Damon's Birds for the Week of June 16 - Jun 22

I am very happy because today is one of those summer days where those great loud thunderstorms come through. They always make me feel like home. Not that we didn't have storms like this in Kentucky, and Arizona certainly did have their monsoon storms blow through, but the east coast summer storms that can pop up through any afternoon are just somewhat different. Maybe it is the feel in the high humidity, or maybe it is the way the thunder rolls through the sky, but it reminds me of listening to it bounce off the buildings through my courtyard facing window in college.

The storms were moving in from the west, not south, so it is unlikely that they would bring many birds with them (I can always hope for a raven blown in form Appalachia though). But I always look outside, just in case we have some different visitor bird hunker down in my yard after the winds pick up. And I did find one! Ok, after watching for a few minutes I saw it was just a Song Sparrow, but it is always good to challenge yourself to find a bird that at first is only some leaf movement.

The tree of the Song Sparrow just minutes after I saw it

Also the Song Sparrow was moving and flying a bit differently than they normally do, so it got me hoping that it was some fun exotic bird. I guess the sighting of a Tropical Kingbird in Philadelphia gets me thinking like that.

Yeah, about that Tropical Kingbird? I am totally going to go and try to find it, but I heard about it on Saturday morning and then I was gone in New Jersey until today and then worked today. Now whether to get up early and try to beat the traffic or wait until my youngest takes a nap?

My week wasn't bad and actually was pretty good for a summer week. I mentioned before that I went down to New Jersey, and I took two trips down to Cape May (though I didn't get to go any and bird walks, just walking around Cape May Point) and saw three new birds, all three of which I would see plenty more time over the weekend (not quite a 'find' if you see them a bunch, but I'll take it). I was so excited to finally see Glossy Ibises (which I should have seen the last time I was there because I knew they were there but just hiding in the reeds) only to see them by the dozens flying over the Cape May County Zoo with one even hanging out in the lion exhibit. Now why couldn't that be my first sighing of the year? That would have been a cool entry!


154; Glossy Ibis; 6/22/13; Cape May Point; Cape May, New Jersey
155; Least Tern; 6/22/13; Cape May Point; Cape May, New Jersey
156; Yellow Breasted Chat; 6/22/13; Cape May Point; Cape May, New Jersey