I have not been doing much active “bird watching” recently though I always have my eyes and ears open for them. While in Vermont last week I saw numerous Opreys and Great Blue Herons while kayaking and heard and saw numerous Red-winged Blackbirds and Goldfinches in general. I’ve never seen so many Goldfinches as I did on that trip.
Anyhow, I had a couple of good sightings today on my walk which surprised me. I saw a Downy Woodpecker and what I think was a Red-shouldered Hawk. It was either that or a Cooper’s Hawk. I was so surprised to see it I didn’t get the features down real well. I should have been able to though since it was only about 25 feet away from me in a tree about 12 feet up. I had it in view for about 10 seconds before it went deeper into the woods.