2 Gray Pictures

I slept in this morning, but I finally got out of the house at around 10:00 AM and spent a couple hours birding Lake Creek Trail. I started at the Braes Valley parking lot and I found 36 species of birds including some cool fall migrants. The first migrant I saw was an Olive-sided Flycatcher, making long sallies out from the top of a willow tree to catch insects. The bird was visible right from the parking lot, but I got this picture when the bird moved a little further down the trail. It was far away but in this photo you can see the 2 white "saddle bags" that are sometimes visible on this species.

Another migrant I found was a single Swainson's Thrush in the willow trees by the creek. This was the first time I've seen this species since the spring. Other southbound migrating songbirds I found along the trail before the footbridge were a few Baltimore Orioles, and Mourning, Nashville, and Wilson's Warblers.

I followed the trail through the T&C playing fields which seemed more crowded than usual today. And right where the trail crosses the creek bed I looked up and saw a single Mississippi Kite soaring. This is a migratory species of hawk, and they are quite elegant. Even though the hawk was quite high when I took this poor photo, you can clearly see its distinctive silhouette of long narrow wings and a long tail. They often migrate in large flocks, which can be quite a sight! But this one was alone.