When I took a full-time job a few months ago, I knew my birding habits would have to change; no more just skipping out in the middle of the day to do birding. No more making my own schedule, etc.
All of this is still true, more or less, but I managed to make a few modifications.
First, I leave half an hour early and stop off at prime birding spots on the way too and from work.
Second, I take walks at lunch with my camera.
Third, I take walks during my morning and afternoon breaks, with my camera.
Finally, when I have to go from one building to another, I take my camera.
The results seem to have been good:
What you’ll find below is a set of photos of various birds I’ve managed to capture during the last week, most of which were captured either during my commute, or from near my office. Some were taken today, when I drove around a lot looking for more birds.
A note: there are a lot of images below the fold, but they’re all smaller versions of the photos on my web site. Clicking on them gets you to the larger version, but also tells you what kind of bird it is.
As usual, I’m presenting this as a bird quiz. I also have intentionally made this quiz a little trickier, duplicating a few birds under different bird #s.
All these photos were taken in Southern Vermont or New Hampshire, near the Connecticut River.
Enjoy!
Bird #1: These guys have been hanging out all winter. I keep being surprised to find them:
Bird #2: These birds are in full mating regalia. They’re fun to watch this time of year:
Bird #3: These birds are the previous bird, plus two others in the foreground:
Bird #4: These guys are a lot of fun to watch in the spring:
Bird #5: This is actually more than one type of bird (we’ll call the big one “A” and the small ones “B”):
Bird #6: This bird is common yardbird for me:
Bird #7: This bird is also a common yardbird for me:
Bird #8: I just love the look of this hawk.
Bird #9: This is the first one of these I’ve seen this year:
Bird #10: There are two different birds here (bigger one: “A” / Smaller one: “B”). Can you tell which is which?:
Bird #11: These guys have suddenly come back in force in the last few weeks
Bird #12: Same for these ones.
Bird #13: These guys make the funniest noises when you disturb them:
Bird #14: I spotted these guys on my way to work, and pulled over to take photos:
Bird #15: This one is a little unfair, as it’s an unusual case:
Bird #16: This one was not amused to see me photographing it
Bird #17: Sometimes you should let sleeping ducks lie
Bird #18: First of these I’ve seen this year:
Bird #19: I only tend to see this bird in the Spring:
Bird #20: This is the first one of these I’ve seen this year:
Bird #21: These birds sometimes show up in my yard, but I tend to get much better looks at them in other locations:
Bird #22: This is the first one of these I’ve seen this year:
Bird #23: This is actually two of the birds we’ve seen already in this post, but it does a good job of illustrating their different sizes (we’ll call the big one “A” and the small ones “B”):
Bird #24: And finally, a raptor in flight ID quiz.
As usual, feel free to treat this as an open birds, bird photography, or birding thread.
I haven’t seen most of these around (of course, I haven’t been looking). I heard my first redwing blackbird of the season just the other day. A friend of mine in Michigan used to say that they’re as common as robins (and out there they are), but I still enjoy that flash of red.
As always, beauty that we wouldn’t catch.
Now I’ll have “Pretty Red Wing” in my head all day.
I love them, I’m way north and have only seen a couple of these so far so I’m very jealous also. Thanks and keep them coming.
Beautiful images.
Having spent all my life in VT I often forget to stop, look around, and appreciate our non-human neighbors… I’m in NYC right now so this is a great reminder of what I have to look forward to when I return in a month.
Also, this reminds me to start planning my urban container garden for the tiny backyard.
Thanks again.
Looks like a red tailed hawk.