Tuesday, October 7, 2014

With Dogged Determination

 Yesterday morning, I headed into Blackhead Village with one thing in mind: To search for the possible Vesper Sparrow seen by Dave Brown last week. As I neared the bend in the road going to the bus turnaround, I came upon a flock of juncos. I pulled off to watch them. At that time, I saw what I thought was a bird too brown to be a junco. Then, it was gone, as all the juncos headed off into the woods on the left behind the houses..."unchaseable."
 I left for the Cape Spear run, but returned to Blackhead before I left the area. This time I found the juncos behind the empty red house on the right. I went into the craft shop, and when I returned to my car, I saw the juncos in the trees near the shoreline. I began my hunt to see the brown bird.
I quietly pursued the flock from the trees to the house with the horses, to the woods along the East Coast Trail and finally, back to the bus turnaround. I gently squeaked my bird call, working hard not to spook them. Finally, I caught sight of a small brown bird. It couldn't be an aberrant junco because I saw no white as it flew into the woods THREE times. Biding my time. (more than an hour) it came out, and I finally got into a position to see it and get distant shots of it. Honestly, I didn't know what it was, because I didn't get a good look at it. I also thought it was too early for an Indigo Bunting, so I wasn't thinking of that as an option. With Bruce's help yet again, I was happy to learn I had just seen my first Indigo Bunting of the year.

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