April 22nd. Yellow-rumped Warbler (Dendroica coronata).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A male Ring-necked Duck (Aythya collaris).

 

Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A break from the morning birds.

 

Highbush Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) in flower. Lots of plants but few bear berries.

 

Another Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia).

 

 

 

Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) perched on last year's Broad-leaved Cattail (Typha latifolia) stalk.

 

 

 

Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura).

 

 

 

 

 

With its mate.

 

April 23rd. The American Bittern (Botaurus lentinginosus) made another appearance today.

 

From the trail, looking across the channel, without the camera's long lens the bird looked like nothing so much as a stump.

 

If I hadn't seen the bird two days ago, I never would have noticed it today.

 

The joys of an adaptive "search image".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No warning to permit focus, it flew across the channel, more or less towards me.

 

It landed amid the nearby hummocks, mostly shielded from prying eyes by trail edge shrubs. Photographers will understand the difficulty (or luck) of getting anything like correct auto focus in conditions like this.

 

 

 

April 24th. I saw only eight Ring-necked Ducks (Aythya collaris) this morning in four pairs.

 

The many redundant males seem to have moved on.

 

Red Maple (Acer rubrum) seeds ("winged achenes" or "samaras"). I'm really pleased with this picture. For me, it has something of an abstract quality to it. Ignore the soft focus on the foreground seeds?

 

Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata). Pretty up close but its reputation as a rampant invasive tarnishes that view.

 

Read about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliaria_petiolata

 

A nice patch of Wood Anemone (Anemone quinquefolia).

 

 

 

 

 

Sweet White Violet (Viola blanda). Flowers about one centimeter wide.