February 6, 2014

Several sources seem to suggest that Mount Trashmore (and surrounding areas) is THE place to bird. Unfortunately, I could only squeeze in an hour before work and whatever invisible biting bugs they have there drove me to within an inch of my breaking point. No breeding evidence, but a couple okay pictures. Most of what I shot was backlit by the rising sun and before that, the fog was killing me. But maybe you guys will get a kick out of them.

Fog killing my shot. Great Blue Heron.

Turkey Vulture. I wonder if that's a methane burner that sometimes kills/injures raptors that sit on them.

Red-bellied Woodpecker.

Northern Flicker on the bottom left (with the spots and yellow butt). I need to get better at my small bird pictures :-(

Gray Catbird. A shot to be proud of :-)

What kind of juvenile raptor is that?? Sorry about the quality, but I took this from WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY far away

Dear AutoFocus: Nobody cares about the plants. Focus on the birds. Always. Sincerely, DM

European Starling. I hate non-natives

American Coots.

Common Moorhens have the red faces. Green-winged Teal are the brown-headed ducks.

Unknown warbler.

Could this be another Eastern Phoebe?

You can kind of tell by the captions that I wasn't 110% this morning. Hopefully soon I'll  be able to survey one of these sites at a relaxing, leisurely, thorough pace.