I must bore the birds!

Tweet Why is it that every time I get lucky enough to see ducks up close, they are always asleep? Many times I have ducks swim up and then just go to sleep right in front of me when I bring out the camera.

These two male Ring-necked Ducks were swimming with some coots. When they seen me, they fell right asleep.

And again it happens, this time with Bufflehead. Only this time, it was kind of comical. A group of three females and one male Bufflehead were swimming just off the shore. Only one female in the group was awake. They kept drifting closer and closer to me as I just stood there clicking pics.

The females all eventually woke up, leaving only the male sleeping. The females started getting antsy as they drifted closer, following the male. Finally, they must have heard a noise, as out of nowhere they exploded off the water. I think they startled me just as much as I did them!

Just down the bank from the Bufflehead, I spotted a male Red-breasted Merganser. Only he was more alert and quickly headed away from me. Such a cool bird.

And, more American Coots swimming around. I think coots are unappreciated. They look cool when seen up close. Coots are always good, cause they are not too weary of people and draw in waterfowl that would normally keep their distance.

Once I had scoped the lake, I headed for the woods and fields to look for land birds. Saw quite a few Red-shouldered Hawks flying around. Here is one that was cooperative.

Nice looking bird for sure!

When I approached the fields, they were initially very quiet. I decided to make some noise via pishing. I heard then noticed a Swamp Sparrow skulking around. I can never get a good shot at one. Always uncooperative!

They are such a nice looking sparrow. Speaking of sparrows, I came across one that originally threw me off. It was in bad lighting and acting odd for the habitat. Then, it decided to fly to a close tree and land right in front of me. Seemed curious about me. Ah, a very dull Savannah Sparrow.

Why can't all sparrows be this cooperative! Odd behavior for a Savannah Sparrow, as it spent more time in the trees then in the grass.

Haven't seen much lately in the shorebird department, so I was glad to stumble upon six Wilson's Snipe hanging out in a wet field just down the road from my house. It was funny to see all the people that kept driving back and forth trying to figure out what I was looking at. Unfortunately, no one stopped so that I could have showed them. I would of gave them one of my new birder cards! ;-)

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A white-crowned day

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I woke up at around 8:30am to the sound of birds singing outside the window. I got up and opened the back door and could hear the songs of White-crowned Sparrows. I love their songs! I could see sparrows flitting around in my brush pile, so I grabbed my camera and headed out the door.

I phished and the White-crowneds popped up!

"Hey, look at my cool hairdo!"

"Hey, I'll have a head like that some day!" or maybe not

Also saw an Eastern Phoebe, Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Yellow-rumped Warblers flitting around.

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Sparrow banding Sunday at Miami Whitewater

Tweet Last Sunday, Jaime and I went to the annual sparrow banding event put on by the Avian Research and Education Institute at Miami Whitewater Park. Good birds were seen, however no "good" (i.e. LeConte's, Henslow's, or Nelson's Sharptails) sparrows were caught except for Lincoln's.

Sister Marty Dermody was also conducting a Big Sit at the wetlands. There were some good birds on the list when I left.

Susan will love this post ;-)

Lincoln's Sparrow (above as well)

And, a quiz bird:

Answer at bottom of post.

And, here is a bad photo of a Nelson's Sharptailed Sparrow I found on my comp from years past at MW (my old crappy camera). Look at the pointy tail for which it is named.




And, just for a break from sparrows, here is a female Hairy Woodpecker that was caught out in the fields (?) Love the nictitating membrane!



There were also good butterflies flying around. Here is a Common Buckeye, they were everywhere!




Answer to quiz bird: Alternate form Savannah Sparrow

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