Northern Parula

Mom dropped Bryant and me off at Dillon Nature Center for about 45 minutes this afternoon while she did some shopping in town.  We had been there for a little bit and were looking through the usual Yellow-rumped Warblers, when we heard a sharply ascending buzzy trill.  Right away we identified it as a Northern Parula and went rushing around the lake to try to find.  It was up in the top of a large sycamore tree (which Parulas like) singing its heart out.  We knew it was right above us in the tree, but we could NOT see it!  We searched for about five minutes but simply couldn't spot it.  Finally it flew away into a different sycamore tree where we located it and got some pictures.

Northern Parula: photo by Andrew

This was only the second time we had seen one in Kansas.  The one other time was down near Cheney Lake.  Joseph had been to Dillon Nature Center about a week ago and was pretty sure he heard one, so maybe this was the same one.

We continued walking the trails and finding lots of Yellow-rumped warblers.  We also saw a Audubon's Yellow-rumped, which is a subspecies of the Yellow-rumped Warbler.  

Last Saturday there was a Little Blue Heron in one of the puddles in our field.  I managed to creep up and get this nice picture.

Little Blue Heron: photo by Andrew

Migration is really starting!

Andrew