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.