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Despite the pond duckweed, young green herons are still staying in the park and hunting for fish. I was lucky to see three of them. They came back and forth between the central island and the south shore (including the bridge of the dam). In a couple of photos one can see leftover fish lines even on the island. The lines are hazardous and scary to the herons. Early in the morning wood ducks can be spotted in the distal end of the small pond. Some young ducks looked to be still in development. The adult males are usually more colorful than those seen recently. A chipmunk picked up a tiny fruit for lunch. The fruit looked a little sour tasting, and the chipmunk took its time eating it. While I was following the green herons, a blue heron came by, making a brief landing on the tree on above me. Then, it flew to the opposite side of the big pond and settled down on a tall tree. The other day, my exploration in Brightwood Park was amazingly fruitful.
Near the long chair passing the dam and facing the north, I saw two mushrooms with interesting morphologies. I named them "smart mushrooms" because one was mimicking a tree stump and the other looked like a model of mitochondria in high school biology textbooks. Both were covered with dense hair, too. The black mushroom was found on the log of a fallen tree. Under the sunlight, the pattern appeared like a bear face on the front and a human face on the side. The light-colored mushrooms were seen along the trail parallel to Prospect Street. The first one was like posing for a photo session, and looked uniquely pretty from several angles. Another mushroom near the park entrance was in the shape of a heart and another was like a smiling child. The latter has been around for weeks. The ducks were going back and forth between the pond and the shore near the two-pond junction. They finally decided to settle on the shore. I was a lucky observer.
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Chuan-Chu ChouI am a frequent visitor of Brightwood Park and enjoy sharing my discoveries. ducks
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LocationBrightwood Park is on the North end of Prospect Street. Go past Franklin School and look for the entrance on the left.
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