- Visit all 50 States, I still need Hawaii
- Get from 400 to 500 Life List birds in NA, Im at 457
- Visit all of SC State Parks, and get my Passport Book Stamps I have visited many and will need to revisit to get the Stamp.
- Get a Bird List for each of the 47 counties in my State 9 to go..
- So here is an interesting goal...there is this vernal pond not far from my home, it's about 7 or 8 miles away and I've been watching it for a couple years...It became visible when the land was clear cut much like the parcel right here on the same road I live on. SO anyways this one has grown and with all the rain we have had over the past 24 months it has become quite established. So every time I drive by I was always looking then one day I saw a Great Blue Heron fly up..
And before I could pull over and get off the road a Little Blue flew off..no photo...so I've been birding this I call it Old Stagecoach Pool, cause that's the name of the road, I cant really make it a hot spot it's private land, no one lives there but still...that is the Heron. And even better Google earth shows the Little Lynches River is only a short mile of so as the crow flies, north of this spot...the map shows a second pool...one is farther back and I really don't want to trespass that much so I stick to the one closest to the highway.
This really shows the importance of vernal pools, and ponds. I have spotted many other birds there and a mallard pair must have a nest they have been there...more than a month now.
A Loggerhead Shrike pair are always there as well as Northern Mockingbirds, Eastern Kingbird, Prairie Warbler, Killdeer, and now three Green Herons along with several Common Grackle....
the Green Heron
An immature Loggerhead Shrike...
Recently I saw 3 Bald Eagles, one adult and two Immature ones...
immature Bald Eagle
I was worried for the ducks but they were hiding...I hope one day I will be this way when it's sunny! Always seem to be there on a dreary day...the last time I stopped I had 18 species of bird here! Not bad for basically a big mud puddle. There is grasshopper, frog, and berries, along with all sorts of insects to feed these birds,,,,check out the Green Heron grabbing up a frog, and just listen to all the birds living here...
Play by pressing in the middle of the picture/video
So this goal is to continue to watch this wetland progress and see how it grows, see how many species of bird I can log there for an entire season, just hope it's not destroyed by a landowner who knows nothing about the natural world around them of which there are many in this area!
Also on another note there is a Rookery not so far away normally you can't even get close but one day the gate was open, no sign saying stay out so I took a chance and drove in. Glad I did it was exciting to see and hear the chaos of the rookery!
The road is really sketchy...altho it's a very short distance.
Another goal was realized here for I had not seen a Black Crowned Night Heron this year, and BAM there was one!
And more Great Egrets and Cattle Egret nesting colonies, I didn't have a good view of the huge amount of birds there as the view is best if you are ON the lake say in a boat...
they are very haphazardly placed I don't know how they manage to keep it together during storms..
More precious young ones..and no "warbler neck" this is why sometimes I seek out birds that are not going to be 100 ft up.
"If you read the plaque it tells you all about those 2 photos! 1808
I agree with moving any Confederate Statues to a museum or where ever they can figure out a place where they would be appropriate, but I do hope they don't remove the historic markers.
Boykin's Mill is where the Rookery is located...
We can not erase the past, but it seems we have not completely learned from it! Hopefully if signs need to be remade they will still tell the story but in a more inclusive way...
Then I went off to do more County Birding...this time Calhoun County..
I found the perfect road it was a dead end..Perfect because......
NO one would be passing by saying "what'cha looking at"? Yahoo!!
NO one would be passing by saying "what'cha looking at"? Yahoo!!
There was a large fallow field and some pine trees, I do think this land is part of a hunting club, but I saw NO signs saying keep out...Found several painted Buntings...
Eastern Wood Pewee
Yellow-Throated Warbler
Blue Grosbeak (female or immature)
the Great Crested Flycatcher
Just to name a few. I had a great time fulfilling this chunk in my county goal.
What are some of your personal goals??
PEACE
Every day is a new Adventure.
WOW You pretty much have filled most of your goals. I remember when you were doing the waterfalls it was so fascinating to see how many you found and they were all so beautiful. You have taken so many wonderful trips in your van. LOve those painted bunting. So many baby birds in those trees and like you said the nests are haphazard kind of like doves. And how exciting to see the immature Bald Eagles. Keep posting and I'll keep watching.
ReplyDeleteMy goal right now since covid has spiked and it growing more each day is to just survive and stay home yet even longer. But the othe goal is to try and complete the baby blanket for my soon to be born great grandchild #8 in August.
Take care and be well
Hi Jo, I know you will finish that blanket! and Congrats on the soon to be new family member, best of health to YOU and the baby! Thank you for reading all my gibberish thru the years.
DeleteHello, you are doing great with your goals. I have skipped over the middle of the country states. I have been to Hawaii and Alaska. North Carolina has a lot of waterfalls, my hubby would travel the country just to see all the waterfalls and I would go for the birds. Beautiful captures of the birds and rookery, pretty waterfall and pond. A few favorites are the Green Heron and Painted Bunting. Happy Birding, enjoy your day!
ReplyDeleteThank you Eileen...I hope you get to see those "fly over states" each one has a reason to visit...one field not 3 miles from my house had painted bunting breeding in it last year it was a fallow field this year they planted corn so no Buntings...so I was happy to find these.
DeleteIn terms of birding, I can't think of goals that I have. I am not a lister and do not maintain province lists, county lists and the like. I maintain one life list only for all the species I have ever seen anywhere in the world, but the biggest challenge for me is to encounter a new family. When I think of the reduced carbon footprint during Covid-19 since birders have been unable to chase rarities, I am encouraged that perhaps a new ethic will take hold, but I doubt it.
ReplyDeleteHi David, if we could only encourage the world to stop the accumulation of wealth and work toward finding a solution to using fossil fuels we would be a better species. Yet we put our science to cell phones, and rockets in the air, more money is being spent on driver less cars development than on getting electric or solar cars out to everyone, who wants a driver less car? Only a Corporation would benefit from this. Some people go by car, but ONE jet flight puts more Co2 in the air than by car. 184 KG per person by air so a jet with 300 passengers x 184 is a LOT whereas in a car it's only 104 kg, and that is for ALL passengers in the car...for a 300 mile trip. SO if you fly to see a bird you are really polluting!
DeleteI think you have presented a greatly over-simplified scenario, Sondra. No one disputes that air travel is not the most environmentally friendly means of travel, but few people fly more than once a year and it it is not to see "a" bird. It involves a huge contribution to the raising of living standards for people in poor countries, support of local projects to reforest degraded areas, human cross cultural interaction, support for indigenous people, in some cases physical and financial help for local building projects, scientific research and so on. There are many birders, the chronic listers especially, who drive almost every day, some in dilapidated extremely polluting old vehicles, simply to add a check mark to a list. I know of one fellow who recently drove a long way to check off a Blue-winged Teal, to complete his list of having seen that species in every month of the year. You have declared one of your goals as birding in every county in your state, and another setting foot in every state with only Hawaii left, and last time I checked you will have to fly to get there! I would contend that maintaining a single life list, purely for the point of tracking the birds you have seen, eliminates this frantic desire to travel somewhere to see a species to add to one of many lists, and it starts all over again every year. I can tell you that 90% of my birding is done within 15km of my front door. I literally am NEVER driven by the desire to add a tick to a list. I still do research into a couple of species, and when I do I drive 9.8 km and stay there for the whole day. In addition I mentor others that adds another level of value to the activity.
DeleteA jet burns 1 gallon per second...there is more pollution when comparing gallons burned between a jet and a car And the average age of cars in the USA is 11.8 and in Canada 9.6 and the average age of the consumer fleets is 8.6-14.1 so....apples to apples without any of those variables because that is endless...a jet causes more pollution by the amount of fuel it burns, roughly 36,000 gallons for a 10 hr flight! I could travel 432,000 miles on that much gas and it would take almost my entire life time to do it, the life time experience over a 10 hr experience seems more ethical to me on the same amount of fuel consumed.
DeleteAnd once you land you have to rent a car so there's that.