After trying and trying to catch a photo of a Hummingbird last week, I finally succeeded this Sunday morning. Again, they were in the same place on the north west side of the park -right before the long, straight stretch of the path. Here there are plenty of flowering shrubs including Jewelweed (or touch-me-nots) which I got to watch them feeding on. With the temps having dropped considerably over the week, I was kind of surprised to see them still around.
The
previous latest date I've recorded seeing one at the park was August 18th. Despite the cooler temps, I'd never before seen so many Hummingbirds and so much activity. I think there were at least 3 pairs of them that I could see at the same time. Once in a while two would hover close together and make a kind of "chatter" noise before flying off chasing each other. Some even came up very close to me but despite my best efforts I just couldn't snap a picture before they buzzed away.
I must have watched them for close to 30 minutes, in which time my best chances for photos were when they would perch for only a second or two before flying off again. I was almost all the way back around again before I spotted something of interest. This time it was a bird I'd never noticed before at the park. This long-legged bird was actually walking right on top of some "pond-scum" that had built up along Shingle Creek where it empties back out of Palmer Lake.
It bobbed it's tail up and down constantly making for quite a comical display as it poked it's bill here and there among the mucky water. I'm not too familiar with "shore birds" but I guessed correctly that it was a Spotted Sandpiper -the first new species I've identified in quite a while.
The previous latest date I've recorded seeing one at the park was August 18th. Despite the cooler temps, I'd never before seen so many Hummingbirds and so much activity. I think there were at least 3 pairs of them that I could see at the same time. Once in a while two would hover close together and make a kind of "chatter" noise before flying off chasing each other. Some even came up very close to me but despite my best efforts I just couldn't snap a picture before they buzzed away. 
I must have watched them for close to 30 minutes, in which time my best chances for photos were when they would perch for only a second or two before flying off again. I was almost all the way back around again before I spotted something of interest. This time it was a bird I'd never noticed before at the park. This long-legged bird was actually walking right on top of some "pond-scum" that had built up along Shingle Creek where it empties back out of Palmer Lake. 
It bobbed it's tail up and down constantly making for quite a comical display as it poked it's bill here and there among the mucky water. I'm not too familiar with "shore birds" but I guessed correctly that it was a Spotted Sandpiper -the first new species I've identified in quite a while.
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