A Few Good Birds

A few days at home and a few good birds to add to my 2012 Big Year.  Nothing Spectacular, but it has been fun to go Birding in my own backyard for the last few days.  James Gardens for the TOC walk on Saturday, Colonel Sam Smith Park on Sunday morning and, after brunch with my mom for Mother's Day, the woods behind Douglas B Ford Park just off of Royal York down the street from my own house.

Just 4 new birds: Red-eyed and Philadelphia Vireo, Tennessee Warbler and the most fun bird of the weekend, a Willow Flycatcher.  The first three were just too high up in the Warbler Neck parts of the tree to photograph, but the Flycatcher was using someone's backyard water slide as a base of operations for it's fly catching duties.

As we walked in the woods, Sue heard the familiar "Fitz-bew" call and I was able to follow it around and onto a path next to a house with a back yard pool and water slide.  Just as I looked up, the bird landed on the top of the slide and stayed long enough for me to see it, but was quickly gone.  Later, on our return trip from the woods, both Sue and I got to see it a number of times going back and forth from the slide to the woods and I was able to get photos.

And the baby Robins have hatched in the nest in our front yard, weighing in at 0.1 ounce.

Oh and the last thing I saw on Sunday afternoon was not a bird, but a Vole, adding another "rodent-y" thing to my "Rodent-y Thing List," giving me, I think 8 for the year.

This week I will be working every day and doubt I'll be able to add more birds, but the Willow Flycatcher was number 361 for the year.  And so the countdown to 400 begins... 39...