Pike Lake and surroundings.

For a change of pace today, I joined the Pike Lake/ Hartford Area Field Trip organized by the Noel J. Cutright Bird Club and lead by Carl Schwartz. It was a picture-perfect day, and we stopped at several watering holes along the way. The one on Oil Spring Rd. was a jackpot of ducks and other water birds. Here are a couple pairs of northern shovelers, which we get to see in Estabrook every once in a while.

Here’s a nice row of blue-winged teal drakes, which we see a little more often in Estabrook.

Finally, here’s a terrible picture of a pintail drake, which we do see in Estabrook, about as often as shovelers, but I’ve only seen ones in breeding plumage, when I was in South Holland.

When we finally reached Pike Lake, we found a huge raft of American coots, …

And one “singing” sandhill crane.

We saw a lot of other birds, over 50 species in total, but the trip wasn’t really intended for photography, so that’s it for the pictures I’m afraid. Instead, let me show you a few more pictures from our recent trip to Malawi.

On our last night there, back in Lilongwe, we stayed in a very nice AirBnB, and when I stepped outside at sunrise the next morning, I was thrilled to find a farmer’s field right out front surrounded by trees. That seemed like a perfect place to spot all kinds of critters, and it did not disappoint.

First up is this darling red-backed shrike (Lanius collurio) on the hunt.

The farm field attracted this amazing black-headed heron (Ardea melanocephala).

My one and only hoopoe for the trip flew over a little fence and hopped around on the driveway for a few moments.

My second ever roller, a lilac-breasted roller (Coracias caudatus), perched calmly on this branch all morning, as I walked back and forth, and I could barely make out the color because of the sun almost right behind it, and it kept its feathers all ruffled.

But then a second roller came by for a quick visit, …

and suddenly, it looked all pulled together, although the lighting still wasn’t so great.

Finally, when it was almost time to load up the van and head to the airport, my very first African woodpecker, a cardinal woodpecker (Dendropicos fuscescens), stopped in for a fine sendoff.

That wraps up Malawi, at last, but I still have a few more from Comoros to show you, but they will have to wait for another day.