June 21, 2008 [LINK / comment]

More of the same on Bell's Lane

You're not apt to find many surprises when you go birding this time of year, as nearly all birds are busy raising their newly fledged offspring, so they stick pretty close to home. Here is a fairly complete list of which birds are seen there almost every day, in rough order of relative abundance:

• Catbirds
• Red-wing Blackbirds
• Starlings
• Meadowlarks
• Tree swallow
• Barn swallow
• Song sparrows
• Chickadees
• Goldfinches
• Brown thrashers
• Downy Woodpecker
• Kingbirds
• Indigo Buntings
• Yellow warblers
• Willow flycatchers
• Cedar waxwings

While walking there this morning, Jacqueline and I saw the albino Catbird again, but I couldn't get a decent photograph. I did manage to get a fairly good, though obstructed, shot of this fellow, however:

Red-wing Blackbird (male), in a Mulberry tree along Bell's Lane.

Lake Shenandoah

I was up in Harrisonburg on Friday, and decided to stop at Lake Shenandoah for the second time. I saw a Purple Martin flying overhead, as well as a male Baltimore Oriole feeding his offspring. The only other birds of note I saw were Brown thrashers, Kingbirds, and an Indigo Bunting.