Delimited Site Visit #6 - The Junk Pond
May 22, 2018, Evergreen Cemetery, Portland, ME
I started this observation at 5:42a and kept recording until just after 6:05a. During that time I walked the distance of my site front to back twice and spent a good amount of time sitting on the bench.
The area is green. There are numerous plants fully leafed out and the EUROPEAN LILY-OF-THE-VALLEY is fully in bloom (for better or worse). In fact, there were so many leaves that it made it very hard to see far as the area is so overgrown. The ferns where out and the next time I head down I'll come armed with my fern key. I also noted that the JAPANESE KNOTWEED was everywhere and seems to be expanding its range every year. And that the honeysuckle is starting to bloom. As always there was a ton of traffic noise. And a fair amount of bird activity.
A couple bird highlights included a number of warblers (including a pair of CANADA WARBLERS, potential nesters?), a calling GREEN HERON, and 5 baby MALLARD ducks. I watched the ducklings for about 5 minutes as they swam around and explored. Throughout that time there was no adult to be seen anywhere. I was a little bit confused by this as I had always seen them with their mothers in the past. I wondered if she was hidden but keeping a watching eye on them, so I looked around for her but as they traveled further and further from where I first saw them I realized that the mother wasn't around. After watching them for a while the mother did finally fly in, call a couple times, they squeaked in response, and then the family was reunited. I wonder if something scared her off or if she travels briefly for food. I'm not totally sure what was happening here.
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