The 2013 List Grows

This first picture is not a new list member, but it is the first picture of a male Red-bellied Woodpecker that I've managed this year. I saw the bird fly from the feeder to the tree and my opening the window didn't scare it away, but it didn't come back to the feeder.

I was on my way downstairs to the office when I saw a bird perched on the little fence at the bottom of the front steps. "Hawk!" I yelled to Pam as I raced to the camera to get this shot through the side-window next to the door. We're pretty certain that it is a Sharp-shinned Hawk, #54 on the year's list. My attempt to get a better angle from the other side of the door resulted in my hitting the glass with the lens shade which scared the bird off.

I was on one of my many trips to Franklin Lake in West Long Branch hoping to see the kingfisher once more when I saw this Red-winged Blackbird flying almost straight at me to a bush right next to the path I was on. You can't see much of the red in this photo, but it was clearly visible when the bird was in flight both coming in and leaving. I looked for but did not see a female. This made the 2013 list 55 birds long.

Having walked the circumference of Thompson Park, I came across this pair of Northern Pintail Ducks in a small pond just a few yards past the delivery entrance to the park on Route 520. They became #56 on this year's list.

On yet another visit to Franklin Lake, having given up waiting for the kingfisher because school was letting out and I didn't see much hope with all those people to scare it off, I was walking along the north bank when I caught sight of this little bird in a tree. Thinking it was probably a sparrow of some kind, I nonetheless took some pictures and quickly realized that this bird was a Common Redpoll. I later realized it was a female. The chances are that the other bird I noticed in the tree just before they both flew off was a male. The list is now 57 species long.