The beauty of ordinary birds

I went to Scudder Pond yesterday, hoping to see some swallows, maybe a warbler or two.  Alas, my hopes were dashed yet I had a wonderful day because I got some closeup looks at some of the common birds.  First up, some Canada Geese were in the pond.  Normally, they are in the larger, deeper pond down the hill but this time, they were right there.  And not at all shy about having their photos taken.

I kept getting interrupted by the extremely active and numerous redwing blackbirds.  There were at least 6 squabbling over who got the best perches to sing from.  Alas, it seems my autofocus on the camera has a really hard time seeing a small black bird as the focal point rather than a shadow.  That combined with their inability to sit still meant I got lots of shots of a black blur atop a cattail.

Sparrows were fearless.  One has apparently been fed often enough that he kept hopping closer to me to see if I had some seed.  Once I pulled out the camera, he flew off, of course.

But the big surprise was a bird perched high atop a branch but not singing, just keeping an eye out.  The sun was bright enough and he was far enough away, that my eye was fooled into thinking it was a junco.  (Smallish bird with a black hood, brown body.)  It wasn't until I was processing the photos earlier this morning that I realized I had some quality shots of a towhee, one of my favorite common birds. 

Here's to the beautiful birds, common and rare, and to celebrating spring.