Today was the day!!!

Today was my first birding trip of the new school year.  It was quite a large group, since many of the Master Naturalist students were there as well as the regulars from the bird club.  Unfortunately, it was quite humid and foggy, making the surrounding habitat look monotone and gray.  It also had the unfortunate effect of silhouetting birds against the gray sky, making colors and patterns harder to identify.  We actually ended up seeing some more cool bugs than birds, but it was enjoyable all the same.  Here's a list of what we saw:

Chimney Swift
Carolina Chickadees
Tree Swallows
Female Indigo Bunting
Juvenile Cedar Waxwings (and then a whole flock of them, they were gorgeous)
Song Sparrow
2 House Wrens
Eastern Towhees
2 Downy Woodpeckers
Cooper's Hawk (an excellent view of a young male surveying the land from a silo)
Ruby Throated Hummingbird
and we heard a Brown Thrasher

we also saw you basic robins, crows, mockingbirds, starlings, etc. but you know....whatever.

The most exciting part of the day, ironically, was when I went to drop off my boyfriend, and noticed a flycatcher sitting on the fence nearby.  It turned out to just be an Eastern Phoebe, but it was still the most exciting bird of the day.  It had more yellow on it than I've ever seen on a Phoebe before, and it was bobbing its tail like mad.  Ah well, we did see some AWESOME garden spiders.