Back to Beckley Creek

Baltimore Oriole preening

Migration season appears to be winding down, if not over. Our birder friends are not posting about finding unusual birds anymore. We haven't been to Beckley Creek Park for a few weeks, and decided to head back that way. "Should we bird or walk?" my husband asked. If we see birds, we'll bird. If not we'll walk, I replied. A month ago, we saw lots of Baltimore Orioles, but this time only one called to us, and he was busy preening, squeezing out a drop of oil and spreading it on his feathers, and zipping them back together if needed. "No time for you birders to take nice pictures. You already have those," he said.

Blue Grosbeak

It's funny how I associate certain birds with certain locations. For example, the only place I recall ever seeing a Blue Grosbeak is here at Beckley Creek. But none this year, so far...

Blue Grosbeak - immature

 At first, we thought it was an Indigo Bunting. You can see how similar they can look. But look at the extra large beak on this one-thus the name "Gros" or large beak. An adult bird would be blue all over, except for the rust on the wings. This one isn't blue on his breast yet, and seems to be an immature bird.

Indigo Bunting

The Indigo Bunting is one of my favorite blue birds...

Eastern Bluebird

Is this a good pose?

But the Eastern Bluebird is the best at posing. He never tries to hide in the leaves and is glad to turn around so the sun shines on his brilliant blue back!

Yellow-breasted Chat

Yellow-breasted Chat

The Chat is a warbler, although you would hardly believe it to look at him. Much larger than most of them, and Chat must be short for "chatter." The sun had been ducking in and out of the clouds all morning, but this Chat must have ordered the sun just for me to take photos of him.

Lichens on tree

Lichens on tree

You might this this is the tropical jungles by all the different varieties of lichens growing on the trees. It looks like tree lettuce! I joked that a lichenologist (not knowing the scientific name) would have a great time studying just this one tree. Just looked it up, and they are called lichenologists! Ha!

Red-shouldered Hawk couple

Red-shouldered Hawk

Red-shouldered Hawks are always recognizable by their call - a loud keer, keeer, keeeer, that just goes on and on. The larger bird is the female, as with all raptors.

Turtles basking in the sun

There are other animals besides birds at the park, of course, and we spotted 10-12 turtles basking in the sun on the banks of Floyds Fork, which winds through the park. Can't tell which species these are, but the one on the right has a different smooth shell.

Willow Flycatcher

Flycatchers are some of the toughest birds to identify, because most of them look just alike. Even eBird has a category for generic flycatcher, and the field guide says you can't tell them apart unless you hear them. This little guy was perched out in the open in the wetlands, singing away "fitz-brew" instead of the burry "fee-bee-o" of the Alder Flycatcher. We played the "fitz-brew" song back and he answered us. Confirmation! Even if he's not in a willow tree.

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Across the river, a large brown bird flew into a tree- a Yellow-billed Cuckoo! I go for years without seeing one, and now I found them twice in about a week. This one, however, started flipping its tail up and down. Was it giving me the bird? Was it trying to entice a mate to come in? Yep, it was the mate. Before I could get aimed and focused, another Cuckoo landed on top of her for a short while then flew off. Love on the river bank!

Now, Blogger says that the "legacy" version of the software will be going away in June, why don't I take a look at the new version. I did, and it will take a while to find the things I am looking for. Others have posted the same questions. Why do they think they have to change things, just to make them look different? Sigh. I'll try to keep calm.