It was a busy day today, starting with a church picnic and service at Bohrer Park in Gaithersburg. We had to leave that early, though, to get to Poolesville for the memorial service for a long-time, family friend. It was a really nice service, in spite of the heat in the tiny church. We went to the family home and visited with folks for a while. When we left there, we stopped at McKee Beshers Wildlife Management Area and walked a little while. I only took a few photos but I think this one of an eastern wood-pewee (Contopus virens), a small flycatcher, is pretty nice.
Tagged With: Eastern Wood-Pewee
Eastern Wood-Pewee (Contopus virens)
McKee-Beshers Birds
We had a nice walk at McKee-Beshers today. We first walked to fields 3 and 4, which were planted with sunflowers this year. It’s a bit of a walk, almost 7⁄8 of a mile, getting nearly to the river. The two big sunflower fields were well past peak bloom. The sunflower heads were there but almost all turned downwards. We heard quite a few birds but didn’t see all that many. We heard a lot of goldfinches and indigo buntings, as well as cardinals, but we also heard a yellow-billed cuckoo, which was a treat. I’d have been surprised if we had actually seen that. I got this photo of a red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) circling overhead and a few nice photos of this eastern wood-pewee (Contopus virens). We returned to the car and then want to the shallow ponds at the western end of Hunting Quarter Road where we saw this green heron (Butorides virescens).



