This morning I went "digiscoping" with Washington Crossing Audubon's new spotting scope. I wanted to experiment with the prospect of digiscoping during field trips and educational programs to share photos of highlights on this blog. At 7:45 this morning I headed out to the Pole Farm in Lawrenceville for a digiscoping test-run.
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| WCAS's new Vortex Viper HD spotting scope |
In typical late-October fashion, shrub rows everywhere were just dripping with sparrows and Yellow-rumped Warblers. Every step down the path sent LBJ's retreating into the shrubbery. This is one of most enjoyable phases of fall migration, characterized by an impressive abundance of kinglets, thrushes, Yellow-rumped and Palm Warblers, and sparrows over a colorful backdrop of fall foliage.
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| Song Sparrow |
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| Palm Warbler |
At around 10:30 I encountered a male American Kestrel hunting grasshoppers from its perch atop a wooden post. Each time he would spot one, he fly down from his perch, pounce on it, and bring it back to his perch to eat. This went on for about fifteen minutes before he moved on.
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| Adult male American Kestrel hunting grasshoppers |
On my way back to the car I encountered a small flock of Savannah Sparrows working a patch of Tickseed Sunflower at the edge of the trail. These birds posed nicely for the best digiscoped photos I took all morning.
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| Savannah Sparrow on Tickseed Sunflower |
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| Savannah Sparrow |
I rarely carry my bulky SLR on field trips, so the prospect of digiscoping as a way of recording field trip sightings for this blog is very exciting. I'll try to put this into practice and blog about the highlights of the WCAS field trip to Shark River on November 16th.
Happy birding!
