Sunny and happy in the park

Quite a nice day in the park today, sunny and happy.  On the way to meet the group I saw two black-crowned night herons and that's about it - I left later than I planned and I had to hurry up to get there on time!  :-)

black-crowned night heron

 Quite quickly we found this oriole showing off for us.  Nice tail!

Baltimore oriole

 This parula was nearby but didn't really want to pose much.

northern parula

 There were several black-throated blues around, and I loved seeing this female come in right next to us.  Hello Gorgeous!

black-throated blue warbler

 It was pretty exciting to see this worm-eating warbler eating something that was probably not worms.  They are not the most gaudy of birds, but they do look sleek and stylish with their racing stripes.

worm-eating warbler

 This veery teased us for a while and then came out in the open, posing in the sun.

veery

 There were several ovenbirds too!  I love spring, all the birds get just a bit flirtier.

ovenbird

 This cormorant provided a nice contrast in scale.  After a zillion teeny little cuties, it was great to see this big guy sunning.

double-crested cormorant

 This was my best view of the rose-breasted grosbeak.  I was unsatisfied, but the bird was stubborn!

rose-breasted grosbeak

 Back to cooperative cuties - this black and white came right over.

black-and-white warbler

 After leaving the group, I found this towhee playing in the leaves.  Funny how I see more of them in the fall.  I wonder if they follow different paths in the spring vs. the fall, or if it's just been my luck so far.

eastern towhee

 And my good-bye bird was this kingbird, who started out nice and low but once he got his prize headed up to the top branches of a tree to devour it.

eastern kingbird