August 7th. More downed tree cleanup. The section from Route 85 to near Old Colchester Road has been blown free of sticks and leaves.

 

Most likely thanks due to Park & Rec and the Hebron town crew.

 

 

 

The Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) caught a good sized Bullhead Catfish (Ameiurus nebulosus).

 

(Thanks to the young woman who alerted me to this show as she was taking video of it.)

 

The bird will put thje fish down and stab it many times before swallowing it whole.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Test fitting to see if could be swallowed. (Always head first.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few more stabs...

 

 

 

...and down the hatch.

 

That neck is quite expandable.

 

 

 

The performance ends with some sips of water to help wash the fish down.

 

 

 

 

 

Time to go elsewhere to digest its meal.

 

August 8th. Same Heron, different perch.

 

 

 

 

 

August 9th. Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe).

 

Heat haze most mornings lately.

 

Water levels are near an all time low (since the beaver dam was breached by a trapper). We've had very little rain and very high temps lately.

 

Shadbush (Amelanchier arborea). Birds eat these berries before they ever get fully ripe.

 

Three Northern Water Snakes (Nerodia sipedon). The body in the middle does not belong to either head.

 

This photo shows more of ther dorsal surface, while the previous one shows a bit of the underside.

 

This head belongs to a fourth snake.

 

August 10th. Dekay's Brown Snake (Storeria dekayi). Cute little fella maybe 6" long. Sadly, it was dead.

 

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius).

 

Some serious grooming by the Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias).

 

Note the plucked feathers caught in the spider web below..

 

...and on its beak, neck, and back.

 

Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta).

 

More morning haze.

 

August 12th. Another steamy morning. The Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) again, grooming in the same dead tree.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm stretching a bit my rule of only posting "on trail" pictures on these pages, but I'll soon explain why. On vacation at our lakeside New Hampshire cottage in late July, I harvested this leaf with this very odd white blotch on it.

 

Peeling back the blotch revealed hundreds of eggs, each barely more than a millimeter long.

 

Yesterday, the eggs hatched and I still had no idea what the insects were. I shared the pictures with friends at UConn, and at the web site BugGuide.net (https://bugguide.net/node/view/15740), hoping for an ID.

 

At UConn, Alexela Hoyt had the answer. They're Dobsonfly larvae (Corydalus cornutus) and you can read all about them here:
http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/eastern_dobsonfly.htm See what they grow into!

 

The leaf I collected was hanging over the water. In nature, when the eggs hatch the larvae drop into the water below. So I released the larvae into the Blackledge River, right under the Air Line Trail bridge above - and that's why the pictures are here.

 

August 13th. The Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) on their favorite resting tree.

 

 

 

 

 

At the Route 207 crossing, seed pods are maturing on the Chinese Chestnut (Castanea mollissima) trees.

 

The brown strands are the dried male blossom heads.