Monday of this week I took a drive to the West Rutland Marsh and Powerlines. On the way home I stopped briefly at Dewey’s Pond in Quechee. Because of other commitments, these may be the last bird photos I take for a while.
The easiest photo of the day was a Saw-whet Owl chick.
Since the location and the fact that Owls are nesting here has been widely publicized, I don’t think there is a problem showing the spot. The view below looks almost directly west. The arrow points to the nest box. I took these two photos from the middle of the road.
The marsh was fogged-in until mid-morning. I got an Eastern Kingbird in the early light at 6:25 am.
And hour later I managed to get a shot of a Red-winged Blackbird flying.
A few minutes later a Virginia Rail walked across the road in front of me, just like an American Bittern did the Second Week of May. It did not seem to be too concerned about my presence.
Here the Rail is working the area just below the road.
Not to be outdone, a muskrat swam by very near where the Rail was.
It was still foggy when I started up the Powerlines at around 8:30 am. A Veery posed and sang for me.
Next up was an Eastern Towhee as the sun started breaking through the fog.
The first warbler along the Powerlines was a Prairie Warbler. Here is one taken early, and a second one later.
I met two people doing a survey for Audubon. They told me they found Blue-winged Warblers far up the road/trail. I wanted to get photos of them so I did the hike with a heavy camera and tripod. The fog was clearing and it was getting hot. This Blue-winged Warbler seemed to have a small orange patch on its head.
Heading back to NH, I made a quick stop at Dewey’s Pond. Yellow Warblers were “everywhere”. Here is one.
Without searching I found a nest. A Yellow Warbler flew in.
I photographed female and male Red-winged Blackbirds.
Here are a few more photos I took this day.
