Loath to surrender to the pestilent "man cold" foundering my motivation this weekend, the sunrise beckoned me. I could hear flight calls overhead as I filled our backyard feeders and imagined birds perched in the good light - I wouldn't be there to photograph them. The rising golden rays glimmered through the spruces and helped me summon the strength to go birding. I fired off a missive to Jesse and Dottie, letting them know I would be at Pheasant Branch by 7:30 a.m.
Along the trail, purple violets punctuated unconquerable garlic mustard – it is prolific and all past efforts to eradicate it seem futile. Though fairly quiet along the stream corridor, there were some conspicuous birds – notably several Black-and-white Warblers foraging on tree trunks and branches. The lighting was exceptionally good and all I needed was a little patience, carefully following one of the warblers for a few minutes...
Got it! Well worth the effort.
Location: Pheasant Branch
Observation date: 4/27/08
Number of species: 40
Wood Duck
Mallard
Cooper's Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Killdeer
Mourning Dove
Great Horned Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
American Crow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Palm Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Finch
American Goldfinch
All images © 2008 Mike McDowell