May 7th was a very good day
Went out with my friend Michelle, and we had a surprise at every turn. We were on our way to Van Doren's Landing Park in Kent, but we ran into another friend who was photographing an American Bittern in a marshy area along Orilla Rd. We stopped and got some great shots of the Bittern (thank you Dave Cowell: DaveCowell.com). This was my first life bird sighting of the day.
In addition, we got some great shots of a Marsh Wren collecting cattail fluff for its nest:
We then left the area (don't even know what to call it, sorry), and drove on to Van Doren's. We had just arrived when we ran into two gals just leaving the area. Christine and Xanthia were searching for the Yellow-headed Blackbird, so we asked if we could join them. We drove to several sites and searched and searched, but never found the blackbirds. As a group, we then decided to go on to Boeing Ponds to check out the Coots and the potential for chicks this year. There were lots of Coots, so the area is well worth checking out in a few weeks. But, we were treated to a sighting of a Northern Rough-winged Swallow (my second lifer for the day).
As a group, we then headed back to our first site of the day to try to show Xanthia and Christine the Bittern and Cinnamon Teal. We were successful on both counts:
After seeing the Bittern and Teal, I was treated to my third life bird of the day: two Western Tanagers:
The last few minutes of the day I decided to focus on my original mission of the day: to get a half-way decent photo of a Common Yellowthroat. I think I finally succeeded:
All in all, it was a spectacular day, thanks to Michelle, Dave, Christine and Xanthia. If you want to see more pictures from the day, click here: May 7, 2017.
