Adventures in Birding

#75

It's been a nice birding week so far. We had a big snow storm on Wednesday (8 inches of snow in my town) and I had some interesting visitors to my feeders, including a Red-winged Blackbird and this Eastern Phoebe  . They're not a typical feeder bird, though they will eat small seeds. It didn't seem interested in my feeders, but it did swivel its head about looking around. They're one of my favorite birds, so I was excited to get one in my backyard! (They're also one of the first birds to come back in Spring)

Also this week, I was early for an appointment so I stopped at a lake. There were geese, ducks, and gulls, and then this Bald Eagle   did a few laps around the lake! It didn't seem to mind at all that there were people around! It flew right over me a few times! I think this is my best photo of an eagle so far! They're tough to get close enough to get a good photo, I think.

Yesterday I was driving along the highway with my husband when we saw #75, Cooper's Hawk, sitting in a tree along the road.

I'm hoping to get out birding tomorrow morning. Most of the snow has melted pretty quickly from our storm. Wednesday this week is an American Woodcock event! We went last year, and I'm excited to go again. A guy learned he had the bird living on his land, so he has put in a great effort to keep his land the type of habitat the birds like. They do their courtship ritual in Spring at sunrise and sunset. They fly up into the air and around in circles, their wings making a whistling noise! It's really cool to see!