26 April 2021

Parula

In about a week I'll be flying out to Arizona where I'll resume guiding with a short nightbirds tour.  It's certainly going to feel odd flying and all that.

Around here, we're still seeing new spring arrivals every day and I'm guessing we're within 2 weeks of the peak of migration.  Here in Hannibal, I had a fun encounter with this NORTHERN PARULA which probably arrived to his territory within the past week:


Still, one of the most vocal, obvious warblers back on territory are the LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSHES.  I found a different set of birds yesterday including this inquisitive guy:

I can't say I know my snakes very well but iNaturalist has been a great tool.  This sunning dude is a COMMON WATERSNAKE:

I was hiking in a forest near here when I stumbled on this big, showy plant.  I had no idea what it was (which isn't surprising really).  Turns out it's JETBEAD, a non-native exotic in the Rose family:

iNaturalist also helped me identify these as DROOPING TRILLIUMS: