Date: 10-10
Location: Pathway West of Waller, East of Collins
Time: 1635-1700
Weather: 52˚F, crisp air (ready to shatter)
A western scrub jay suddenly caught my attention, hiding deviously amongst the fuchsia bushes along Waller’s west entrance. It was pecking at something hard, the sound from the impact reverberating each time. It swiftly pivoted north, shrieked once and hopped deeper into the shrubs. Slightly perplexed, near Collins, I found a bench to rest at only to hear a whistling not unlike a hummingbird. a brown one hovered about the fuchsia plants, sucking
the nectar out of the magenta blossoms. It seemed mostly brown and probably 3 inches long. A chirping nearby drew me back to Waller where after a lengthy moment, I located not a bird as I had originally hoped, but a rather large green grasshopper camouflaged on a leaf. Out of the corner of my eye, a queer white bird perched on top of a blue spruce. It had a dark back, white underside, and a gray stripe slashed across its eyes. Its rounded wings looked similar to a pheasant’s. According to whatbird.com, it was either a gray jay or a northern shrike. It appeared to be approximately 1-foot in length. Finally back at Collins, I heard that the buzzing sound continued to occur so I was determined to locate the origin. I knew it was at the topmost areas of the tree I was staring up at. The tree itself appeared exotic in that the dark brown bark had small round pieces, knobs and wells every so often, and light coating of moss. The drooping ovate leaves were a lime green, many tinted with yellows and reds. It bore several small crimson elliptical berries, ½-inch long. Ironically, as soon as I left, the caller zipped away to the south. It was a hummingbird.
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