Field Trip

I'm trying to stay connected to my 5 Mile Radius.  In order to become more familiar with the outlined area I divided it into quads to make it easier for me.  It' still hard to know when IM in or out of my Radius..lol I need one of those ankle bracelets to sound off when I drift out of bounds. 

OK without further rambling, my Field Trip. I call it a Field Trip cause it centers around some fields.  I have found 3 major sorghum fields and the birds found them too! Nothing rare or even unexpected but fun to find out where everyone is hanging out! 

If I had to describe my area it's very rural, and if the words tobacco road mean anything to you then you sort of have an idea, although there's no tobacco being grown here now...cotton yes. 

an HDR filter added to this gives the barn a pop. 

I wanted to make a movie of my week...and I actually started it but I got so distracted with the "stuff" of life I lost my focus...and I never finished it so I will try to highlight my week here with a mixed bag of media.

There's 3 big sorghum fields are in Quad 2, 3, and 4.  

This is Quad 3, I scared about 50 dove outta this field...

Flock of Mourning Dove and one sitting in a China Berry Tree

and then down another dirt road...

another old home place...

^Eastern Towhee & below female n male

The fields are surrounded by woods so the birds are in and out of the field and back to the trees to rest and take cover...

Eastern Phoebe 

and many Song Sparrow 

Mostly chipping sparrow by the 100's! But getting them on film is almost impossible, they rarely sit still...

here is one resting

ALL the Sparrows blend in so well it's difficult to see them in the field..here's a song sparrow to prove my point...

The field in the Quad 3 had Field Sparrow in the mix...

Im always happy to find them in the flocks...

And out on the road a Hermit Thrush hops around...

Some of the birds stand out a little bit more...

And not all were after the seed heads, some were after insects that were out there...

A really fine week of birding, I did visit my one hotspot weekly, and although there was no grey box in January to fill up (June & August need work) I made a nice green line on my own Jan bar graph and my 5MR Patch species count is up to 50 since Jan 1 and I hope to add more by the end of the month. 

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

The Premier of 2018!

It has been dang cold! Record breaking...like 9F and then 11F degrees overnight for 5 days straight...and daytime temps barely getting to freezing, or one degree above.  Just not what we signed  up for here in the deep south!  Daytime I chop wood, nighttime I binge watch Breaking Bad, wrapped in blankets, while I burn the wood in the fireplace!  It's hard to get any rest when you chop and saw all day and are up and down every 10 minutes feeding the fire I'm exhausted! And you can see this is a morning photo of the conditions outside and inside my house! When I first got up it read 52 inside I had to put on extra heat to get it up to 57.  This was on Thursday. And 2 days before....
SNOW.

We got about 1/2" in total, not a lot but some parts of the state are still buried. The coastal regions were hit with snow and ice...I'm just happy I'm not traveling right now that would not have been fun to have to hold up in the snow and cold.  Southern weather is very unpredictable.  So I've been keeping the bird feeders filled and I've had some nice birds in the yard...I heard Casey barking up a storm in the front yard, it was a Northern Harrier on the ground...I didn't see any prey so I think he tried for something and missed. Hope it wasn't Casey he missed?  I didn't have the camera ready for that one.

I very seldom see these guys on the feeders..the Downy Woodpecker, with all the trees in the yard they have more than enough food...

Even tho they didn't hang around 6 Blue Jays were in one of the dogwood trees for a few minutes by the time I got this shot through the front window all but one had moved on.  The never eat at the feeders anymore...I don't understand that.

Everybody is all puffed up from the cold as you can tell... bad for the migrating birds like the American Goldfinch they come here to escape northern winters...

American Gold & House Finch

I haven't been out with my camera searching for birds much don't want to take my gloves off to deal with the buttons...so these were shot on the run as I went about my chores in the yard...the Northern Cardinal is like a bright red beacon against the cold sky...it is almost impossible for this bird to hide.

I've been lucky to have not one but two Pine Warblers in the yard and they chase each other off the feeder, it's a nice bright limey green/yellow color almost breeding color as Spring is really NOT that far away! By late February some of these birds will be preparing for nesting! Of course that all depends on the fickle weather. 

                                            Pine Warbler                                              

The puffy little Chipping Sparrow is one of my favorites they have some sounds that sometimes leave me guessing...I always seem to forget what great song birds they are...

The Hermit Thrush is not hanging around to get at the feeder he does expect some water to be provided so I gotta get out there and put out some nice warm water for him/her This bird looks small here but honestly he is nearly the size of an American Robin. 

It warmed today to 34 It actually felt good! A Yellow Bellied Sapsucker came around checking his "holes" I made a video of him but my camera is really starting to misbehave and it never actually recorded. 

The first week so far so good I didn't go anywhere just hung close by so I was happy to have these birds come to me. 

chipping sparrows

A very cold start but hopefully we have 3 more days and on Tuesday it is supposed to start warming up some!  I'm ready for that. 

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

Still Off the Rez...

Home is a place to hang out between adventures right?

...when last I left you I was waking from a frigid night of camping in Sunburst campground in the Pisgah National Forest.  

 I was warm as toast in the van. 

The morning was cold but no wind! Yes!! And the birds were singing...after a fast pot of cowboy coffee & breakfast I put on every coat I had, hat, and gloves.  And went out to check them out.  I knew it would warm up but it sure took its own good time!  First off I heard this...

I've never heard a chipping sparrow sing so beautifully! I think he was saying, the wind is gone, the wind is gone, great God Almighty, the wind is gone!  Other birds were singing in the woods too...I phished between teeth chatters....a few came out and took time to pose for me, the robins were back waiting for the frost on the grass to burn off...so they flicked leaves near the forest edge looking for a meal...some perched to wait it out..then another great singer emerged...

the song sparrow

Peeking out from under the shrubs was a dark eyed Junco...

And  I know what a horrid photo this is but the Ruby Crowned Kinglet had his crown out for viewing and look how brilliant it is!!

On the ground white throated and fox sparrows were busy digging for worms...I didnt get any shots of them due to the cold mainly I kept having to put my hands back in my gloves and missed lots of good pics due to that...but I did get this good look at the

                                   Eastern Towhee, love that eye!

An 

Eastern Phoebe gave me the over the shoulder look...

But the star of this show was a bird I know as the Solitary Vireo, but his name got changed to the Blue Headed Vireo! He was so curious about me...in fact he was following me around...

He just kept posing for me! I was quite the curiosity. 

I could' of stayed  here all day, but I wanted to get in a few more stops on this good weather day...but

first I walked across the road to see what was happening at the Laurel Branch, only thing seen was the green hued water...

Then I left Sunburst Campground 

and headed south on hwy 215 back to the parkway, I made a right and headed west and turned south on Hwy 64.  I went to see the French Broad Falls, and Mill Shoals! 

Its on private land so I only got a couple photos and then hi-tailed it but they give permission for the public to view their falls.  I missed out on the 3rd falls (Bird Falls) which was down stream I missed that in the waterfall guide! Im kinda working on my NC waterfalls list..altho I havent finished SC yet.

don't know why I didn't think to make a pano so I could get both falls in same shot...duh....a couple of fly fishermen were busy trying their luck...This property is owned by Healing Waters Ministry...

I turned around here and headed back up to the parkway.  I stopped to view the Devil's Courthouse..Indian Legend has it the Devil lives in a cave under this rock! Who am I to say he doesn't? 

I needed some exercise so I headed up Black Balsam Trail Parking.  There's several hikes to take from that lot.  I peeled off at least 2 layers, the hat and gloves before visiting the stinkiest pit toilet ...

east of the Mississippi (it is a unisex so yes both men and women used it, no one had to show any credentials on their sex at birth, thank goodness!)  I chose the easy trail, I hoped for some birds got skunked on that but saw some lovely scenery! I chose the Ivestor Gap Trail if followed to the terminus 4.5 miles away it brings you around Black Balsam Knob to the Graveyard Fields Loop trail! It would be a fun backpack trip but camping has been suspended due to black bear activity..It's a rim trail which I prefer over a ridge trail or a summit trail! You can barely see the trail in this shot on the hill on the right....see it?  Its actually an old road a very ROCKY road!

Lots of water on the trail also...

...in fall this is a 4 x 4 road, could def bust up  your front end here!!  Found this mystery I tried to research it but came up with Zip! I hope its a spot where someone's ashes were released, and not where someone took their last hike! It wasn't that steep but a fall would def be life threatening, due to the rocky landing. 

Sgt M R N Penland SA

...and altho I don't suspect this to be the cause, I learned recently the 3rd cause of death in our Parks is suicide! Last year in our national Parks alone 93 people died by suicide in the parks, the other causes of death are heart attacks and falls!! I turned around at about 2 miles so my RT hike was an easy 4 mi. on this trail...

Back on the Parkway lots of ice still hanging on...

The Yellow Prong River 

I'll post the rest of this day in next post! I had a great day of birding in the morning and hiking in the afternoon...I'd say this was one heck of a day to be off the reservation!!

PEACE

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