Stay Calm and Breath...

Summer is moving right along now it's nearly 4th of July...and it's hot.  Birds are hard to find, in fact I had only one new bird in my 5 mile in June.  I already reported that to you nothing since the Cedar Waxwing, (#112) did see more waxwings today.  I am still trying to bird as often as I'm able but the humidity is UP there now and by 10 am it's too hot to enjoy being out unless you're swimming! 

her suit did resemble his pattern....

We went swimming again and this Zebra Swallowtail fell in love with my sister's swimsuit!  He spent the entire day with her.  

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Then somehow he fell into the water; we missed him then saw him flopping in the water!! We were able to rescue him and he flew up in a pine tree to recover...he is such a beautiful creature glad he was not injured in his swimming accident...

My growing containers are producing some goodies: today's haul...

Butternut squash

...a new addition to my Plate collection YUM!! Thanks Sis what a surprise. 

Bad news....2 of the clear cut areas (300 acres) have been poisoned by the owner it was  sprayed to kill off the new vegetation to clear the way for more pine trees to be planted..it was inevitable as the wealthy must continue to be wealthy, no matter the cost to the natural world.  I have no idea how this will affect the birds that are nesting there and were feeding their young from those patches. Birds such as: Yellow Breasted Chat, Summer Tanager, Blue Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, Eastern Kingbird, Prairie Warbler, Yellow Billed Cuckoo, and so many more...woodpeckers, wrens, chickadees, vireos, the list is endless...and yet does this land owner have any idea that any birds are there trying to survive? Birds and mammals that he is helping to destroy?  I saw a coyote running for his life out of one patch this morning... It's just like a run away train, that I have no power to stop.:o(

This beautiful Summer Tanager (Female) has young in one of these patches...

and this sweet fledged Blue Grosbeak...also lives there

Some fool ran over this beautiful Timber Rattler

damn why???

I have to try and stay positive as this type thing works negatively on my mind...it makes me despise all the people who live around here...

For people out there who care about and love birds, I spent a little time with a beautiful Black and White Warbler, he lives in one of these patches too....I put together this short vid of the time I shared with him a couple weeks ago and I wanted to share that with you!  (for best quality click on the title and go watch on youtube.)

Have a great week!

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

Carolina Sandhills Visit

The weather is so nice we wanted to see what we could find in a nearby wildlife refuge.

Carolina Sandhills NWR is a spot we visit several times through out the year. Its very close by... I never see any wading birds as they keep the water too deep for that.  I wish it could be better regulated for wading birds and waterfowl. It seems they worry more about the long leaf pine trees.  That's all good and well but doesn't all this burning make the water acidic? I'm just wondering out loud...cause I don't know.

a recent burn area

Around the ponds I can hear lots of songbirds, and some allow a photo...but most are hiding...

A curious Pine warbler came out to see me, but hiding way back where no clear photo was possible was the Common Yellow Throat. One area has a photo blind, I flushed some wood duck upon arrival no shot of them...but these geese were floating nearby.

These geese are wild and migrate, not like the geese at Oak Grove Lake who nearly knock you down for a hand out...the woods are coming alive with all the color its almost like fall with the maples, and oaks budding out.

The Yellow Jasmine is our state flower its in full blossom now...usually it creeps up a tree to the top and blooms high up...this one is out on the edge of the woods.

 A little chipping sparrow got curious and wasn't too scared to get his picture made!!

  The fields are getting green, yellow, and lavender from the small meadow flowers that emerge very early... One bird that was out and about was the Kestrel.  I saw several, so I guess they are looking for small rodents and insects. 

He wanted nada to do with me, 

a crop here of his fly by...

Back by the ponds, the Eastern Kingbird loves to go after the flies over the water...here's a great look at his feathers! 

and his front side...

And we ran this fox squirrel up a tree sometimes these are solid black, or we get this grey/red/black/white variety! They are bigger than the normal grey's and they have a longgg fluffy tail, and move along in an undulating fashion.  See his masked face? These fox squirrels are not as well adapted to interaction with humans I've never had one let me get close...

Had a cool bird in the yard this week, the Black and White Warbler. 

I've got a bad case of spring fever!! Pollen is everywhere that lends to a physical case of spring fever 

aaaa-choooooo

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.

Good, Bad, n Ugly

Heading out of town tomorrow hopefully for a waterfall hike the first of 2012
I took the day OFF WORK...Im so looking forward to this 3 day weekend getaway!! I hope to see some birds and if I can hold the camera still long enough I may acutally get a shot of something....
This week the Black n White Warbler returned to my yard...this is not a great shot but its record proof,



And after going 3 rounds with the EVIL bird police over at ebird...I think you better get a shot of EVERY bird you saw in order for them to not hassle you! That little plug I gave them last week I want to UNPLUG...geeze--I was entering my lists from 1995, NO I cant recall the day but I TICKED IT IN RED INK meaning it was a rare sighting, and not a MIS TIC,  a savannah sparrow ipswich...they said YOU DIDNT SEE IT, CHANGE IT------you were 50 miles inland....even tho I was on a Bird Club field trip with a renown and seasoned leader who said IT was an ipswich..WELL to make life easier for me, I made my lists private and do you know that corporate bird brain project leader said "Im sorry you don't have confidence in your ID's enough to share with the world." SO I said " well I shared with the world and so far after 3 crappy emails from ebird, its not exactly working for me!"

So here is the tufted  titmouse looking so cute with his beady black eyes..

Seems everybody has attitude these days...and then this morning I had to call the satellite company and complain cause the bill went up $4---- again!!    SOON it will be costing more than the electric bill....I told them I will have to cancel it if they don't lower the price, they said, pretty much this.
"GO ahead we don't care." We have been with Direct TV since they were PRIMESTAR in the very beginning, so much for loyalty made me feel pretty blue...

SO I guess you can see my week has not exactly been filled with love n kindness....lol to say the least, and then the gas price went up another 4cents before I could get my van up there to fill it up for the trip...Dang!!  I wish Wall St, would implode and then the gas prices would stop yoyoing...sometimes the price changes 2 x  day.

                                                                               Before

One of my favorite Hostas that we have in one of my favorite pots!! YOU have to surround yourself with the things you love it makes the cold world a little easier to live in....and you don't feel so adrift...

                                                                               After 

all that powder on the decking is Pollen! I have to wash my van before I leave its been Pollenated for sure..lol---Lemme see what else can I complain about.....IM sure Ill think of something to ruffle my feathers  soon as I hit the publish button...meanwhile I hope all of you have a great weekend.

OH yeah, and then there is the divorce Im going thru....

"I'm due a good turn!"



PEACE