The Rail Trail at the base of Ice House Road in Lebanon continues to be an excellent birding spot. Yesterday I was able to add American Redstart, Blackburnian Warbler, Baltimore Oriole, and Warbling Vireo to the Cape May and 4 other species of warblers I photographed there last Thursday.
I spent the first 50 minutes of the morning working on American Redstarts. There were at least 6 present. The males seemed more intent on chasing each other around than feeding. Their high-speed acrobatics were fun to watch.
Here are some of the photo I took of the Redstarts.
I got a few quick shots of an elusive Baltimore Oriole.
This area has numerous Yellow Warblers I didn’t concentrate on photographing them this day, but while photographing other species, a few came near enough to get some shots.
The species with the biggest numerical representation was the Yellow-rumped Warblers. There were over 30 feeding along the Mascoma River on both sides of the first bridge west of Ice House Road. Some obligingly came up to my level on the bridge.
Here is a sequence of one taking flight.
Here is another one turning and launching.
Here is a somewhat lengthy slide show of the Yellow-rumps.
While photographing the Yellow-rumps, a Blackburnian Warbler made an appearance. Without moving from my spot, I got a few quick shots before it moved on.
I went back to my car and prepared to leave when I heard a Warbling Vireo. So I stayed a bit longer and got some more photos.
A Chipping Sparrow greeted me at home.
During an afternoon hike with Jann, I photographed a Purple Trillium.
Just when I was thinking how great spring was, this was the scene in my backyard this morning.
But the snow is melting, and I found a fox den this morning and managed to get some photos of the three kits I saw. Check back for a future blog if you want to see them, or just Subscribe to this blog.
If you missed the birds I photographed at Ice House Road Thursday, you can see them if you CLICK HERE.