East Fork Lake Birds

Yesterday Rick, Matty and I went to Rick’s parent’s house to celebrate an early Easter. They live in a wooded area near East Fork Lake, so while they were cooking, I grabbed the camera and slipped out the back door! As soon as I walked into the woods I heard that sweet call of an Eastern Phoebe and was able to fire off a quick shot before he flew deeper into the woods.

He was very patient, and I was able to get fairly close.

Then about 15 feet to the northeast I heard that cute little song of a Golden-crowned Kinglet. He was very busy in the tree, constantly moving and foraging and singing. He was a lot of fun to watch, and stayed around for quite a while!

I was happy the camera was able to pick up his little yellow crown!

He was very cute zipping all over the place with nonstop singing!

The kinglet was soon replaced by what I originally thought was a Savannah sparrow because of the short, notched tail and markings, but as I watched her I realized (or at least thought) she was a female Purple Finch. She was not singing at all (another clue), so I didn’t have a call to help with ID. She was very intent on devouring all the leaf buds. I didn’t have my binocs with me, so I couldn’t zoom in close enough to really see the details and the shape of the bill. I don’t get to see Purple Finches very often and when I do, I’m usually focused on the colorful males. After getting home and cropping the photos down, we can confirm this is a female Purple Finch.

She seems to have the striping on the face

of a female purple finch, but is it dark enough?

She seems to lack the stickpin of a Savannah Sparrow.

...and was really enjoying the buds!

I went back in and found I had 18 more minutes to bird, so this time, Matty went with me and we ducked out the front door and across the street to a pond where we found Ring-necked Ducks and then saw (and heard!) these two Wood Ducks flying away.

Someone on the other side of the pond had

flushed these two, so we were able to hear

that cry of theirs as they zoomed off!

...and a nice Mockingbird greeted us on our return.