It has been a good year for seeing birds while on trips. Since I have not posted in a long time I thought I would just post a few of my favorites. Way back in February we went to Tucson and my favorite was the very cute little Vermillion flycatcher.
Vermillion Flycatcher.....just love this little red bird!
Gila Woodpecker and youngster
Costa's Hummingbird
Rufous Hummingbird....a life bird for me.
Phainopepla
Yellow Rumped Warbler
Chased this little guy around all week trying for photos. Another life bird for me.
Then in June we helped our son move to Colorado and I discovered another new bird...the Magpie. They are so pretty! I really enjoyed them, although I am sure people who live with them find them a bit of a nuisance. For me another life bird for the year.
On the way to Colorado, we went through Kansas and there I saw the Western Kingbird at every rest stop we pulled into.
In August we went to Michigan to meet up with our daughter. My hope here were to see some shore birds, but I'm never good at identifying them.
Semi-palmated Plover
Didn't get to see the Plover I hoped for, but this one was nice anyway.On the way home a stop at Muskegon, Michigan provided some real finds and at least one new life bird for me. These birds were all seen at the Muskegon Wastewater Treatment facility which is over 11,000 acres. We were only there 2 hours on two days and only covered one small area.
Kingfisher
Female non/breeding Bobolink....a life bird for me.
Some swallows in the rain
Osprey and willing to pose very nicely for me.
Immature starlings
A Kestrel that didn't fly away because it was busy eating a Katydid?
Those were my birding vacations for this year so far!
I have some more photos from a local birding spot of migrating birds which I will post another day.
