A near miss..
A couple of hours at Ben Brenman Park with Chrystal, we started early, arriving just after dawn.
The cloud formations were dramatic in the early like and a light breeze was gently agitating the leaves - finding warblers was going to be a challenge!
In the area area the picnic shelter near the dog park the were a few warblers, we had good views of 5 different Parulas. One bird was a very pale young bird, looking quite exotic until really good views were had (that is not to say this isnt one of the more exotic species anyway :) ).
There were good numbers of American Robin and Flicker in the bushes and flying over and Blue Jays were making themselves obvious both in the bushes and a small flock of 10 birds flying over.
As we passed over 'Pooh Bridge' a juvenile Night Heron flew over us towards where the rivers join. We elected to go to 'Cardinal Bridge' and immediately found it (black-crowned of course) on a low branch just down stream.
We both spent some quality time looking at it through the 'scope with frame filling views. A beautiful, well marked individual with large spots and a subtle different tone to the base of the greater coverts - a slightly more rufous brown contrasting with the sandy brown remaining plumage base color.
Chrystal found a Magnolia Warbler nearby and following it across the stream, it joined two more.
As we were looking upstream, a coopers hawk passed low overhead (we had watched it fly in the other direction earlier). Suddenly it dived into the stream side trees only to appear a second later in hot pursuit of a birf that plunged into the water to avoid becoming breakfast. As the hawk flew away, we watched the Green Heron extracate itself from the stream and find a place to dry off.
Many folks around this morning in pleasantly warm temperatures (70* at dawn!). The usual dog walkers of course most of which are always happy to share their canine charges. A few folks showed an interest and some a good birding knowledge ("was that a Coopers?") including a couple who moved into Cameron Station yesterday after being deployed in Italy.
The cloud formations were dramatic in the early like and a light breeze was gently agitating the leaves - finding warblers was going to be a challenge!
In the area area the picnic shelter near the dog park the were a few warblers, we had good views of 5 different Parulas. One bird was a very pale young bird, looking quite exotic until really good views were had (that is not to say this isnt one of the more exotic species anyway :) ).
There were good numbers of American Robin and Flicker in the bushes and flying over and Blue Jays were making themselves obvious both in the bushes and a small flock of 10 birds flying over.
As we passed over 'Pooh Bridge' a juvenile Night Heron flew over us towards where the rivers join. We elected to go to 'Cardinal Bridge' and immediately found it (black-crowned of course) on a low branch just down stream.
We both spent some quality time looking at it through the 'scope with frame filling views. A beautiful, well marked individual with large spots and a subtle different tone to the base of the greater coverts - a slightly more rufous brown contrasting with the sandy brown remaining plumage base color.Chrystal found a Magnolia Warbler nearby and following it across the stream, it joined two more.
As we were looking upstream, a coopers hawk passed low overhead (we had watched it fly in the other direction earlier). Suddenly it dived into the stream side trees only to appear a second later in hot pursuit of a birf that plunged into the water to avoid becoming breakfast. As the hawk flew away, we watched the Green Heron extracate itself from the stream and find a place to dry off.
Many folks around this morning in pleasantly warm temperatures (70* at dawn!). The usual dog walkers of course most of which are always happy to share their canine charges. A few folks showed an interest and some a good birding knowledge ("was that a Coopers?") including a couple who moved into Cameron Station yesterday after being deployed in Italy.
No comments:
Post a Comment