Birding Before Apple-Picking At Lyman's

Lyman's Orchard is known for their fruit orchards, golf course, restaurant/market, corn maze, and other activities but one of their unadvertised specials is bird-watching. They have a lot of land and sometimes interesting birds show up there. For example, I found some American Pipits sneaking around in one of their tilled up pumpkin fields the other day. I wasn't able to get any decent pictures of the pipits because they blended in so well with the clumpy dirt. 
Instead I decided to point my camera at this female Red-winged Blackbird. They may not have the colorful wing patches that the males do but overall, they have an interesting textured look to their feather pattern. I think they are somewhat underappreciated.

I still haven't been able to find some sparrows that I have been searching for this year such as the Fox Sparrow or White-crowned Sparrow but Savannah Sparrows like this one have been around it good numbers.

Stare-down Between The 2 Noisiest Hawks

 

Red-shouldered Hawks are the noisiest hawks I have ever heard. Their calls might shatter glass if they were on a loudspeaker! 

Kee-yer! Kee-yer! Kee-yer! over and over again along with other screechy calls. Despite their shrill voices I like that we have plenty of them around to help keep the rodent population under control. They're also a very distinct looking with their football-shaped figure and rusty red chest. I caught this pair in a stare-down the other day. Maybe an argument over whose responsibility it is to make the nest? 

Farewell To Foliage

It wasn't the greatest fall for viewing foliage in Connecticut this year but I stopped my car as I was driving through the hills of Lyman's Orchard to have one last look.