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:
Larry, lovely photos of birds. The first one is very pretty!
Glad you have such reliable boots.
Fall yes it's great. Except for my persistent difficulty in identifying warblers...:(
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