I took this photo on 9/22/12. I have been watching these white birds for several weeks. They look similar to herons, but there are several ina loose group, rather than the usual solitary heron sighting. I looked them up in Sibley's Guide to Birds book and think I have identified them as egrets either Great or Snowy (not sure which yet as I can't get a close enough view), based on having black legs (white herons do not) and beak shape, as well as the behavior pattern of grouping in loose flocks.

I do not remember seeing egrets so abundantly in previous years and wonder why they are here now.

I took this picture two days ago on my way home from school. The geese are coming through on their migration route south. The noise of the birds honking was tremendously loud!! I wished I had an audio recording at the time. Last night when I walked home there was a flock of mostly ducks, just as large in number but much, much less noisy and less prone to flight as I walked by. They jsut quacked at me a little bit.

Here is a picture of a leaf I took several weeks ago. It shows what I had just learned is called "tar spot disease", which affects several kinds of maple trees. Through the leaf shape and the bark, I though tthe tree must be a silver maple, which seemed confirmed when I read that silver maples grow in wet areas. This tree is right next to the shore. Tar spot happens in wet areas, so this might have originated in the flood of last year, over wintered, and came out again this year.