Spring...so long awaited, so very welcome. Trees are blooming. The lilacs are almost open, as are the flowering crab apples that line Main Street down in town.
The first hummingbird arrived at the feeder a couple of days ago. Other birders, less blind than I, are racking up warblers like mad. The boss and I are doing okay though. Picked up a couple of flycatchers today, a Scarlet Tanager, Indigo Bunting (right on the feeder) and some other delightful fliers.
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| Semipalmated Plover |
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| Least Sandpiper |
Best birds of the week though, were a pair of lifers, Semipalmated Plovers and Least Sandpipers, plus not one but three Upland Sandpipers.
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| Upland Sandpiper |
Finding the latter was kind of funny....there is a horse farm up in Ames, where they breed each year. It's a good place to find them even from the road. We were pulled off on the verge and I was scanning the distant fence posts as they like to sit on top of them. Nada, although one had flown off when we drove by earlier.
As I perused the far distance the boss asked, "What color are they anyhow?"
I replied that they are kind of tan, sort of.
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| Wilson's Snipe |
He said, "What's that right next to the car there?"
Yeah, there were three of them cavorting among the lovely Thoroughbred mares and foals sharing the paddock we were parked next to.
What would I be without his sharp eyes and lack of preconceptions about where to look?
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| An adult Nottabird, nomming sliced apple I put out for catbirds and robins. |
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