Monday, April 28, 2008

Fernhill Wetlands

Michelle and I went out to Fernhill Wetlands yesterday morning for a few hours. It was a great day! We saw Warblers, Flycatchers, Wrens, water foul, Herons, Swallows, Finches, Sparrows...and Cedar Waxwings! It was amazing. The Cedars were flycatching with a flock of Yellow-Rumped Warblers, next to the trail leading around Dabblers Marsh. There was probably at least 40-50 Waxwings. Some of them even flew right past us, giving us our closest looks ever at these beautiful birds. We took at least 50 photos of the Waxwings alone!

We also got some great looks at Great Blue Herons. We saw at least 4 different herons. Hundreds of Tree Swallows were in the air and in the nest boxes. We also saw a Spotted Sandpiper on one of the little islands! We watched a gosling hatching (from about 300 ft away) through the binoculars. Again, what a great day. We have 3 or 4 unidentified birds right now. Once we ID them we will post about those, as well.

So here are some of the photos we took and we will post more soon. Thanks for stopping by and good birding!



A Song Sparrow atop the sign. We couldn't resist taking his photo.
Great Blue Heron stalking some fish.

After he caught the fish, he took off!

Here's another one that soared right past us! They are such graceful birds.

And here are the Cedar Waxwings!

Note the red line on the tail, just above the yellow. From what I understand, the red is probably caused by it's diet. Normally, the tip of the tail is only yellow.

Very majestic!

We were so excited to see them!

So glad that they are returning. We occasionally saw small flocks of them throughout the winter, but nothing like this!
A Red-Winged Blackbird
Tree Swallows were everywhere!
Spotted Sandpiper. A new Life List Bird!

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

your photos are beautiful - I've enjoyed your postings

Stephanie said...

GREAT pics! Looks like a fun & productive day.

Di said...

Great pics of the waxwings, this might be our next stop!