We start with an identification quiz. What is the species, gender, and age of this bird. The answer will appear later in this post. I am indebted to George Clark for my knowing this one because he identified a similar bird for me several years ago.
For three weeks, each day was the same. Each night I plan to stay home tomorrow and try to catch up a bit. Then I head out early in spite of my plans. When I return late morning or early afternoon I work on the photos from the previous day (tossing junk, keywording, and renaming them) and then download the photos from the current day. Then I repeat each day. Finally the weather turned cold and rainy and I had a chance to process the images.
I am grouping the photos I took from May 6 to 30 roughly by Family in reverse alphabetical order.
Wrens
Carolina Wren
Only one photo here. I took it while walking west along the Rail Trail in Lebanon from Ice House Road in early May.
House Wren
Chattery House Wrens seemed to be everywhere. Here are seven photos from Lebanon, NH and Bradford, Norwich, Wells River, and Ryegate, VT.
Woodpeckers
Northern Flicker
I photographed a Northern Flicker near the Orford Boat Landing. It stayed in a tree nicely as I walked around trying to get an acceptable angle. Here is the best I could do.
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
I photographed a female Yellow-bellied Sapsucker with its characteristic white throat along the Rail Trail in Lebanon.
And a male with its red throat in our yard in Etna.
Warblers
American Redstart
For a frustrating several weeks I had trouble spotting much less photographing an American Redstart. Then Jann spotted one along the Rail Trail near Johnston Park in Enfield.
More recently I found many along the RR tracks in Bradford, VT. Here are ten photos from there with the last three being females.
Black-and-White Warbler
I photographed Black-and-White Warblers at two locations in Lebanon, NH. The first photo below is from Ice House Road. The second and third are from Boston Lot.
Black-throated Blue Warbler
On a bird walk with Mascoma Audubon, I photographed a Black-throated Blue Warbler after the group had moved on.
Chestnut-sided Warbler
I photographed Chestnut-sided Warblers at Boston Lot and along the Rail Trail in Lebanon, at the King Bird Sanctuary in Etna, NH and at Campbell Flat in Norwich and Kilowatt Park in Wilder, VT. Here are 16 of the photos I took.
Common Yellowthroat
I photographed Common Yellowthroat warblers at Boston Lot in Lebanon, NH (first two photos) and along the RR tracks in Bradford, VT (third).
Magnolia Warbler
I did not do very well this spring photographing Magnolia Warblers. I photographed two, almost two weeks apart at Boston Lot in Lebanon. The first was on a bird walk with the Mascoma Audubon.
The second was hidden high in the pines. I was lucky to even see it.
Northern Waterthrush
It looks a like a thrush and sings like an Indigo Bunting, but it is a warbler. I found the illusive Northern Waterthrush along the RR tracks at the end of Depot Road in Bradford, VT. This is a great place to bird because many of the species are at eye level since the tracks are elevated. Thanks to Bill Shepard for telling me about this location.
Ovenbird
This is another warbler that looks like a small thrush. In fact, the first time I photographed one I thought is was a thrush. But George Clark set me straight. That was well before iNaturalist, a great resource for identifying birds and almost anything else natural.
Here are four Ovenbird photos from four locations: Lower Shaker WMA in Enfield, Old Hwy 38 in Etna, Woodcock Lane in Etna, and the Tower Road at DHMC in Lebanon.
Pine Warbler
One of the earlier warblers to arrive, I photographed a cooperative Pine Warbler at Boston Lot while looking for a Black-throated Blue Warbler after the Mascoma Audubon group had moved on. Here are five photos.
Yellow Warbler
I photographed a Yellow Warbler posing nicely on an amazing curved vine at Kilowatt South Park in Wilder, VT.
Yellow Warblers seemed to be everywhere this spring. The slide show that follows has photos from Lyme, West Lebanon, and Lebanon, NH and Wilder and Bradford, VT.
Along the RR tracks in Bradford, VT, I found a Yellow Warbler gathering Eastern Caterpillar silk for a nest. Here is the web and a caterpillar.
And here are photos of the warbler gathering and carrying the silk.
Yellow-rumped Warbler
I photographed a Yellow-rumped Warbler in Ryegate just after photographing a pair of Chipping Sparrows mating.
Vulture
I photographed Turkey Vultures from Lebanon and Norwich.
Vireos
Red-eyed Vireo
I wonder how the Red-eyed Vireo got its name. This from Johnston Park in Enfield.
Below are four photos of Red-eyed Vireos, two each from the RR tracks in Bradford, VT and the Rail Trail in Enfield. (Is there a railroad theme here?)
Warbling Vireo
The Rail Trail near Ice House Road in Lebanon is a reliable place to find Warbling Vireo. Here are eleven photos from there and just east along the Rail Trail in Enfield and in Bradford, VT.
Titmouse
Although we have several Tufted Titmice in our Etna yard, the one photo here is from Lebanon.
Thrush
American Robin
Yes, the American Robin is a thrush. I was in Alice’s yard in Ryegate hoping to photograph red fox kits when I saw a robin with a mouthful pose on a tree limb and then fly into the barn to feed its young.
Veery
I photographed Veery at Boston Lot and along Ice House Road in Lebanon and at the Chaffee Wildlife Sanctuary in Lyme, NH. Here are a half dozen photos.
Wood Thrush
The Wood Thrush is a beautiful bird with a wonderful flute-like song. These photos were from two trips to Boston Lot above the Wilder dam in Lebanon.
Sparrows
Chipping Sparrow
I photographed one Chipping Sparrow along the Rail Trail in Lebanon.
But one of my main thrills these last three weeks was photographing a pair of Chipping Sparrows mating, not once but apparently twice, in Alice’s yard in Ryegate. This was the fourth avian copulation I photographed this spring, certainly a personal record.
I posted full sequences of the copulations on a separate page that I hope you will visit — JUST CLICK HERE. Below I show an abbreviated set of photos. The first four photos are from the first mating, the last four are from the second. Each of the mating sequences lasted about two seconds.
Dark-eyed Junco
A normally ground-nesting Dark-eyed Junco picked an unusual spot to nest — inside a plastic wreath on a door at Gile Hill in Hanover. Here is the spot. If you look carefully you can see the nest at the bottom behind the oak leaf and the tail of the bird sticking out toward the green leaf.
Below we see a closeup of the junco in the nest and a photo of it near the nest in some early-May sticks.
White-crowned Sparrow
I photographed White-crowned Sparrows at Kilowatt South Park in Wilder, VT.
White-throated Sparrow
I found White-throated Sparrows at Boston Lot and near Ice House Road in Lebanon.
Sandpipers
Solitary Sandpiper
On a number of days, I photographed a lone Solitary Sandpiper at Campbell Flat in Norwich, VT. I saw it catch and swallow a huge caterpillar which you can see in the short slide show here.
Spotted Sandpiper
On a walk with the Mascoma Audubon to Boston Lot Lake, Kathy spotted a distant Solitary Sandpiper on the rocks along the shore. I got this marginal photo before it departed.
Raptors
American Kestrel
In a previous blog I showed photos of American Kestrel mating. I put that sequence on a special page. Here are three photos from Etna, NH and Norwich, VT.
Bald Eagle
My previous blogs had many photos of Bald Eagles. Here I just show one from NH with its wings gloriously spread and heading right at me. It turned 90 degrees shortly after this photo was taken.
Broad-winged Hawk
Soaring high over the Hudson Farm during a Hanover Conservancy hike were several Broad-winged Hawks.
Osprey
I photographed Osprey mostly at Kilowatt South Park in Wilder, VT. There is a rudimentary nest there, but it does not seem like the pair will be raising young this year. I haven’t been back since early in May, so the situation may have changed, but I doubt it. Here are fifteen photos from May 8 and 9.
Red-tailed Hawk
From the bottom of Hogback Road in the Pompy area of Norwich, I witnessed a royal battle between a Red-tailed Hawk and an American Crow. The crow was the aggressor. In the sequence below the sky changes from white to blue as the birds flew to a spot that did not have clouds in the background. If you look closely you can see the Red-tailed Hawk turning its head all the way around to look at the crow. Note you can pause any slide show on this site and then step through the images at your own pace.
Mimids
All three of the common Mimids can be found at Kilowatt Park South in Wilder, VT. You can try for a Mimid Trifecta: Brown Thrasher, Gray Catbird, and Northern Mockingbird. Most of the photos of this Family were taken there.
Brown Thrasher
Thrush-like in appearance, the Brown Thrasher is a beautiful species. Here are five photos from Kilowatt South. In the last four the thrasher posed nicely for me while preening and shaking.
Gray Catbird
For a bird that is basically gray, I feel the Gray Catbird is quite beautiful. At times the reddish undertail coverts can be seen. These ten photos were taken at Boston Lot and near Ice House Road in Lebanon, at the Lower Shaker WMA in Enfield, and near Occom Pond in Hanover, NH and on the Vermont side of the river at KW South in Wilder and the RR tracks in Bradford.
Northern Mockingbird
These three photos of Northern Mockingbirds were all from KW South. In the third one the bird is shaking its body without moving its head.
Flycatchers
Eastern Kingbird
I attended the 23rd Annual “Birding with Bill in Boltonville” again this year. Bill Shepard guides us though varied habitat along the Cross Vermont Trail in Wells River. We saw a River Otter (that will wait for the next blog), but for me the stars were a pair of Eastern Kingbirds building a nest at the top of a short snag in the swamp.
Here is a photo of the pair gathering nest material and a cropped version of the same photo.
I spotted the nest and took a long-distance photo before we walked closer. This is a better view of the nest which is partly hidden in the closer views that follow.
Here is the nest from the closer spot.
The pair posed for me in very photogenic spots with a background far away so blurring it was not a problem.
I got a nice photo of the Kingbird leaving its nest.
But I wanted to capture a sequence of it flying from its nest. Here is the sequence. It helps to have a camera that records photos before the shutter button is fully depressed. (I’m serious here.)
Kingbirds made great subjects these weeks. Here are more photos from Lebanon and Enfield, NH and Wilder and Norwich, VT.
Eastern Phoebe
Currently a phoebe is sitting on a nest built under the roof of our porch. When we need to walk by, we do it slowly. They are getting used to us.
Here are three photos. The first from our Etna yard. The second and third with an insect was taken at Boston Lot.
Least Flycatcher
Without hearing its emphatic song “CHEbek”, it is hard to tell Least Flycatchers from other Empidonax flycatchers. But I heard all the birds in the photos below taken along the Rail Trail in Lebanon, where they are common, and (the last three) along the RR tracks in Bradford, VT.
American Goldfinch
Three from Vermont: Norwich, Wells River, and Bradford.
House Finch
When I first saw it I was hoping Purple Finch, but this is a house variety from Bradford, VT.
Mallard
A common duck but still beautiful. This Mallard from the flooded field at Campbell Flat in Norwich.
Common Merganser
I found a female Common Merganser raising a family of eleven young on a small pond in Etna. Since it is close to our house and on the way to town and Vermont, I pass it often. I took these photos over a period of nine days visiting only briefly each time. The chicks are all looking healthy but are not yet very big.
The photo of a single bird shows an action that was not a landing or a take off.
Red-winged Blackbird
Finally an answer to the quiz at the beginning of this blog. This bird is a first-year, male, Red-winged Blackbird. I took these two photos in Kilowatt Park South in Wilder, VT.
And here are two more photos of a first-year male RWBB from the Rail Trail in Lebanon.
And here is one from the RR tracks in Bradford, VT.
Below is a brief slide show of more normal-looking male Red-winged Blackbirds from Campbell Flat in Norwich, VT and the Rail Trail in Lebanon, NH.
And here are some female Red-winged Blackbirds from the same two locations on either side of the river. They look like large sparrows.
Common Grackle
For a Blackbird, the Common Grackle can be amazingly colorful in the right light. Here are eight photos from Wilder and Bradford, VT and Lebanon, NH.
Baltimore Oriole
I photographed Baltimore Orioles in Lebanon and Enfield, NH and Bradford, VT. Here are 10 photos.
Odds-and Ends
Odds-and Ends is not an official avian Family. But here goes anyway.
American Crow
A very intelligent species, I took these photos along the Rail Trail at Ice House Road in Lebanon.
Blue Jay
Two photos of the common Blue Jay from Boston Lot in Lebanon and Hudson Farm in Hanover. This species seemed to be largely absent from the area until around mid-May when they arrived in large numbers.
Eastern Bluebird
I photographed a male and female Eastern Bluebird in Alice’s yard in Ryegate, VT.
Bobolink
I photographed Bobolinks at Hudson Farm in Hanover and Campbell Flat in Norwich, VT. Here are five photos.
Bunting
Indigo Buntings are regulars at the King Bird Sanctuary in Etna. The freeze had hurt the crabapple blossoms.
Cardinal
I photographed Northern Cardinals near Johnston Park in Enfield and along the Rail Trail in Lebanon.
Cliff Swallow
Not a common bird for me, I photographed this Cliff Swallow along the RR tracks in Bradford, VT.
Green Heron
This bird was photographed during a brief stop at the West Lebanon Wetland mid-May.
Mourning Dove
I first thought this pair, seen on the way up to Boston Lot Lake, might be mating, but I believe not. Maybe it was a failed attempt. Here is one of the sequence of photos I took.
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
These two photos are from Boston Lot in Lebanon in mid-May. I believe most of the Ruby-crowned Kinglets have moved farther north by now.
Ruby-throated Hummingbirds
This is the only species of hummingbirds we normally see around the Upper Valley. I photographed a female (first two photos) and a male with a man-made background in Bradford along the RR tracks.
Cedar Waxwing
I found a Cedar Waxwing along the Rail Trail in Enfield.
White-breasted Nuthatch
This White-breasted Nuthatch was in our yard in Etna.
Did you miss the answer to the identification quiz? If so you need to scroll up to Blackbirds and Orioles.
If you missed any of the four avian copulations from Spring 2023, here are links to them: