November 15, 2016 [LINK / comment]

Nice day for some nice birds

It's been chilly and/or rainy for the [past] couple days, so I took advantage of the nice weather this afternoon, walking along the Greenway Trail in Waynesboro. (I was there on a bird club field trip last month.) Nothing really out of the ordinary, other than a couple Pied-billed Grebes and a Belted Kingfisher on the Invista pond. But the lighting conditions were almost perfect for photographs:

Montage 15 Nov 2016

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Red-bellied Woodpecker, Great Blue Heron, Northern Cardinal, White-throated Sparrow, Northern Harrier (F/J)*, Tufted Titmouse, and in center, House Finch (M). (* Nov. 8; all others Nov. 15)

I saw the Harrier on Bell's Lane six days ago, but wasn't able to get close enough for a good photo before it flew away. I went back there on the way home to Staunton late this afternoon, but the only birds of note that I saw were a couple Great Blue Herons, including the one shown above.

Enlarged images of some of the birds above can be seen on the Wild Birds yearly photo gallery page.