A group of us have decided to keep the birding walks at Laurel Hill Cemetery going now that the sponsored series has ended. Today was the first of these less-official walks and it started somewhat inauspiciously with a jack hammer (pneumatic drill for UK readers) starting up as we gathered and then - as we moved away from that - lots of lawn mowing and other motorized maintenance traffic.
Soon, however the birds had their moments - including my "nemesis" and a rare sighting.
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| Downy woodpecker - and now, thanks to Josh Fecteau I have a diagnostic based on the back of the head as well as the beak for differentiating these from their slightly larger cousins hairy woodpeckers. |
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| After our walk at Shaw Cherry Hill Farm last weekend, Exile #4 declared that the ovenbird was my nemesis because we failed to spot one despite trying for quite a while while quite close to one on two separate birding walks. Today, this one perched generously for us - albeit quite distant - singing its impressive song. |
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| Bald eagle out over the causeway - not a great photo, but unmistakable nevertheless. |
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| Star of the show was this adult red-headed woodpecker. An extremely rare sighting in Maine. It hung around moving from tree to tree within sight for quite a while. |
We also watched a red-eyed vireo feeding in a low shrub just a few feet away from us and saw a robin feeding a juvenile nearby as well as many of the normal suspects - chipping sparrows, grey catbirds, eastern bluebirds and lots of chipmunks and grey squirrels.
My summary: photography - meh; birds - very obliging; company - enthusiastic and knowledgeable.
Excellent!
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