Window Lifers

I've been stuck inside for the past few days, but I had the pleasure of two lifers showing up outside my window. On Friday, a male American Redstart flitted in the holly tree outside my window, hunting for food and taking a break at times to preen. This was a fun bird to watch, but a pain in the butt to photograph. I've never seen a bird as active as the Redstart—it was never still. Even when perched, it was either preening or moving its head around as it looked for food. After I attempted to photograph the bird for a long period of time, my neck hurt for the rest of the evening.

Another lifer showed up outside my window today. As twilight approached after a day of rain, I noticed a bird perched on a high branch along the tree line. I grabbed my binocular and observed the bird. It flew from its perch to grab an insect a number of times, so I knew I had a flycatcher of some sort. An Eastern Phoebe was my first impression, but I noted that this bird wasn't as dark as a Phoebe, didn't flick its tail, and had wing bars. I flipped through a couple of my field guides, eventually suspecting an Acadian Flycatcher. However, after more observation, it became clear that this bird wasn't an Acadian Flycatcher. This bird was darker and larger than an Acadian, and its song didn't match an Acadian's. I listened to a number of bird songs, finally stumbling across one that matched what I was hearing: Eastern Wood-Peewee. After checking what I was seeing and hearing with my field guides, I was sure that I had an Eastern Wood-Peewee. I hope it stops by tomorrow so I can snap a picture of it.

Happy birding, folks!

Male American Redstart outside my window.

Yes, I'm Still a Beginner

I had all kinds of grand plans for this blog. I was going to document every step in my birding journey, report all the cool discoveries I made, and embarrass myself by revealing how little I actually know about birds. Yet here it is almost a year since I last posted. Don't ask me what happened, because I can't point to anything in particular. I guess life happened.

Right now, for me birding is pretty much relegated to what I can see outside my window. I do occasionally get a few moments to make observations when I'm out and about, but that's about the extent of any of my outings this year. In fact, I've yet to take a day—or a few hours, for that matter—just to bird. That will kind of make my goal of 100 species in my county a bit tough to reach. However, I do have 55 species right now, so I guess it's still attainable. I just have to get out there and do it.

Who knows, maybe I'll get my act together someday. Maybe I can use this blog as I originally intended. Maybe I can embarrass myself.

Happy birding, everyone!