Songbirds Take Two

Friday morning i headed out to get some photos of the newly arrived warblers such as the American Redstart. I have been trying to capture images of redstarts for over three years without much success. I have found these brightly coloured little birds never sit still and seem to always be busy catching flies or quickly zipping by. After running into local birder Lisa de Leon, she pointed me in the right direction down the little dirt road in the Goulds. Sure enough as soon as i turned down the small road i could here the redstarts calling. Click Here to check out her blog!

Male American Redstart
 

The flies were not too bad in the early morning due to the small breeze of wind, later in the morning the flies began to get to me. I was wearing fly repellent but it didn't do much good as the black flies were relentless in trying to bite me, and bite me they did. One good thing about the large number of flies is that the birds seem more active fluttering out from a tree to grab a fly and land back on the same perch. This is usually how i notice American Redstarts other than listening for their call.

While in the area of Bidgoood's Park I finally got to see the Eastern Phobe that has been seen in the park for some time. This was a new species for me. Unfortunately i didn't get any photos. Also on Powers Road i spotted Wilson's Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Mourning Warbler, B&W Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Northern Waterthrush and 3 Finch species. Not to mention Fox, Song, Swamp, and Savannah Sparrows! You get the point...The place was hoppin'.

My last stop of the morning before i had to go to school was Second Pond. While sitting on the edge of the pond watching a family of ducks swim by; a Spotted Sandpiper landed on a nearby rock seemingly unaware of me. I snapped a few frames before he or she flew away, Im happy with the photos, possibly some of my best images of this species.