It was the kind of gray and threatening day that a smart person would stay home, but I was jonesing for my bird fix, so I headed out early to Wooton and Sands Road.
I made a quick stop at Sands Road, where it was too dark, then headed to Wooton, where I ran into Dan Haas, birder extraordinaire. Among other things, he showed me the difference between a Snowy Egret and a Little Blue Heron, so I got a life bird out of the deal.
After a productive couple of hours, we headed fro Sands Road, which is right down the road, and Dan showed me the best places to find birds in this park which I have only visited a a couple of times.
We did very well, but the lousy light produced only second rate photos. I’ll go back soon under better conditions.
I haven’t seen many American Kestrels, so these birds were a nice find.
Yellow Rumped Warblers were present in large numbers at both locations.
Swamp Sparrows are another bird I haven’t seen often but they were plentiful at Sands Road.
Ruby Crowned Kinglets will be plentiful for a while longer.
I saw a lot of Palm Warblers last year, but this is my first this Fall.
I wish these were better images, but I really like Northern Harriers, so here they are.
This Northern Flicker flew into a tree quite near us.
This Chickadee was foraging with the Yellow Rumps.
This Blue Headed Vireo was mixed in with the huge flock of Yellow Rumps, so I was lucky to find him.
This Eastern Towhee is an old image I’ve re-edited.