A juvenile Virginia Rail popping out into the open. Rails have long toes to help them stay on top of the mud, which is coming in handy here; even with the long toes spreading out the weight this bird is sinking in a bit.
It's the fun time of year when the hummingbird moths appear! This one is a Hummingbird Clearwing. They are moths that hover while sipping nectar, with Bee Balm being one of their favorite flowers.
This might be the youngest Sandhill Crane at the park right now. The other colts are about two to three times the size of this one. This young one still has plenty of time before migration (and some of the local cranes won't migrate and will overwinter.)
A juvenile Green Heron strolling along the boardwalk railing. The juveniles have a rough brown edging to their wing feathers, while adults have a lighter, crisper outline to the feathers.
This juvenile Virginia Rail has a small friend on the foot - a tiny snail (second shot is cropped to focus on the snail.) The snail traveled over the toes without the Rail reacting. Possibly the snail is on a revenge tour as the Rail ate a similar snail earlier.
A Virginia Rail parent brings in some sort of invertebrate for the chicks. The chicks stared at the food for a few seconds before one tried to eat it, but it was too big to swallow. The parent ended up eating the offering and went off to find more suitably sized food.
A Spicebush Swallowtail butterfly flitting from rock to rock while looking for good puddling spots. Patches of the gravel trail were wet; the butterfly would find these spots and land to sip mineral-rich water from the gravel.
An Osprey gives me a look while carrying a stick back to the nest. I saw an Osprey carrying a much bigger stick yesterday. Osprey will continually bring in sticks to the nest to fortify any weak spots, and to build a high rim to prevent nestlings from falling out of the nest.
