Birthday Birds

My special day so I took leave of work in hopes of finding some new birds. Maybe that Sandpiper will still be around. Nope. Oh, well. Still have time to do some bird watching after getting the kids to school.

Fortunately, I found a nice feeding flock of Yellow Warblers on the way home. Got a decent shot of one up in the shade of the branches.



I was just mentioning to a friend a few days ago that I hardly ever see Yellow Warblers for any period of time during migration. They seem to swing through quickly and then disappear. Today must be a lucky day as they are feeding all along a local lake.



I was happy enough to have those shots to add to the collection and headed home to start processing other shots and settle in for a little relaxing. I almost put the camera away on the way back but I had to get it quickly as I rounded the curve at Lake Emerald and saw that the light was perfect and a couple of nice subjects came into view along the stand of Cypress.



Not sure if I like that vertical view of these Wood Ducks or the horizontal crop. Either way, it is nice to have them in a tree (thus, their name) instead of just on the water.



Backing up just a bit, I was able to get a full shot of the female. Sweet.



Not a bad start to my birthday. A lot of things to do before the day is over. Maybe I can grab a few more views before dark.