Hawks for Christmas

We went to the farm ponds on Christmas morning.  On the way there, on Highway 24, we saw a northern harrier, the second in as many days.  An adult red-shouldered hawk was also perched on a wire.  Didn't get a picture of them.

After turning on to McAdams Road, we saw this little American Kestrel.  It was closer to me at first, but my camera wasn't set up yet to get a better picture.

Then this huge immature hawk was flying around the ponds.  I thought it was an immature red-tail, but several people on the bird forums I'm a part of say it's an immature red-shouldered.  They gave all their reasons, and I will take their word.  Immature hawks are very hard to identify, at least for me.

And finally, another kestrel was perched on a wire on Prater Farm Road.  I still didn't get a good pic, but this at least captures it.

We saw a few other birds also.  This Northern Shoveler was the only duck in the ponds.

This was the picture of the morning.  This male kingfisher beautifully posed for me on the Highway 253 bridge.  Fortunately no cars were behind us, so I was able to get a couple of great shots.

And here is the enlarged version after cropping the picture at home.

A nice morning of viewing after several trips where we didn't see much.

Feeder Birds 2017-18

1. Pine warbler
2. Yellow-Rumped warbler
3. Orange-crowned warbler
4. Tufted titmouse
5. Carolina chickadee
6. Northern cardinal
7. Ruby-crowned kinglet
8. House finch
9. American goldfinch
10. Brown thrasher
11. Mourning dove
12. Downy woodpecker
13. Northern junco
14. Carolina wren
15. White-breasted nuthatch
16. Brown-headed nuthatch
17. Eastern phoebe
18. White-throated sparrow
19. Chipping sparrow
20. Rufous-sided towhee
21. Red-winged blackbird
22. Blue jay
23. Mockingbird
24. Gray catbird
25. Rose-breasted grosbeak 
26. Indigo bunting (molting)

Three Rare Geese

Not the greatest of pictures, but we saw a group of five geese this morning, feeding in the fields at the corner of Gaines and McAdams Roads in Townville.  A blue morph snow goose (never seen that one before), a Ross's Goose, and three greater white fronted geese.  A treat!!

A peregrine falcon and a short-eared owl have also been reported out there.  We didn't see either one, but will keep trying.

Swallow-Tailed Kites

I had read about the swallow-tailed kites being seen on Dorchester Road in Belton.  We traveled out there after Mike's pre-op for his shoulder surgery.  Stopped at a church parking lot and almost immediately identified them.  At least 10 were wheeling around.  Too high for a picture, but they were beautiful birds!!!

Chat and Warbler

I got some good pictures of the yellow-breasted chat last week when we were out at the farm ponds.

Then, tonight we stopped by there - and saw a prairie warbler!!  First time for both of us.  Unmistakeable identification.  I got a couple of pictures but they are not very good.  I will try again next time.

Black-necked Stilt

 So a rare bird has been out at the farm ponds - two black-necked stilts.  We got out there after church tonight.  This picture isn't great but it definitely shows them.  These are shorebirds, found in southern Florida, up to the Carolina coast, and up the Mississippi River--but not in our area.  We got good looks at them this evening.

And another picture of a male dickcissel, singing loudly as sunset approached.

Dickcissels Post #2

 We made another trip to the farm ponds this morning.  This time my battery was charged, so I got a few pictures.

Grasshopper sparrow - this is not cropped.  At first I thought it was a female dickcissel.

Male dickcissel - he was a little farther away, so I had to zoom and then crop.

Singing on a beautiful spring morning.

Oh, and a couple of wood ducks that were on the farm ponds.

We are the very eastern edge for dickcissels.  Any farther east, and eBird flags a dickcissel as a rare bird.  Range maps also show we are the edge of the range.

Dickcissels

Male Dickcissel

We saw three dickcissels this morning at the Dobbins Farm Ponds.  At first we were thinking larks--but they were definitely not meadowlarks or horned larks.  We watched two males vying over one female.  I had a hard time getting one good picture - but this does identify it well.  This was a lifer for Mike, and a confirmation for me - I had seen one about 20 years ago when we still lived at Great Oaks, but didn't realize at the time it was a fairly unusual bird for our area.  So that made me a little unsure about the identification at the time.

Recent Observations

Although I have been quite sick this week with bronchitis, I just needed to get out of the house the other night.  When we heard that a greater white-fronted goose had been spotted at the farm ponds, we went out for a look.  We saw three.  One of them is at the right in the picture below.

This morning - an eastern phoebe at the feeder.  That was another first.  Glad I was feeling well enough to be sitting at the table and get a shot of it.

Brown-headed nuthatch.  They move so quickly that I considered myself fortunate to get a shot.

"Hey!!  Quit hogging the seed!!"

I thought this was a nice pic of the "lady with the lipstick."

Sandhill Cranes

Saw two sandhill cranes from the Hwy 243 bridge in Townville.  This isn't much of a picture, but it's the best I could do under the circumstances - it is a very busy road.  I felt fortunate to get this, because I was not leaning on anything, and the zoom was pretty far out.

A local birder who is very good said that this is a nice find.

Snow Day 1/7/16

Our 4"-6" turned into just a dusting.  But the bird pictures were still pretty.

Our red-bellied woodpecker is finally back!  First time this winter.

Blue jay almost camouflaged in the tree and snow.

Buffet in action

Not a good pic, but enough of a white-breasted nuthatch to see that it is there.