Hummer (short video)

 

My husband and I spent part of the afternoon at Scott Park again looking for birds.  We saw another Black and White Warbler, many American Redstarts and some Hooded Warblers.  We were bothered a little for the first time this year by mosquitoes.  Not bad but enough that we sprayed ourselves.

We returned to my in-laws house in the woods and had a wonderful outdoors meal prepared by my father-in-law (a wonderful chef!) and then waited for the birds to come to us.  They did.  A beautiful Pileated Woodpecker, Cardinal, Chick-a-dee, Phoebe, and even a Wild Turkey!  A Ruby-throated Hummingbird was perched on top of a dead stick on the very top of the tree over our table.  He finally came down to drink just feet from us.  A perfect end to a most perfect day.

Indigo Bunting, Black and White Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Wow, we had such a great birding day today.  I was surprised to still see the Black-throated Blue Warblers still around.  We saw one bouncing around the large woodpile at Fry's Landing along with many Yellow Warblers and a Rose-breasted Grosbeak. We headed out to Scott Park and saw Magnolia Warblers on the Bay Trail again, hummingbirds, the usual flickers and woodpeckers and then we spotted a bunch of Indigo Buntings.  They were so pretty.  They were along the west edge of the ball fields where it meets the woods.  We also saw a Black and White Warbler in the trees by the BMX area. It was late afternoon when we left and the Wood Thrushes were going to town with their musical fluting. Can you believe they were thinking of logging Scott Park a while back?  Crazy!

I still have to work on the videos of the other birds (I didn't take my still camera and I could kick myself for it) but I got a little clip of the Bunting finished.

Birding Heaven (pics)

The past few weeks has been wonderful! We finally have some warmer weather and the birds arrived pretty much on schedule. First the ducks came and then the warblers, orioles and others.

I was so enthusiastic about seeing all the different warblers I fixed us a picnic and as soon as my husband got home from work today we headed to Presque Isle for our dinner. It was great eating outside to the sound of the birds.

Tonight as I was getting ready for bed I found a tick on me! I was so upset about it as I'm so scared of Lyme disease. Deer ticks are a real concern in our area. It kind of put a damper to my "birding" enthusiasm. There is a spray out there that you use on your clothes, shoes and hats that lasts 2 weeks even if you launder the clothes item so we'll have to do that. It kills the ticks if they walk across it, not repel them. Ticks can live up to 6 months in your car or house I read, and that is even without getting a meal. Maybe we could spray some on the car seats and rugs. Every few minutes I think I feel a tick on me now.

Here are photos that I was able to get of the warblers. They are very hard to photograph because they are so quick and don't stop for a second.