Brightwood park is a place full of wonders and surprises. Everytime I visit, I enjoy meeting old and new friends and share interesting findings and stories with them. Some of the wildlives in the park are joining our club by getting used to people being around. It is easier this year to take photos of them in close proximity. Some even pose for me, even though I try to convince myself that I live in a fantasy world.
Let me briefly share with you what I saw. First, the park is like a demonstration garden for mushrooms. The variety of shape and color is just amazing. By walking along the trails one can easily spot them. Duckweed may be annoying to some people, particularly those who come for fishing. For those who are here to take photos, the weeds provided a perfect background for funny shots of frogs and turtles, About 6 weeks ago, a blue heron couple moved in and settled down on the central island. While the female is expecting, the male keeps hunting for fish. In the past few days, the corner area at the 90 degree turn from the junction of the two ponds to the dam became a favorite spot for the blue heron in both early morning and late afternoon. Meanwhile the young green herons are learning to catch small fish. The spider who lives in Rob's Demonstration Garden is now laying back, after stock-piling plenty of food supply. One bug caught a few days ago is now being dried and waiting to be processed. The flowers in the pollinator garden are doing quite well. Once upon a time, there was a happy squirrel who bought a unit in a bird apartment building!
Because of the rainfalls and humidity, the park has not only turned into a rainforest but also has become a mini-gallery of the Creator's art exhibitions. The diversity of morphology and color is amazing. A few photos of the same set of mushrooms were taken on different days. Some grew and changed their face shapes like teenagers. A dark-colored large mushroom aged fast and seemed like a man who stopped shaving and getting haircuts.
While we are cautious about picking wild mushrooms, birds, squirrels, or insects appear to have a good knowledge of which ones are edible to them. One mushroom looked like a left over apple with half being bitten away. Recently a friend pointed out a tall dead tree being converted to a bird apartment. There appeared to be multiple levels and a diversity of residents. Red-bellied woodpeckers live on upper levels. The outside wall showed some interesting drawing patterns looking like Martian language to me. European starlings occupy lower levels. A brown-colored bird claimed residency in a middle-level unit. House hunters like downy woodpeckers and Northern flickers come by regularly to visit and check out remaining units.
Both the red-bellied woodpeckers and European starlings had babies or youngsters. The little ones are always hungry and stick their heads out. The parents are constantly going back and forth bringing food home and taking the garbage out. Recently pointed to by a friend Danny Mo, I saw a tall dead tree being converted to a bird apartment. The tree is located on the left side passing the Prospect Street entrance of Brightwood Park, right outside the fence of the nearest house. There appeared to be multiple levels and a diversity of residents. I have watched the tree holes for about a week. Red-bellied woodpeckers live on upper levels. The outside wall showed some interesting drawing patterns looking like Martian language to me. European starlins occupy lower levels. A brown-colored bird claimed residency in a middle-level unit. House hunters like downy woodpeckers and Northern flickers come by regularly to visit and check out remaining units. Both the red-bellied woodpeckers and European starlings had babies or youngsters. The little ones are always hungry and stick their heads out. The parents are constantly going back and forth bringing food home and to take garbages out. Recently pointed to by a friend Danny Mo, I saw a tall dead tree being converted to a bird apartment. The tree is located on the left side passing the Prospect Street entrance of Brightwood Park, right outside the fence of the nearest house. There appeared to be multiple levels and a diversity of residents. I have watched the tree holes for about a week. Red-bellied woodpeckers live on upper levels. The outside wall showed some interesting drawing patterns looking like Martian language to me. European starlins occupy lower levels. A brown-colored bird claimed residency in a middle-level unit. House hunters like downy woodpeckers and Northern flickers come by regularly to visit and check out remaining units. Both the red-bellied woodpeckers and European starlings had babies or youngsters. The little ones are always hungry and stick their heads out. The parents are constantly going back and forth bringing food home and to take garbages out. Recently pointed to by a friend Danny Mo, I saw a tall dead tree being converted to a bird apartment. The tree is located on the left side passing the Prospect Street entrance of Brightwood Park, right outside the fence of the nearest house. There appeared to be multiple levels and a diversity of residents. I have watched the tree holes for about a week. Red-bellied woodpeckers live on upper levels. The outside wall showed some interesting drawing patterns looking like Martian language to me. European starlins occupy lower levels. A brown-colored bird claimed residency in a middle-level unit. House hunters like downy woodpeckers and Northern flickers come by regularly to visit and check out remaining units. Both the red-bellied woodpeckers and European starlings had babies or youngsters. The little ones are always hungry and stick their heads out. The parents are constantly going back and forth bringing food home and to take garbages out. The summer this year has come with plenty of rainfall. The heat and the humidity have created an ideal environment for fungi to sprout and grow. In the past few weeks, just walking on the trail surrounding the large pond of Brightwood Park, I saw a variety of them. Some are colorful like opera performers and others are like ballet dancers or gypsy dancers. I particularly marvelled at red jelly fungi. They seemed to be here for a special exhibition, appearing one day and gone the next day. The patterns looked like work presented by designers. Some looked like cute stuffed animals. Others were like a touch of the magic brush in an artist's hand.
If you are interested, you can look for a clown face wearing a chef's hat in one of the polyporaceae fungi. You can also look for two slugs crawling among dried up red jelly fungi. I included a few pictures of the sun shining through the woods and spraying the light on tree leaves. These were taken this morning, before the police department announced closing the park because of coyote sightings. Also included is the recording of the dancing performance by a psaudopollenator using a flower as the stage. I find it interesting that some wild animals can treat you as a friend once they get used to you being around and presenting no threat to them. Today when I was watching a turtle digging in the mud at the junction of the large and the small ponds, a buck walked to me and tried to get my attention. I almost screamed to warn him not to step on the turtle. He was like a dog, sniffing on me and was waiting for me to touch his head. Because of the concern of deer ticks, I had to disappoint him. I felt guilty and therefore walked with him for a bit. When I came back to check on the turtle, she abandoned egg-laying and returned to the pond already. I was unsure whether she was scared by the buck or was disappointed by me turning my attention away from her.
Frogs are usually quite sensitive. They jump away or dive into the water when people are approaching. Recently I found some frogs not minding me being around. One of them crawled to the land and checked me out the other day. This morning a frog sat like a statue to serve as my model for photography.. I guess they begin to trust me. The red color in one of the turtle pictures was the reflection of a male cardinal. The bird did not allow me a chance to take another picture by including him. A doe greeted me at the parking lot when I was on my way out, by lifting a hind leg. I wonder if it is deers' way of saluting.
The recent rain over the weekend not only kept the plants healthy and the flowers pretty, but also cleared the pollen particles from the air. After waking up the morning after the rain, I could not wait to take delight at the freshness of everything.
I first took a walk around my house, and saw wisteria crawling over the fence from my neighbor's yard. The flowers and the buds looked beautiful under the morning sun. On the vine hanging water drops looked like crystal beads on a necklace. Buds of new leaves were like professional dancers performing on the stage by extending multiple arms. In Brightwood Park the overgrowth of wisteria has been a threat to many trees and there is a current effort to remove it. Yet at many homes it remains ornamental as long as the growth is under control. Going to the park early in the morning, the chance of seeing birds and animals is higher than the rest of the day. Although the great-horned owl was not home, I was able to see a gray catbird on a nearby tree branch and a green heron from a distance away. Along with the catbird and the heron, a mallard duck served as my photography model. The reflection of the trees in the pond has always been an attraction to artists. Today I saw a triangle-shaped stone located across from the dam and bridge. With a fresh impression of the waterfront area of Manhattan where I visited a week ago, I named it Brightwood VIA 57 WEST. The rain we had yesterday and last night not only kept the plants healthy and the flowers pretty, but also cleared the pollen particles from the air. After waking up I could not wait to take delight at the freshness of everything. I first took a walk around my house, and saw wisteria crawling over the fence from my neighbor's yard. The flowers and the buds looked beautiful under the morning sun. On the vine hanging water drops looked like crystal beads on a necklace. Buds of new leaves were like professional dancers performing on the stage by extending multiple arms. In Brightwood Park the overgrowth of wisteria has been a threat to many trees and there is a current effort to remove it. Yet at many homes it remains ornamental as long as the growth is under control. Going to the park early in the morning, the chance of seeing birds and animals is higher than the rest of the day. Although the great-horned owl was not home today, I was able to see a gray catbird on a nearby tree branch and a green heron from a distance away. Along with the catbird and the heron, a mallard duck served as my photography model. The reflection of the trees in the pond has always been an attraction to artists. Today I saw a triangle-shaped stone located across from the dam and bridge. With a fresh impression of the waterfront area of Manhattan where I visited a week ago, I named it Brightwood VIA 57 WEST. The rain we had yesterday and last night not only kept the plants healthy and the flowers pretty, but also cleared the pollen particles from the air. After waking up I could not wait to take delight at the freshness of everything. I first took a walk around my house, and saw wisteria crawling over the fence from my neighbor's yard. The flowers and the buds looked beautiful under the morning sun. On the vine hanging water drops looked like crystal beads on a necklace. Buds of new leaves were like professional dancers performing on the stage by extending multiple arms. In Brightwood Park the overgrowth of wisteria has been a threat to many trees and there is a current effort to remove it. Yet at many homes it remains ornamental as long as the growth is under control. Going to the park early in the morning, the chance of seeing birds and animals is higher than the rest of the day. Although the great-horned owl was not home today, I was able to see a gray catbird on a nearby tree branch and a green heron from a distance away. Along with the catbird and the heron, a mallard duck served as my photography model. The reflection of the trees in the pond has always been an attraction to artists. Today I saw a triangle-shaped stone located across from the dam and bridge. With a fresh impression of the waterfront area of Manhattan where I visited a week ago, I named it Brightwood VIA 57 WEST. The rain we had yesterday and last night not only kept the plants healthy and the flowers pretty, but also cleared the pollen particles from the air. After waking up I could not wait to take delight at the freshness of everything. I first took a walk around my house, and saw wisteria crawling over the fence from my neighbor's yard. The flowers and the buds looked beautiful under the morning sun. On the vine hanging water drops looked like crystal beads on a necklace. Buds of new leaves were like professional dancers performing on the stage by extending multiple arms. In Brightwood Park the overgrowth of wisteria has been a threat to many trees and there is a current effort to remove it. Yet at many homes it remains ornamental as long as the growth is under control. Going to the park early in the morning, the chance of seeing birds and animals is higher than the rest of the day. Although the great-horned owl was not home today, I was able to see a gray catbird on a nearby tree branch and a green heron from a distance away. Along with the catbird and the heron, a mallard duck served as my photography model. The reflection of the trees in the pond has always been an attraction to artists. Today I saw a triangle-shaped stone located across from the dam and bridge. With a fresh impression of the waterfront area of Manhattan where I visited a week ago, I named it Brightwood VIA 57 WEST. |
Chuan-Chu ChouI am a frequent visitor of Brightwood Park and enjoy sharing my discoveries. Archives
April 2024
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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