(female American Redstart. Photo credit: John Schwarz)

There are at least two female American Redstarts, and one male, that I have been seeing regularly at Lake Roland the past two weeks. These birds are very small, and I love the subtle yellow coloring of the female, as seen in the above photo. I would not expect many personal photos of warblers while my main bird photography equipment is a smart phone, so John’s wonderful photo will do for this post.

My goal for August was to meet or exceed the number of species I saw in July, and I’m happy to report that I accomplished it. You can see my checklists at my eBird profile (a new feature at eBird), but I believe you need to be an eBird member to view it. If you are, the link is: http://ebird.org/ebird/profile/NzU2NzU3/US-MD-005.

July total: 65
August total: 70

September brings fall migration, so I hope to once more meet or exceed the previous month’s total. We’ll see how I do! One challenge I face, being so new, is correctly IDing the myriad of Flycatchers and Wood Warblers that are around. The Flycatchers tend to all look nearly identical, and the Wood Warblers tend to move so quickly, at such a distance, that it can be difficult to catch a glimpse of tell-tale field marks. Some (like the American Redstart or Black and White Warbler) are easier to ID at a glance, but others (Northern Parula and Magnolia Warbler) can look exactly alike if they happen to flit by in a blur of gray and yellow.

But I enjoy the challenge!