We were having our picnic breakfast at Fort Hill the other morning when this little bird started hopping around on the split-rail fence. Phil got his camera out and clicked away, thinking it was just “another” sparrow. (Click on blog link for other photos.)
And then I pulled up my iBird Photo Sleuth on my iPhone and it said it was 99% a Palm Warbler. Wow!! We had never seen one before, so it was a first on our Life List!
When viewing the range map, it looks like the Palm Warbler was migrating from Canada and the northern states to southeastern USA, the West Indies and the Yucatán Peninsula. Very cool!
It was a gorgeous day for a hike at the Audubon and what a day for bird watching! We saw at least 40-50 Egrets and 10 Great Blue Herons by the little ponds on the salt marsh. It was such a beautiful sight! Wow!
It was a gorgeous morning to take a walk on Boat Meadow Beach. I almost missed this little Semi-palmated Plover and Sandpipers scurrying about on the mud flats looking for food. (Click on blog link for other photo.) They blended in so well with the sand and mud.
Have you ever seen a Semi-palpated Plover? Pretty bird!
It’s that time of the year when all of the little chicks have fledged and it’s time to clean out their bird houses to get ready for next spring…. Or, maybe someone might move in there for the winter months. We frequently have Downy Woodpeckers using our bird houses during the winter.
We found this beautiful nest in our Eastern Screen Owl house. It was so tall and so soft! What a beauty! The male that we named Hootie lived there for a couple of weeks and was obviously quite busy building this nest. Either his anticipated mate never found him or a predator stopped by and scared him off.
We cleaned out all of the bird houses and put 2-3” of wood shavings in the Owl House just in case he comes back over the winter or in early spring looking for a nice place to make his home, Fingers crossed…
I was just commenting to Phil that I had not seen a Cooper’s Hawk in our yard in a long time. They frequently like to hang out in the trees near our bird feeders, looking for their next meal. (Click on blog link for other photo.)
And then this beautiful hawk landed on a branch nearby and I was able to take some nice photos, even through the window. He stayed for a bit, but then flew away when he realized there were no birds anywhere nearby.
Cape Cod daily articles on the wonderful Cape Cod places to hike, experience and photograph. A Cape Cod Outdoor Adventure Series.
