Eastern Phoebe

Much of the weather we had while we were south was pretty miserable. It snowed many of the days we were in Roblin, and one day we even made a snowman.  For May that is pretty remarkable.  I guess I shouldn't have been so vocal about saying the weather was only going to be five or six degrees. 

One result of this, was that I just didn't spend as much time out chasing birds and doing a lot of bird photography.  I did try and put Travis on to as many birds that he would be unlikely to see otherwise.  In truth the weather was only partly responsible.  There was only a little time to spend with family, so we tried to do that as much as possible.

On a couple of evenings though we walked out in the cold wind to a small park near my parents.  There is a large slough there and we got good looks at Red-throated Grebes, Red-winged Blackbirds, coots, Canada Geese, Canvasbacks and a host of wetland species.  The surprise though was in a little overgrown pond off to the side. 

As we walked by a small bird flushed up, startling us.  As we stopped to see what it was (there was also Song Sparrows and Yellow-rumped Warblers flitting through the trees, I was startled to see it was a small flock of Eastern Phoebes, hawking for insects above the pond.  I saw as many as seven in this little area, and could have spent a long time sitting there, watching and taking photos, had there not been other priorities. 

I managed to take a few photos, most of them grainy, and unspectacular.  This is my favourite of the bunch.