Back in Action

As you might know from the previous post, my birding lens broke the week before peak migration. Even more unfortunate, as an Ovenbird fell into my backyard after a streak of southerly winds suddenly changed to nice northern breezes. Luckily I had one day left on the 1 year warranty and I had it shipped off, repaired and back to me in less than 2 weeks. It was waiting for me on the front porch yesterday afternoon, and though many of the migrating birds had passed already, we were due a cold front (lows in the 50's , highs in the low 80's) for the weekend. I had heard that Mikael Behrens had been seeing quite a bit over in his neighborhood so I though I might head over there and check out the repairs.

The weather was as good as promised and the birds were obviously loving it too. Around the pond by the parking lot the Red-winged Blackbirds were busy making noise and flying their colors. I took a series of one of the males, but this is one of my favorites.



From there I wandered down the edge of the creek flushing larger birds as I went: Great egrets, Snowy Egrets, Great Blue Herons, a Red-Shouldered Hawk, Green Herons, Killdeer, and even a couple of Little Blue Herons. When I got to the first little dam a Spotted Sandpiper was pacing back and forth bobbing along. This Green Heron is one of at least 5 I saw.



Heading through some tall grass into a wooded area I saw a few female Painted Buntings munching on seeds. I was able to get close enough to take this picture through the grass.



To my right I noticed quite a bit of activity up in the trees. At first I saw other buntings traveling between the treeline and the tall grass, but as I got closer the colorful flashes of the Yellow Warblers were unmistakeable. After a few minutes they seemed to forget I was there and slowed down enough to pose for a few shots.





Although their coloring is beautiful what I really like about these birds is the intense contrast of their pure black eyes.

As I was sitting there, a few cardinals and wrens bounced in and out, and then this Least Flycatcher flew in as if to say, "Hey, don't forget about me!"



After getting my fill of the Yellow Warblers, I followed a less worn trail along the edge of the creek. In a dead tree on my right I spied this Yellow-crowned Night-Heron.



Typically, I find these guys to be pretty skittish, and I assumed he would take off after I got the first picture. But as I moved closer to the tree, he seemed to be pretty confident he was safe. By the time I was almost right underneath him we were still checking each other out. This has to be one of my favorite bird photos to date. And it's so nice to have my lens back (even if I could have got this shot with a 50mm).