This morning I had a relaxing walk down to the pond. We had cloud cover, which was unusual. It kept the temperature below 90 until I got back around 8:45 AM. Often it is already 100+ by then.

On the way down I stopped to examine a type of plant I haven't yet identified. They started coming up in late April and are still going strong. They grow into fairly large bushes, up to 5 feet tall and have semisucculent leaves. They produce small fruit that look like tiny watermelons that split open into four sections when ripe revealing red flesh with little black seeds. One I saw today was covered with small red hemiptera (true bugs) that looked like box elder bugs. Almost all the fruit seem to have a small caterpillar living inside.

Bush

Flower

Fruit

Hemiptera feeding on fruit




As I approached the pond a little owl flew up on a light pole about 50 feet from me. I approached closer and it moved to a cement bunker. I watched it for about 5 minutes before I moved on. It seemed very interested in a flock of house sparrows nearby.

The pond was active. A couple of Black-crowned night herons were flying around. Terns were feeding. There was also a pair of squacco herons in the reeds. A kingfisher and bee-eaters were perched in the trees next to the pond.

On the edge I saw a few stilts and a common sandpiper.

Bird List 0630-0845 7/10/2004
Little Grebe - 4
Black-crowned Night Heron - 2
Squacco Heron - 2
Cattle Egret - 4
Moorhen - 6
Coot - 1
Black-winged Stilt - 2
Red-wattled Plover - 2
Common Sandpiper - 1
Little Tern - 2
Whiskered Tern - 1
White-winged Black Tern - 6
Rock Dove - 2
Wood Pigeon - 8
Collared Dove - 4
Little Owl - 1
White-breasted Kingfisher - 1
Blue-cheeked Bee-eater - 5
Crested Lark - 4
Barn Swallow - 2
White-cheeked Bulbul - 2
Hooded Crow - 3
House Sparrow - 30