Love this group of shots with a couple of my favorite birds of the year. The Pileated Woodpecker is a huge bird. Hard to miss when you are in the right territory (Indiana Dunes, this time around). The group also includes the Semipalminated Plover, a favorite shore bird and I got to see hundreds of them take off at once. The bird of the year has to be the Little Stint, not because it is a great picture but because it was a US rarity. We found the Little Stint on Cape May on the east coast which makes it a rarity as this is a bird from Asia. What was it doing in New Jersey? No one knows. I got to see the pros in action, calling in the bird in to the ABA and receiving a confirmation of the sighting within 10 minutes. Pretty cool. With the exception of the Song Sparrow and the Woodpecker, the other 8 birds were all seen at a birding festival I attended in Cape May, New Jersey. We spent the weekend going out to birding hot spots to see what we could find. Quite the three day experience. Looking forward to going again soon.
