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| Flying flower, a friendly little Yellow Warbler |
It is hard to discipline myself to go birding every single day, but so far I haven't missed a day this year. Fingers crossed for no injuries or illnesses to stop my quest...
Yesterday the wind was howling, wet, wild, and downright cold. I did a quickie count at the feeders (not too shabby these days with Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Northern Cardinals, Baltimore Orioles and the usual plethora of American Goldfinches showing up all at once) and then called it good until mid-afternoon.
Then I sternly told myself 'If a day like this happened in March you would revel in it and run outdoors and play.'
So I did. And I was glad. Our woods were full of warblers, just common ones like Yellow and Yellow-rumped, but they are like flying flowers, so pretty and busy.
Then the apple orchard offered up a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, the first I have ever seen. We later got brave and birded our other two county hot spots and got a first of the season Eastern Kingbird....plus lots of others.
Turned out that even in the howling wind going outdoors is fun. 92 species found so far in our county and 67 on the farm. I need to work on the farm list. I think I am missing some that I actually did see.....
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| Northern Rough-winged Swallow posing for his shadow |
The first Eastern Kingbirds I ever saw were a pair that decided to nest in one of the ornamental pear trees that line the parking lot at the office building where I work near Detroit. I had no idea what it was and had to do a Google search. I couldn't believe I'd lived here twenty years and never saw one. There's a pear tree growing outside our second floor lunchroom where they nested and we had a blast watching the babies hatch and fledge. Every spring, we look for them to come back and they frequently do. It's a popular tree and the robins beat them to it this year. But I'm sure the Kingbirds are nearby in one of the other pear trees, we have a ton of pear trees.
ReplyDeleteDenny, that must have been wonderful! I haven't seen one yet this year on the farm. We seem to get everything a week or more behind many other places, perhaps because we face north. How neat to be able to look right into the nest! I was kinda surprised to see that one at Yankee Hill. Must have taken us half an hour to ID as it was hiding behind leaves way up in a tree.
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