Birds All March on the Battlefield 9-16 (Backyard Bird County 2013)

Eastern Bluebird

Some of you may already be familiar with the meaning of the title Birds All March on the Battlefield.

If not, go ahead and click on the link above.

The photos in this post were taken on the Gettysburg National Military Park Battlefield, and they were taken during the Great Backyard Bird Count.

It's been a while since I posted something; actually, February 2013 got away from me.

I was tempted to turn each of the bird photos in this post into their own separate posts; however, I figured I would go ahead and give them all to you at once.

Female Eastern Bluebird

Male Eastern Bluebird

This year's Backyard Bird Count landed on some very cold days. I was actually a little concerned that I wasn't going to get a good turn out from my feathered friends.

Turkey Vulture
I could actually hear this one hissing
at me.

Turkey Vulture

However, I was pleasantly surprised at the results that I came away with.

House Sparrow

Female House Sparrow

Although some of the birds were out in full force, they are very flighty (pun intended) and not easily captured with the camera.

Red-headed Woodpecker

Red-headed Woodpecker

Red-headed Woodpecker

There were dozens of the Red-headed Woodpeckers in the woods of the Battlefield, and I was able to spot them over the couple of days that I spent walking the trails. However, there were many times that I simply had to stand and wait, in the freezing cold, until one would land close enough, or I would have to use me stealthy skills to get closer; it sounds easier than it was.

Eastern Phoebe

For the picture of the Eastern Phoebe, I sat on a log, in the middle of the woods, for several minutes, allowing the bird to get comfortable with my presence. Eventually, I was able to get just a little closer in order to get the shot.

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

I was actually able to get the photo of the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher from my car. As I was driving, slowly, through the Battlefield, I noticed this one on the fence post and was able to pull up in front of it.




White-breasted Nuthatch

White-breasted Nuthatch

The White-breasted Nuthatch was another bird that seemed to be everywhere. Again, it took me quite a bit of patience to get decent photos of this bird. Most of the time I had to hold my camera looking up, above a 45-degree angle. Several times my arms got very tired.

Clay-colored Sparrow

The next couple of photos were also done during the Backyard Bird Count; however, I am not including them in the Birds All March on the Battlefield count.

Although this photo of the American Crow was taken during the BBC and also taken on the Battlefield, I already have a post for this bird.

American Crow

The following photos of Mallards are not included in the Battlefield count, because they were actually taken at the local pond in Taneytown, MD, which is where I live.

Male and Female Mallards

Male Mallard

Male Mallards

I submitted a number of photos to the Backyard Bird Count photo contest this year; even though I almost missed the deadline be a couple of hours. However, I'm not sure that my photos will be seen on the site. As of now, they have approximately 1,800 photos posted, and I'm pretty confident that they have to put a cutoff on how many photos they upload to the site.

Regardless, you have been given a private viewing of my collection of submissions.

I hope you enjoyed this post.

Blessings.