Wednesday, January 25, 2023,

This past Saturday, my friend Deb and I decided to take a hike. Women are always telling me to “take a hike”, so it was nice that she actually wanted to join me. 🙂  I had suggested Frank Melville Park in Setauket, but she wanted to visit David Weld Sanctuary in Nissequogue. It seems that she had never been there before.

David Weld used to be one of my regular stomping grounds, but I hadn’t been there in a couple of years. I had fallen out of the habit of visiting there, so I was glad for the suggestion.

The day was cold and gloomy, and there were very few birds to be seen. We took the main path out to the Sound. We took a side path on our return trip. Just as we were coming towards the main trail, I saw some movement in the trees up ahead. Flashes of blue. At this point, even a Blue Jay would have been welcome. However, these birds were too small to be Blue Jays. So, I pulled my tripod, with the camera attached, off my shoulder, and shot off a few pics. This photo, directly above, was my first true glimpse of the smallish birds ahead of us. While it had its back to me, I knew that I was looking at a Bluebird.

And, while these birds are the New York State Bird, they are not so easy to find, let alone photograph. This was a serious treat, for more than just the obvious reasons, because we saw a whole flock of them. I have never seen more than two Bluebirds at a time. On Saturday, we saw at least six of these beauties, perhaps more.

JK