Day 277 - Audubon Sanctuary in New Market

(Click any photo to enlarge.)

***Scroll down to see my offer for Red Cross donations.***

There's a fungus amongus.

Thistle buds and bloom

I got out early to do my walk today, because the radar on the Weather Channel kept showing lots of green moving this way.  Instead of waiting until it did rain, I decided it would be smart to beat the rain, so I headed out to my favorite location nearby to see wildlife, the Fred Archibald Audubon Sanctuary.

As I began my walk, I surprised a deer, who ran off into the woods.  In terms of plants, I saw wild strawberries, daisies, wild roses, grasses, thistle, poison ivy, and fleabane.  Many of the grasses had a white, foamy spittle attached, and when I researched it at home, I learned it is from a spittlebug, who hides itself inside the foam.  Many plants had the spittle.

What spit on these plants?

One of the shady lanes

I walked along the pathways, which are always well maintained.  I avoided areas with tall grasses, because that is where ticks hide, and I wanted to leave all ticks behind.


Because it is a bird sanctuary, I was fully expecting to see birds, and today I saw a number of them.  They were always too far away for me to get any good photos with my little camera, but I saw goldfinches, barn swallows, robins, turkey vultures, kingbirds, bluebirds, and sparrows.  There are a number of nesting boxes, and occasionally a bluebird would fly off from one.

Expert dive bombers live here!

However, my most interesting experience today was getting dive bombed by the purple martins.  I was a good 50-60 feet away from their colony, using the zoom feature on my camera to take a good shot, when suddenly the birds started whizzing by my head.  At least ten of them were working the air right above me.  I was so glad I had worn my hat!  I walked quickly away from the area, but one or two followed me for a little while, until they no longer perceived me as a threat.

Wild strawberry

I looked up purple martin behavior when I got home, and it seems that they dive bomb when their young are about to fledge.  The most common predators for martins are owls and snakes, but apparently they don't like anything coming near the colony when the babies are about to fly.

I've been to the sanctuary now in the fall, after a snow in winter, and again in the spring.  It's a great place to take a walk and enjoy nature, in any season.

Click on any photo to enlarge it.

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Forward me by email any receipt for an online donation made to the Red Cross for disaster relief, and I will send you a 5x7 print of your choice from any of my daily photo walks or from my website.  Offer good until September 2, 2013.

Visit my web site: camscamerashots.zenfolio.com
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Email:  cam.miller@comcast.net

Cam's rules for the Daily Photo Walk:

1. walk every day
2. the walk must be in addition to any other planned activity for the day
3. post a photo every day
4. use whatever camera is easy and convenient for walking comfortably; always have a backup camera at the ready in case of mishaps (I use the Nikon Coolpix P7700)
5. no weather excuses
6. walk only where it is safe to do so