Birding by Ear – Part VIII

It was quiet!
But you can always find an American Robin…and that’s a good one to start with
– A.Bryant

Yes… quiet but colorful
– A.Bryant

Our epic 28 April travel route
– A.Bryant

Rufous Hummingbird
– A.Bryant

Ah…economic development
– A.Bryant

I’m sure there’s a plan for this…somewhere
– A.Bryant

No comment…we’re on record as being an apolitical club…but a few of us are highly dismayed about recent habitat losses, including this one.
– A.Bryant

Form and color #43907. Just a Bigleaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum) at its very best
– A.Bryant

Ann trying hard not to step on all that lovely sea-blush
– D. Bedry

Sea-blush is just so cool
– A.Bryant

First Turkey Vultures of the year for me…which means I gotta get out more
– A.Bryant

Andrew demonstrating that the bigger the lens you carry…the more rest stops you’ll need to take!
– D. Bedry

A lovely Chocolate Lily
– D. Bedry

We ended the day with a nice Pacific Tree Frog (Pseudacris regilla)
– D. Bedry

Birding by Ear – Part VIII
by Andrew Bryant, 28 April 2018.

Pierre Geoffray and I led a cosy group of 7 members to learn more about “birding by ear” at Wildwood Bluffs…and this year we had our work cut out for us!

It was, in a word, QUIET.

We began by walking along the newly-widened roads along the recently-sold “Block 55”.   What a difference a year makes!  Gone were the young forests filled with early-spring migrants such as Wilson’s and Orange-Crowned Warblers.  Indeed, we saw about about as many pieces of heavy equipment as we did birds.

Things improved a bit as we got off the road and hit the bluffs proper.  Hutton’s and Cassin’s Vireo, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and even my first Turkey Vultures of the year.  The walk back up the hill was also quiet, indeed, strangely so.

Pierre, ever the patient observer, kept an E-bird list which can be seen here.  Which illustrates two time-honored principles of field biology:
1) You always see more than you remember, when you record observations in the field, and
2) If you don’t record something, well in the end, it never happened

And if you don’t get out at all, well, enjoy the photos!