Mead Garden and Leu Gardens

Took a while but I finally made it to Mead Garden hoping for some good bird sightings. Things seemed a bit too quiet as I stepped out of the van, though. Some birds did pop out fairly quickly but these were local species, Cardinals and Parula. But it was odd. They are were swarming down to the van once I walked away. From what I could tell, these birds have now developed a new feeding technique. Once a vehicle pulls into the parking lot they swoop down to inspect it for bugs stuck to it. I am assuming this because they only checked out the windshield, rear view mirrors, and the grill. Weird. It did make for an easy shot of a Northern Parula which is fine by me.



Right after that I headed toward the amphitheater and the creek but I was already getting the feeling that this would be a sparse birding experience. Nothing in the trees but Parulas and only and Egret and a Great-blue Heron in the creek. Cardinals called. A few Chimney Swifts, but nothing else stirring.

Over one the boardwalk a Cat Bird and more Parulas until a Swainson's Thrush jumped out of the wetland and watched me from the rails.



A Blackpoll Warbler zoomed out from the willows and back again for a brief view and I scared up some Blue Grosbeaks but there were no other birds until a Red-bellied Woodpecker can out for a grocery run. Ya take what ya can get.



I ran into a couple other birding friends but they weren't seeing too much on the other side of the garden, either. I decided to head to the nearby Leu Gardens to try my luck there. Again, too quiet. Some Northern Waterthrushes skittered through the underbrush along the stream and a few birds were out around the lake. The Osprey caught my eye before I headed deeper into the gardens.



I spent another 30 minutes or so at Leu but, honestly, I may have taken 3 other photos and those were landscape. Sigh. So much for my day off finding birds. There was more activity at the house before I left. In fact, when I got back home I looked out back and saw a Rose-breasted Grosbeak on the back feeder. The only shot I could get was a blurry shot as she got scared of me stepping outside.



Like I say, birds go where they wanna go. Today it was far from where I was. Think I need to head back to the lakes soon.