Staycation

Gray Catbird

We had intended to visit Maine again this fall and Becky took several days off to accommodate same. However, she and I both had a hinky feeling about it and we pretty much stayed home...just took trips within NY. 

White-crowned Sparrow

Guess that was a good thing, as the car coughed up a stabilizer bar Saturday and was clunking mightily at every corner. It wasn't a big or expensive fix but it nixed our planned trip up north to Tupper Lake to see Canada Jays and look for other boreal birds, plus tourist around a little.

Since it got fixed so quickly we chased around a little yesterday afternoon, but the best birding of the day was from my chair in the backyard with the pleasant companionship of my good buddy Earl.

Earl is a wonderful birding companion,
never makes a sound and sits perfectly still

I have been pretty much stalled on adding species to my 2025 Montgomery County list, but two nice ones showed up yesterday, a Mourning Warbler that was noodling around in the honey locust tree and then flew almost into my face, and a group of Lincoln's Sparrows that seemed to be everywhere at once.

Song Sparrow

Why is it that the cool birds are so hard to photograph? I can get decent shots of Magnolia Warblers and Common Yellowthroats almost every year, but something uncommon like that MOWA is impossible to catch. I spent at least an hour creeping around the yard trying to get a photo of one of those LISPs, but only captured about a dozen Song Sparrows, another cooperative species of bird when it comes to photos.

Ha, ha, I win....

Guess I will go out now, and put the old sleeping bag in my chair, haul out my coffee, bins, and camera and see what I can find.

Looking for peanuts

The Blue Jays are hollering for their peanuts...

The chipmunks stole all the peanuts.....

Update: I was a bit luckier this afternoon....

Lincoln's Sparrow