Did you miss me? We had non-stop thunderstorms last night and I couldn't chance connecting to the internet. So I'll do two posts tonight because I have things to share.
Yesterday, on a round of work assignments, I saw a whole flock of birds picking over windrows of fresh-cut hay. These are terrible pictures, but I'm so excited to be able to prove what I saw. They are Bobolinks!
I used to see these birds all the time when I was a child in NY. I looked up in my sketchy records, and I think the last time I saw one here in MI was 1988. Of course, that could be due to my lazy birdwatching efforts. Still... I'm really happy to see a whole flock. [The local bird guru confirms they are fairly common here, so I just haven't been in the right places for a long time.]
Those first two pictures were taken through the windshield. I was afraid if I got out of the car they'd all fly away. In fact, they did just that. They came back, but not quite so close to the road. The pictures I'm sharing are all males, because they have the white and yellow that shows up so pretty. The females are all black and brown. Not so photogenic.
They really like open prairie and hayfields. I think they were probably pulling insects out of the hay.
I tried to get a few pictures of them flying, and although they are very far away, these pictures are more clear than the ones through the windshield.
Their song is a bubbly twittering, that sort of sounds like "bob-o-link," and they did sing for me! It definitely made my day.
 | |
| if you like this blog, click the +1 | |
2 comments:
I don't believe I've seen one of these since we moved here in 2000. I'll have to check Peterson's book on eastern birds for more info, like usual range.
I'm not familiar with these birds. Lucky to find a whole flock of them
Post a Comment