Friday, May 6, 2016

Spring Birds

The second wave of spring birds is back, and although I haven't seen many of them I've certainly heard them.  They fill the woods with their songs as I go on my walks.  The past 3 days I've heard White-throated Sparrows, Field Sparrows, and Brown Thrashers; they all have calls that are easy to recognize.  But here are three other birds I've seen and actually got photographs of.

On Tuesday our Photo Group went walking along the boardwalk at Bognor Marsh.  The Tree Swallows were buzzing all around our heads, and sitting on nest boxes right beside us!

Someone has put up a whole line of nest boxes along part of the boardwalk, and it looked like every one was occupied by a pair.  They were coming and going constantly.

Swallows are insect eaters, and they swoop and soar and dive beautifully in their search for flying insects.  It's worth putting bird houses for them in your yard for the mosquitoes they eat!

Walking the trail today in to check out a beaver pond where we're going to have to rebuild a boardwalk, I heard a loud harsh call, followed by a rapid loud drumming in one of the tall Sugar Maples in the fencerow.  Luckily I had my small binoculars and spotted it.  Can you see it here?

It's a Northern Flicker, and one shot was clear enough that I could crop it down a little so you can see the red on the back of its head.

But those Turkey Vultures are still one of the most common birds to see, because there's usually at least one in the sky somewhere, and often several.  This is my usual view of them.

But on my hike out to the cliff Monday I was lucky enough to look down on them, soaring over the fields and forest below me.  They seem black against the blue sky, but from above they look much more brown in colour.

I even got another shot with pretty good focus which I could crop down to give a close view.  They seem to love the cliffs and slopes of the valley and often soar along the edge, either just above or below the cliff line.

Linking to:

22 comments:

  1. What a delightful row of bird houses, I can imagine them coming in, resting a while, and almost as if they say " This was made specially for me".

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  2. It looks like everything is coming back from the long winter. Beautiful!

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  3. I love the swallows. Such sweet little birds.

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  4. It's great to provide safe haven for Tree Swallows. Maybe you'll get really lucky and have a Great-crested Flycatcher or Eastern Bluebird take up residence.

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  5. Splendid to look at such beauty. Warm greetings!

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  6. All unknown birds on this side of the Atlantic, though we do have Barn Swallows. Roll on Summer!

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  7. Hello, I love the sweet swallows. Looks like they do have a lot of nesting boxes there. Cool sighting of the Flicker. I love to watch the vultures soaring. Great shots. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Happy Saturday, enjoy your weekend!

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  8. I like seeing the nesting boxes and the swallows. I may be interested in a box especially if they eat mosquitos. I love seeing the spring birds return, they are so interesting to watch.

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  9. The vultures are amazing to see in flight.

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  10. You have captured some fine bird images here. I love the house swallows.. such a pretty bird. And they do a valuable job with those mosquitoes. I love the photo of your perspective of all of the nesting boxes. And it's great to see the flicker in the tree.. I have only ever seen them pecking at the grass. Nice collection!

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  11. Hi Y'all!

    Beautiful photos. Love the tree swallows.

    Y'all come on by,
    Hawk aka BrownDog

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  12. It's good to see so many swallows!

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  13. Wonderful shots, especially those swallows, pretty little birds....
    ~Jo

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  14. Nice housing development for the birds. : )

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  15. So nice to see those bird houses, such a good idea ... and they are being used to, which is just brilliant!

    All the best Jan

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  16. We have both Tree and Violet-Green Swallows in our birdhouses at the cabin. They seem to flock together. The Barn Swallows arrived yesterday. They fly with the other swallows but build their own grass and mud nests. - Margy

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  17. Hi there - just wondered - have you seen my frog!!!
    https://thelowcarbdiabetic.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/take-frog-fence-some-flowers-some-fun.html

    Hope you are having a good Sunday.

    All the best Jan

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  18. you captured some great shots, it must be fun to have a group to walk with!!! the flickers are beautiful, i get them here at my feeders but only occasionally. i am always so excited when i see them!!! enjoy the rest of your sunday, i hope it's been a good weekend for you!!!!

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  19. I love tree and bars swallows. They have a very different way of flying that make them unmistakeable. :-)

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  20. You remind me of the time I found myself in the middle of a swirling tornado of Tree Swallows. I must have stirred up a cloud of small flying insects (midges or mayflies, maybe?) and they descended to feast on them.

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  21. Great spot for the bird houses along the boardwalk. They'll eat lots of mosquitoes in those wet areas and elsewhere. We have several tree swallows vying for the 2 birdhouses we have but no one has moved in yet. There was an Eastern Bluebird checking them out on Saturday but the swallows chased it off. I hope it returns.

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