Bird and human activity has been slowed by the ongoing heat and drought in my area. But life continues. These are some of the birds that I have spotted in the past few weeks.
I’ll do cute first. These are part of the new generation of Gadwalls.
There is a family of flycatchers, Empidonax, that includes two species that breed in my area. These two species. Willow and Alder, are virtually impossible to distinguish by sight. We have to wait for them to vocalize to know which one we are seeing. This Willow Flycatcher was helpfully calling while hunting insects. It perched on the reeds and then took off to snatch its quarry.
There is a bird banding station on the wildlife refuge. One of the banders looked at my photograph and told us that this Saltmarsh Sparrow was banded on Plum Island as indicated by the colors of the tags on its leg. And, it is a female since the tags are on the left leg. She has an insect in her beak and was likely bringing food to a nearby nest.
This is a Cedar Waxwing fluttering around in the weeds near a pond. We usually see them higher up in trees. There may have been some berries in the brush.
House Wrens have been plentiful in some locations this year. This one was peeking at me from cover in a spot where I have been seeing them all summer.
We all, birds and humans, are looking forward to some cooler and wetter weather!
Birds in My Viewfinder 