Sunday, November 2, 2008

A Gorgeous Day to Bird! Lifelist - 230!

Today was one of those days that words simply cannot describe!  To sum it up, it was GORGEOUS! The sun was shining bright, the air was warm and the birds were everywhere.
Around the park were flocks of Yellow-rumped Warblers, Cedar Waxwings, Purple Finches, Northern Cardinals - one birder saw all of our common woodpeckers in one spot!  I gained two lifers today - Rusty Blackbird (those beautiful eyes), and Purple Finch!  On the water were 
Norther Shoveler's, Green-winged Teal, Bonaparte's Gulls, Least Sandpipers, Pectoral Sandpiper, and a Cooper's Hawk attempting to 
dive bomb some shorebirds - which by the way was another lifer that I added on Halloween that I was able to witness taking a dive for any bird that was brave enough to land.  I was amazed that during a chase, a Cooper's Hawk will chase a bird in flight up, down, through trees, etc. and does not give up easily.

I took both pictures on the left today at Eagle Creek.  The first shot is Ring-billed Gulls diving for food and in the second a Cardinal that was just looking awesome in the fall leaves.  Throughout the park, the berries were a hit!


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Indiana State Bird

Indiana State Bird
Northern Cardinal