Baltimore Orioles

Today was a mixed bag of goodies.  I forced myself to get up and go search for warblers again, especially since Saturday's weather doesn't look good for birding, and this should be peak migration time.  I hate to miss it.

I thought I'd try birding in the playing fields behind the middle school in Hopkinton.  My son played Ultimate Frisbee there, and I remember thinking it would be a good place to bird.  It was pretty quiet until it was nearly time for school and suddenly all the parking places for the individual fields were filling up with kids zooming in at the last minute.  Not exactly a prime birding environment!

Besides several Baltimore Orioles, I saw a displaying male Wild Turkey, Northern Cardinals, Eastern Phoebe, Song Sparrow, Red-Winged Blackbirds, Black-Capped Chickadees, Warbling Vireo, and a mystery warbler.

After this, I tried EMC2 park, but it was the same thing!  I didn't even stay and drove on to Wildwood Cemetery in Ashland.  Pretty quiet conditions there (no pun intended).

The sun was hitting these new ferns just right, and I had to stop.  Favorite photo of the day!

Lilacs!

another Baltimore Oriole!

Black-Throated Green Warbler
(best bird of the day!)

Just before lunch, I noticed a Wild Turkey entering my backyard.  She picked at the ground under the bird feeders until I made too much noise and scared her away.

For my lunch break, I thought I'd go over to Hopkinton State Park, which is no longer open early enough for me to get there before work.  I specifically wanted to look for baby Killdeer.  No luck there, but I did enjoy my walk.  Here are the highlights:

 Brown-Headed Cowbird

 Turkey Vulture

 Killdeer

 Spotted Sandpiper

 Clouded Sulphur

 Pearl Crescent

 Bluets

 Savannah Sparrow bath time

 Dogwood

I don't know how it is where you live, but the dogwoods seem sub-par this year around Massachusetts.

 another Baltimore Oriole!

 Wild Oats

 Juvenal's Duskywing

 Pink Ladyslipper

another

It's been another week, and the parents were nowhere in sight, so I stopped to check on the baby Bluebirds again.  They appear to be growing and healthy!  It's very quite tight quarters in that box!

Baby Eastern Bluebirds!