Northern Cardinal - sure they are common but I try not to take them for granted.
Red-eyed Vireos were still everywhere.
On the way home, I drove through Oleander Gardens (cemetery) as I usually do. It was pretty quiet so I turned around to drive out and WHAMMO! A Sharp-shinned Hawk flew right in front of my truck chasing a warbler or some small bird. I knew from the size it was a Sharp-shinned. I have seen a couple this year but this was my chance at a picture. I only have Cooper's Hawk pictures so far this year. Luckily he flew up into a tree after his failed attempt at the song bird.
Although from this picture it is hard to tell, the one thing that helps with ID without seeing some size perspective is the small rounded head. A Cooper's Hawk has a larger and more square looking head. However, I knew this was a Sharp-shinned because of his size next to the bird he was chasing which was warbler size.
Today I tried Wade Park at first light. The Park is really filling out nicely as it is a fairly young park. Meaning the trees are getting bigger and the pond plants are filling in nicely. Mark my words that this park will hold tons of birds in the near future including Soras and other rails. I think it will take some time for birds to find it. Some birds are making this park home like Red-winged BBs and Yellow-rumps in the winter. However, other than one Virginia Rail this past winter, nothing really notable.
Next I tried the Amphitheater at Greenfield Lake. It was dead as a doornail. It didn't help that there was 2 guys leaf blowing. I swear that every time I go there are people blowing leaves. What a useless waste of city money. They just blow the leaves a little off the walkways and then when they are done the wind blows them back.
I was so disgusted with the lack of birds that I headed to Lee Bucks to see if I could scare something up. I made it to the recently plowed field that Greg had a Baird's Sandpiper in recently and what luck there was about 100 shorebirds working the flooded section. I was scanning them with my bins and saw some really interesting birds that I was working on IDing and then as usually happens when I see something good they all spooked and flew. I looked around to see what all the fuss was about and saw the source of their anxiety fly by at 100mph or something like that. A Merlin!! He flew around a couple times chasing some birds and then gave up and landed next to the puddle and took a drink.
Merlin on right with a very brave Killdeer on left. I was very surprised this Killdeer stayed despite all his friends leaving. Maybe a Killdeer is too big for a Merlin. I knew this bird was a Falcon from the flight and pointed wings and it was then easy to ID as a Merlin mainly due to size. The bird was about the same size as the Killdeer.
Poor pictures due to light and distance, but if you zoom in you can see the weak mustache.
That is two birds I have seen this year but did not have photographs for. The Merlin photo leaves something to be desired but I think it is diagnostic.
Great times.
By the way, I decided to pull the plug on going to the mountains this weekend mainly because of Nate Dias' post that the cold front coming next week will be the time to go. I can only go once so I wanted to pick the right weekend. Also Greg can come with me next week and he will be a huge asset in finding birds, plus he is always good for a laugh.
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