Cute and Fluffy Migration

I had meant to publish these images on my last post, but I felt that it was already getting pretty full. We have had goslings at Lakeside Park for a few days now. They are so cute and fluffy and they do have the ability to make people stop in their tracks to take a photo or two on their cell phone or camera. I am no different from anyone else in that respect, but it seems that every morning I am given better photos, so here are my best and cutest so far.

After their breakfast, this group of five goslings huddled together and were soon joined by their mother who snuggled up to them and then covered her goslings with her wing for safety as they took an early morning nap.

Not to be outdone by the goslings at Lakeside Park, we also have cute ducklings.

The warbler migration is now in full swing, and that can be attested to by the numbers of birdwatchers and photographers who are also migrating to Lakeside Park and who are at times outnumbering the warblers. It is good though to see so many people with a love for nature.

The photo above is of a yellow warbler. It was feeding on insects on the large walnut tree beside the bench at the side of Shoemaker Lake. It was keeping company with a number of yellow-rumped warblers who were also attracted to that group of trees and the bushes at their base.

Perhaps as the sunlight struck those trees early there were more active insects to feed on.

This bird is obviously not a warbler, just a song sparrow, but I love how magnificent it looks with its head crest raised up.

It was agitated by the frantic movements of a pair of courting downy woodpeckers. The woodpeckers appeared to have everyone in a stir, including a number of photographers who were scrambling for photos.

I was a little preoccupied when the downy woodpeckers started displaying by my first sighting this year of a black-throated green warbler that was working through a tangle of vines near the flowing water that runs into Shoemaker Lake.

The warbler's black throat is much more apparent from the front.

A little further up the bank in the very tops of the trees beside the turtle nesting area, two male Baltimore orioles were feeding. They worked through the crisscross of thin branches which made it really difficult to obtain a clear view. I was soon joined by a cyclist and a walker who both commented on how beautiful the orioles looked.

After the orioles had flown away and the cyclist and walker had left, I noticed an opportunistic female brown-headed cowbird on the opposite side of the path as she stopped for a moment.

And now to a warbler that had so far eluded me. All of the other birdwatchers I had spoken to had seen the palm warblers, but not me, not until this day.

A clearer photo was taken from the opposite side of Shoemaker Creek. The palm warblers repeatedly dip their tails which is reminiscent of the wagtails that I used to watch in the UK.

Moving on to the next and a much cooler day. I sighted another new warbler as it moved through the undergrowth. It occasionally stopped to sing, frustratingly always out of sight. It then suddenly perched out in clear view, but before I could obtain focus a kinglet sped after the warbler and chased it away. I was admittedly a little disappointed. The warbler appeared to be predominately yellow from the front with a very distinctive black face mask. I took a comfortable position and waited in the hope that the warbler would return, and it eventually did.

This photo gives a better representation of the bright yellow on the front of this male common yellowthroat.

My first decent photos also came of a warbler that I had seen over the last few days but had been unable to take any clear photos of. A warbling vireo.

This catbird also proved incredibly hard to photograph as it always kept a decent amount of branches and undergrowth between itself and my camera. There always seemed to be something partially obscuring my view.

This photo is of a regal bird that I was very happy to see again. The kingbirds have returned to Lakeside Park and to the same location that they nested in last year.

I'm going to close this post with an animated photo of one of the three Caspian terns that I watched successfully hunt over Shoemaker Lake. This Caspian tern is seen plucking a catfish of the water.

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