Monthly Archives: May 2021

Our summer residents have begun settling in and starting their families. Here are a few of them. Least Terns nest in the dunes above the high tide mark. The males seem to be bringing in fish for the females on the nest. Two more nesting birds…a Red-bellied Woodpecker peeking out of her nest and anContinue reading “Summer Residents Settling In”

Regular birding buddy Dave and I got great looks at four species of Swallow in one morning, all within the Parker River NWR. There is a Purple Martin colony at the main lot as you enter the refuge where volunteers maintain a cluster of gourd-style nest boxes. Purple Martins rely on such man-made facilities andContinue reading “Swallows”

Most of my recent posts have focused on the woodlands and fields. Here are some photos from closer to the water. These are the last of ones from the past week or so. I’ll be heading with the camera tomorrow to gather more. Least Terns and Piping Plovers nest on the southern end of PlumContinue reading “Near the Water”

Warbler migration is winding down and with the exception of a few summer residents, they are headed north and inland. This is a collection of the ones I was able to see and photograph in the past week. Not the greatest variety in my experience but it is the hunt and the photography challenge thatContinue reading “Warblers”

The weather has been sunny and warm for several days and I have accumulated a large selection of photos. I’ll break them up into three posts, starting with some newly arrived summer residents. Before I get into the summer residents, I have to share these pictures of a year round bird, the Barred Owl. TheContinue reading “Summer Residents”

More varieties of warblers have been spotted in the past week. Here are six that I photographed. The male Rose-breasted Grosbeak is colorful but this one was a bit shy. The female wasn’t reluctant to show off her fine plumage though. The Eastern Towhee male and female are a bit more similar looking. The female’sContinue reading “2021 Migration IV”

I’ve had two productive outings in the past few days, including the one with the owl encounter. Time to share some of the bounty. I hadn’t even gotten out of the parking lot and on to the trail at Oxbow NWR when I got this picture of a male American Redstart. This pretty warbler wasContinue reading “2021 Migration III”

I interrupt my series of migration photos for a short action sequence. Smaller birds often gang up on a larger bird, particularly a predator. This is especially true during breeding season when they do not want such a bird anywhere near their nesting sites. The smaller birds are usually a little too quick for theContinue reading “Mobbing an Owl”

These photographs were taken on a nice sunny spring morning walk with three friends in a wildlife management area. It was a windy day and the birds were quiet but we did have some nice sightings, including another two species of warbler for me to photograph. This is a Blue-winged Warbler that was foraging amongContinue reading “2021 Migration II”

Warblers are slowly beginning to appear. There have been strong northwest winds in the past weeks and that may have slowed their arrival. But other migrants are showing up. I got my feeder out just a week before the first hummingbirds came to my home. Our summer resident hummingbird is the Ruby-throated Hummingbird. The malesContinue reading “2021 Migration”