We enjoyed a terrific birding day the other day. We’re happy if we see one bird of prey in a day. On this day we saw five, and three different species. Best of all some of them allowed us to get incredibly close. Birds were out everywhere and with no leaves on the trees during winter, they were easy to spot.
We didn’t have to look for this Osprey. It flew up and landed nearby us! It stayed a long time as if to say, “Yes, you may photograph me and enjoy my magnificence.”
Great Blue Heron
American Goldfinch (Female)
From a distance, I was certain this was a bird. It was shaped like a bird, but it seemed curiously fuzzy. Anxious to investigate, I sneaked up to it, careful not to spook the animal. A good zoom in and I discovered a new species. The Eastern…stickbird.
Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker
This Red-Shouldered Hawk let us come really, really, really close.
EagleAye
Momus News 
Wow, what a great day that was, to end up with such great photos! The hawk is especially gorgeous. And wow, an Eastern Stickbird? There’s one you don’t see every day. 😉
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Hehe. Shey and I were making these muted whoops of excitement. We didn’t want to scare the birds after all. If you liked the stickbird, I’ve got pics of the Green-Bellied Leafbird too. 😉
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LOL! I know what you mean, though; birds are very good at hiding in trees, precisely because they look like leaves and branches (and vice versa). The other day I saw a whole flock of small yellowish-green birds fly past me, land in a tree, and promptly disappear.
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I’ve always heard about the “Yellow-Bellied Sap Sucker” in movies and cartoons, but have never seen one before. Love the stick bird, no wonder you thought it was real 🙂
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Yeah, I heard about them much more often than seeing them. They’re beautiful birds. I had a good laugh at myself over the stick bird. Expert bird watchers have told me that even they get fooled once in a while. I can see why.
Thanks Lyn! 🙂
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Awesome pictures. Reminds me of the time when I was a little kid and I visited a local bird-banding station (where my brother routinely volunteered). I saw a few hawks and got to hold and release one! Of course the one the little boy was allowed to handle was a tiny sharp-shinned hawk, but it was a hawk! 😀
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Ooh, I am so jealous! I’d like to release a hawk like that some day. That must’ve been a great thrill. Even small hawks are awesome.
Thanks so much! 🙂
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Birds are awesome. Thanks for sharing the great photos.
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My pleasure. Thanks for stopping in. 🙂
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Great photos – must have been an awesome day! Birds are fascinating. It always intrigues me how we have more species of dinosaur around today than existed in the Cretaceous (some of them are delicious).
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It really was a good one. So much activity kept us constantly looking around. With all these “modern dinosaurs” everywhere who could ever say that dinosaurs failed? They’re one of nature’s greatest success stories. And they the fact that their tasty just adds to their fame. 😉
Thanks Matthew!
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