Laura Erickson's For the Birds

Monday, May 12, 2008

Cuckoo for cuckoos

This weekend I was one of the leaders on Cornell's Spring Field Ornithology class trip to New Jersey. I took this photo yesterday at Belleplain State Forest. Lots more photos to post. It would have been fun to be on one of the digiscoping or digital photography teams at the World Series of Birding. But the wonderful Birdchick was there--and her team won FIRST PLACE!!!

The Sapsuckers tied for second place in the overall Big Day, covering the state--they tallied 222 species! Some day I'm going to find myself a splendid spot and see how many species of birds I can photograph, just for the fun of it.

I had plenty of fun myself, with the class. Yesterday happened to be the 33rd anniversary of the day I saw my first warblers. That day I saw a Nashville and a Magnolia, which I missed yesterday. Both times I had Black-and-white and Black-throated Green. And yesterday I had a bunch more, including Prothonotary, Hooded, Kentucky, and Yellow-throated--what cool birds to mark such an anniversary with! The trick with leading a class is I didn't have much chance for photography. But I'll post more photos later.