Sheldon Lake

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On Saturday morning we made our first visit for months to Sheldon Lake. 

A walk along the boardwalk turned up only a few Swamp Sparrows, all too quickly gone to photograph. As compensation, the garden near the first pond had a very obliging Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher, which let me walk along beside it for several yards.

 

 
 

It turned out to be just the first of eight Gnatcatchers that we came across that morning.

The ponds on the south side were empty of birds except for a Tricolored Heron and a juvenile Little Blue Heron.

The trees along the trail had several small flocks of American Robins and Cedar Waxwings. The Waxwigs were feasting on berries.

There was only one bird in the north ponds but it was a good one: an American Bittern. It took me a while to notice it among the reeds.

Unfortunately, it stayed too far away for good photos.

On our way out of the park we came across our first Cattle Egret of the year.

 

Before heading home we drove down to the boat launch at the south end of Pineland Road, where I did a quick walk along the bank in search of Anhingas. There was one but it was too far away for photos. Luckily, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet was much closer and paused its flitting long enough for me to get a decent picture.

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