Day 19.115: Spring bird walk #3

We had a large number of people and a relatively modest number of birds for walk 3. Here are some of my sightings:

A very obliging hairy woodpecker

Northern flickers

Brown-headed cowbird

Eastern bluebird

Northern cardinal

Canada geese

Broad-winged hawk

American robin

White-breasted nuthatch

Red-bellied woodpecker

Chipping sparrow

Tulip tree

American robin

Day 19.114: Nature walk

Our nature group outing on Saturday was in two parts. Here are some more sightings from part two (before the porcupine)

Tree swallows

Chipping sparrow 

Osprey

Vesper sparrow 

Field sparrow

Eastern towhee

Eastern bluebird

Yellow-rumped warbler 

Day 19.113: Exile #2's Sunday Column #551

Exile #2 writes...

As usual, we headed out early Saturday morning for a nature walk. We stayed pretty dry for the most part, considering the fact that showers had been predicted but just as we got in sight of the parking lot it really started to come down. That's when we spotted this little guy, who was doing his best to sleep through the whole thing.

North American porcupine

Day 19.112: Madison

I didn’t have a lot of time to get out and about with my camera in Madison this week, but I did manage one short early morning outing. This is what I saw.

Rowers on the lake

The Wisconsin State Capitol 

Barn swallow (first of the year for me)

American coots (another year bird)

Common grackles

Lots of the mallards show hybridization features such as these white neck patches

House sparrow 

Red-winged blackbird

Close-up of the top of the Capitol

Day 19.111: Home

I’m home after another connection through Washington D.C.. Here’s a less iconic view as we left there this evening.

Day 19.110: That’s capital!

I’m back in Madison, but I connected through a different city on the way here this time:

Day 19.109: Spring bird walk #2

Here are some of my photos from the second of the season of spring bird walks at Laurel Hill Cemetery hosted by Saco Bay Trails:

Eastern bluebird

Chipping sparrow in full song

Common merganser flyby

The blossom was spectacular

Northern flicker

American goldfinch

American robin

Palm warbler

Eastern phoebe

(is this my better side?)

The daffodils on the hillside by the river are probably peaking right now

Mallards

Young bald eagle

Canada geese

Double-crested cormorant

Northern cardinal

Sudden drama between this mature adult and the young eagle previously perched in the tree

We had quite the aerobatic display for a few minutes

...then they seemed to just be flying peacefully together

Northern cardinal

Great blue heron

Not a good photo - but this was my first spotted sandpiper of the year