Where to go and what to see?

When I am not in my backyard, I have to make a choice about where to go to bird. I don't have all of the time in the world and it helps to get a head start. Also when I see a new bird, I sometimes wonder what it is. Having a small inkling in advance also helps with this. I found a link to help me with both of those in Northern VA.

When I was out surfing the internet one day I came across a link for a rare bird list. When I started to dig into it, I realized that it is put out every Tuesday and is a list of where all of the rare bird sightings are in my area. When I take a Thursday or Friday off to bird, I look over the list beforehand to see if there are any rare birds around or how the birds are trending. When I read that there are large flocks of hawks around (for example), I might look extra hard for that species.

Here is the link that I found. Click on North America to bring up a list of all of the states.

http://www.virtualbirder.com/vbirder/realbirds/rbas/VA.html

Nuthatch and Carolina Wren..ohh and a Cardinal

These are still from last weekend. I plan on being outside most of the weekend coming up to get more pictures.

Carolina Wren

White-breasted Nuthatch

Male Northern Cardinal

Fall is in the air

I spent a great deal of time in my backyard this weekend and got a ton of pictures as my reward. Throughout the day yesterday and today, I saw the following birds (both male and females):


Carolina Wren
Tufted Titmouse
Carolina Chickadee
Northern Cardinal
White-breasted Nuthatch
House Finch
American Goldfinch (which really looked like Warblers)
Downy Woodpecker
Mourning Dove
Too many Sparrows

The hardest one to get a picture of was the Tufted Titmouse as they were extremely skittish.

Tufted Titmouse

Warbler

There were several flocks of warblers down by the lake and along the pine trees away from the lake. Although these could be Yellow Warblers, I am more leaning toward Pine Warblers. Very tough call.

Warbler

Ready for Takeoff

MN part duex

There were wild Turkeys on the road. Here is some pictures of a rafter of 12 Turkeys.

Crossing the road 

Half of the twelve

Getting under the fence to safety

Birding in MN?

I spent about a week in Northern MN and just got back. I am going to post some of the many wildlife pictures (mostly birds) that I took.

It was nice to see a lot of Bald Eagles up there flying around. It seems like I saw some nearly everyday.

In 2007, it was estimated that there were 2300 nesting pairs of Bald Eagles in MN. If the trend continued, there should be about 2400 pairs in 2010. I don't ever remember seeing so many eagles in 1 week before.

Bald Eagle looking for food

Cooper's Hawk

I found a new super great place to bird today about 4 miles from my house. It is a very large power line clear cut strip that runs for miles and miles. I always thought about going there, so today I finally did. I spotted a Cooper's Hawk having a late afternoon snack. It flew up in the tree and looked at me until I left.

Dyke Marsh

I went down to Dyke Marsh today to see if there were any more birds transiting through. I did get a great picture of a Lesser Yellowlegs.

I saw a very large bird flying down the middle of the Potomac River. Any idea what it is?

My first real Bald Eagle picture. Although not super close, I will take it. It is a permanent resident to Northern VA.

Carolina Wren

I finally got a decent enough picture of a Carolina Wren in my backyard. It flew in to check out the suet, but in the end just wanted to dig around for some insects.

Notice the prominent white eyebrow and orange-ish belly. This is how you can distinguish it from the House Wren.

This is a permanent resident bird in Northern VA.

Duck, duck, duck, Gull???