Went out this morning to bird a “swamp” by a nearby town. Unfortunately the mosquitoes were as bad as I’ve ever experienced. After a couple of minutes I raced back to the car, grabbed my trusty can of Deep Woods Off and covered myself with it.
While there were some birds high in the trees, I quickly got distracted by a Pileated Woodpecker that was pounding on a dead tree across from “the swamp”. Pileateds are not exactly uncommon, we see one every couple weeks . . . but they are very skittish and aware of your presence . . . and thus difficult to observe for any significant period of time and even more difficult to photograph. This one flew off and came back several times.
Other birds on my short outing . . . Snowy Egret, Great Blue Heron, Northern Flicker, Purple Finch and Song Sparrow.
[ngg src=”galleries” display=”pro_mosaic”]When I got home Ingrid spotted a Eastern Phoebe on our dock . . . when I pulled out the camera a Canada Goose photobombed the Phoebe.