We were lucky to manage two more yard birds within the last week. First was a flock of fly-over DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS. The next flock to fly over were new yard birds too; Ashley spotted this flock of 78 AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS:
Speaking of the yard, my feeders are under constant attack from EASTERN FOX SQUIRRELS. Here is a photo I took of one enjoying the seed:
And no, I didn't flip the photo over or anything. In fact, it was hanging clean-off the feeder. If you wonder how a squirrel could do that... well:
Here is a SORA at a local marsh. This denizen of thick, marsh vegetation has just arrived back in Iowa within the last week or two:
Even when a Sora is still essentially out in the open, it can be very well camouflaged:
Not all species are so obliging. Here is bad light on an EASTERN TOWHEE:
Last but not least, we were spinning down the road when Ashley said "Hey, there was an owl back there". Huh?! Kicked it into reverse and sure enough, a BARRED OWL was looking at us from deep within the woods:
