I survived a deer fly invasion!!
Wow!! I have never seen or been in an area with more deer flies than today - UGH!!!! I went to my usual Ragged Mtn area and things started off well - a little humid, but not too bad. I ventured up to a new area I have started to explore when all of a sudden I had so many deer flies buzzing me I could not believe it! Seriously, right out of a horror movie! So needless to say I left that area as quickly as I could hoping I could walk out of the “cloud “of deer flies… and I eventually did! I decided that if I was inundated again I would leave - thankfully, it never happened again so I stayed for my usual amount of time.
I set up in one of my favorite places and it was very quiet. Since the bugs were mostly leaving me alone I decided to hang out and wait because I have had a lot of good luck in this spot. And I did again this morning! :)
A flash of yellow stopped right in front of me!! A brilliant Yellow warbler!
I saw all of this commotion way up in a tree… I moved over to try to get a better view to see 2 chickadees fluttering around together like crazy. I did not have a good enough view for a shot but I was pretty sure one was feeding the other. I kept trying to get in a better position and finally I was able to snap this shot. Clearly one is a very pregnant chickadee! I am not convinced the other one brought her breakfast! :)
To my left I could hear a red-breasted nuthatch talking away and finally spotted him!
I must say I am enjoying capturing Flycatchers lately! It is fun to find them resting…
My Merlin app has been consistently telling me that Black-and-white warblers are in the vicinity. I have not had any luck spotting them until this morning….
The clouds started to roll in just as I was about ready to call it quits. As I was just getting ready to pick up my tripod this gorgeous little Yellow Warbler stopped by!
And then this little sweet Nashville Warbler….
One last Yellow Warbler stopped by to say good-bye for today…
When I was just about back to the car I saw this crow or grackle and decided to end my morning with a silhouette…