Chat with a Chat

Forgive the corny title, I birded SJWS today. It was a breezy, slightly humid 76 degrees. I encountered a few of my old campers as I showed up at the tail end of marsh camp - which they are now old enough to be junior naturalists at. They had grown since I last saw them, I must be getting old, my "little campers" are now high schoolers nearly as tall as I am! Yikes. I admit I felt a certain measure of pride at seeing them still birding two or more years since I'd last seen them, hope that means they're hooked for life =)

The birds reflected my lazy mood as I walked around the ponds, they meandered around feeding. Terns, skimmers, and swallows flew circles above the ponds, as avocets, stilts, and mallards all fed and played on the water. The babies were adorable, fuzzy stilt and avocet babies wobbled around, and miniature mallards swam in little flotillas behind their parents.

Black Skimmer

I wandered around the back ponds, and saw the bird that inspired my title, a gorgeous yellow-breasted chat. He called from his perch and when I pished a little, he really got vocal. We went back and forth for a while, as I shot photo after photo in hopes of capturing a good shot of the little fellow mid-song, to which end I did not have success.

Gray Hairstreak

But I couldn't be too disappointed in missing that shot when there were so many other good things to photograph, like gray hairstreaks, skimmers, and some summer flowers.

Ruddy Duck

Mallow spp.?

Bushtit