Goodbye Lake Nelson

Black Crowned Night Heron



Barn Swallows


Cedar Waxwing


Gray Catbird


Tufted Titmouse with a peanut


Chipmunk


Well, this is really it. We fly to California at 7:40am tomorrow. In between packers, car transport and movers, we got in some backyard birding. One new discovery this week was the barn swallows feeding juveniles. Barn Swallows almost never land in our yard, but we had juveniles in trees being fed by adults catching the mosquitoes on the lake. Cedar waxwings are infrequent visitors but they were out on the lake catching insects as well. The night heron flew by and landed on the gate by the dam. We took a walk down and saw him on a log over the stream and then higher in a tree. The catbirds are finishing the last of our jelly and the titmouse took our last peanut.

Cape Cod Birds

Green Heron

Eastern Kingbird

Cedar Waxwing


We took a short vacation to Cape Cod. We mainly enjoyed the beaches and some nightlife, but went birding at Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. It's a nice place but our schedule didn't permit us to be there during the best birding times.

We should get out more.

Northern Cardinal


Cedar Waxwing


Chipmunk

We should get out more, but we also like waiting for these critters to drop by.

Cedar Waxwings: Lacy Park in Pasadena

We are pretty happy with some prior cedar waxwing photos we've taken in NJ, but these with the berries we like just as much if not more. We had never actually observed the waxwings eating berries like we've read they do until we were in CA. It was a very large flock, and they were having what seemed to be a really good time with an abundance of berries.

Cedar Waxwing

The cedar waxwings have been out every morning. About 20 fly over the lake catching insects. Every once in a while, they stop on a nearby tree.

Birding on Flip Flop Friday

We relaxed a bit on our dock on National Flip Flop day. Some cedar waxwings were catching bugs over the lake. The mother oriole was looking for food to feed the babies that we can hear but not see high overhead. Some turtles got into the spirit and sunned themselves on the float island.

Two Waxwings


Female Baltimore Oriole

Great Blue Heron flying overhead

Blue Jay in the water feature

Three Turtles relaxing in the sun

Cedar Waxwing

It's always a treat when a cedar waxwing comes to our yard.

A visit to Rutgers Gardens

Here are some bird photos we took at Rutgers Gardens off Ryders Lane on Rutgers Cook Campus. There were more flowers than birds this morning, but we are always happy to see a waxwing.

Hummingbird

Cedar Waxwing

White-breasted Nuthatch

A better waxwing photo

We get an occasional cedar waxwing at home, always high in the trees. With all the rain, a drainage pond formed at Mike's work. After a while, he saw what appeared in the distance to be swallows flying over it. Upon closer inspection, it turns out that 20 or more waxwings were in the area. Here are some of the better photos.

Cedar Waxwing

 

Here's our best photo yet of a cedar waxwing. If you ever watched Zaboomofoo, you'd know why we call him Wiggy Waxwing.

Morning walk around Lake Nelson: Who needs Cape May?

We took our morning walk around Lake Nelson without the camera and binoculars. The day was so beautiful and the birds were all out, so we returned again with our birding gear to enjoy the migrating birds. There are many pairs of orioles, and we hope some will nest in the yard, perhaps enticed by the grape jelly Chris went out to get for them.

 
Cedar Waxwing

Baltimore Oriole 

 
Yellow-rumped warbler

 
Brown-headed Cowbird

Cedar Waxwing

There are usually about five or six cedar waxwings eating insects by the dam in the morning. They are a challenge for us because they don't sit still for very long. Mike got a new lens for the camera, so that's helping a bit, but we sure wish they would sit still. We still hope to get a picture that shows their beautiful markings better.

Cedar Waxwing

This was a VERY exciting new sighting today. We are looking forward to seeing more of these Cedar Waxwings and getting better pictures. We've been seeing a larger colorful bird for a week or so. We thought it might be a Oriole or even a Meadowlark. They may be around, but Chris got this Cedar Waxwing photo this AM.