Wednesday Quick Stop

I stopped by the park on my way home this afternoon for a quick walk.  Early afternoon is not prime birding time but during the week, you take the time you get.  The muskrat was out sunning and searching for something to eat.  If you can get over the rat like tail, they are not so bad when they are out of the water and dry.

A female Towhee was flirting about.  I have noticed this year their numbers have increased.  At home is is not uncommon now to have 4-5 males and a couple of females scavaging under the feeder every afternoon.

 There are still some Yellow-Rumped Warblers around.  Their colors are beginning to change from the brownish hues of winter to more gray and black.  They usually depart around mid-April and will return in the fall.

Before I left work this afternoon I received an excited call from a fellow birder in the building.  He told me to quickly go out to the loading dock area and look towards the road.  There is was, a Merlin.  Oh for my camera.  So tomorrow, I will take it with me to work just in case.  We see a Kestrel every couple of days and now the Merlin.  As we were standing and watching it several people came up and asked what we were looking at.  They just could not understand what we were so excited about.