Birding -- Day 1

This morning was the bird hike at the forest preserve.  There were almost 20 of us, which made it a bit hard to hear what the naturalist was saying, and we made quite a bit of noise, so the birds definitely knew we were coming.  But I did see a Baltimore Oriole going back and forth to its nest, and I can now identify an Indigo Bunting.  All in all, we saw about 11 species of birds, most of which I could already identify.  But still, not bad.  I was trying to juggle between my camera and binoculars, which quickly became impossible, so I ditched the camera.  But here's a picture Don took the last time we were at the Aboretum of a Baltimore Oriole perching atop its nest.  It's a great picture -- wish I could take credit for it!

I did want to get one picture of birds this morning, so when I arrived back home I went to the back yard and took this picture of the baby robins who can just barely fit into their nest.  Momma Robin is still making trip after trip to feed the little guys.  They'll be leaving the nest soon.

So this report was especially for Linda.  I do recommend taking a birding hike with someone who knows what they're talking about.  And I'll blog about tomorrow's birding adventure at the Arboretum if there's anything interesting.