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On my bird walk this morning, saw the great blue heron perched in the same place as last week--on the branches of a dead bush/tree in one of the ponds--first crouched down so that he could see beneath the surface of the water, and then in various poses as I discovered from the camera of a birder I briefly chatted with later in my walk. There were American goldfinches aplenty in that spot, three red-bellied woodpeckers, an adult and two chicks as I learned when pointing them out to a group who wanted to know if I had seen any interesting birds. They directed me to the Northern waterthrush in that pond. In addition to the usual birds, there were several Eastern kingbirds, chimney swifts, and a red-tailed hawk circling overhead. No sight of the great egret today in either of the two ponds he likes to frequent.

TIL that cattle egrets hang out together in the morning.  I spooked a group (flock?) of about 20 this morning on a golf course.  They all flew off, but in different directions.

Speaking of egrets, I was taking the train back from the Cape yesterday evening around dusk and it went through a wetland area where dozens and dozens of Snowy Egrets were settling into low trees for the night- I had never seen so many at once! Glimpses like this are one of the reasons I love trains.

This morning I saw a large raptor flying over the neighborhood.  It appeared to have a white head.  Was it possibly a bald eagle?  I'm a terrible bird spotter, with my lousy distance vision.  We do have a a wildlife refuge a few miles away where bald eagles can be seen.  But they're most likely to be here during the winter, and the town is several miles from any body of water more substantial than the big pond at the city park.  Maybe it was in transit between refuges?

Quote from: apl68 on August 07, 2023, 07:33:52 AMThis morning I saw a large raptor flying over the neighborhood.  It appeared to have a white head.  Was it possibly a bald eagle?  I'm a terrible bird spotter, with my lousy distance vision.  We do have a a wildlife refuge a few miles away where bald eagles can be seen.  But they're most likely to be here during the winter, and the town is several miles from any body of water more substantial than the big pond at the city park.  Maybe it was in transit between refuges?

Probably an osprey https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Osprey/id or a red-tailed hawk https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-tailed_Hawk/id unless it was actually a bald eagle. You can also see if bald eagles or other raptors were sighted in your neighborhood by looking up the hotspots or nearby wildlife refuges or even county parks on ebird https://ebird.org/explore

Quote from: Langue_doc on August 09, 2023, 07:40:55 AM

Quote from: apl68 on August 07, 2023, 07:33:52 AMThis morning I saw a large raptor flying over the neighborhood.  It appeared to have a white head.  Was it possibly a bald eagle?  I'm a terrible bird spotter, with my lousy distance vision.  We do have a a wildlife refuge a few miles away where bald eagles can be seen.  But they're most likely to be here during the winter, and the town is several miles from any body of water more substantial than the big pond at the city park.  Maybe it was in transit between refuges?

Probably an osprey https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Osprey/id or a red-tailed hawk https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-tailed_Hawk/id unless it was actually a bald eagle. You can also see if bald eagles or other raptors were sighted in your neighborhood by looking up the hotspots or nearby wildlife refuges or even county parks on ebird https://ebird.org/explore

Thanks for the tips!  Honestly, it could have been any of them--all three are found in this region.  If it wasn't a bald eagle, I'm leaning toward having seen an osprey.  Like I said, with my eyesight I can't spot bird species worth a flip.  I do know it was quite an impressive-looking raptor.

Went to the zoo today and saw a secretary bird kill and eat a lizard.

I liked it.  Nearby children were traumatized.

The great blue heron was in its usual spot, perched on the branches of a dead bush/tree in a shallow pond. On the other side of the pond, standing on a stone outcropping was a double-crested cormorant, rather usual in this particular area despite its prevalence in other parts of the city. Along the shore of the adjacent pond stood a small green heron, majestically walking along the pond's edge, not particularly looking for food, perhaps just out on a ramble. I saw him as soon as I had put away my birding equipment, but quickly grabbed them before he could take off--he never did, as he was still on his slow and measured ambulatory pace as I was driving away.

I heard whippoorwills over the weekend for the first time in a very long time.  I grew up hearing them, but logging has devastated the area where I grew up so thoroughly that there's very little variety of birds left.  I don't believe I've ever heard one near the town where I now live.

I've occasionally heard owls in the woods on the edge of town near my house, and in the woods at or near the city park.  This morning was the first time I've heard them in both places!  There have been a pair of them roosting in my neighborhood--not just in the nearby woods--this week.  And now a completely different owl with a completely different call at the park.  Maybe the moon has them feeling more active and expressive.

A green heron yesterday and today in the same area in a pond, what could be either a juvenile little blue heron or a snowy egret, yesterday and today in the same pond, and a very active red-tailed hawk today. The latter first settled on a structure by the pond, then flew quite low across the pond, settled on another structure, then flew back and settled on a traffic sign by the pond. I must have walked too close to him because he took off again, flew across the pond, and sat by the edge. People were walking close to him, taking pictures. The green heron was on a low tree branch overhanging the pond yesterday, and then he flew down to the rocky edge, and disappeared among the small rocks. Today I saw ripples in the pond in the same area, and then the heron with a fish or frog in its mouth, after which he once again walked out of sight.

I usually run into birders from one or more of my walks in other parts of the city and surroundings here. It isn't unusual for one or more of the birders I encounter in this area to say something along the lines of "Didn't I see you at such and such location/walk?" or "Didn't I see you at such and such organization's bird walk?" Yesterday I had three such encounters within a 15-minute period.

ETA That was a juvenile little blue heron; a couple of birders reported seeing this bird at the same location, and had also posted photos of the bird.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Little_Blue_Heron/photo-gallery/304483031

I saw one of our local grey herons this morning at the city park.  It was the first time I'd seen one in some time.  I wonder where they go during these periods when they aren't here?  Some years they've been here all year round, sometimes they'll go away for weeks or months at a time, then suddenly reappear.  Since we've had a mostly wet summer this year, I figure they've had other wet areas they could go to nearby.

Rather dull bird walk yesterday, due to the winds blowing in the wrong direction, but we did see a couple of inebriated house sparrows. Some of us thought that they were injured because they were bopping around, apparently unable to fly, but then we were informed that they had feasted on the fruit that had fallen from the tree above them, and hence were drunk as the proverbial skunks. I'll have to find out the name of that tree the next time I'm on an outing with this particular leader.

This morning the juvenile little blue heron was still in the same spot. We also saw the green heron in an adjacent body of water, an osprey flying overhead, and a couple of red-tailed hawks trying to get comfortable on the branch of a tree in pouring rain. The highlight was seeing a mourning warbler that was walking in and out of bushy undergrowth. The chest wasn't quite as black as the one in the illustration. I saw one a year or so ago during migration, but wouldn't have identified it today unless it had been pointed out to me. On my way out, I saw a great blue heron land on a tree by yet another body of water.

From my umbrella
I saw an egret striding
At the water's edge

We saw several migrating warblers on the walk today. The highlight was a hooded warbler that put on quite a display not far from the path.

The juvenile little blue heron was still in its usual little pond. Other birds included a not-very-common Connecticut Warbler, several ovenbirds, on the ground and also on trees, several American Redstarts, and the usual migrating birds. We also saw several raptors--an osprey, one or more peregrine falcons, merlins, kestrels, red-tailed hawks and a Broad-winged hawk coasting on air currants.