Fall Migration Pictures

   I spent the last two days chasing migrating birds and migrating stripers. I spent most of that time chasing the animals with wings not fins. Thursday I went to Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island. I hit two spots fishing and five spots birding. I started at Brenton Point which was my main focus. It was loaded with birds and I walked the trails three times.  From there I stopped at various other spots. I ended up getting four new birds for Rhode Island for the year (Merlin, Purple Finch, Ruby Crowned Kinglet, Red Breasted Nuthatch). I picked up three stripers along the way but nothing big. Pictures of birds from yesterday below, followed by a quick summary of today and more pictures.

Ruby Crowned Kinglet
I saw more RC Kinglets yesterday than I'd seen in my
life combined. I saw at least 30 but probably more likely
fifty!

Purple Finch female

I was surprised to see butterflies in the cold windy weather

Red Breasted Nuthatch. This little bird has been my nemesis
this year. I have been out looking for them at least eight
times in RI before finally seeing this one

This picture and the one below are juvenile
White Crowned Sparrow

This picture and the two below are of a hunting
Northern Harrier at Sachuest

lll

Today I went to the other side of the Rhode Island coast. I went to South County stopping at various birding hotspots. Like yesterday, I spent the majority of the time at one place. In South County, that one place is Trustom. Trustom was very good to me. I saw at least a dozen Hermit Thrushes, RB Nuthatch, and more Kinglets. The pond was full of ducks.. I also saw my best bird of my weekend there: a Red Necked Grebe off the Otter Point Trail.

White Crowned Sparrow

An adult White Crowned Sparrow with a strategically
placed pricker vine ruining what would have been
a pretty good pic of a beautiful bird

The following three pictures are of three different Hermit Thrushes

Northern Flickers are pretty common, but they are skittish. Everytime I see one I can never get close with a camera. Today, as I was rounding a corner this guy was on the ground. Unlike every other flicker ever, he didn't mind posing for a few pictures. These are the best two.

All in all, I had an excellent two days of birding. I saw five new species for Rhode Island and one of those was new for New England (Red Necked Grebe). Finding five new species after almost a year of birding felt like a windfall. I wish I had more time to fish, but I realized fairly quickly yesterday that there were a lot of birds and not so many fish.