Wednesday, August 22, 2012

December 22, 2011 Mount Auburn Cemetery



Afternoon

This winter has been pretty mild so far; of course last year was the same until the 2nd to last day of the year...I headed over to Mt. Auburn to see what was happening.  This time of year always feels so dormant; I guess that’s the point of Winter.   Still, one never knows what they’re going to see when they come out to bird watching anywhere from late March to mid-June, and then again from mid-August to even mid-October.   Plus the times in between always contain a few surprises.  In the Winter you hope for irruptive species coming down to avoid a harsh northern Canada winter, but that’s usually hit or miss.  I wish I could see more Evening Grosbeaks, Siskins, Crossbills, and other winter exotica.  For today I settled for a House Finch and a Titmouse; the winter species that hang around in New England always remind me of Vikings for some reason, waiting out a barren winter.





This probably concludes my 2011 birding adventures.  I never really stopped watching them; I always saw them around.  I still remember late August of 2008 though when I finally decided to search the internet for places around here that I could actively go out watching them again.  I picked up like I had been doing it daily without a break at all.  I’ve got mountains of pictures from before 2011; most of them with a point & shoot camera though that doesn’t really do them justice.  Getting an SLR & then a 55-250mm lens really helped me immensely.  I still carry my binoculars with me and prefer to use them; but when it comes to identifying/freezing a moment in time, obviously nothing beats the camera.  It’s helped me take my identification skills up a notch.  So now on to 2012.  I’m thinking I’ve outgrown the XTi I’ve been using and will probably snag a T2i or T3i this coming year; we’ll see.  On to 2012!

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