Orchard Oriole

OK, I know these are dreadful photos, but they are MINE, and are proof that I saw a family of Orchard Orioles on my backyard feeder. Shortly after I posted my previous post, the father and mother showed up together. Whohoo!

Since I finished this post they returned and I got a shot of father and 1st year male together:

New Bird--Orchard Oriole

(Not my photo, linked to from the internet.)

I saw it a second time today. It is so hot and dry here I'm getting a few non-feeder birds to the water on my platform feeder. Yesterday I saw a female and today a first-year male. Yay! My life list is now 302.

I've re-setup my digiscope finally, so now I'll be ready for a photo if this guy shows up again.

Birding in Michigan--New Bird!

I took my scope and tripod in my carry-on suitcase on our vacation to Michigan in hopes of finding some good birds to digiscope, but alas, it was not to be. It seemed there weren't all that many birds around, but mostly we were busy being good old-fashioned tourists.

I was surprised how often I saw Cedar Waxwings--they were all over the place. I nearly hit a couple wild turkeys hanging around in the median as we returned from the Upper Peninsula. There were probably a few common birds I saw and forgot to write down, but here is the list I came up with, recorded in Birdstack:

Common Tern
Chimney Swift
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Mute Swan
Killdeer
Northern Cardinal
American Crow
Turkey Vulture
Wild Turkey
American Herring Gull
Ring-billed Gull
American Goldfinch
Canada Goose
Cedar Waxwing
Barn Swallow
House Finch
Red-winged Blackbird
American Robin
Chipping Sparrow
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
Common Starling

But I did actually managed to add one new bird to my life list, a Common Tern. I am about 95% sure on this identification. We saw many gulls and terns while on a boat tour through the Soo Locks. The conditions were not ideal for observing, but I'm pretty sure I saw one or two unfamiliar terns.