One Third of the Year 2020

2020 has been weird. To cope, I have been birding.

Salomon Farm Park

In February (I think), I went to an event at Salomon Farm Park on the north side of Fort Wayne. I had never been there before, but it offered some good birds.

Eastern Bluebird

Hairy Woodpecker

Mourning Dove

Lesser Scaup

Horned Lark

In March, I had to travel to Warrick County in the southern part of Indiana for work (before everything blew up). I stopped by Blue Grass Fish & Wildlife Area one of the days I was there.

The Lord of all Killdeer

I think this is my first ever photo of an Eastern Meadowlark

Northern Mockingbird

Swamp Sparrow

In April, I started going to Franke Park a lot, hoping to pick up migrants.

Hermit Thrush

White-throated Sparrow

Yellow-throated Warbler – my favorite warbler

Working from home, I was able to pick up my second ever county Pine Warbler from my living room window one morning.

Pine Warbler

I took a family hike at Bicentennial Woods yesterday.

My son is the one who first spotted this Swainson’s Thrush

And finally to get caught up with the present, today I had an incredible 50-species, 20-FOY day at Franke Park.

Louisiana Waterthrush

Super random but incredibly exciting flyover Osprey

That’s all! I am still green listing and 5MRing. I am not on Facebook, though. I had to get off for my own mental health between news of viruses in the white house and elsewhere. So, I have had less motivation to share bird photos, which is why they have built up for four months.

 

The Locals

My travel schedule has been a bit nuts lately, with trips for business, family, and of course birding taking me through many places over the last several weeks. I am home for a while now though, so it is back to local birding and building the motorless list some more. Here are some of the things I have seen in and around Fort Weezy recently.

Palm Warbler

A May without warblers would be a sad thing indeed. Not to worry. The Midwest’s strong suit is alive and well, and this Palm Warbler was making use of its namesake with all of the many date and coconut palms growing wild in Indiana.

Louisiana Waterthrush

Waterthrushes are some of the most underrated warblers. Any bird that acts in no way like the other members of its family is alright by me, and this Louisiana Waterthrush was doing just that by putting on a decent sandpiper performance. LOWA is also a life bird for me, motorless lifer #4 for the year. I also lifered sans motor this week with Blue-Winged Warbler. The motorless list is up to 77 as of today, and 100 looks more attainable all the time. I am still missing embarrassingly common things like Killdeer, Great Egret, and Tree Swallow.

Snapping Turtle

I have seen some cool non-bird things recently, too. Like this ridiculously enormous snapping turtle. This thing was probably close to 3 feet long from nose to tail, no joke. I know that birds are technically more closely related to dinosaurs, but this guy gives them a run for their money.

Muskrat

Mammals have also been around. When they aren’t attacking your dog, muskrats are actually pretty cute.

Raccoon

I take that back. Raccoons put them to shame.

Chug

What better way to wash down an entire block of suet than by sticking your whole head in the nasty birdbath that hadn’t yet been cleaned out after my trip to Indianapolis?

Canada Goose

What was I doing in Indianapolis, you ask? I realize this makes two consecutive blog posts with Canada Goose featured. So I will end with my other notable Indy sighting of first-of-the-year Rose-Breasted Grosbeak, signing from the middle of a downtown parking lot. Birds are weird.