Day 129: May 8th – Rainy day birding

Chilly, calm and rainy

       OK, I admit it.  I’ve been thoroughly spoiled this year by having 125 days of at least partially sunny skies out of the 129 days of 2012.  And so, if I feel like pouting about the crappy weather today, I guess I’m being a baby.  So be it!  I don’t like photographing birds in a downpour.  End of story.

Vassar Farms

       Sharon and I were up in Fishkill, NY, this morning having our VW (great car!) serviced and decided to make a run up to Vassar College’s Environmental Farms site.  You can generally count on a good number of sparrows, warblers and other “LBJs” (little brown jobs, for you non-birders).  When we arrived, it had just begun to sprinkle and I figured I’d better get out and see what there was to see and photograph before the deluge hit.  I had nice goldfinches, but they were skittish and I had trouble closing in to get a decent shot.  I find that most birds are extremely wary during rain.  My take on it is that the rain makes it difficult for the birds to hear approaching predators and they are therefore a bit “jumpy” shall we say.

       After about ½ hour of hearing birds here and there but never getting really close looks, the rains started to increase and I decided to save the camera and get back to the car.

       Sharon suggested that we head over to Stonykill Farms, a DEC property which is no longer used for educational programs due to budget cutbacks, but is still maintained reasonably well.  At least here we could bird from the car, looking for birds perched along the fields’ fence posts.   It wasn’t too far along the road when we spotted what I first thought was a sparrow.  As we got closer, however, and I was able to capture a couple of close-ups from the car window, I realized that it was a female Indigo bunting.  If you have ever seen a male indigo, you’d never believe that this bird was the same species.  As spectacular as the male is, the female is just the opposite……dull, drab, boring.  Sorry, she is.

       Further along the way, we found Barn swallows.   Here the difference between the sexes is minimal, and you have to look carefully to see which is which.  Looking at the photos I took of the perched pair carefully, you’ll notice that the female has a paler breast and face and that the “streamers” on the tail are not as long as those on the male. 

Female Barn swallow

Male Barn swallow

       In flight, you’d be hard pressed to tell one from the other.  Well, the rains are now strong and steady, so it’s time to head back to home base.  At least we got out and got our shots of the day……really can’t complain about 4 days of rain in a year I guess.