It was a tough scene trying to take a picture on my phone through binoculars but managed to get at least one mostly non-blurry one. Bald Eagle fishing on the edge of the ice in the backwaters of the Mississippi River in Wabasha, MN. Wabasha is home of the National Eagle Center and is a hotspot for Bald Eagles! These things are crazy big in person.
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Wild. Without knowing where you are it’s tough to say, but they were probably Starlings or Grackles, which tend to move in giant groups.
We’ve been doing a bird count with my son, following in his uncle’s footsteps.
Our son is up to 40 unique species in January. (His uncle is 100+, just for January….)
Today was good day. I’m no bird expert, but know enough to be dangerous.
We have a couple local spots that we hit up every Sunday. I grab coffee, then we go hang out and hit up a couple different spots.
I was telling my brother about a bird I saw. Knew it wasn’t a finch, and knew it was a warbler, and assumed it was a yellow warbler. I described it to him and he wasn’t convinced.
We saw some swans today (very rare in our area) and decided to drive back and try to find the warbler.
He was able to identify it. It was an orange-crowned warbler. Pretty good bird for this area.
I’m gonna have to step my warbler knowledge up.
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Aw poor guy. Looks like a purple finch maybe? Might be the victim of a window strike. If so here is a good guide… assuming the dog didn’t do too much damage.
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Luckily our dog has almost no predatory instincts. He was just laying next to it and sniffing it. I think you might be right about the Purple Finch, we were thinking a young Cardinal. We moved it to our enclosed garden to give it some safety and it was trying to fly then, no sign of it this morning so I’m hoping for the best for it
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On second look definitely a purple finch. Probably bonked his head on something. Great job giving him a safe spot to shake it off. More than likely he’s an early migrator flying north this evening.
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It’s migration season! A very exciting time to see birds you wouldn’t normally see in your hood.
It’s also baby bird season so I will post this very helpful flowchart from the Audubon society. Many baby birds should be left alone!
It’s warbler season, y’all. The pines were out in full force today.
Pardon the grainy pic. Going to have to get me a small camera to get some decent pics this spring.
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Had a nice family vacation to Florida and scored 13 new birds.
Wood stork and swallow tailed kite were some highlights.
And today we got seven new birds back home in Ohio.
Palm warbler (pictured below), red eyed vireo, indigo bunting to name a few….
And the creme de la creme: a red headed woodpecker. Sorry for the poor quality of a pic.
My brother let me borrow his beginner Cannon camera, so I’ll soon have some better quality photos. That is, after I learn how to use it. 
My son is now up to 113 different species.
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Excellent! Nail a halved orange to a tree and you might be able to convince it to hang around.
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That red head is so awesome. Would love to see one one day. My understanding is there are a good amount of them around Pinehurst…. 
What model Cannon is it? Very curious to know what a a beginner model would be. I’ve been thinking of buying a camera for birding and other use but im intimidated by the learning curve and also from hearing that bird photography is supposed to be about the most expensive form of photography you can get into
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We weren’t even looking for it; we were chasing a hooded warbler. Highlight of the season so far. Such a good bird. And it was literally less than a mile from our house, which was even more surprising.
You’re probably on the right track about PH. You probably need to book a weekend and do some investigating.
I played #1 last year and saw this.
Also played in the BBBP in NC this year and chatted with my partners (from NC) about birding, and they mentioned how they had RH on their feeders often. It was no big deal to them. Haha
This is the manual. I’ve got to tinker around with it for a day and a half. Still learning. But I’ve been able to get a couple decent shots.
My brother’s current setup. That’s probably a couple sets new golf clubs. He darn near uses that as binoculars too. Haha
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Some photos from the last couple days.
Palm Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut Sided Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Common yellow throat
Scarlet Tanager
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Holy cow. It’s dinner looks like a pike. And they usually aren’t a small fish, and the eagle makes that thing look small.
Good stuff .
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Wow!