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Sometimes having the wrong settings works out just as it did when I took this photo of the Eastern Bluebird on our birdbath.

It took forever (years actually) but I finally got a photo of this one.

Had some fun today chasing this Ruby-crowned Kinglet through the trees.

Merlin App Bird of the Day and a lifer for me all in one.

So many photos to share as have time. This is just one of EIGHT lifers for me this weekend.

What a fantastic day of photography and hanging with friends I had yesterday at Bethel Beach near Matthews VA.  Everything came into perfect sync and I was able to not only get this lifer, the Snow Bunting but 4-5 more which I will share over the next several days.

The Snow Buntings breed in the most northern areas of Canada and Greenland and while they do migrate to the US Atlantic states, they rarely make it as far south as Virginia according to the Audubon and All About Bird websites so this was a huge treat to see and photograph.

Blue-winged Teal are very unusual to see in Virginia, they usually migrate much further south but a small group has made Dutch Gap Conservation Area in Chester VA their winter home.  They have been maintaining a distance from the many, many birders who have flocked to DGCA to see them making it hard to get photographs but on this particular later morning I was lucky enough to see this beautiful female sunning, eating and swimming right off-shore near pier #1.  

Dutch Gap Conservation Area, Chester VA

Olympus OMD-EM1X,  Olympus 100-400 lens + MC-14