Tuesday, April 23, 2019

3rd Week Apr update

When you're writing a post do you write the whole thing in one sitting, or do what I do and work on it little by little?  I come back and add to it as the story develops unless I'm traveling and I know I will only have internet for a limited amount of time.  So this post has been building since the end of week 2 and here it is the 3rd week of April, our migrant arrivals are moving along quickly! So the 5 mile radius numbers continue to grow!!

A bluebird pair seem to be settled on this plastic gourd in the yard for a nest spot...

they took turns going in with very small bits of nest material...almost one small blade of grass so I will check later to see if this was a false start or a practice run or the real McCoy!

The very next morning I went to check out the Sorghum field area and found my FOY (88) Eastern Kingbird up on a wire...


Checked out my hotspot on the following day and BAM..got that Prothonotary Warbler to show himself..(89) Now no longer "rare" as I know he was here earlier than his normal arrive by date, but I don't need any unwanted attention preferring to remain in the background of life rather than be paving the way for others. 


"Finally got you on pixels!"  I made a recording of his call too...

Also while I was trying to pick this warbler out, the Northern Parula and the White Eyed Vireo were all over the canopy again...gleaning little tiny gnats and caterpillars off the leaves and branches. 

northern parula male

and the female!
she had me with going nutz for a while trying to figure out wtheck she was... finally it hit me!

                                                                          white eyed vireo

ALSO look who else is in Adams Mill Pond at my hotspot...


I've heard for years there are gators in that pond but this is my first sighting! Most of his body is hanging below the water I'd say he was a 4-6 ft specimen..I thought of sharing my find with the ranger but then I had this image of the gator being harassed so I kept it on the QT i have never heard of any issues with people and alligators here.  

We took a ride over to Lee county to do some cemetery survey work and we stopped to check out my new found wetland where the beaver pond is



...the eagle nest had 2 juveniles in it...happy to report, I had seen the one but there is two!! I don't know if they have fledged and still hanging in the nest I have not seen them flight testing or out of the nest...they will continue to use the nest and depend on the parents for help for a while yet. 


My priority this week was to find those cattle egret in my radius and that I did pretty easily! First I found 3 with cattle then a field where cows had been moved recently and there was at least 25 Cattle Egrets (#90) in there along with 4 PIGEONS! I was almost as happy to find the pigeons as the egrets.  


here's 2 of the 4 rock dove.  (feral pigeons) (#91) 


that same field had a flock of geese coming in...


This is a stretch of road where I pull over and look for warblers in the swamp I bird from the road...I had a red eyed calling but he would not come out for a photo opt yet! I'm trying to get his call to share but he stayed so far back it was not a good recording. 


Back at home that night I got up for a bathroom visit about 4 am and through the open window heard a Chuck Will's Widow!! (#92) And then last night I took a walk and recorded his sound...I couldn't figure out how to upload it to blogger. 

At home in the afternoon the wonderful sound of the Summer Tanager (#93) came floating in and soon I spotted him..




Then Sunday Morning whilst most were putting on Easter Bonnets, I was grabbing my binoculars and heading to one of my fav spots...it's only 1 mile away and it's more roadside birding but it's not a busy road...I got out and phished a little bit and got the attention of 2 Orchard Oriole, (94) one a first year male and one mature male..


They came in flying like Luke Skywalker in that scene of Star Wars, Return of the Jedi....when they flew at incredible speeds and taking runs down those narrow channels of the Death Star!  So I snapped a couple fast ones missed the immature male altogether. 



It is now going to get tough...Hope I can pull it up to 100 but most of my expected arrivals with a few exceptions are accounted for...

7 new additions this past week!  Total 94.  Im hoping for the Blue Grosbeak soon saw him on Sunday but not in the radius! 


Heard in the yard additions this week:
35. Chuck Wills Widow
36. Summer Tanager
37 Northern Parula

PEACE
Every day is a new Adventure.

15 comments:

  1. A great narrative about the pace of migration, and your experience of it. I am very fond of bluebirds so your shot of the pair nesting in the gourd is especially appealing. I saw the first male checking out our nest boxes here yesterday. I hope we have a good breeding season.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They are such co-operative mates, the male was feeding the female a snack in between the nest building..I expect a good season since we had that rain and it seems to have created an abundance of Caterpillar and other insect.

      Delete
  2. They are all so gorgeous. They have arrived for spring breeding I guess. Your so close to the number you need for you count. I can't believe we are almost into May!
    I'm hoping to get up to Madera now that most of the things around the house are done for now. Temps look like they will be bounceing around between high 80's and low 90's it will be cooler up there.

    I usually write my blog at one sitting. But I can understand why you do yours a step at a time. You have so much to report on a day to day bases with the birding, Continued success

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you JO, the 5 mile birding has been fun to actually see the day the birds arrive, and to experience Spring almost as it turns on the Axis of the Earth!! Hope you get down to Madera..it was a year ago Easter when I was there!!

      Delete
  3. Seven in a new ones in a week on a local patch is good going Sondra. Many of your migrants are very colourful birds. Its not only been interesting seeing the bird pictures but also the pictures of your local area, as it adds a lot. Writing posts with me is usually done with a couple of goes, I will write something then come away and read it later just to get the feel of it. This stems from work and writing reports where you wanted to make sure the content and the tone were OK. That was a tip someone once gave me, as you dont want to be in the position where a reader having read it says "Who the hell wrote this ****". That's one of the things I like about blogging is the composing and writing, its a good mental exercise.
    Are you staying around home this year or do you have a any trips planned?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I do that too read the whole thing and hope it does make sense...The tress are almost fully leafed so now it's going to get harder and harder to find birds especially up high...
      I wish I could say YES Im going traveling but I just don't know yet! Possibly!

      Delete
  4. Fingers crossed for the nesting Bluebirds and yay to getting the Warbler!! I write my posts in bits and pieces, I rarely get chance to sit and do a post all in one go!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's me Pam, I rarely have a whole idea all figured out, especially when I'm around home because there is only so much one can find of interest to share.

      Delete
    2. There's 5 little blue eggs in the gourd as of today Sunday!!

      Delete
  5. Hello, what an awesome variety of birds. I love them all, but the Prothonotary Warbler, Summer Tanager and Orchard Oriole are a few favorites. Great sightings. Happy Birding.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Eileen! It has been amazing to me how many species are within this radius! I really wish I had more access, it would make life easier...I keep hoping a ring billed gull will come to the Dollar General parking lot...lol

      Delete
  6. Loved seeing all of your photographs, such a variety of birds.

    All the best Jan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for visiting! I appreciate your comment, must check out your low carb blog..

      Delete
  7. I thought I’d commented here, I know I saw this post, must have got interrupted. What about the babies?

    ReplyDelete

Comments are appreciated, and reciprocated!
However I delete comments that contain links or instructions to visit a site unless it directly relates to content of the blog it is posted on. In other words DONT SPAM MY COMMENTS SECTION!!