Thursday, October 20, 2016

Random Fall Birds & Thoughts

Fall might be my favorite season. It has a mysterious feel about it  that I can't quite put my finger on. I love the smell of burning firewood on a cool night, fresh-picked apples, seeing the decorative pumpkins, camping out in a tent and especially the colorful foliage. 

I don't like the term leaf-peeping though. It sounds like a crime. I prefer saying that I'm going on a fall foliage ride. 
The Girl With Something Extra: I was a little surprised when I first found out that it was the females that have an orange breast band on Belted kingfishers (also juveniles to a lesser extent) and not the males. I made a connection with a title from a 1970's tv show "The girl With Something Extra" as a way of remembering that.
My most underrated piece of birding equipment: I don't know what took me so long to invest in these rubber boots. It allows me to comfortably cover areas that I would normally avoid because I'm not a big fan of wet socks. I've been able to find birds that would have eluded me otherwise.

I headed out to Wangunk Meadows hoping to add a couple of new species to my yearly county list which as 190. it is becoming increasingly difficult to find any new species as the end of the year approaches. I was walking around for a couple of hours without any luck.
Then there was a "Flicker Of Hope".
I was able to find my first purple Finches of the year. The female has that broad white mark across the head.
Then with the help of my trusty boots I was able to stomp through some heavy brush to find the secret hiding place of a 1st winter White-crowned Sparrow.

It would be nice if October could last twice as long. Now it's time to break out the heavier clothing and prepare for November.

2 comments:

Nadezda said...

Larry, lovely photos of birds. The first one is very pretty!
Glad you have such reliable boots.

troutbirder said...

Fall yes it's great. Except for my persistent difficulty in identifying warblers...:(