A few miles away from where we are staying on the west side of Richmond, Virginia, lies Tuckahoe Creek Park. Francine spotted it on a map. Tuckahoe Creek flows around the property we are lodged in but it is inaccessible, here, being heavily wooded and fenced off from all the building work going on as yet more large buildings are constructed for more elderly inmates. So, an opportunity to see it from an accessible position was appealing.
There is a route through the park with a car park at one end and street parking at the other end. For some reason we opted for the street parking end and set off.
We found a very well constructed boardwalk, complete with metal safety rails, that meanders its way through the park beside a delightful stretch of wonderful looking fresh water habitat. There was a slightly cool breeze but the sun shone. It was glorious.
Long story short: we spotted not a sign of any odonata. I checked on iNaturalist and there are reports of dragonflies from here but not today, sadly.
At the beginning of our wander along the boardwalk we did, though, manage to add to my extremely limited collection of American bird species. Skulking about in the wooded area was something resembling a thrush but with considerably longer tail. We identified it as a Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum); aren’t some common names wonderful?
Perched in a tree nearby the Brown Thrasher was a female Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis), though being a female it wasn’t at all blue. With the reddish brown breast I initially wrote it off as another American Robin but, no. Luckily I corrected my assumption; the American Robin has more extensive red on the breast.
Other than some turtles, possible Eastern Painted Turtle (Crysemys picta) swimming in the creek, that was the day’s interest. It was a very pleasant excursion to a restful environment, though.
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