AMNH Lunchtime walk - what a day!

Today was the perfect beginning for Paul's Spring lunchtime walks.  Warm, sunny, gorgeous, and lots of birds - what could be better!  On the way to meet the group I saw a few kinglets and this brown creeper.  Later we saw a couple of these, it's so nice to have them back!

brown creeper

Right away we started seeing song sparrows, there were several in the park.

song sparrow

And this swamp sparrow, happy as can be in the streamlet "above" the upper lobe.

swamp sparrow

At the upper lobe there were a few phoebes, including this one quite closeby.

eastern phoebe 

Wood ducks! I wonder if these are the ones that used to hang out on the point.  I hope they are new arrivals that settle in!

wood duck

hermit thrush

The sapsuckers look so spiffy and vivid in the spring.  Check this guy out!  We saw tons of them, all of them quite handsome.

yellow-bellied sapsucker

I couldn't resist this blue jay showing off its tail.  It was facing away, but when I got out the camera it looked around, making sure I got its good side.

blue jay

 This Carolina wren was singing up a storm!  What a treat!  We stood there for several minutes just watching and listening.  Eventually it did disappear into the underbrush, but we had a nice long look, and heard its song many times.

Carolina wren

 There were several hermit thrushes around too.
 And kinglets!  No good pictures, I'm not used to the little fast birds yet.  Hopefully some good ones will come soon.  We saw a few ruby crowned, but mostly golden crowned like this one.

golden-crowned kinglet

 A winter wren that did ~not~ want the spotlight.

winter wren

 Towhee!  I love these birds.

eastern towhee

 We saw a fox sparrow just barely long enough for me to get a shot.  I'm amazed that the camera managed to focus!  Then we had a view of it flying away.

fox sparrow

 Louisiana waterthrush!  This was a real treat, we will probably see lots of northern waterthrushes in the days to come, but we don't get a lot of Louisiana waterthrushes.  Oh, and it's not a thrush.  It's a waterthrush.  Which mean warbler.  Obviously.

Louisiana waterthrush