MarkG

I was chasing birds at the Uxmal Mayan site and I saw a Motmot along the edge of a wooded area, but almost immediately it flew deeper into the woods. I swung by that area about 45 minutes later and was standing at one spot scanning the trees, when I heard a faint mewing sound behind me. I turned and this Motmot was perched on a branch about 15 feet away, checking me out. It sat there for several minutes and I took a bunch of photos of it. Most of the photos were great, it would have been difficult to select one as the best, so I’m posting three. I’m not sure what the bird was doing in the third photo, but it’s a funny shot.

This is from July. I see foxes from time to time during my bird walks, but normally as soon as they see me they run off. This one eye balled me for a few minutes and I was able to get a nice photo of it.

Thanks for the responses. I actually spotted four more Tennessee Warblers this morning and quite a few Palm Warblers. The Palm Warblers are another species that in the past I'd see a few in the spring and a few in the fall. I've probably seen at least 30 of them the last three days. In general my neighborhood isn't a great warbler spot, but I've done pretty well this fall.

Hello, Yesterday I was walking my usual morning bird watching trail in my neighborhood hoping to catch some migrating birds as the migration is winding down. Early on in my walk I spotted a Tennessee Warbler, which is a great find for my neighborhood. Over the last few years, I might see a Tennessee Warbler once or twice a year in this neighborhood, usually in the fall. I spotted that one and continued on my walk and saw some other good birds. About an hour later I noticed some movement in a row of trees along a road near one of our ponds. The previous fall I has seen some warblers in those trees and had been keeping an eye on them every time I walked by. I found several different bird species in the trees, including two more Tennessee Warblers. I was surprised to find two more and I managed to get a decent photo of one of them before they disappeared on me. I knew that I had seen Tennessee Warblers in that same tree last year and when I got home I went into eBird and went back to last Octobers observations. I discovered that I saw two Tennessee Warblers on the exact same date last year. Considering that I seldom see Tennessee Warbler in this area, I was a bit amazed that I had seen them on the same date, a year apart in the same tree. Is this just a coincidence? Not that I think they are the same birds, but it's a funny thing. Mark

That was fast. I thought I was seeing Swamp Sparrows, not as well defined as the ones I usually see, although this was probably the earliest I've seen them here. The eBird checklist had them as being uncommon, so I wanted to be as sure as possible. Thanks!

I saw this sparrow in Chapel Hill, NC this morning and it has me stumped. I may have seen several of this species, and wanted to get a photos of at least one of them to assist me with an ID. Not great photos, but the best I could get. Anyone have any thoughts? Thanks!