Limestone Park, Alabaster, AL - Saturday, September 21, 2019

Instagram has inspired me to take better pictures.  To do so, especially the close up bird photos I especially aspire to take, require a better lens with a longer range.  So I purchased a used Tamron 150-600 mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 lens for Nikon DSLR Cameras.  So far the lens has not disappointed.

This weekend we decided to go in search of birds.  Due to the drought we are in and so very low water levels, it was a bit of a hunt but still worth the excursions.

On Saturday we headed to Limestone Park in Alabaster, AL.  It is a fairly industrial area but home to a park that is surrounded by fields and wetlands.  A local model airplane club leases some of the park and yet the birds seem to co-exist well with the model airplanes.  Here are some photos, mostly taken from their observation platform:

Killdeer

Pectoral Sandpiper (migrating through to South America)

Killdeer

Dragonfly

Northern Mockingbird

Northern Mockingbird
(My husband may have taken over the camera for these next five photos,
which were probably the highlights of the day!)

More Northern Mockingbirds - they were quite playful!

Northern Mockingbird - the bird of the day 

Model Airplane

Turkey Vulture

Butterflies

A real airplane

Another real airplane

Lake Purdy, East Lake Park, and Birmingham Zoo - Sunday, September 22, 2019

We started our morning at Lake Purdy.  Water levels were so low that deer were grazing in an area that I'm pretty sure is usually under water.  Regardless, we saw a few birds and animals.  We started by pulling over at the Cox Creek Bridge on Highway 119. 

Great Blue Heron and a Great Egret in the water with a Great Egret in flight

We then moved on to see more of the lake near a fishing center less than 2 miles east on Highway 119.

Brown-headed nuthatch

Brown-headed nuthatch

Great Blue Heron

I have never seen a Great Blue Heron float like a duck!

That's a fish in his mouth!

We then headed to East Lake Park in Birmingham.  On our last visit months ago, we had seen various types of herons.  We didn't find any herons but did see a few other interesting birds including babies.

Red-headed woodpecker

After some quick lunch, our next stop was the Birmingham Zoo.  We had two hours to kill there before their members' appreciation event with free ice cream sundaes.