Don't Trade Today's Birds For Yesterday's Birds

 One of the advantages of using eBird is that you can look to see what people are seeing in the area and then go to the same places to look for the same birds. The problem is that when birds are migrating they may not wait until the next day for you to show up.

I've been looking high and low for birds on the weekends. From high places like the above photo overlooking the fog-covered Connecticut river valley...

 ....to the low lying train tracks passing through the dynamite-blasted ledges. 

The other day, I was on my way to a location that had been crawling with exciting migratory bird sightings the just a day before. On my way there, I made a quick stop at a marsh and was surprised at how many birds seemed to be around. I was eager to get to yesterday's hotspot so I only took a quick look around before heading off to my desired destination.

There was only one problem when I got there. Yesterday's birds were gone. I should have stayed at the marsh and enjoyed viewing the many birds that I already knew were there!

 I decided to take a couple of photos of butterflies instead of stepping over them to look for birds.

I see plenty of eagles in our area but made sure not to ignore the one flying over my head.

There are tons of catbirds around in the summer but I'm trying to remember that I will be desperate to see one by the end of the upcoming winter.

It may only be the non-native Mute Swan but what if it was the last one I were to ever see? 

I hope I learned my lesson. Don't make the mistake of trying to trade today's birds in by looking for the ones that were seen by someone else the day before.