2022 Catching up: Part 1: Snakey Point

 2022 was such a great year for seeing birds and I have decided that I want to catch up my blog with the sightings from Sept.-Dec.  This will be repetitious for anyone who also looks at my photos on Facebook.  Back in Sept. and again in October we went to a place called Snakey Point.  A large marsh/pond it attracts many migrating birds.  I found a lot of egrets and some shorebirds.

I'm not good at identifying shorebirds, so I won't try.

There were two types of egrets....the Great Egret and the Snowy Egret which is smaller.

A Snowy Egret

Snowy Egrets

The lotus blooms were huge and the snowy egrets liked wandering around among them.

When we went back in October the egrets were still there....about 48 of them!  Mostly Great Egrets this time.  I had never seen so many at one time before.

A Great Egret

I call these two "the old married couple"

It was an amazing place and I plan to go back to this place for spring migration.  How many waders depends on whether there has been a lot of rain or not and how shallow the water is.  The first day there were quite a few, the second trip there were only a couple.

I think this is a Tennessee Warbler that we saw as we were leaving.

Birding vacations...

 It has been a good year for seeing birds while on trips.  Since I have not posted in a long time I thought I would just post a few of my favorites.  Way back in February we went to Tucson and my favorite was the very cute little Vermillion flycatcher.

 

Vermillion Flycatcher.....just love this little red bird!

 

Gila Woodpecker and youngster

Cooper's Hawk?

Broad billed Hummingbird....I think?

Costa's Hummingbird

Rufous Hummingbird....a life bird for me.

Phainopepla

Yellow Rumped Warbler

Black-Throated Gray Warbler

Chased this little guy around all week trying for photos.  Another life bird for me.

Then in June we helped our son move to Colorado and I discovered another new bird...the Magpie.  They are so pretty!  I really enjoyed them, although I am sure people who live with them find them a bit of a nuisance.  For me another life bird for the year.

Just look at that tail!

These were hanging out near the dumpsters of a restaurant.

Much prettier in the grass and flowers :-)

On the way to Colorado, we went through Kansas and there I saw the Western Kingbird at every rest stop we pulled into.

Another handsome bird and another life bird for me this year.

In August we went to Michigan to meet up with our daughter.  My hope here were to see some shore birds, but I'm never good at identifying them.

Semi-palmated Plover

                        Didn't get to see the Plover I hoped for, but this one was nice anyway.

On the way home a stop at Muskegon, Michigan provided some real finds and at least one new life bird for me.  These birds were all seen at the Muskegon Wastewater Treatment facility which is over 11,000 acres.  We were only there 2 hours on two days and only covered one small area.

Kingfisher

Female non/breeding Bobolink....a life bird for me.

Some swallows in the rain

Osprey and willing to pose very nicely for me.

Immature starlings

A Kestrel that didn't fly away because it was busy eating a Katydid?

Those were my birding vacations for this year so far!

I have some more photos from a local birding spot of migrating birds which I will post another day.

Hawk

 I have had a hawk hanging around my feeders lately, so thought I would post a few photos of him.

Not sure if he is Sharp-shinned or Coopers.

He is pretty small.  He sits on the ground by this bush (off camera on right) sometimes.  Mike saw him chase a small bird into the bush.  Than he hit the bush a couple times until the bird flew out again and chased it.  I thought I saw him actually try to get in the bush one day.  It is a holly and is prickly and I don't think he can get a bird there if it stays put.  The squirrels sit nearby eating and aren't the least bit concerned.

Hope to have some western photos to post soon!