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.

Mockingbird, Starling & Merlin App

I'm always looking for new places around town to check out. You just never know if a spot is going to be any good for birding unless you try it. There was quite a bit of sparrow habitat in the land near these solar panels, so I gave it a try. if you look closely, there is a bird set on top of the solar panel. 

A lot of birders dislike European Starling because they're not native. I actually think they are visually appealing when the sun is shining on them. They can imitate certain birds and make a whole slew of sounds that are interesting and hard to figure out. Some have been known to imitate the human voice as well.
The Northern Mockingbird has to be when it comes to imitating other birds though. When they are on a roll, they can imitate multitudes of birds in rapid-fire fashion! Although starlings and mockingbirds are in different families of bird species, they both imitate birds. 

A lot of people have been using the Merlin identification app. It picks up sounds of birds and shows you what birds are around. It works pretty well, if you stand still quietly but sometimes it displays a rare bird that you have to wonder about. I believe it can make mistakes, so it shouldn't be used as the sole source of bird identification. It can be a nice tool, however, in helping to let you know what potential species might be in the area. 

When I was out on this particular day, the Merlin App showed that there was a Gray-cheeked Thrush nearby which would be a rare bird sighting in this area. Unlikely, but it's always worth looking. Anyway, I didn't find one. 

This led me to a question. Did the mockingbird or starling imitate the Gray-cheeked Thrush and set off the merlin Alert? I guess I'll never know but it is an interesting possibility.