Gotcha!

This very common summer warbler has become my nemesis bird over the years - frequently heard all across the US but notoriously flitty.  I have tried so many times to get a decent shot of the male and always come up short.  But today...today...I got one!  I met up with three of my birder friends for a walk at the Wildlife Refuge and while we were going through the wetlands, this male Common Yellowthroat popped up and gave me several seconds of pose.  Enough to get two keeper shots, including this one.  Now my goal is to catch one in full song...

We walked about 3 miles and managed to rack up 43 species of birds as well as 5 butterfly species.  The Refuge put up a Purple Martin "condo" several years ago and they now have a good sized group of Martins nesting.  The sun was all wrong but I did get a couple of flight shots and will put one in Extra.  I am going to try to go back later this week and spend more time, maybe take a tripod.

We also saw what looked to be two largish bumble bees fighting, but it turned out to be a large Robber Fly trying to take down a bumble bee.  I was able to identify the big robber and believe it is my first of this species.  I posted it on Flickr HERE if you'd like to have a look - you can see that it looks almost exactly like a bumble bee.

Jax and I are doing a private session with the trainer tonight for his last "brain games" class.  I think we will mostly work on colors - blue and yellow, and maybe a few tricks.  He is learning Spin pretty well.  We just had a rousing game of chase in the yard and now he is resting up for his next burst of energy.

Dark with almonds today.

And Massive Thanks for sending my waxwings to the top of the Popular Page today!  What a nice surprise!

xo
Debbi