Birding Lancaster, April 2013

Note:  If you are looking for the Bradley Cooper pictures (and I know there are many with all the hits on my blog the past couple of days, it's the post below this one as I bird more than I celebrity stalk ;-) ).

I headed out to Bolton Flats with Alan today as I had the day off due to my car being in the shop which worked out well considering Dale reported a Glossy Ibis there yesterday afternoon and both of us were hoping it would stick around!  It wouldn't take long to hear the Blue-gray Gnatcathers along the path as well as a couple of Ruby-crowned Kinglets and of course the many Swamp Sparrows.

Alan would spot the Ibis all the way to the back of the flats so after a scope view, I'd attempt a record shot of course.

Which as you can see came out pretty lousy!

Alan would attempt one next via digiscoping and as you can see it came out much better!  We'd call a couple people including Justin  as he was out at Bolton the evening prior and struck out so he was on a mission for the bird so called to let him know it was there so we waited for him (with kids in tow) to make sure we could stalk it for him to make it easier for him to get on the bird.

Alan would head back to his truck for the adapter to his camera which lead me to the task of finding the Pectoral Sandpiper and the pressure was on considering I still consider shorebirds to be one of my toughest birds to ID's besides waterfowl but after a while I'd spot what I thought was one and anxiously await Alan's return from the truck to confirm it.  Sure enough I was right which made me very happy as it would be a FOY for both of us.  Slowly but surely the shorebirds get easier.

Next would be Pine Hill Road in search of the Vesper Sparrow and hopeful Ruffed Grouse which I'd strike out on again so it appears as if the grouse is a nemesis bird of mine for the year.

We did get 4 Hermit Thrushes though (FOY for both of us) which was nice as we didn't really expect it here.

As well as a couple more Ruby-crowned Kinglet's with one sitting still for a split second for a lousy photo!  Other highlight in this area would be the MANY Field Sparrows and well as an American Kestrel and an Eastern' Towhee a little further along the way.

And then finally the bird we came for which was the Vesper Sparrow which would be another FOY for us.  Pardon the lousy photo but it was the best I could manage.  We'd head out to run an errand Alan needed to do and I'd be thrilled to get my FOY Wild Turkey on route 495 as one would fly across the highway somewhat low which caused my heart to stop momentarily as I'd never seen a turkey do that before.  I'd look in the area it was headed and see two more of them perched in some trees which was also pretty bizarre.

The only other bird I bombed on as my car isn't ready yet is the Northern Shovelers at Institute Park so hoping some make a stop at Bolton in the next couple months as I won't be able to try for it tomorrow and don't think I'll be lucky enough to have it stay over the weekend.  One other thing I should note is I was introduced to a beautiful song this afternoon while doing yard work.  It was very rich and musical in the beginning and at the end it would remind me of a Chestnut-sided Warbler with it's (Meet a-yoooooo) at the end.  I'd pish it would and be thrilled to see the beautiful voice belong to an American Tree Sparrow.  You learn something new every day.

Take care all.