Friday, May 10, 2013

Shhhhh...still shushing...

 It's a Black-throated Blue Warbly...cause its got a black throat...and it's mostly blue...except for the white parts...

 Hello again. If you just guessed that I'm still at Magee Marsh and not at work you'd be half right...sort of. I'm not at work today(again), but I'm not at Magee. THese are still from last Fridays outing...with maybe one more post of pics sometime.

Today I went to the Cleveland Lakefront Nature Preserve, more warblys! Butt, you'll have to wait to see what I saw, see? Fine. Until we meet again...

A Black-throated Green Warbler...same as above...except it's green. 
I should be a bird guide...I'm good.

Yep...still getting those birdie butts!
Still green too...

...with a black throat...

 This fuzzy feathery thing was only seen by myself and one other person.
She screamed(really) "GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER!" 
I thought Blue-winged Warbler, though there was a hybrid Brewster's in the same area.
We'll never know due to my excellent photographer skills...ha.

 A Chestnut-sided Warbly.
Yep, you guessed it...cause it has chestnut sides!
Oh, it's a laugh riot here today kids!

 Where'd that stick come from?

 I'm thinking...since he's all alone, he must be a Hermit Thrush.
What do you think? Hmmmm?

 This is a Lincoln's Sparrow.
He took his top hat off to prepare for a bath.
( Are you still there?)

A Mourning Dove...in the afternoon...mourning the loss of her freedom after those kids hatch.

 My blog wouldn't be complete without a few(HA? Few?!) crappy photos.
Silly Mourning Warblers(no relation to Mourning Doves by the way), always hiding in the dark creepy crevices.

 Oooh...a Nashville Warbly not in Tennessee. 
"Thank ya very mush..."
(Say it with an Elvis accent and you may laugh, or not.)

A Palm Warbly, NOT in a palm tree.

"KNOCK OFF THE STOOPID JOKES LOOP!"

Smart alec Prothonotary Warblys...

Ruby-crowned Kinglets are very humble.
They like to hide their crowns...

Swainson's Thrush.
Ran out of jokes.

Hmmmm...a White-throated Sparrow...called that because?
Yes! He has a white throat!
You catch on quickly.

A Wood Thrush after a rough flight in.
With a little rest and a brush, he'll be fine. 

 I'll bet you'll never guess why this is called a Yellow Warbly!
Hmph. You've heard this before haven't you?

Even this Yellow-rumped Warbly has had enough of me for today.

Sorry...butt I'll be back! Mwahaha!

Monday, May 6, 2013

Shhhhhh!!!

My good friend and excellent guide from Ecuador, Edison, found this American Woodcock hiding under a brush pile.

Don't tell anyone! I was feeling very under the weather Friday and couldn't make it to work...ack, ack... Amazingly enough, I was well enough to drive to Magee Marsh to catch the beginning of the spring spectacular...WARBLY MIGRATION! Shhhh...

What a gorgeous day to be out birding. Sun shining, nice breeze, 75 degrees, the birding life doesn't get any better...unless I was retired(not gonna happen.) In addition to all the great folks I haven't seen in a while, I saw 60 species of birdies, including 15 species of warbly things! AND I shot 637 photos, half of which I've already deleted so don't worry.

I think I'll spread these photos out over a few days...I wouldn't want to make you suffer through too many fuzzy butt shots!

 This Black-and-White Warbly couldn't figure out how my name was floating in mid air.
 
 First spring warbly booty!
 
 Isn't he precious?
That little bug killing machine...
 
 Blackburnian bootyliciousness...
 
 This lil warbly thing had me puzzled for a while.
The first person that spotted it said "Black-throated Green" and kept going.
It just didn't look right, that stripe on top of her head was a puzzlement.
When I looked in my copy of Chris Earley's Warbler guide, it turned out to be a female Blackburnian warbly! Cool, eh?
 
 Say bye-bye bug!
 
 "HEY! WHY AREN'T YOU AT WORK?!"
Cause I don't wanna.
 
 I don't think I've ever seen so many Blackburnian warblys at Magee!
Then again, I'm usually working...hmmmm...I think I'm feeling ill again...
 
 Getting sick of these guys yet?
I didn't think so...
 
 Even a color blind Loopy guy can appreciate the color of these warblys!

 
 I did photograph a couple of other birds in between those warbly things!
Like this snoozing Eastern Screech Owl.
 
That's Edison Buenano on the left. He helped us find well over 300 species on our short visit to the Mindo valley in Ecuador!
On the right is another friend and excellent photo and bird guide, Ian Campbell of Tropical Birding.


Stay tuned for more of my...
"EXCITING DAY OFF WITH THE BIRDS!"