Σεπτέμβριος 05, 2021

Trip to Commons Ford

Today my dad and I woke up early and went to Commons Ford to look for birds. When we arrived, it was 7:30, so the birds were active and energetic. Immediately we saw a ruby-throated hummingbird and a singing summer tanager in a tree. We kept walking around the main ranch area of Commons Ford, seeing more hummingbirds, tanagers, woodpeckers and lots of eastern bluebirds. We walked to a trail, and at the entrance, we started hearing a loud bird call. Merlin told us it was a white-eyed vireo, so I looked around the bush the call was coming from until it emerged for a few seconds, long enough for me to get some pictures of this new lifer. After it flew away, we walked down the trail for a minute, then turned back to go down a larger, better trail.

As we walked down the trail, my dad turned off on a short trail to a blind with a birdbath, and I kept walking a bit. I stopped once I reached a group of birders looking at a Couch's kingbird. I waited around with the group a while, looking at all the swifts that were flying around us. Then I turned to go find my dad, who was still at the bird blind. We watched a female painted bunting drink from the birdbath, then walked back onto the trail.

We kept walking for a long time and didn't see anything until we came to the end of the trail, which let out into a field with a river next to it. I saw some wood ducks on the other side of the river, but not anything else, so we walked to a bench under a tree and sat there. After a few minutes, I was looking at a pewee when a yellow-colored bird caught my eye in the tree above me. I zoomed in and got some pictures as it hopped around the tree. It started singing, so my dad used Merlin, which told us it was a yellow-throated vireo. After it left, we walked back to the ranch and our car on a different path. Once we got there, I looked around for a few more hummingbirds until I was satisfied, and then we left.

Posted on Σεπτέμβριος 05, 2021 0207 ΠΜ by ellington ellington | 5 παρατηρήσεις | 1 σχόλιο | Αφήστε ένα σχόλιο

Σεπτέμβριος 04, 2021

Trip to Hornsby Bend

On Saturday, I went to Hornsby Bend with my dad to look for birds. We had woken up before seven to escape the heat of the later day while we looked for birds. We first saw killdeer, black-necked stilts and small sandpipers that were standing in and around some small pools of water and mounds of dirt. There was also a nighthawk roosting on the ground, though unfortunately I was not able to get any pictures of it. We looked around the pools of water for a while, then walked to the small lakes to look for ducks. We saw some black-bellied whistling ducks and mallards, as well as a green heron flying by.

As we continued walking, I saw my first lifer of the day, though I didn't know it at the time - a black tern. I got some pictures of it flying away and had no idea what it was until I later put it on iNaturalist. After it flew away, we walked along the side of the lake until we saw another birder. He was looking at a lesser yellowlegs and some pectoral sandpipers, trying to identify them. After talking to him, we kept walking until we got to the end of the lake, where a group of birders was watching a far-away fling of small peeps and raft of ducks. One of them said that there was a Baird's sandpiper mixed in, and though I could barely see it, it was another lifer for me.

After that, we walked away from the lakes and into the more forested area, hoping for some songbirds. As soon as we got there, we heard a very loud bird chirping somewhere in the trees. Merlin said it was a white-eyed vireo, which would have been a lifer for me had I seen it. Unfortunately, it was too far in the leaves of a tree to see, but we did see a ruby-throated hummingbird perch on a branch nearby. It was 9:30 and getting hot, so we decided to leave and saw some scissor-tailed flycatchers on the way out.

Posted on Σεπτέμβριος 04, 2021 0522 ΜΜ by ellington ellington | 4 παρατηρήσεις | 0σχόλια | Αφήστε ένα σχόλιο

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