Happy Earth Day 2025
Earth’s survival, our priority.
It’s too beautiful to ignore!
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Oh Wow, Warblers!
I’m taking a warbler course to brush up on my ID skills, and we took our first field trip a week ago.
About two hours south of me in Maryland is an area known to birders as Bear Swamp. No, there are no bears! But it is a beautiful, ancient swamp and known to be one of the first areas on the eastern shore where the earliest warblers arrive.
Our quest was to find eight warblers. I found and photographed them all, along with one other exciting species I shared at the end.
I’ll start with a scene setting with a welcoming song!
Prothonotary Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
Yellow-throated Warbler
Prairie Warbler
American Redstart
Common Yellowthroat
Prothonotary Warbler
Ovenbird
Louisiana Waterthrush
American Redstart
Prothonotary Warbler
I couldn’t help myself with those Prothonotary extras! 😉
Although this was a Warbler birding trip, we had a fabulous encounter with a Barred Owl, my first-ever photos of one, so I gotta share it!
Barred Owl
It was truly a Oh Wow, Warblers day! I’m excited like a kid in school for the next five field trips already. 🙂
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Osprey, Osprey Everywhere
“It’s the ultimate harbinger of spring on the Chesapeake Bay; the chirping call of Ospreys, returning to their nests from winter vacations in Central and South America.”
It is exciting to see the Osprey busily bonding, building nests, and some are already incubating! I’m already accumulating lots of photos while out and about birding locally, here’s a few to start the season.
Above is my neighbor’s nest a few weeks ago.
Six days ago I noted incubation had started…..we’ve got at least one egg!
Life got real busy past couple weeks, whew! Too much Next I am I’m excited to share from a “field trip” for an eight-week warbler course I’m taking to better my warbler IDing skills. The course is called, “Oh Wow, Warblers!” and the day did not disappoint!
That course title is going to be perfect for my next post….. 😉
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Horned Grebes
Horned Grebes are showing up around the Chesapeake Bay as they migrate through from the southeastern U.S. to the upper northeast U.S. and Canada for their summer breeding. They are in the beginnings of their lovely breeding plumage.
I love their red eyes….
the golden yellow tufts (“horns”) behind the eyes….
and the white tip on their little beak!
For comparison, the next photo shows a Horned Grebe in it’s mid-winter drab.
Horned Grebe (non-breeding plumage)
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Pine Warbler Express
The first of our early warblers have been passing through our area for the past couple weeks. The delightful Pine Warbler!
Seeing and hearing this beauty during those first early Spring walks will surely make you smile!
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Backyard Traffic – Fox Trot
It is always a treat to watch the different types of wildlife that pass through our backyard, as they follow our strip of woods with the marsh directly behind it.
Yesterday, it was this beautiful red fox.
All the way across the backyard, to pass through on my cleared path to the marsh and cornfield.
My path is very popular. 😉
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Woodpecker Wednesday
Another post sharing five woodpeckers that stayed around me all winter. Here’s my best pick of each from the past several weeks.
Downy Woodpecker (male)
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Hairy Woodpecker (male)
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Northern Flicker, Yellow-shafted (female)
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Red-bellied Woodpecker (female)
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Pileated Woodpecker (female)
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House Finch Color Variations
Male House Finches sport their bright red breeding plumage in the Spring from the carotenoid rich foods they eat. The more they eat, the redder they become.
On occasion you’ll see a male whose diet wasn’t so rich with carotenoids, so his coloring will be yellow to orange.
I have one of those handsome fellas in my backyard now. 😊
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Wading Birds – #3
Yesterday early morning, I went for a birding/nature walk in my backyard and beyond; and I found to my delight a pair of Great Egrets foraging in the marsh pond, my first sighting for the year!
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Spring’s Red White & Blue
Blue Jay
Bay Photos by Donna 