Warbling Vireo and Prairie Warbler

I enjoyed a morning hike along the Sudbury Reservoir Trail in Southboro between Ting Field and Deerfoot Road (altho parts of it need pruning).  Highlights included Northern Cardinal, Baltimore Oriole, Warbling Vireo, Common Yellowthroat, Great Blue Heron, Gray Catbird, and lots of swallows with possible Chimney Swifts mixed in (I wish I could confirm the varieties.  I'm pretty certain tree and barn at a minimum.)

Warbling Vireo 

This bird is described in my guidebook as "drab".  Poor thing!   I love this photo with the blue sky and pale green of newly emerged leaves and the morning sun lighting up the face of the "drab" bird!   I fear they were too hard on it just because of all the other wonderfully colored birds that are around this time of year!

Warbling Vireo

(oh, how I wish its face was in better focus)

Great Blue Heron

I wasn't the only one on the trail this morning.  As you can see above, this section needs a little maintenance.  Those were all thorny branches arcing across the path.

Gray Catbird

In the afternoon, I raced to catch what appeared to be the last of the sunshine with a walk along another section of the Sherborn Power Line trail (different than yesterday's).  I was immediately serenaded by a Prairie Warbler and got caught up trying to get a good photo of it.  Such a beautiful song and bird!

Prairie Warbler

I like the above photo because it shows how much of the whole body gets thrown into singing.  I like the wind in the feathers and also how its body looks almost heart-shaped.  

Of course, once I started paying more attention to butterflies, the bird flew into a shrub right next to me.  Sigh.

1 second - Just landed

2 seconds - Hello!

3 seconds - It was gone.

These butterflies were sitting in the warm sand that covered the trail along one stretch.  I think they were all Juvenal Duskywings, although they do vary quite a bit from one to the other.

Juvenal's Duskywing (female)

Juvenal's Duskywing (male)

and again - a female

Field Sparrows
(I almost left them out!)

I sure am enjoying the birds this spring!  Seems I am seeing the same warbler species as last year, but they are most likely the ones I will see without craning my neck (which I hate)!