Busy Bird Week

Worm-eating Warbler

It has been a fairly busy week trying to get the kitchen ready for the new flooring to go down.  I am so ready to wrap up all the house projects and the end is in sight now.  The new flooring in the kitchen and laundry room are the last two big projects.

With the exception of a couple of days of sunshine, gray skies seem to be the rule.  Very disappointing with the number of birds coming through and the number of missed or poor shots due to low light.

Northern parula

I was so disappointed on Tuesday when I kept missing shots of a Hooded Warbler that dropped by several times.  Late this afternoon (almost 1730), I happened to walk by the kitchen window and saw an unfamiliar bird.  I have been keeping the camera on the kitchen cabinet to try and catch things coming through.  I quickly grabbed a couple of shots before it flew off.  What a thrill!  A Worm-eating Warbler.  This is the first one I have ever seen here at the house.

Just a few minutes before it came by, I had just spotted a Northern Parula stopping by to get some water.

female Summer Tanager

Earlier a female Summer Tanager dropped by for a bath but I believe this is a younger bird than the other female Tanager that has been coming by every afternoon.  The look was completely different than the older bird.

Eastern Wood Peewee

I have been hearing an Eastern Wood Peewee over the last several days and finally this afternoon with all the bird activity, it could not resist coming in for a look.










The American Redstarts have been great for the last two weeks.  The bright orange of the male's catches your eye so quickly.  I have really enjoyed seeing them.

Cooper's Hawk

Earlier in the week the Cooper's Hawk showed back up.  It has been hanging around the yard trying to find food.  The birds have been a bit spooky because the hawk has been very active.

Outside the Kitchen Window

I have an amazing morning and never left the kitchen window.  It started early as I was washing up some breakfast dishes and noticed a bit of movement at the fountain.  It was not very light with the overcast skies and cover of the surrounding leaves but I thought I would give it a try.  This little hummingbird was bathing away.  I apologize for the quality but had to push the ISO up to around 3200 to get a shot at all and there is no depth of field.






It got to the very edge where water barely trickled over and way down and start splashing.  Most of the shots were too much of a blur as I could not get any speed.











The next visitor was a Northern Parula.  It splashed and splashed, flew off to a side tree and came back for more.














My biggest delight of the morning was when a Cape May Warbler and Black and White Warbler came up together.  I had spotted the Cape May a time or two but had not been able to get a shot of it.  Success this morning!

Northern Parula

Several more Northern Parula came in today or should I say I spotted them today.  They have been coming to the water fountain off and on all day.  After missing the photo op yesterday I kept the camera by the window.

We had a brief break in the weather today that will be short lived.  Tomorrow should be good with more rain on Sunday.

Birding Paradise

An unplanned outing today down east for a bit of birding.  A little disappointed with the lack of warblers however I was probably a week or two early but I knew my upcoming schedule would not let me go then.

The other birds today however made up for the lack of warblers.  The trees were absolutely filled with Northern Parula.  Almost everywhere you looked, there they were.

One of the most amazing sights was a tree with somewhere between 8-10 Baltimore Orioles.  They were going nuts over some berries.  It was truely a sight to behold.














There were plenty of Redstarts hunting insects in the scrub.  This was truely a habitat suited for them.

Quite a few Red-eyed Vireos?  Although the eye doesn't look as red as some that I have seen, based on the size of the bird and geographical location that is my guess.  I can't recall however ever seeing one with as dark a crown as this one.

The usual suspects, Egrets and Great Blues were numerous.  It seemed a bit odd going this time of year as I usually go during the winter to see the migrating waterfowl.  The lake seemed quite with the exception of some Canada Geese and a few Osprey.  It was a great day however.  With the exception of a couple of people fishing up towards the front part of the refuge, I never saw another soul.  The joy of quiet and having the remainder of the refuge to yourself.

Birding From The Deck

Home a little early today and had some time to enjoy sitting outside.  I took the laptop outside and was listening to some bird calls.  Did the birds respond?  Oh yes.  What fun.  A little more light would have been fantastic but then you can't have it all.  The two that I have been seeing that I could not get to come up were the Black-Throated Blue Warbler and Redstarts.  The Northern Parula, Red-Eyed Vireo and of course the Great Crested Flycatcher were willing participants.

Probably the most fun was the flycatcher.  Some great shots of it turning and cocking its head and singing along.