Four "Blue" Birds and a Late Yellowlegs ~ June 8, 2026

I started the morning off by birding the area around the Grand Central landfill. My goal was to see if the Blue Grosbeaks had returned for another summer and, as luck would have it, they were one of the first birds I saw there. I got these photos of the pair feeding in the nearby weedy field.

A male Blue Grosbeak.

A female Blue Grosbeak.

The pair of Blue Grosbeaks.

Along the fencerow, I found Indigo Bunting and Eastern Bluebird.

A male Indigo Bunting.

A male Eastern Bluebird.

Later, I saw a Blue Jay, which completed the rare 'blue' bird "grand slam".

Also found in the fencerow were Northern House Wren, Carolina Wren, Gray Catbird, Brown Thrasher, Northern Mockingbird, Cedar Waxwing, Chipping Sparrow, and Common Yellowthroat.

Common Yellowthroat

Other birds seen in the field were Tree Swallow, House Sparrow, American Goldfinch, Red-winged Blackbird, and Song and Field Sparrow.

Field Sparrows

A Cooper's Hawk, 2 Common Ravens, and Black and Turkey Vultures were also present.

A tree with Black Vultures (top and bottom) and Turkey Vultures.

This photo shows a good comparison between a Black Vulture with its dark gray head and short tail and the larger adult Turkey Vulture with its red head and longer tail.

A Black Vulture (top) and a Turkey Vulture (bottom).

Black Vulture

Turkey Vultures

I left there and stopped at the Tatamy Exit retention pond. It was almost dried up the other day, but a storm front filled part of it back up on Saturday night. The two young Spotted Sandpipers were getting a little bigger.

One of the two young Spotted Sandpipers.

A Green Heron was in the corner of the Newburg Road retention pond.

Green Heron

I went over to Green Pond and walked the paved path. In the Farmersville Road retention pond, I was surprised to see a late Greater Yellowlegs.

A rare June record of a Greater Yellowlegs!

Also present were the continuing 18 Snow Geese. It was a real productive birding day considering it was the month of June.

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