We had to make an emergency trip home to New Jersey, so we naturally took some walks and tried to find new birds while we were in town.
A pair of house finches built a nest in the spring wreath on my parents’ front door! Humans were directed to use the garage door to come and go, and all the babies successfully fledged. Several days later, the nest filled up with eggs again!
If my parents put up the hummingbird feeder, the Ruby-throated hummingbirds come!
Gray catbird, a new bird for us! Doug says the key identifying mark is a head that looks like it has a very bad black toupee!
Great crested flycatcher, another new bird for us.
I’m not sure what the white flowers are, but I think the purple is wisteria. It was so pretty and smelled lovely! And within a week, both the white and purple flowers were brown and dead looking, so we got lucky on our timing!
The yellow water lilies are so waxy – they almost look fake!
Pine warbler.
Eastern towhee.
We think it’s a Savannah sparrow, which would be another new bird for us.
Eastern bluebird.
Fox in the yard! (taken through dirty window)
Eastern wood pewee, yet another new bird for us!
Purple pitcher plant.
The very elusive Eastern raccoon bird at the very top of a tree. What a find!
by 
Love this post! I didn’t realize you saw so many new birds while you were here. Beautiful photos, except the fox through dirty window! Oops…
The Eastern raccoon bird was my favorite!
😂