Great Blue Heron, Great Salt Marsh, Mason Neck NWR. April 2005. This beauty fished right in front of us for a good while before taking off.

Yellowlegs, Great Salt Marsh, Mason Neck NWR. April 2005. We took a walk to the Great Salt Marsh--our first trip there. It was a very pleasant trip. We also heard an Ovenbird, but could never find it.

Monday Morning Bird Walk, Huntley Meadows

The Monday morning birdwalk was cold, but we persevered and were rewarded with some good birds. A green heron flew away from right in front of us. In addition to the Hooded Merganser brood and the brown thrasher, we saw Wood ducks, yellow rumps, tree swallows, red-headed woodpecker, mallards, and red-winged blackbirds.

Hooded Mergansers, Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, VA. April 2005. This mama was very attentive to her brood. What fun! 

Yellowlegs. Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, VA. April 2005. I think this was a Greater Yellowlegs. It flew very near us after being harassed by a red-winged blackbird. 

Brown thrasher, Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, VA. April 2005  

Kroodsma Birdwalk and Book Signing

Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, VA. April 2005. A goodly number of people were lucky enough to go on a birdwalk with author Donald Koodsma and learn to listen to "The Singing Life of Birds." Much more than birding by ear; Dr. Koodsma taught us to appreciate the qualities of the individual bird's song. What a pleasant morning!

Don Kroodsma, author of The Singing Life of Birds." He was a delight. "Forget the label, listen to the bird," he said.

American Bittern, Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, Va. This beautiful bird flew over our heads, circled the park and then came back over our heads, allowing most of us, I think, the best look we'd ever had of a bittern. I heard several people say it was a life bird for them. It certainly was for me. (Isn't everything?)

Common yellowthroat, Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, VA. April 2005. I was trying to manually focus through the cattails that were throwing off the autofocus, and he didn't hang around long enough to perfect it, but still readily identifiable from this pic. I actually like the surrealistic quality of the photo.

Great crested flycatcher, Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, VA. April 2005. We got a pretty good look at this bird through our binoculars, albeit from a distance. Unfortunately, too far away for my 300MM zoom to get a very good picture.

Carolina wren, backyard deck, Alexandria, VA. April 2005. Probably the best picture of a Carolina that I've taken. This wren was waiting below the suet feeder for the scraps knocked down by the mockingbird. What a team!

Mockingbird, backyard deck, Alexandria, VA. April 2005. I enjoyed seeing this mockingbird eat suet from my feeder. It would wipe the excess from its bill onto the wire and then eat the scraps off the wire.

Eastern Towhee (red-eyed), Alexandria, VA. I was disappointed that I hadn't seen one of towhees that the group were seeing everywhere on the walk this morning. Lo and behold, one flew into the crepe myrtle in our front yard and announced his arrival with the classic "drink your teeee" song. I got some good pics. Happy day!

Blue Jay, backyard, Alexandria, VA. Yes, we've all seen blue jays, but I didn't have a picture on my blog.

Common Grackle, Alexandria, VA. After a disappointing (as far as visuals and new birds) morning, I was pleased to get some good pics of this common grackle in the neighbor's driveway. Although I've seen them before, many times, this is the first one since I've been blogging.

Chipping Sparrow, backyard, Alexandria, VA. After I got home from the walk, and a quilting class I taught, I thought I would content myself with my backyard birds. Here's a little better picture of a chipping sparrow at my feeder. They have been frequent visitors. Haven't seen the ruby throat again. Most of our time has been spent shooing squirrels away from the new window feeder I put up. I think I'll have to relocate it.

Intermediate Birding Class, Huntley Meadows

Intermediate Birding Class, Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, VA. I went on a birding class & walk this morning in the western part of Huntley Meadows. Here, our guide Larry checks one of the bluebird boxes for which he is responsible. On the walk, I saw a yellow rumped warbler, goldfinches, several downy woodpeckers, several blue gray gnatcatchers and a ruby crowned kinglet, though we never saw the ruby crown. The group saw eastern towhee, pine warbler, ovenbird, and house wren. The birds seem to always move before I could find them with my binoculars. Our guide also heard red eyed vireos. We heard many red-bellied woodpeckers. It was a real education at birding by ear. Also, of course, red-winged blackbirds, snowy egret and Canada geese were in the central wetlands (which is not so wet now.)

Huntley Meadows Park. The overnight rain was still on the trees. The weather was warm though humid while we were there.

Carolina Wren, backyard deck, Alexandria, VA. "You looking at me?" I think of Carolina Wrens as the terriers of the bird world--small, feisty and very loud! I just loved the perspective of this picture....

Chipping sparrow, backyard, Alexandria, VA. Late in the day yesterday, these chipping sparrows visited the feeder. A chipping sparrow was also the first bird I saw this morning at the feeder.

First Hummingbird of the season!

My first ruby throat of the season showed up today, a brilliantly colored male; unfortunately, he left before I could get a picture.  But good times are here! 

 

Also today on the deck:  carolina wren, cardinal, morning dove, indigo bunting (pictured below).

Indigo bunting, bckyard feeder, Alexandria, VA. April 2005. This first-year bunting hung around for just a minute; I was lucky to have time to grab my camera and get this good a picture.

House finch, female, backyard feeder, Alexandria, VA. April 2005.

House finch, backyard feeder, Alexandria, VA. April 2005. This male was keeping a watchful eye while his mate worked the feeder.

Tree swallows and sailboat, Dyke Marsh, Alexandria, VA. April 2005. Tree swallows are in the nest box at left; a close up follows.

Tree swallows, Dyke Marsh, Alexandria, VA. April 2005. Tree swallows nesting in this house at Dyke Marsh.

Double crested cormorants and pie billed grebe (in water at left), Potomac River, Belle Haven, Alexandria, VA. April 2005. Couldn't figure out why this little grebe was hanging out with the cormorants. I guess he was lonely.

Monday Morning Bird Walk, Huntley Meadows Park

It was a beautiful morning for the weekly walk. Warmer than it has been, and all the forest birds were in full song. In addition to the birds pictured below, I saw cardinals, blue jays, redwinged blackbirds (of course), Canada geese, greater yellowlegs, pectoral sandpipers (well seen through the scope, but too far away for a definitive picture--I need a bigger lens!), wood ducks, mallards, yellow rumped warblers, northern flicker, eastern phoebe, rusty blackbird, bluebird. The group also saw American Kestrel and laughing gulls, but I didn't see them well enough to make my own ID.

Rough Green Snake, Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, VA. April 2005. My guidebook describes this as a "slender tree-dwelling snake, uniform pea-green with a long tapering tail. That certainly fits this snake, which was in the same tree for the three hours we were in the park.

Swamp sparrow, Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, VA. April 2005. Got several pictures of this elusive little guy, none of them great, but all good enough to ID him. I'm working on my sparrows.

Monday Morning Bird Walkers, Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, VA. Talk about odd birds! No, seriously, a great group of people who are very generous with their knowledge (and binoculars and scopes!)

Killdeer, Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, VA. April 2005. I've seen killdeer several times, but this little guy or gal was very near the boardwalk at Huntley Meadows, and it was a great photo opportunity, even if he or she wouldn't show off those great breast bands!

Palm warbler, Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, VA. April 2005. Three of these were flitting about in the woods.

Muskrat, Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, VA. April 2005. It could be a nutrea; we didn't get a definitive look at the tail. It was having a great time eating the new greens that are beginning to pop out of the ground.

Red-headed woodpecker, Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, VA. April 2005. This red-headed flew into a tree almost over our heads. What a great look at this beautiful woodpecker!

Great Egret, Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, VA. April 2005. The egret was feeding for quite awhile in the back pond at Huntley Meadows, but upon our arrival on the observation platform, flew by in search of a new fishing place.

Bald Eagle, Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, VA. April 2005. This adult gave us a good view, spending about five minutes in plain sight on three different trees, before flying back into the deep woods.

Hooded Merganser, female among the turtles, Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, VA. April 2005. There were actually three females on this log, enjoying the sun along with seven or eight turtles.

Beginning Birder Class, Huntley Meadows Park

I went out with a beginning birder's class and learned alot about binoculars, scopes and looking for and identifying birds. No new birds for me, but some good pics and a nice morning outdoors. In addition to the pics that follow, we saw a northern flicker, canada geese, a downy woodpecker, morning doves, redwinged blackbirds (of course). Disappointly, the Canada goose nest that I pictured earlier in the month, with the goose "feathering" her nest, had been abandoned. No sign of any eggs.

Eastern Phoebe, Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, VA. April 2005.

Hooded Merganser, female, Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, VA. April 2005. She swam in the pond near us for quite awhile, going through a whole bathing routine, before flying off.

Green heron, Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, VA. April 2005. We were standing on the observation tower at the Park, about 20 feet above the ground, and this green heron flew into a tree right at eye level for us.

Cardinal, female, Huntley Meadows Park, April 2005. Canon 10D. She eventually dropped this huge leaf and flew on.

Huntley Meadows Park. April 2005. This park is just beautiful, although the water levels are going down now that the beaver have abandoned their dam. For more information, go to www.friendsofhuntleymeadows.org

Green Heron at Monticello Park, Alexandria, April 13

On Wednesday, April 13, Fred and I flushed a green heron while walking around Monticello Pond.  We had a good look at it with the binos after it flew to the opposite side of the man-made pond. 

 

There were also many mallards, Canada geese, domestic geese and what looked like Mallard hybrids???---almost all black ducks with a mallard-like head and bill, and a bit of white on the front.  Quite beautiful.  Will go back with my camera.

Jackson Abbott Wildlife Refuge, Woodlawn, VA, April 11, 2005

To complete a full day of birding (unplanned), Fred and I decided to stop off at the Jackson Abbott Wildlife Refuge--a couple miles from our house. We carried the scope in and set up on the observation platform that overlooks the wetlands (not the pond). Got great looks at a great blue heron, several wood ducks and the hooded merganser pair pictured below (much better through the scope!). Also the ubiquitous redwinged blackbirds and Canada geese. One last pass with the scope revealed a belted kingfisher sitting on a tree branch waaaay back--too far by far to try for a pic. All in all, a great day of birding.

Hooded Merganser, Jackson-Abbott Wildlife Refuge, Woodlawn, VA. April 2005. Way in the back of the pond I scoped this Merganser pair. A new bird for me, and I wasn't sure if my 300mm lens would capture a good enough pic to confirm the sighting, but it did! A male wood duck was also standing just to the right.

Wood Ducks on display, Jackson-Abbott Wildlife Refuge, Woodlawn, VA. April 2005. Two pair of wood ducks climbed up on this log--for a better look at us, perhaps?

Mason Neck State Park, Monday, April 11, 2005

Mason Neck State Park. Husband Fred and I went for picnic lunch and a walk at Mason Neck State Park. There is also a National Wildlife Refuge there, but we saved that for another time.

On our way out to lunch, on the river overlook trail to the north of the Visitor's Center, we flushed an immature bald eagle--probably 2d year by the amount of white. No pic as he startled us as much as we startled him (or her) and those great wings moved him out pretty fast! We ate lunch at the overlook and saw a flotilla of 24 double-crested cormorants float by, and two great blue herons flew past.

After lunch, we walked along the Bay View Trail. Scared an unidentified snake--what we could see was solid gray--and then from the observation gazebo saw several pairs each of blue-winged and green-winged teal, pictured below, along with wood ducks, Canada geese and mallards.

Blue-winged teal, Mason Neck State Park, VA. April 2005. There were six to eight pairs in this pond on the Bay View Trail at Mason Neck. Also green-winged teal (pictured below), mallards and Canada geese.

Green winged teal, Mason Neck State Park, VA. April 2005. In the light, the ear patch looked blue. There were six to eight pairs in this pond on the Bay View Trail at Mason Neck.

Monday Morning Bird Walk at Huntley Meadows - April 11, 2005

Had a great morning.  In addition to the birds pictured in the earlier (following) posts, I saw a northern flicker, a great blue heron, probable Cooper's hawk, a juvenile red shouldered hawk in flight (we could see the buffy crescents on his wings), tree swallows, mallards, Canada geese, and wood ducks.  The "pro" birders, of course, saw much more.

The common snipe pictured below was a new bird for me.

Osprey, Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, VA. April 2005. While we were watching, this osprey came in, pulled a muddy stick out of the water and flew off.

Great egret and probable snowy egret, Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, VA. April 2005. There's a chance it could be a little egret, but when in doubt, I always assume it's the more common bird