Friday, July 8, 2011

Birding the back roads

I am linking up with Camera Critters

I have been enjoy listening to the Great Blue Herons and their babies from my deck. The adult Great Blue Heron comes back to the nest and the babies go beserk and sound like they are fighting over the food. I linked up my you tube video. My neighbors thought they were some wild animals in the woods fighting. You have to listen for yourself to actually hear the noises and sounds coming from these heron babies.

Great Blue heron nest


Last weekend after listening to my herons in the morning at home and then hiking at the Catoctin National Park I decided to take the back roads home to look for Dickcissels reportedly seen in the area. I missed seeing the Dickcissel hopefully someday soon but I did see a Redheaded Woodpecker, Eastern Kingbird and a beautiful Eastern Meadowlark.

I was a happy birder to see the Meadowlark. It had been over 20 years since seeing my first Meadowlark. My first Meadowlark sighting was seen over 20 years ago on a farm right down my street. It is a beautiful bird and has a lovely song. I have never seen them again on my street and last weekend was my second sighting of the Eastern Meadowlark in Maryland.

This beautiful bird inhabits open areas such as meadows, prairies, farms and grasslands. It can often be found singing from a fence post while searching for insects. It is sad to see that development of farmland means a loss of habitat for the Meadowlark.


The next bird we saw while on the back road was the Redheaded Woodpecker.  I knew this bird was being seen in the area after reading my listserve emails. It is one of my favorite woodpeckers.



The Eastern Kingbird was another bird I saw perched on a wire over the road. I usually can tell a kingbird by the white on the bottom of their tails.



To see more wonderful and cute critters please visit Misty Dawn's Camera Critters
Thanks to Misty Dawn for hosting the Camera Critters meme and thanks for stopping by to see my post. I hope you enjoyed my birds and I hope everyone has a great weekend and happy birding.

29 comments:

  1. Neat video.... Love hearing the 'chatter'... Did you hear the baby Northern Flicker's on Janie's blog??? The little flickers just sound like buzzing bees... IF you don't go to her blog, let me know and I'll send you a link. You would love hearing them...

    Great pictures of the Meadow Lark and Red Headed Woodpecker. I've never seen a Meadowlark ---but we do have Red Heads here.

    Have a great weekend.
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  2. Ha, the heron video is great... Such crazy sounds! The Red-headed Woodpecker is stunning!!!!

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  3. great photos of the 3 birds! and those herons must make raucous neighbors for you!!!

    we get meadowlarks here in fall/winter but they always leave in the spring for parts further north. :)

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  4. Goodness, those babies do make a lot of noise. I can understand why your neighbors thought it was wild animals. Knowing the source does give it a different perspective.

    That is a fabulous shot of the meadowlark.

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  5. the meadowlark is lovely, I've heard they're declining really badly - is that true?

    Lovely photo of the red headed woodpecker, what a handsome bird!

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  6. Love those red-heads. I used to have one in Illinois, but have not been able to lure one in up here in Michigan , though we are supposed to have them.
    Nice shots!

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  7. Lovely photos Eileen. That Meadowlark has a delicious shade of yellow. As you say, how sad these farmland birds are disappearing, all over the world in fact.

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  8. You got some fantastic bird shots here. I really liked them.

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  9. Fabulously clear shots - just lovely!

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  10. Beautiful photos, Eileen. The bright yellow of the meadowlark, the vivid red of the woodpecker, the lovely white of the kingbird. All so different, all so wonderful.
    — K

    Kay, Alberta, Canada
    An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel

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  11. I really like that red headed woodpecker! My aunt would, too, as she is a red-head! =D

    http://livingsoabundantly.blogspot.com/p/give-back-thursday.html

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  12. I have never heard a heron speaking before - what a clatter they make.
    The meadowlark is a real beauty.

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  13. Great to hear the youngsters chattering Eileen. The colourful Meadowlark always makes me smile.

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  14. I don't think I have ever heard baby blue herons before. Thanks for posting that video! I'm on a quest to get some great shots of blue herons right now so I was excited to read that you have blue herons so close to where you live. I actually got some good shots today. YAY! But NOW I want some great shots of them flying...oh also of some babies...and their nests. :))

    I'm familiar with Eastern Kingbirds but have never gotten a good photo of them but not the meadowlark. And for sure I have never seen a red-headed woodpecker!

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  15. Hi Eileen, How tremendous! You know for sure how very much I love those Red-headed Woodpeckers! The Heron video was wonderful! Have a super nice Sunday tomorrow!

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  16. All of these are wonderful, Eileen, can't even pick a favorite. My woodpecker today looks quite different from yours... your read head is a stunner! Those herons are quite the chatterbugs! I really like the twirping I hear from outside all day long... we live in a bird sanctuary, but none of the birds are as interesting as these.

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  17. Especially like the woodpecker. Nice captures.

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  18. The redheaded woodpecker looks really cool. :)

    Great shot of the Medowlark. Our Sky lark is in the same situation as yours. Not good. :(

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  19. nice shot of the redheaded wodopecker. :)

    Our skylark is in the same situation as your medowlark. They are decreasing in no each year. :(

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  20. Beautiful images and a nice video.
    many thanks for sharing.

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  21. Lovely shots! I especially enjoyed seeing the Meadowlark. They've always been one of my favorites, and I wish they came this far north.

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  22. Great post and great video! Love that Red-headed WP! So gorgeous. We have a Western Meadowlark here and for the first year, we played "Marco Polo." Their habitat was destroyed this year, so very few stayed around The Dirt Patch this year. What a shame.
    Are your Eastern Kingbirds as fearless as the Western?
    Hope you enjoyed your weekend!
    meggs.xx

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  23. wow! so beautiful birds....:)

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  24. HI Eileen -- these birds are wonderful! I kind of remember seeing a kingbird when we were in Texas, but I had forgotten how showy they are!

    I wanted to comment on your skies over on your other blog too! Thank you for sharing your "simple pleasures". I don't think it's so simple to get perfect shots like those when you're on the way to work! (But they sure do make getting up early worthwhile, don't they!).

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  25. I would have thought the same as your neighbours, it looks like the jungle sounds! :-) Great red and great yellow on the birds below. Lovely animals.

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  26. Great video Eileen, really neat to hear those sounds. They get pretty noisy don't they but it's the kind of noise I would enjoy listening to, a real treat. Loved the photos of the birds too.

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  27. Eileen, I love all those birds too! I just saw my first Red-headed woodpecker last year in Alabama though I may have seen on in CT when I was young. Love the shots of all of them and I love the meadowlark. thought they look similar, I love the song of the western meadowlark even more! I hope you can see and hear one of them one day. I have never seen a dickcissel myself. good luck. I hope you get to see one soon!

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  28. Wonderful shots of all the birds.

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  29. Your header is WOW..looks like I could just step right in! Well I enjoyed all the sounds..don't know if it's age or what, but I am more sensitive and don't like lots of noise- nature is so much soothing to me. Gee, that is such a bright red! Beautiful little fellows-

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