Bird Watching Revisited

Saturday morning, we found ourselves on the way to the Brownfield Bog to go birding again. Now at eleven it shows a lot of passion to get yourself up and ready at 5am in the morning, but being able to convince your 9yo sister to come along. Well that raises it all to a new level. But that is just what Sarah did. She had such a wonderful time at the bog last week her excitement was contagious. So talking Hannah into joining us wasn't all that hard.

Just down the road from the house we spotted two wild turkeys. Here is the male all puffed up trying to impress the female who was playing hard to get. Each time the male would get within a yard or so she would take off running. He would have to chase after her and puff himself up again. It was quite amusing to watch.

Our trip to the bog was just as exciting this week. Was saw a lot of different birds this week including the red eyed vireo, the scarlet tanager, the bobolink, the chestnut sided warbler, just to name a few. Again we saw over 40 different species of birds.

Some of the coolest sights of the day were the nests under construction. Above is the nest of an oriel. We watched her come and go adding material and rearranging until she got it just right. The photo below is the nest of a blue-grey gnatcatcher. It is made of lichen. The cool thing is last week we saw this little bird building this nest.


Hannah and Rebekah weren't as excited about the birds as Sarah, but the puddles. Now that was a different story.

A big thanks again to all the knowledgeable people in the group who helped Sarah identify the birds. An especially big thanks to Dixie and Lisa who have nurtured Sarah's passion.

Next week's birding adventure is canoeing in the bog. So stay tuned.