2021 Migration III

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 was just waiting for me to come by and take his portrait.

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Not a warbler, but a Warbling Vireo.

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This is our large and distinctive flycatcher, the Great Crested Flycatcher. He will eat well in the swampy parts of Oxbow.

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These are not migrants. But they are new arrivals…Canada Goose goslings.

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Solitary Sandpipers probably got their name because they hang out where no other sandpipers seem to go. This one was foraging along a wet hiking trail through the swamp.

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Sparrows are tough to identify sometimes. They are “little brown birds” until you learn the various characteristics. This is an easy one: White-throated Sparrow.

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I rarely see a Double-crested Cormorant displaying his trademark crests. These are our summer cormorants.

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Mute Swans look grand but they are an invasive species and unfortunately do some damage to local ecology.

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Mallards are notorious for crossbreeding with other duck species. The best guess for this hybrid is a Mallard father and a barnyard duck mother.

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This is a species of thrush called a Veery. He just returned from wintering in South America. Bienvenido de nuevo.

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I’ll end with a Baltimore Oriole pausing to call while searching for breakfast.

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Now to go through a lot of photos from this morning’s outing.