Yard Birds, Flood Birds

Haven't been able to get to some of my regular birding spots lately because the roads to get to them have been flooded. For this reason, I have been spending more time in my yard. So far this year, birding has been great in my yard. A lot of new yard birds!

I don't usually see many warblers in the spring in my yard, however this spring has been different...

Northern Waterthrush - new yard bird!

Wished I could get better views of the warblers in the yard, but this is the typical warbler view that I get -

The underside of a Yellow Warbler

Here is a little better picture of a warbler -

Blue-winged Warbler

While watching warblers in the yard, I found this female Red-breasted Nuthatch. I have never seen one in here in the spring.

Female Red-breasted Nuthatch

Both Orioles have been plentiful and singing away in the yard.

Baltimore Oriole singing

It is interesting to listen to all the immature male Orchard Orioles singing. Each one has a different song.

Immature male Orchard Oriole

The adult males, which look quite different, chase the young males away.

Adult male Orchard Oriole

Eastern Kingbirds have been flying high above the yard... (Love this expression)

Eastern Kingbird

A pair of House Wrens has moved into my swing set where a pair of Carolina Chickadees had been nesting. The wrens violently fought the chickadees off. The wrens are new nesters for the yard.

House Wren singing

Field Sparrows sing their ping-pong ball like song constantly from the field adjacent to my yard. Here, one tries to play hide and seek.

Field Sparrow

However, the flooded habitat has its advantages as well.

Such as these Willet that I found on the side of the road on the way home from work.

Willet

It is odd to see shorebirds walking on roads that I used to drive on. There is a road behind the spotted sandpiper, under the water.

Spotted Sandpiper

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Why Spring is my favorite season...

Because the Goldfinches turn yellow...

Molting American Goldfinch male

And some of my favorite species return...

Blue-winged Teal



Caspian Terns



Forster's Tern

Meadowlarks are everywhere proclaiming "It's the Spring of the year!"...

Eastern Meadowlark

And Blue-gray Gnatcatchers are back...

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

And love is in the air...

Blue-winged Teal pair

Canada Goose with goslings

And even the "Winter species" look cool...

Common Loon

Bonaparte's Gull

And butterflies and other insects add color to the dull landscape...

Black Swallowtail Butterfly



Six-spotted Tiger Beetle

And wildflowers are in bloom...

White Trout Lilly

Dutchman's Breeches

And first of season birds abound...

Purple Martin

Spotted Sandpiper in the setting sun

Hope everyone get outside on this Earth Day to enjoy our beautiful planet!

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Springtime Ducks

Today was the first off day that I had in a long while that was sunny and not pouring down rain. I had to get out and do some birding. The water is still very high just about everywhere, conditions that are very favorable for good water birds.

There were many coots walking around on the grass at the beach when I arrived at the lake. There were also a good deal of people walking around with dogs, but luckily for a change they were all on leashes. The birds only seemed to pay moderate attention to them.

Scanning the large flock of coots revealed about a dozen or so Bufflehead mixed in.

Male Bufflehead

The males were displaying and chasing one another.

And the females were uninterested of course...

After watching the Buffleheads, I rescanned the flock and found my first of the year/season Blue-winged Teal!

Blue-winged Teal

One decided to start swimming towards to me!

The teal came all the way up to the shore and stared me down, as if to say "I know I am a handsome duck, so quit staring at me!"

I preceded to walk along the shore, looking for birds and rescanning the flock of coots. I noticed 3 Bald Eagles flying high above the lake. Also, my FOS Double-crested Cormorants and Bonapartes Gulls. Scoping out the lake revealed a huge raft of ducks consisting mostly of scaup and bufflehead.

A group of highschool rowers started to pile into the park, so I decided to head for the car. That is when I noticed this sad sight:

A Ring-billed Gull with a lure stuck in its neck. There really wasn't anything that I could do, as the bird spooked and starting swimming to the middle of the lake. This is why fishermen should try to prevent the snapping of line as much as possible. However, I didn't have to end the day on this sad note. As I was getting near the car, my FOS Tree Swallows came out of nowhere and were flying all around me. Spring is here!

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Spring day, winter birds

Such a beautiful day, with temps in the 50's and sunny skies, I just had to get out to do some birding. I couldn't figure out if I wanted to go to the state park or check the river. Both have water out of their banks, which usually means I see good birds. Since it was 2 in the afternoon, I decided to go to the park, since it was closer. I am glad I did!

When I first got there, I seen a couple with their scopes on something, Snow Geese! I got my scope out and put it on the birds. The couple had left as soon as they seen me coming with my scope. I wished they would have stayed, as I am pretty sure that I could see at least one Ross's Goose with the Snow Geese in the middle of the lake. The heat distortion and north winds/waves made it hard to see (I have a somewhat flimsy tripod!). The glaring afternoon sun's reflection off the water didn't help with getting pics.

Looks like a Ross's with Snow Geese (far away)

As I was looking at the Snow Geese in the scope, a Red-necked Grebe popped up in the foreground - a life bird! The bird looked as if it was going to fall over on its bill, as it looked to be leaning forward. I got good looks at it, but it was hard to keep track of, so I was unable to obtain a picture.

A male Bufflehead also flew in and landed right in front of me on the lake - love them!

Male Bufflehead

No sooner had the Bufflehead touched down, I heard a loud ruckus from the 100's of RB Gulls. They all took to the air and so did the Snow Geese. It took me a while to find out the cause of all the commotion, ah ha - an immature Bald Eagle flying over the lake.

Immature Bald Eagle

I was able to get distant pics of the Snow Geese in flight with the possible Ross's mixed in. (They still were very far away!)

⇧I was thinking the 5th goose from the top right might be a Ross's. The bottom 4th goose from the right also looks different to me. (Click on the photo to go to Flickr for a larger image.)⇧

Here⇧ , from a different angle, the 7th bird from the right looks like a Ross's to me (RB Gulls are also in the pic).

The geese put down back on the lake, but farther away. I decided to leave the lake and take a hike in the woods looking for other signs of Spring. There wasn't much going on in the woods, so I decided to swing back by the lake. The Snow Geese were gone, but a skunk decided to start towards me from up on the hill, so I decided that it was time to leave!

Mr. Skunk!

Ross's Goose!

I found this Ross's Goose at East Fork State Park on Friday, Feb. 11, 2011. This is a life bird! (Click on all for larger)

And there was this far away Long-tailed Duck