Hooded warbler, hooded warbler, hooded warbler!

Oh, and some other cool stuff too.  :-)  Today was another of the lunchtime walks with Paul from AMNH.  I can't say there were birds everywhere, but we ended up seeing quite a bit, including a spectacular hooded warbler.  Yay!  Okay, just to get this out of the way - I do ~not~ have a good picture of the hooded warbler.  :-(  I have a picture where the bird is in the shot, but that's about it.  Ah, well, someday!

We started off going down the little path to the little stram and bridge, where we saw this white-breasted nuthatch along with the usual suspects - robins, house sparrows, starlings.  There was a visiting Famous Birder from I think England, I really wonder if the Brits who come over laugh and laugh over all of the house sparrows.  And maybe round some up to take home, where they are not doing so well.  Oh well.

White-breasted Nuthatch

 Heading down towards the park road someone spotted a blackpoll warbler, what a treat!  I had no idea what it was, although this is one of the ones I learned last year.  Maybe I'm not as intermediate as I think.  :-)

Blackpoll Warbler

 Over to the upper lobe bridge, where we saw this pretty little maggie, and a somewhat distant hummingbird.

Magnolia Warbler

 And this red-eyed vireo!  I'm getting to really love these little guys.  I'm a sucker for a stripey head.

Red-eyed Vireo

 One of the grosbeaks flirted with us, even coming into the sun for a few moments.  No, I did not Photoshop the color of the water.  It looks like that.  It's something about seeds or pollen.  Apparently it's supposed to happen.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

 Over towards Tupelo meadow, where this phoebe demonstrated how flycatchers catch flies.  There's a lot of swooping interspersed with perching.  It looks fun!

Phoebe?

 A goldfinch is not gold in the fall.  It looked like a weird sparrow, the back looked wrong for any sparrow I know.  Which is appropriate since it is actually a goldfinch!  I love seeing them away from the feeders.  Actually we went by the feeders and there were no goldfinch there.

American Goldfinch

 A yellow-bellied sapsucker!  Looking a bit worse for wear.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

 At the feeders there is a tree with flowers that the thrushes (and some other birds) just love, love, love.  They fly around and crash-land on these clusters of teeny flowers and then they feast!  I don't really know what they are eating (seeds? bugs?) but it seems to be quite their favorite meal.

Swainson's Thrush

 Then we saw a red-bellied woodpecker, and a hairy flew over to join it on the same tree!  I didn't move fast enough to get them facing off, but at least both faces are in this shot.  A sapsucker flew up to the tree in the back/right here.  It was hilarious!

Red-bellied Woodpecker and Hairy Woodpecker

 Here is the crown jewel of the day - the hooded warbler!  We actually got a good look at him, I just couldn't get a decent shot.  Well, at least you can tell what it is!  :-)  I stayed around trying to locate it again but it moved on to the next spot in its circuit, and waiting around for 30-45 minutes didn't seem like a lot of fun.  Thanks Buddy!

Hooded Warbler

 Back to the upper lobe, where I worked my way around slowly and silently because someone I have not seen before was being professionally videotaped teaching someone how to use binoculars.  At first I thought it was a commercial, but it became clear that it was some sort of "segment."  I made it by without being on camera or disturbing them though, and this brown thrasher posed for me in the sun, so it was all good.

Brown Thrasher