Last year was exceptional , and because of the very late Spring , we had an amazing 140 species documented by the end of the day. This time the weather was against us, and it rained hard pretty much all day. This did not deter us though , and we stayed out from 7am till 7pm notching up 116 species in total.
We had some nice highlights including a (usually rare) eye-level view at an Olive-sided Flycatcher and many other hard-to find species such as Wood Duck, Dunlin and Sedge Wren.
This update includes a few soggy shots from the day, plus a few other new photos :
Olive-sided Flycatcher from the bird count
Alder Flycatcher from a recent morning at the Forestry Farm Park
Tree Swallow - The Swallows were having a real tough time on the day of the bird count and were pretty much grounded while it rained.
Bank Swallow
Tree & Cliff Swallow sharing same soggy perch
Horned Grebe from a recent visit to the Forestry Farm Park
Veery from the bird count
Dunlin in very poor light from the bird count
Wilson's Snipe from a recent drive in the country
Brown Thrasher from a recent river walk
12 comments:
The poor swallows are looking very sad in the rain!!! I laughed when I saw the Horned Grebe straight on ---he just looks comical!! When I see your Flychatcher photos I wonder now if what I thought I have nesting is one and not a Phoebe!!
Some of these birds look pretty wet.I saw an Olive-sided Flycatcher for the first time last week.
Blessings,Ruth
These are superb Nick. I always love seeing the birds from your area.
That Horned Grebe is a stunner, and you've gotta feel for those poor swallows huddled on that soggy branch.
Thanks for looking :-) Grammie- Eastern Phoebe's are most likely your birds . They usually nest around man-made structures. Take a look at the field marks for a Phoebe compared to my photos, they have a darker bill, longer tail ( which they flick ) and are smaller in size compared to an OSFL.
Smashing shots Nick despite the conditions. The OS Fly doesn't look too happy but how soggy was the photographer?
Love the acrobatic pose from the singing Thrasher. FAB.
Trust me , we got drenched :-) Thanks for looking !
That Grebe is definitely a looker - unusual but still handsome! Great photos!
I have never see a Horned Grebe before very pretty indeed :)
wonderful photos
All completely stunning mate, all grebes are amazing to look at, keep em comin.
Poor Swallows, yet pretty all the while, lovely entry of some of my favorite birds~
Wow good job Nick, you got a very impressive number of birds and good pictures. I love the tree swallow and the horned grebe a lot...
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