Looking back on our year of birding in 2012, Jared and I made a lot of great memories. I'm glad that I have this blog to forever remember our travels and adventures.
One thing I learned over the year is how difficult it can be to get a "good" photo. More often than not, birds do not cooperate the way you wish they would (with a few notable exceptions, keep reading below). It can take a great deal of patience, as well as physical and mental energy to get the desired shot. And once a bird is in your sights, factors such as lighting, foliage, wind, and weather can all affect the photo. The challenge is part of the fun, though!
Last week, I posted what I consider to be my best photos of the year. Today, I'm sharing some of the more memorable birds (not necessarily the best photos) that we saw in 2012. Again, no particular order, but I'm numbering them for convenience.
1. Black-headed Gull at Best Buy
One of the easiest birds we saw last year was a rare mid-Atlantic gull, the Black-headed Gull, just hanging out in a Best Buy parking lot outside of Baltimore. If only all birds were this cooperative! This gull has wintered in the same parking lot for several years.
2. Virginia Rail
I was sooooo excited to actually see a Virginia Rail. We hear rails pretty often when we're exploring marshes around Maryland, but they are so shy and reticent that we rarely see them. This little guy came right out for us, we were only a few feet away.
3. Black-crowned Night Herons at the National Zoo
The National Zoo in Washington D.C. has a great bird exhibit with lots of beautiful, exotic birds. Even more exciting is the huge flock of wild Black-crowned Night Herons that nests in the trees surrounding the bird exhibit each spring. It's almost like they are mocking the zoo birds by choosing to live near them, though they have good reason with the abundant water and (probably) ample food that is available in the surrounding zoo habitat. We were able to get really close to several Black-crowned Night Herons. One of my favorite photos is the one below. Doesn't it look evil!
4. Saw-whet Owl in Eastern Maryland
This Saw-whet Owl is cute beyond words! It's so little, soft, and fluffy looking, I wish I could give it a hug!
5. Our rogue Cowbird baby "Monsty"
How can we forget the parasitic Cowbird baby that took over the nest of our sweet Carolina Wren family last spring? This is a face that only a mother could love. Sadly, we don't know what became of Monsty or his wren foster parents. Hopefully the wrens will be back this spring to raise more babies!
6. Leucistic House Sparrow "Whitey"
Jared spotted this strange House Sparrow on our porch one day. You can clearly tell it's missing some pigment, turning some of its feathers white. We don't know what became of this little guy either, but I haven't seen him around the yard in a while.
7. Watching a Blue-headed Vireo scarf down a bug
This sequence was one of the coolest things that I was able to photograph last year. It was fascinating to watch this cute little bird chomp down a big bug right in front of me.
