March 18, 2016 [LINK / comment]
I've been pretty busy during this first week after spring break, but I did get outside for a while yesterday, walking around the boat pond at Sweet Briar College. For a while, all I could see was a couple Canada Geese and some Turkey Vultures, and then I heard a splash and spotted a Pied-billed Grebe about 50 yards away. Photo op! At that range, however, the image quality was only average.
Then this morning, as I was driving through the wooded area on the way into the Sweet Briar campus, I saw a bird fly up from the ground to the side of a tree, and quickly identified it as a Red-headed Woodpecker: beautiful! They are common in rural South Dakota, but I only see them on rare occasions in Virginia.
As spring approaches, I thought it would be nice to put on display this montage of wild bird photos that I have taken over the past couple years. I shared it on Facebook a couple weeks ago.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT:
Burrowing Owl (Las Vegas NWR, NM, July 2, 2014 -- reverse image);
Red-breasted Merganser (Lake Shenandoah, February 24, 2014);
Yellow-breasted Chat (Patagonia, AZ, June 30, 2014);
Purple Gallinule (Waynesboro, May 29, 2014);
Summer Tanager (San Pedro River, AZ, June 28, 2014);
Gray Hawk (Nogales, AZ, June 28, 2014);
Virginia Rail (Bell's Lane, February 20, 2016); and
CENTER: Magnolia Warbler (Montgomery Hall Park, May 7, 2014)
Speaking of wild bird photos, I entered an annual contest sponsored by Virginia Wildlife magazine, and the above Virginia Rail photo was one of the three which I submitted.