Pipe Creek Wildlife Area part 2

Great Blue Heron

Until you reach the marsh along the paths there are plenty of tree's and underbrush.
Heard then found this Baltimore Oriole in one of the large cotton wood tree's.

will close the posting for the night with a few shots of the Yellow Warbler...the marsh has quite a few of them...

had the ISO up a lil too high..

heard Prothonotary Warbler's...

going again in the am before clouds take over towards the weekend...this place is really nice compared to what it once was 20 years ago..

This Blandings Turtle was singing...lol (yawn) till next time...

Hey, nice shot down the turtle's throat, Burd. It looks like a special place to visit. Love the GBH. I saw a couple of Caspian Terns last week. They were really large; much bigger than the Silver Gulls that were alongside them and the gulls in your shot look much larger than the Caspians. What type of gull are they? Enjoy yourself tomorrow. I look forward to seeing more.

Great shots Burd! It's good to see the pics where you can see the size difference in the Terns. Great job! Can't wait to see more.

Thanks Margaret and Pelle. The large gull is an American Herring Gull, another birder said he spotted a Whimbrel but I did not locate it.

Wow, wonderful photos of them all! Looking forward to seeing more pictures!!

Today was a good day to be at the creek...several new birds today plus my mom had an old tripod she has never used and it really does the job holding the the 400mm and camera..but it is heavy about 15lbs with lens/camera attached but i, can deal with it...changed a setting on my camera which resulted in the 400mm lens giving me clearer focused shots especially with a contrasting background. Glad to have been able to get out there today with the less favorable weather coming in for the next couple of days.
Start off with a Least Sandpiper

Western Sandpiper's...new

Couple closer shots of Lesser Yellowlegs

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love these group shots....Least Sandpiper's, Dunlin and Lesser Yellowlegs

Long-billed Dowitcher's coming in for a landing...new

other than bill size Long-billed Dowitcher's (prefer) fresh water as Short-billed Dowitcher's (prefer) salt water...Kaufman Field Guide to birds of North America

now some shots with contrast...slightly better

Orchard Oriole...new

female Orchard Oriole....hard to get the shots while there in the leaves

much better when they are in the right direction of the light...

Baltimore Oriole... the female was too high up for a good shot...ahhhh sticks don't you just love them...lol

American Redstart...

This message was edited May 7, 2010 3:32 AM

Yellow Warbler's are all over fussing and singing...

lil breezy today but 30mph winds the day before...

working on the "tac sharp shots" but most of the birds were about 20 feet away and I cropped heavily on some of the shots but not bad overall...

shot with a lil different lighting...

Last shot a female Yellow Warbler waiting for a champion to emerge..lol
Seen a Sora and a Least Bittern but no shots...Sunday may be the next day for a trip...vacation next week and its off to Ottawa NWR..for a couple of days of learning and Warbler hunting.

This message was edited May 7, 2010 3:30 AM

Sunday was very nice but Friday's severe storms stripped most of the tree's of their leaves and knocked a few large branch's into the path's leading out to the marsh part of the creek. I seen one Solitary Sandpiper out there and the Tern's and others were gone. Got a few shots though.

Sora...new

There were a lot of Swallow's in this one spot flying and skimming the water..ended with a new one but there were 4 species altogether.

Bank Swallow...new

Barn Swallow

Northern Rough-winged Swallow

and a Tree Swallow

Seen my first Eastern Kingbird of the year also.

Of course the Yellow Warbler's were about..

Found this one building a nest...Ive heard Prothonotary Warbler's but they just won't come out for a shot.

Orchard Oriole singing...

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got shots of an Indigo Bunting but they were too fuzzy to post but did get some shot of the Black-throated Blue Warbler...this shot is heavily cropped, when I opened the picture up it became damaged but just enough to squeeze the bird in.

last shot...one more of the B-t BW