A Made to Order Autumn Day

The last two days have been the kind of days you would order up from your weather forecaster if that were possible. Cool in the morning but quickly warming with sunrise to mid 70's with a slight breeze and a crisp, clear blue Carolina sky.

My plans to go birding down east were put on hold. Why travel when it is already such fantastic birding right at my own back door. So this will be a mini-vacation at home which is fine by me.

I went out with purpose this morning to try and photograph the Redstarts that are in. I had taken a couple of decent shots of the female but the male has always seem to elude me. Several butt shots, out of focus shots and mostly hidden but nothing I was pleased with. I had watched them for a couple of days and knew the area they seemed to hang out. The problem is that it is very shaded and the direction of the sunrise seems to always put you shooting into the sun.

They were as bad as Kinglets to try and photograph. Rarely sitting still for more than a couple of seconds at a time and always seeming to get right in the midst of foliage searching for insects. Another adventure in speed photography.

The Cedar Waxwings are flocking in. They were flying from cedar tree to cedar tree being rather noisey and in general stirring up all the other birds. I do like them though with their little high pitch sound and always moving in flocks. I don't ever recall seeing as many juvenile birds as there seem to be this year. Their mask and head crown feathers when erect give them such a quizzical look.

Tomorrow my friend and I are going to Jordan Lake to photograph the eagles and osprey. Hoping for some good shots. Saturday, we are heading to Eno River State Park to see what if anything has come in there. If no birds, at least we can enjoy the hiking.