Dawns bloggy blog

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Here we are…..

Here we are…

Parked in Mom and Dads driveway for a few weeks..

We will be back and forth between family in MA and here in CT most of the summer.

That’s Dad taking down the flag for the evening..

Our little side yard..

View from doorway of Homey..

My brother-in-law made the planter box for me last year.

I have started to plant it up for the summer.

My little Balliecat is *planted* under the Angel statue.

View out of our living room window onto our patio..

Our dining window looks out into a Rhododendron.

A Gray Catbird has claimed this space….and guards what looks like an old nest.

While the Catbird is away a Baltimore Oriole comes in to steal some nesting material..

The Catbird didn’t appreciate this very much..

So..here we are settled in for a bit.

A few days ago I read Tom Auer’s Migration forecast for the area.

I know when you hit it just right Bluff Point State Park can be a great place for migrants..

We arrived around 6:30am

A beautiful start to the morning..

We parked our car at the first pull off after going under the train tracks..

Walked up into an open area near the gated area for the trains..

We hit the jackpot..

Warblers everywhere!

We didn’t know where to look first.

We birded the area for six hours!

First doing the short walk near the first pull off..

Then the three mile loop.

Most variety of warblers was at the first pull off.

It was amazing!

Ovenbird

Most birds were up high in the canopy and my little point and shoot camera couldn’t reach them..

Black and White Warbler butt

We saw a Baltimore Oriole making its nest..

Black-throated Blue Warbler

It was a most wonderful time! It really pays to watch migration radar!

We went birding the same spots the following day and it was very different.. A few migrants left..most had moved on.

May 16

Bluff Point SP
Traveling
4 miles
360 Minutes
Observers: 2
All birds reported? Yes
Comments:
Submitted from BirdLog NA for iOS, version 1.5.3
Canada Goose
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Willet
Laughing Gull
Herring Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Eastern Phoebe
Great Crested Flycatcher
White-eyed Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Veery
Swainson's Thrush
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher
Blue-winged Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Canada Warbler
Eastern Towhee
Song Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Scarlet Tanager
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Baltimore Oriole
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Not without a hitch…

We left Cape May this morning..with a slight glitch.

Our tow hitch was damaged when Jeff tried to repair it.

We couldn’t hook the car to the Homey. We drove 130 separately to Camping World in hopes they would have the part we needed. They didn’t and were totally booked.

Jeff called Blue Ox, the dealer that made the tow hitch…luckily they found a tow hitch for us about ten miles away. We got lost and it was about 17 miles for us to find the service center.
We purchased the part..Jeff installed it and we are on our way again…

Ha..things didn’t go without a hitch~but now that we have a hitch we are going! Delayed about five hours.

So..now, as I sit in the passenger seat as we drive to CT ~

I have few water droplet photos to share.

All taken in Sicksta Adele's Garden.

Flower hanging by a spider thread..

This will relax me after a bit of a stressful morning.

Liquid diamonds..

Trees reflected in these droplets..

Spring brought buckets of rain to Sickstas garden..

She said this will be a banner year for her flowers..

She has never seen her garden as lush.

Iris tongue lapping water droplet.

It will be a spring she will always remember.

It was also a much colder spring..

I will remember the spring because the bird migrants were over a week late..

These macros are taken with my point and shoot camera.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS20

Not bad for a little camera..

I am sure I could get better detail with a DSLR

I am just too lazy of a photographer to carry around a big camera..

This works for me for now..

Though I am very tempted to buy the point and shoot Canon with the 50x zoom..I would use it primarily for bird photography…Lillian Stokes and Stephen Ingraham have been taking some awesome photos with it!

The price is under 400..not bad, I just find it hard to justify when I have another Canon with a 20x zoom that I hardly use now that my small camera has the same 20x.

Anyway..still very tempting.