The day looked promising, much cooler and slightly cloudy, and I arrived early at Patuxent Wildlife Refuge, South tract. There was a lot of activity among the small birds, and I saw a distant hawk and a Blue Heron, but no other waterbirds. I met Graeme, and we went to Lake Artimesia, which, again, had a dearth of waterbirds excepting an Egret, a Heron and some ducks. Later, we stopped at Greenbelt Park to look for a Barred Owl Graeme knew about, but he didn’t appear and no other birds were evident, so we didn’t stay long.
All in all, it was a strange day and birds were relatively scarce.
This Red Tailed Hawk was really too far away, and the light was too low for a decent shot, but I like hawks, so here he is.
Chipping Sparrows always seem to be very active.
This Orchard Oriole struck an awkward pose.
I’m not sure which Sparrow this is.
We saw this Great Egret fishing at several places in Lake Artemesia.
I’m working on an ID for this duck. It’s a Wood Duck.
Even on a slow day you can count on a Mockingbird to pose.
There was a small flock of Cedar Waxwings at the lake.
I saw this Great Blue Heron land from across the lake, and was amazed that this 4′ bird was invisible from a distance.
This young deer was remarkably comfortable around people.