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Early Morning Birdwatching

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been doing a lot more of my runs in the morning now that the sun's out so early. It's great especially since we're having a little bit of a heat wave so it's still nice and cool in the morning.

I really like the challenge of trying to identify birds without slowing down or stopping. The path I run along is very dense in vegetation, which makes it even harder to spot the birds when I hear their calls.

The few birds I was able to spot yesterday morning included two Baltimore Orioles (very vocal), a Goldfinch and what I believe was a Northern Waterthrush, since my Sibley Guide says they're very common in dense shrubs and small trees new slow-moving or standing water. I've seen these little and white-streaked birds during many of my trips down to the river, but I haven't put much effort into identifying them. I'll have to get a better look next time.

I'm going to be down the Cape this weekend for Memorial Day. I'm a little nervous about the traffic, but I'll try to be optimistic. We're going down Sunday to go camping in North Truro. The Wellfleet Audubon Sanctuary is on the way and I really want to try and stop there. I know they have some wonderful trails and it's an excellent spot for birding.

Comments

Larry said…
I hope you have a good time birding there.-Take some pics, and let us know how you make out.
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Veery said…
I like your blog, it is a good read.
Birding-by-jogging; another fun way to bird! I can't think of a better activity to mix with jogging. Birds Rule!
Birdinggirl said…
dguzman, the trip was good but we got stuck in SO much traffic. That's something I forget about being a native of Cape Cod. On holiday weekends we usually bunker down and down go anywhere so I forget how bad Route 6 can be. Another downside to the trip was that we didn't make it to the Wellfleet bird sanctuary. But thanks for the reminder- I want to make it a priority before the end of the summer. I see you're from central Pennsylvania. I went to college there- it's a beautiful area. I love going hiking and camping there now.
Birdinggirl said…
Hi veery, thanks for stopping by. I definitely need to make my blog more of a priority, but I still try to check in as much as possible. Yes- jogging and birding is really fun. I run the same route every time so I'm familiar with the area and I actually try to practice identifying calls. More times than not I can't see the bird, but when I do and I guess right it's a great feeling.

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