Hope is a Thing with Feathers...

Ed greeted me this morning with a cup of coffee and an invitation to go out with him for some early-morning birdwatching. Your blog post today is brought to you by Ed, along with our "Life List" for Farm Dover. 

It was the bird that got me interested in bird watching ten years or so ago.  We were on an overnight to Shakertown for Mary’s May birthday with some of her friends. We stayed in an old stone house in a field, a walk from the village. 

A stream ran through the yard and watered a small hedge. For some reason I had binoculars when I noticed a flash of neon orange in the hedge. It was a northern oriole – a most spectacular bird and a joy to watch. 

I’ve only seen one other – until Sunday when I was delighted to spot a pair of orchard orioles in one of our fields. I hope it’s a nesting pair.

That puts an exclamation point on the list of birds we’ve seen on Farm Dover so far. I’m not much of a hand at bird identifying, so I hope there are more to spot.

Female Orchard Oriole

Male Orchard Oriole

 Life List for Farm Dover

Mockingbird

Robin

Blackbird

Red-Wing Blackbird

Starling

Brown Thrasher

Quail

Turkey Vulture

Wild Turkey

Meadow Lark

Killdeer

Red Tail Hawk
Northern Harrier

Cardinal

Gold Finch

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Blue Jay

Great Blue Heron

Louisiana Water Thrush

Dickcissel

Eastern Kingbird

Catbird

Cowbird

Mourning Dove

Bluebird 

Yellow Warbler

Song Sparrow
House Finch
Indigo Bunting
Common Yellowthroat
Yellow Breasted Chat
Baltimore/Northern Oriole
Barn Swallow
Tree Swallow
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Red Head Woodpecker
Red Bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Northern Flicker
Kestrel
Belted Kingfisher
Loggerhead Shrike
Northern Harrier
Woodcock
Merlin
Wood Thrush
Rock Dove (Pigeon)
Eastern Towhee
Palm Warbler
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Chipping Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Tufted Titmous
Mallard
Osprey
Goshawk
Sandhill Crane
Eastern Wood Pewee
Summer Tanager
Blue-winged Warbler
Green Heron
Blue Gray Gnatcatcher
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Greater Yellowlegs
Common Nighthawk
Eastern Screech-Owl
Bald Eagle
Golden-crown Kinglet
Redhead Duck
Black Vulture
Cedar Waxwing
Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Prothonotary Warbler

Black-and-White Warbler

Canada Warbler

Great Horned Owl

Broad-winged Hawk

Common Egret

Cape May Warbler

Louisiana Waterthrust

Pine Siskin

Kirkland’s Warbler
and, of course, Orchard Oriole