Migration

It is fall migration time, with new birds appearing in the yard seemingly every day. Some passing through, heading to warmer climes. Some ending their journey here, finding our place warm enough.

And as we are both working from home we have two sets of eyes here all day long. Nice.

This past Tuesday started with this bird, a Baltimore Oriole.

First spotted on a suet feeder, by the time I got the camera it had moved to this sunflower seed feeder. I managed but five images before it flew off, continuing its journey.

Neither image any more than 'blog worthy' as I like to say. But enough to prove it was here. A rather uncommon occurrence.

Next to arrive was a Golden-crowned Kinglet. A regular but uncommon visitor to the yard. This species winters in New Jersey, so maybe it will stay a while.

Not one but two Palm Warblers were in the gardens this day. This species winters just a bit farther south, the northern edge being in Delaware. With climate change perhaps it will be staying in New Jersey soon as well.

Several Common Yellowthroats, another warbler species, have been hunting for insects in our yard for the past couple of weeks. They'll be heading on south soon.

And then there was this bird, a Coopers Hawk, which no doubt welcomes these migrators as well. A young'n by the looks of it. Year round residents, it no doubt calls our woods home.

I keep a camera on my desk, a Canon SX70 'Super Zoom' for just these photo ops. I also have binoculars on a shelf I installed under my desk just to hold them. I've been getting quite a bit of use of both this year.