Autumn Glory

Our lovely planters outside of the Community Center are sporting a new fall look.

On lower Perimeter Road.

Wetlands in fall.

More scenes on Perimeter Road.

Sweetgum by the parking lot.

Bees - Getting Ready for Winter

These mouse guards are already in place on the big hives.

These mouse guards were added to the  small hives, and also the cardboard, which aids in the prevention of hive raiding, and keeps them warm in winter.

The small hives need to be fed sugar water to make them able to last the winter.  Here are the 3 empty jars.

They are filled with sugar water and replaced within the hive.

Even some of the big hives are not heavy enough and get supplemental sugar water feeding.  We want the bees to be able to last through the cold weather of winter.

Seen in the Meadow

The goldfinches were all over, enjoying the abundance of seeds.

The goldfinches were joined by the pine siskins.

The fox ran off when I arrived.

 

A phoebe was in a tree.

And there were many many ducks in the pond.

Foulkeways today

Here is the old post office, which is now Foulkeways newest residence, waiting for a sewer permit before it will be occupied.

This sign is now in place on the Maris Trail.  Good luck hunters.  We certainly have no trouble spotting the deer.

On the Loop Trail there were hints of fall to be seen when you looked up.

But it looked like spring in the fern garden!

Peace Valley Finches and more

It isn't very often that you can get to see these two finches side by side for comparison.  The top bird is a male house finch, and the one on the bottom is the male purple finch.  The purple finch has much more red coloring, especially the whole head.

The purple finch female has a streaked face pattern.

While the female house finch has a bland face.

The pine siskin has streaks but a sharply pointed bill, and usually a yellow patch in the wing.

Lovely to look at is this white-breasted nuthatch.

Peace Valley

On this glorious sunny, but brisk day, we went to Peace Valley park and settled into the bird blind.  One of the fist birds we spotted was this blue jay.

Pecking away at the peanut feeder was this downy woodpecker.

On the ground scratching for food was this beautiful towhee.

Nearby was another ground bird, this white-throated sparrow.

One of our favorites was this red-bellied woodpecker, who has just wrangled a peanut from the feeder.

What to look for

There are mallards in our wetland.  Today I counted 18.

One resident directed me to this shelf fungus, but I think it is now passed its prime.

There was another fungus right next to it, which someone was hoping would be a real find, but unfortunately it wasn't.

If you look carefully at the mulch you might fine this bird's-nest fungus, but it is only 5 mm. in diameter.