Chirps and Cheeps

Celeste and I went out looking for shorebirds the other day and had some nice luck.  We found a White-rumped Sandpiper, the nicest bird of the day, along with some other nice finds:  Short-billed Dowitcher, many Least Sandpipers, 1 Semipalmated Sandpiper, Solitary and Spotted Sandpipers, Pectoral Sandpipers, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, and a couple of Semipalmated Plovers and several Killdeer.

Black Terns were many and it looked as if they had a successful breeding year.

On my way home, I found a Grasshopper Sparrow along the fence by the Akron Airport. He allowed a couple of photos too!

I also stopped at a field near home that I've never birded before.  I didn't see any Keep Out signs, so I wandered in and just poked around for about an hour.  The nicest find in there was a pair of Alder Flycatchers and a pair of Willow Flycatchers - only about a couple of hundred yards from one another, all identified by sound, of course!  A family of 3 Pileated Woodpeckers noisily flew across the field into a couple of trees.  They were busy there for about half an hour and made an equally noisy exit as they flew back the way they came towards a wooded area.  Cool!

On my way out, I came upon three young canines that I assumed to be Red Fox pups. I quickly grabbed a shot of the last one as they disappeared into the tall grasses. When I got home and saw the photo on my computer, I realized they were coyotes. I'm very glad I didn't encounter the adults who may have been protective of their young!