Slow Morning

We had our first banding session of the spring at Ritter Farm Park near my house today and spent a lot of time staring at each other and telling stories. Pretty slow day. Heard lots of stuff but the wind was a hindrance. Not much flitting through the underbrush.

The first bird of the day was an Orange-crowned Warbler but I didn't take any pictures of it. This was our second, and last, bird of the day - a nice Swamp Sparrow. We have been hearing them around for a couple of weeks now.

I love the colors in our native sparrows. Too many people think sparrows are all dull and brown and boring. It's fun to see the look on their faces when you can show them a sparrow up close and they really see it for the first time.

 Along the road out of the park we had a chance to stop and check out the local Bald Eagle nest. One adult is standing guard but I haven't seen any fuzzy heads sticking up from the nest yet. This site has been pretty productive over the last several years so I hope to see some youngsters soon.

We have another session next Sunday and with the predicted change in weather we hope that day will be more productive.