We had a noon app’t in Sudbury so we ambled a bit on our way north, stopping on the Old Still River Road to see this Wood Duck…. a little closer with better light than the previous one …

On our way home, late afternoon we detoured into Burwash Industrial Farm to see this wonderful Bobolink  chattering on a pagewire fence.

And then on a post:

I suspect that these are about a good as I can get with a Bobolink so now is the time to click on the bottom one (above) to see the birdie close up.

K.W. sent a new ID feature from The Cornell Lab called “Merlin” which uses your photo to ID the birdie..

Here is the link to MERLIN

Merlin will use the beak, the eye and the tip of the tail as part of the ID process.  You can download any of the above images by right clicking (Control click on a Mac) on the image and selecting Save Image As …

Use that image in Merlin to see how it works.  (read below first)

Not too good, eh?   Although Bobolink is on the List for Merlin., it didn’t come up in my trials … until I went through several hundred attempts.  When it did show, it only showed juveniles and females.  The ID page for Bobolink shows breeding males but NOT in Merlin.  Reminds me of eHealth and other gross screw-ups.

Merlin worked for lots of other birds and is a useful tool.  Now I feel obligated to find a feedback form with Cornell, send in a couple of the breeding male shots, and advise them of the screw-up.   Always something to occupy our valuable time, eh?

The fading rays of the sun highlighted the bud and unfurling bloom of this wild rose.

I drove around for a bit trying to mentally reconstruct what this place must’ve been like.  Unfortunately there is little documentation.  This “Abandonment Issues: Burwash Industrial Farm’s Camp Bison” is an interesting Photo Essay.  The old roadway to Camp Bison has been blocked at the CNR tracks.  Look through this blog to see the end of the road.

On the road back to Hwy 69, we stopped to enjoy the Iris versacolor  … along with other guests.

And tried to capture a RW Blackbird hidden in the tulles.

Here is that Bog Arum (Calla Lily) again, a week later.

There are some Sudburians who do a lot of photography at Burwash.  I think that I’ll make contact.

Tomorrow is truck-brake-replacement day.  Not much room for photography.  Maybe do some house/yard work!?

t