Saturday 23 May 2015

Bird hunting: a driving tour

We took off on an early morning trip to find some birds. Hubby woke me at 5:30 a.m., he has this weird internal alarm clock. I had little luck along back roads. What a cold morning! It was only 6 C. and I saw very few birds. There are tons of birds warbling in the trees, but I've had little luck capturing them.
They were singing up a storm, but the wind was blowing hard. We headed back, and home. A fuzzy photo of a Red-tailed hawk. I'm simply not fast enough!

Some work was done: hubby did cleaning indoors, I stacked more wood outdoors, and then an afternoon drive. Lilac Lane, Franktown is a beautiful spot, aside from the cold and the wind, I could hear the birds. We spotted some there last time. It's an interesting walk, ending up crossing a wetland and creek. I imagine it's a popular ATV road. It was muddy and quiet. We spotted several ducks flying by. I'm sure they do duck hunting there, as well. I'm sure the ducklings, and goslings are cute on the lakes.
I managed one bird!
A fun party today!
With overnight temps near 0 C., though!
  
At the end of Lilac Lane you can take a right-of-way road into the wetland. It runs north east in the bottom of the screen capture. 

Somewhat dusty, as we need rain, and the wind was blowing hard and gustily!


We kept driving, and ended up in a spot where I spotted this lovely warbler. We've been to Appleton before. It was hanging out around the Post Office boxes.

Back at home, the red-winged bald blackbird is still hanging about. The hummers were barely hanging on in the gusty wind!
This one's been here for two years
Hummers have the cutest little bums!

And the ubiquitous woodpeckers
Nope. Don't like that one.
Or that one.
Or that one...


15 comments:

eileeninmd said...

A great variety of birds and a neat sighting of the hawk! The wetland spot is pretty. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Have a happy weekend!

Yogi♪♪♪ said...

Thanks for taking us along on your adventure.

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

Nice set of birds! I can't remember seeing a woodpecker pick through seeds on a tube feeder before.
~

TexWisGirl said...

lovely birds and marshland.

William Kendall said...

Beautiful shots!

Nancy J said...

Very keen to get out so early, and so cold. Lovely to see your places .I like the wetland one, just sitting quietly.

Anonymous said...

What fun going on your walkabout!

Margaret Birding For Pleasure said...

Lovely wetland area and a great variety of birds in this post. Have a wonderful weekend

DeniseinVA said...

This was a wonderful post and I loved your photos.

Unknown said...

Beautiful scenery and I love the hawk. Have a great weekend!

Adam Jones said...

Wonderful pictures of the hawk.

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari OM
Some gorgeous shots here Jenn, particularly like the bullrushes one...

Digging up lilacs would require a bobcat, I would have thought - not a fly-by-night, sneak 'em out kind of operation. Thus ensuring being beckoned with the town ship!!! (do excuse me.. 'tis late of hour and Eurovision is numbing the brain...) YAM xx

Red said...

You worked hard on the birds. Sometimes they're just not moving.

Powell River Books said...

Wayne is the one with an internal alarm clock in our family, and it always goes off way before I want to get up. - Margy

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

Lovely birds -- and I'd love to go to a lilac festival -- I'd love just to SEE a lilac again.

I bet we'd see more birds if we had that internal alarm clock. WE never get out there early enough.