Spring Flowers

After recent rains, it was nice to see some blue sky this morning. The clouds put up a fight throughout the day, with occasional sprinkles from some of the bigger clouds, but overall the trend was towards clearing. It was chilly this morning, and snow had fallen down to 3000 feet or below on the … Read more

Banded Yard Birds

Connor recently figured out where the Song Sparrows were nesting (the male in the pair was banded last fall in my yard), and I got a poor picture of one of them headed into the brush pile where the nest is. While watching the yard, I was surprised to see a banded Dark-eyed Junco visit. … Read more

Turnaround Shorebirds

Attendance at ultimate was sparse this afternoon, so after playing catch for a bit in the wind, I drove out to Starrigavan to see if there was much going on out there. The estuary and beach seemed fairly quiet, and I noticed a text from Connor that he had seen a Semipalmated Sandpiper at the … Read more

Rare Gulls

Connor texted me from his paper route to let me know he had found a Ring-billed Gull on the beach near Eagle Way. My only prior experience with this species was an immature bird I photographed back in 2007 or so, but didn’t figure out the ID for until several years later. I was able … Read more

Calm Evening at Sandy Beach

For today’s condition outing, I decided to go part way up the direct route up from near Heart Lake trailhead. Sometimes called the “Don’t Panic” route, I was hoping we might find the wooden sign that someone put up with those words. The last time I took this route was in 1994, and it’s one … Read more