I have most certainly been getting out and enjoying the birds out there. I just have not been super compelled to update this thing. It seems to be an ebb and flow of motivation to keep this thing going.
In the last month a number of birds have arrived, and I have had the pleasure of birding with friends, getting to special birding places, and keeping up as best I can with the plovers. I'll just dump the best pictures I have here.
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| A Northern Waterthrush in its element in Prospect Park's upper pool. |
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A great blue heron looking spiffy in its breeding plumage.
Check out the monster sliders and cooters in the background. |
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| A cute shipping sparrow foraging among the fallen petals of the spring trees. |
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| I love veerys. I love them veery much. |
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I birded the western side of the Marine Park Salt Marsh before work one day and was treated to a number of termite hatch-outs, which brought some birds with it.
A northern parula, one of very many. |
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| Singing it's northern parula song. |
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| A house wren gathers nesting material, got family on the way! |
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| A not-so-shy black-and-white warbler, feeding upon the termites taking their nuptial flight. |
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| For the termite in the beak of this indigo bunting, that flight was very short lived. |
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| A female common yellowthroat hawked termites like a yellow-rumped warbler would. |
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| A blackpoll warbler gets in on the feast and signals this warbler migration coming to an end. |
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| Red-eyed vireos are one of the common songs being heard in the tree tops. |
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| On a very-dog filled plover outing, I spotted this American Oystercatcher on its two eggs. |
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| A piping plover taking a rest in a small divot in the sand. |
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For this walk, I had one single plover on my walk out, and encountered around 8 dogs on the beach.
But when I walked back, all but one dog, a service animal, had exited. And once the dogs were gone, I finally got to see the plovers, as they came out and down to feed. |
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| Looks like a stretch of relief to me! |
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| Love these little loves. |
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This years birdathon raised money for NYC Plover Project. Our team, Smooth Like Bittern, saw 115 bird species across Brooklyn.
Including this Magnolia Warbler. |
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| We stumbled upon a termite hatch-out while standing on a bridge, giving us nice tree-top, eye-level views of warblers, like this chestnut-sided warbler. |
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| A black-and-white warbler stealing a few termites. |
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| A crappy picture of a robin with some piebald leucism. |
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| The birdathon took us out to Plumb Beach where we enjoyed this semi-palmated sandpiper who was with least sandpipers. |
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| t Floyd Bennett Field, we nearly stumbled over a nesting killdeer - a reminder to watch your step on any fields this time of year! |
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| Our final stop of the birdathon was Shirley Chisholm SP and we enjoyed this gingery little field sparrow. |
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On Mother's Day, I did no birding. I was exhausted from the birdathon. Instead, I napped.
But Monday, I worked from my in-laws and did a pre-work birding trip to Doodletown.
Greeted just up the hillside by this indigo bunting. |
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The forest was filled with birds and their song, but it was hard to see much.
This Carolina wren was one of three wrens working on a fallen log. |
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| American redstarts were everywhere. I like this natural vignette looking through a tulip trees leaves. |
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| There were so many Ceruleans and a picture was dang hard to get- and I did have to start my work day. SO this is the best I got. Belting out its song. |
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| Also enjoyed the other expected warblers there, like this blue-winged warbler, worm-eating warbler, hooded warbler, and even heard a black-billed cuckoo call. |
