|
On Sunday the 8th I
made a short trip up to Maplewood. It was an overcast day, and
the lighting wasn't very good, but there had been a couple of
birds reported from there that would expand my life list.
I got there at about
7:30, and I'll emphasize that that is "a.m." for those
of you who know me. I figured that the early worm would get his
bird, or something like that.
It turns out that I
was not wrong in this, my first target bird appeared as soon as
I walked to the area of the preserve where it had been reported.
It's a Warbling Vireo, and a lifer for me.
|
|
 |
|
Brown Cowbirds must
think that Warbling Vireos are good parents, because they often
sneak in and leave their eggs in the vireos' nests, so that the
vireos will incubate and raise them.
Up in the trees, amongst
the vireos, I also found a few Golden-crowned Sparrows.
|
|
 |
| Also up
there was my second target species—Wilson's Warblers. I'd probably
seen them before, but this was the first time I was certain that
what I was seeing was Wilson's, so it now goes on my life list,
too. |
|
 |
|
Wilson's Warblers look
a lot like Yellow Warblers to me, except that they're wearing
a yarmulka. Oy!
These warblers kept
to the shade, and I had a hard time getting a sharp photo of them.
|
|
 |
| As I was
sitting waiting for a Wilson's to get into some light, a Yellow-rumped
Warbler popped out of the bushes for a few seconds. |
|
 |
|
For about five minutes
I had been hearing the machine-gun-like repetition of a wren song.
I finally tired of waiting on the Wilson's and went looking for
the wren. As I had expected, it was a Marsh Wren, and here he
is, making his noise.
|
|
 |
|
Marsh Wrens like to
perch on tall grasses like that, and since tall grasses are often
in the middle of a big stand of tall grass, it's not often that
one gets an unobstructed side view of them. So I was pretty happy
with the angle that I got.
Out on the nearby pond,
a couple of Painted Turtles were "sunning" themselves.
It was more like they were "clouding" themselves, really.
|
|
 |
| I wandered
on, southward, and just as a ray or two of less-obscured sunlight
came out, I found a Spotted Sandpiper on an old log. Maplewood has
always been a good spot for me for seeing Spotties. |
|
 |
| I headed
back eastward towards the bridge and the parking lot. On the way,
I saw a few Mallards and a single male Bufflehead just off shore.
|
|
 |
|
It had started to drizzle,
and no relief to the overcastitude was in sight, so I decided
not to stick around any longer. I spent the rest of my day engaged
in other pursuits, getting ready for some time off of work.
A glick ahf dir, Bubeleh!
Tom
|
|