Geese have come to the park and seem to enjoy swimming over the layer of duckweeds.  Flowering plants are taking turns to perform in the park.  While the pokeweed is stepping down from the stage, squash, jewelweed, and yellow foxtail take over the show.

 Green herons are frequently seen in the park these days.  They move from one place to the other as they look for fish.  This morning one of them flew from the dam area to the east side and rested on a log down the slope from the two picnic tables.  The bird appeared alert and sober to see the fishing tools nearby.  Meanwhile those tools are also signs of where the fish can be found often.  The bird was more patient than I and stayed there for much longer.

 ​A flock of wood ducks has taken up residence in the small pond.  Yesterday morning, a male and a female were first hanging out together.  The female stood with one leg, as if signaling "not good to be single".  The male then was accompanied by a friend to see a mallard duck.  A moment later, the couple and the mallard duck were positioned like being in a wedding hall.  The mallard duck officiated the ceremony.  Two turtles were the witnesses.  A goose comedian performed a celebration dance.   I, of course, was the official photographer.

 I would like to share with you what I saw in Brightwood Park the first 3 days of September. 

So many mushrooms!  A colony of white-colored mushrooms reminded me of what I saw in petri dishes and under microscopes when I worked in cell biology labs many years ago.  Some were like cells multiplying.  A symmetric pair was like an illustration of cell division in textbooks.  There were also hairy mushrooms near the dam that I found a few days ago.  With some imagination, "Halloween mushrooms" on the trail along Prospect Street wore spooky faces.

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 Greeting mushroom friends has become my daily routine since August 28.  The variety of the creatures were amazing to me.  New ones continued to pop up and made me feel like being in a magic kingdom.  Plants also joined the party by presenting their beautiful flowers and fruits.

Of particular interest are the mushrooms with shapes going beyond common perception of what mushrooms usually appear like.  Next to the hairy mushrooms near the dam, a new one is in the shape like a genie bottle in the Arabian Nights tales.  Another one looked like a tiny beast carrying a baby on the back, and the baby crawled on the head of the mom to explore the world.

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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.

 Baby frogs (about 2.5 cm in body length) are out exploring their world around the dam.  

​In addition to baby frogs, I saw a broken branch and a few mushrooms in Brightwood Park this morning.  By staring at them for a while, the broken tree branch appeared like a human face wearing a monocle and a dog face.  The mushrooms are becoming alive, too, with patterns like eyes, nose, hair, beard, etc.  They made me feel like a child again.

 I usually get up early and check out the park shortly after 6 a.m.  JPL and I typically have a change-of-guard around a.m.  This morning I overslept and didn't get to the park till 7.  It was a pleasant surprise to see the beautiful rays and the reflections of water drops hanging on the leaves and the flowers of plants.  The humidity provided a perfect environment for mushrooms to enter the stage.  Trees and smaller plants all looked cheerful.  Photo No.14 taken by iPhone reminded me of ballroom dancing.

It appears that the coyotes are away for vacation.  Deer activities are increasing in the park as well as the neighborhood these days.  From the photos here one can clearly see deer are selective in their diet.  Some plants are bypassed and spared.