Really good birds, really bad light

Prothornatary Warbler, cropped but still pretty sharp.

Yesterday was one of my best days of birding after work (quality, not quantity). Saturday afternoon a Prothornatary Warbler was seen at Hunt's Mill in East Providence. This is a pretty rare bird especially in the northeast. It is unusual for me to have such a rare bird so close. Usually, when there is a "chase" I find myself with an hour drive or more like I did for the Tanagers. Hunt's Mill is only a few minutes from a place I work. I didn't know about the warbler on Saturday and I was doing yard work anyway.

So as you can imagine, after work on Sunday I took the quick trip in hopes of seeing it. When I got there, four birders were under a tree and had just seen it. Luckily for me, it was still around. I got some great looks at the bright yellow warbler. I didn't get any pictures because it was sprinkling out and left my camera in the car. I didn't know how long it would take to find it. Long story short, I went back after work today and got a couple photos in bad light.

When I left Hunt's Mill I stopped at Caratunk Wildlife Refuge. Someone had put up Purple Martin gourds and birds were starting to use them. I saw one Purple Martin, but no pics.

After I got home from work/the birds, Laurie came over. It was still early in the day. Every year, we take a walk at Great Swamp the last weekend in April. This didn't start out as a tradition, but we realized after a couple of years that it had become a habit. The weather had cleared to mostly cloudy but it looked like the precipitation was over.

We didn't see much in the woods and fields other than Field Sparrow. We dipped on a couple birds we normally see there. However, in the swamp, we ran across a Little Blue Heron. Little Blue is a very good bird for Rhode Island and the Northeast. It isn't super rare but it is unusual. Only a few sightings of one happen a year.

I immediately posted it on a birding site incase anyone else was in the area. I got some "decent" pictures of it. Again, bad light foiled my day. It was fairly far away so I wasn't getting a frame filling photo, but it is a pretty bird and deserved  a better picture.

All in all, a great day seeing the Proth Warbler, Purple Martin and finding the Little Blue Heron. I'm not worried  I didn't get great shots. You take them when they are there, and just enjoy what is in front of you when they aren't. I did get some pictures of the cute little Pine Warbler below.