Before It Snows

11/9/2025

I did not have much time this weekend. In the interest of not letting photos sit around for a whole season before posting them, I thought I would make a brief post about my weekend; even though there is not much to share. I had one nice day before the weather went bad. Like 20 mph winds and rain bad. I also had some more of the "life" type things to deal with on the nice day. I tried to make the most of my time.

I had talked about a run south to look for a Purple Gallinule that was being seen, but I opted for a closer to home option. Something that would allow me time at home before having to head out for less fun tasks. This option was a trip to Central Park in Carmel to look for the Wilson's Snipe and Virginia Rail that had been reported from there. I figured I would squeeze in some sparrow shots, too. I got to the park about a half hour after sunrise and started walking the part of the park I expected to find the birds. There are extensive mud flats on the eastern end of the pond there. There just was not any birds, at least the ones I was looking for. I had American Goldfinch, Northern Cardinal, and a lot of Song Sparrow. On the pond, there were a lot of Mallards, the ever-present Mute Swans, a couple of Wood Ducks, and a single female Green-winged Teal. The only shorebirds were four Killdeer. Pretty much everything was on the wrong side of the sun.

For something a bit different, I walked down to the end of the park I never visit. There, I found what I was looking for - kinda. I ran across a birder pointing their camera at something. As I approached, another birder told me the rail was out. I had at least stumbled across the right area. When I got to the location, the bird was not in sight. A minute later, it cautiously poked its head out. The bird never ventured into the open. It poked about in the weeds and stumbled through a few openings. It stopped for a minute to consider walking into the open and then headed back into cover. Suddenly, lightning quick, it bolted and ran under the walkway. I waited around about 5 minutes but knew I needed to get a move on.

Virginia Rail

Virginia Rail

Virginia Rail

Virginia Rail

I slowly walked back to the car but did not find anything cooperative to shoot. All in all, not a bad morning, but I have seen better pics of this bird. It was nice to see it though.

Thanks for reading,

Mike