Day 136: May 15th – A Washout

Cool 61 degrees, rain, calm winds

        Up and out for an early start this morning as I tried to beat the impending rain.  A Yellow-breasted chat was spotted along Mine Road yesterday in pretty much the same area as I’ve been birding recently.  Unfortunately, as I approached my destination, the rain began to fall.  And fall it did.  Pretty much the entire day was covered with rain, fog, and cloud cover.  The chat never did materialize in either song or view.  In fact, few of the birds I’ve heard here recently could be realized.  I figured I’d try Iona Island where the species I’d be looking for were pretty much water-bound anyway.

       As I entered the causeway out to the island, I did come upon one such bird, the Mute swan.  He was alone….no mate, no cygnets.  As I drove up to him, he simply swam over to investigate me.  He was almost too close to afford me the opportunity to get a full body shot of him.  Nonetheless, shoot I did for I knew that this may well be the lone bird of the day as far as an image was concerned.

       Out on the island, there were a good many Canada geese far out in the marsh.  A lone Eastern kingbird seemed uncharacteristically quiet until I realized that the bird had food in its bill.  That’s a sure sign that there are young on the nest, and unless threatened, he will not make an awful lot of noise which might attract an unwanted predator.   A few Northern mockingbirds were also on hand as was this female House finch, but that was about it. 

       As I made my way off the island, I decided to photograph an iris which was providing a bright splash of color on this otherwise drab day.  These yellow irises will generally outcompete their blue cousins and are even considered as “invasive” by some.  I still find them just as beautiful as the Blue flag iris.

       I had an errand to run on the other side of Storm King Mountain, so I had to make an early departure.  Given the conditions and the lack of avian activity, I really didn’t mind and figured I’d stop on my way across the mountain to capture an image of exactly why this is called “Storm King”. 

       Well, we’ve had our fair share of rain all of a sudden….”rags to riches” as they say.  It should start to abate tomorrow and we may try to get to some new exotic site and see if this storm has called a halt to some of the warbler migration.  If so, it could be a good day in the field.  Let’s see……..