Saturday at the flooded field.

With not so much rain the last few day the pool/pond/flooded field water has been shrinking a bit. It's currently about half the size of its peak. The shorebird numbers have fluctuated every time I've been past this last week but with overnight rain and even more this morning I popped up to take a look to see if anything new had dropped in. The Least Sandpipers numbers have increased, they seem to be all over and some very close. The Lesser Yellowlegs numbers have gone down to 2 or 3 and the same with the Solitary Sandpipers. The Semipalmated Sandpipers have increased, just how many I didn't look (or care for that matter only being interested in photographs). Anyway each to his or her own I suppose so here's a few from about 10 minutes this morning. 

Solitary Sandpiper

Least Sandpiper

Lesser Yellowlegs

Lesser Yellowlegs

Least Sandpiper

Semipalmated Sandpiper

Semipalmated Sandpiper

Least Sandpiper

2627 shots in 19 minutes.

 This afternoon I drove past the flooded field and stopped briefly to see what was about. One of the Pectoral Sandpipers was pretty close and damnit I didn't have my camera. I dropped some stuff off at one of  the donation places in town, then to the Pets Mart to get the felines more food, then into the Target to check out pots and pans that will work on our new cooktop. Dont ask. So an hour or more later I drove past again, got some dinner underway and shot back out but this time with the camera. The light was a still a bit harsh at 4pm and fair bit of heat distortion in the 86F (30C) temperature. Luckily the Pectoral was still quite close and many shots later I noticed that some of the Least Sandpipers were just about 5-6 yards away. They were under the 6M reduced focus range of my lens so I had to switch to the full focus range to get them. From the first shot at 4:03 PM to the last at 4:22PM I took 2627 images! I had to give up because sitting in a hot car without the engine running and no A/C the sweat was running down into my eyes. How I suffer for my art!

It reminded me of my first Pectoral Sandpiper, one evening somewhere in Northamptonshire back in the early 70's. I bet Ken would remember where it was, it was also my first sighting of the legendary Big Jake and his sidekick Kerry.

😎

Pectoral Sandpiper

Pectoral Sandpiper

Pectoral Sandpiper

Pectoral Sandpiper

Least Sandpiper

Least Sandpiper

Least Sandpiper

Least Sandpiper

Pectoral and Least Sandpiper

Hummingbird

 I popped over to Middle Creek in the week to try out a new focus range limiting feature in a new firmware update for my Nikon Z8. Most telephoto lenses have a switch that limits  the range of the lens mechanical movement which allows faster focussing, this is typically something like 6M to Infinity. In the latest Z8 firmware Nikon has added a software limit so you can set a lower focus point and a high focus point. I wanted to try for some Hummingbirds at the nectar feeders at the Visitor Center. I focussed on the feeder at around 5M then set the lower limit to 4.8M and the high limit to 5.2M. As the Hummers are lightning fast it's easy to misplace the focus point so rather than have the telephoto snap onto the background which is a lot of mechanical travel for the focussing mechanism to get back to the bird it only has to travel with the set range. It works very well, I will use it a lot at my backyard feeder setup.

female Ruby-throated Hummingbird 

New Shorebirds down the lane.

 After more rain overnight and this morning I thought maybe the birds from yesterday would stick around, apparently not. The Lesser Yellowlegs numbers were down but there were 3 Short-billed Dowitchers and a Pectoral Sandpiper that joined the puddle party. Here's a few from this morning, the light was a bit dismal and I never managed the Dowitchers.

Solitary Sandpiper

Least Sandpiper

Pectoral Sandpiper

Solitary Sandpiper

Flooded Fields

 We've had a lot of rain lately, not as much as some parts of the country but much more than normal for this time of year. Just up the lane in a field with a slight depression a large pool appears which at different times of the year attracts a variety of birds.  Right now the Shorebirds are moving through the area and the pool is attracting quite a few of them.

Flooded Field

Flooded Field

Lesser Yellowlegs

Lesser Yellowlegs

Lesser Yellowlegs

Lesser Yellowlegs

Solitary Sandpiper

Lesser Yellowlegs

Solitary Sandpiper

Lesser Yellowlegs

Fieldbirds or Shorebirds?

Just a quarter mile up the lane theres a big pool that appears after several days of heavy rain and we've had lots of that recently. Over the last week or so theres been Solitary, Spotted and Least Sandpipers and I'm pretty sure a Pectoral but not 100%, earlier this morning there were loads of Killdeer and an assortment of Swallows.

Least Sandpiper

Solitary Sandpiper

Black Skimmer

 I'm going to be having a good look for the Black Skimmers next time I'm out on the coast.

Black Skimmer

In a couple of weeks .....

 should be pretty good for Butterflies and Moths based upon previous years.

Spicebush Swallowtail

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Hummingbird Clearwing

Hummingbird Clearwing

Hummingbird Clearwing

May 2022 was a brilliant year

 I've whined several times in these pages just how crap spring migration has been in 2023-24-25 compared to 2022. I decided as I haven't been taking many bird pictures recently that I'll delve into the archives for some of the shots I never processed back then.

Common Grackle

American Robin

Brown Thrasher

Myrtle Warbler

Yellow Warbler

Common Grackle

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Black-throated Blue Warbler

American Redstart

Northern Parula

Black and White Warbler

Indigo Bunting

Blackpoll Warbler

Blackpoll Warbler

Blue Jay

Blue Jay