Brown Thrasher Toxostoma rufum |
Hermit Thrush Catharus guttatus |
Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis |
Eastern Phoebe Sayornis phoebe |
Northern Flicker Colaptes auratus |
White-throated Sparrow Zonotrichia albicollis |
American Tree Sparrow Spizella arborea |
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Rain cover thingy - it works! |
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Strap quick release thingy |
Quiet Spot in NDG, April 26
Very steady rain in the morning, yet it ended up being quite birdy, with 29 species encountered in 90 minutes.
I finally got to try out a waterproof camera cover I picked up last year. After some fiddling, it worked a treat, although the rain made it tricky to see through the plastic window bit at times (I had to install quick release strap attachments to get the strap mounted through the cover). I’m sort of shocked I got any images at all through the thing, if I’m honest, ha ha.
I used my ‘old’ birding gear, as testing my new light travel rig for water resistance is not something that interests me (but the trials continue).
Looking at the mix of birds, it really felt like late April.
-High single-digit numbers of White-throated Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, and Chipping Sparrow cluttered up every bit of weedy edge.
-Several Song Sparrow, Hermit Thrush, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Yellow-shafted Flicker, Eastern Phoebe, and an American Tree Sparrow, only my second for the site.
-Finally got a Brown Thrasher for this spot…personal species #73 for the site – a silent individual perched at the top of a muddy sumac slope. I must have walked right past it on the way in, and only caught it on the way out with one of those ‘one last look’ 360 twirls birders do.
-Other birds of note: Merlin, Cooper’s Hawk still on the nest, Winter Wren, Carolina Wren (Back!), Golden- and Ruby-crowned Kinglets.
-Warblers? On the way.
Part of the charm of this spot is that it looks much as it did 130 years ago, I imagine. Unfortunately, the property is soon changing hands, and in the next few years, I fear that domino rows of condos will stand in this quiet place. But that’s OK, because one fine day in the future, all those condos will crumble back into the weeds, and the last people that remember the folks that built them will be long dead.