly good night for observations. We heard Green Tree Frogs, Blanchard's Cricket Frogs, and Rio Grande Leopard Frogs. Our recordings of them were from Berry's Creek Just below the dam. We also heard and recorded Cricket Frogs at the pond, but did not report because the recordings are poor. Others heard an American Bullfrog (we saw it, but did not get a photo).

Other than that we observed 2 Great Blue Herons (saw one and heard the second as it flew up the creek while we were recording frogs). There were three Yellow-Crowned Night Herons around the pond and a few snakes. I only saw and photographed a Diamondback watersnake. It was moving fast and I captured a bit of his midsection.

I took a few photos of plants because I want to document what's growing, for my future reference. For now I'm attaching those observations reported.