Well so far I am 5 for 5 in getting out to Palmer Lake Park this May. Today the month of May finally lived up to expectations as both the weather and birding were fantastic. I spent roughly 3 hours birding today and took 131 pictures in all. It was warm enough to notice larger insects and I even saw my first Mourning Cloak Butterflies -which seems very late in comparison to other years. Three of the big highlights for the day were seen while I was stationary, sitting by the edge of the little pond right by the parking lot on the south side. As I sat there, a pair of Blue-winged Teals flew in, then an Osprey flew overhead, and best of all a Black and White Warbler landed only just feet from me in some Willow Shrubs. I had my camera on him quick but I snapped the shutter even before it had time to focus and I lost my only chance at photographing him. My pick to post today however was the very last bird I saw today.
Definitely not by best photo of the day but this is a brand new species for me that I've never photographed. I'm pretty sure this is a Northern Waterthrush which is actually in the Warbler family. I watched it walk with it's tail bobbing up and down along the edge of a small pond on the east side. He was tough to get a photo of as they really blend in well. The only thing that stood out at all was it's bright pinkish-orange legs.
Total species seen today: Northern Waterthrush, Palm Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler,
Black & White Warbler, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, American Goldfinch, Hairy Woodpecker, American Tree Sparrow, Song Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Brown Thrasher, American Coot, Common Merganser, Bufflehead, Blue-winged Teal, Mallard, Wood Duck, Canada Goose, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, Black-capped Chickadee, Northern Cardinal, Osprey, American Crow, Tree Swallow, Mourning Dove, American Robin and a couple unidentified Warblers.
Conditions: 60 degrees and little to no clouds
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