Sunday, August 16, 2009

Consolation Prizes


I received a phone call of an American Avocet nearby today. I spent a few hours looking but came up empty. All was not lost. I managed to get this nice shot of a Solitary Sandpiper.

Shame on me

I’ve been away for too long. The last month and a half has been very hectic with family issues and volunteer activities. I haven’t had nearly enough time to go birding, or to write about it.


Since the end of June I’ve only been in the field twice. One day was a few weeks ago to check some of the local shorebird traps. This summer has been quite dry and there was almost no habitat available in the local places I checked. I’m hearing reports from other parts of the state but I haven’t had time to go check them myself. I’m taking part of this week off so I should have more time provided the weather cooperates.


I did manage to get out on the Black River Audubon field trip to Indian Hollow Reservation yesterday. It was a fun morning even if the heavy tree cover makes it very hard to bird. I was a little disappointed that when I pulled the 40D out of the travel case I saw the battery was nearly dead. I had forgotten to charge it after the last photo session. Oh well, sometimes it’s fun to bird without the camera. I stopped at Best Buy on the way home and bought a second battery. Now I won’t have to deal with dead batteries anymore.


If you get time, check out the new Black River Audubon Society page on Facebook. That is one of the places that took some of my time.