May?

Summer is trying to break into spring, as the daytime humidity creeps up but the over nights are still nice and cool...as we used to and still do say "good sleeping weather."  

Do you realize this year is NEARLY half over???

The Iris in the my yard are giving me lots of bloom...

Wish I had something for scale, the Rhododendron is huge this year each flower is easily 8 inches across...

The Dutch Iris's are also blooming in the ponds and even ditches that have water...

I checked the nest of the Gnatcatcher pair that I videoed the nest building of and they have added what looks to be some fluff from cattails maybe, but I didn't see any activity...I was not able to get a shot down into the nest...

But I did find a different nest across the road with a bird sitting in it...no cattail fluff...

So could be a second pair or the same pair with a second brood...they hatch in only 10 days and it's been 10 days easily since I was there...

Not much else was happening at the Newsome Mill Pond...So I went down to the second area about 3/4 Mile down the road where I heard the loud ruckus of Prothonotary Warblers!  Three darted back n forth across the bridge to both sides of the little creek there...

Then one went to hopping around on the lily pads looking for an getting little worms 

There was an Eastern Kingbird hunting from this creek also...

At Bramblewood more Painted Bunting are around...I've yet to see a female come out in the open but I can hear more than one bird calling, they are very tough to spot with their lime green coloring...the males are however pretty easy to spot with all the blue, red, and orange..

And a little Downy Woodpecker at Goodale park had some luck  finding a snack...

This photo below is a freshly fledged Eastern Phoebe...

And I also got an open shot of the Great Crested Flycatcher...

Around home the yard birds are busy....

Tufted Titmouse...

And in the back the Black and White Warbler snakes his way along looking for insects..

And the Prairie Warbler leans down so I can see him or he can see me not sure which...

And to end this post a video of the Prothonotary Warbler hopping around on the lily pads hunting...I hope  you enjoy! 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sondra Walling (@sandybirder)

See you next week! 

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

Weeks Highlights...

The weather has been very fall like this week...in fact it's down right chilled to bone!  I visited a few of my favorite haunts, just in time for a sit round the campfire with friends...

Lee State Park

LOL, here is some other things that caught my eye...

The Canoe Trail at Goodale is pretty Orange right now..

The Fall Yellow Bellied Sapsucker is busy

And under the tree is a Brown Headed Cowbird, looking a little bit lost..

Hope she wasn't raised by a Sapsucker! 

Back at Lee State Park, 

I bumped into an Eastern  Comma, he was up a little high but I was able to get this shot.

This is the Loop road goes through the swampy area of Lee State Park, we have a dry spell and things quickly dried up so I took the drive which is sometimes flooded and not passable. and closed...it was lined with White Heath Aster (tiny flowers) and a lot of bees and some butterflies were very interested in that..

Here's a Checker Spot..on the Asters

And a Silver Skipper was on the Blue Ageratum 

The Drive loosely follows the Lynches River and is a the flood plain

This little Eastern Phoebe with his belly a nice shade of lemon, hung out over the water for a shot..

The trees along the river seem to already have dropped their leaves...must be colder by the river..

I stopped at his Artesian Well to fill my water bottle..

Very cool and clean...the sign says the well is 100 ft down..This park has 5 still in use wells dug by the CCC in the 1930's.  

After the loop road, I went to the HQTRS area and made use of another CCC addition, this cool picnic shelter, I had a quick snack..

Then a stroll on the Boardwalk...

Yellow Rumped Warblers are back in the trees now...

Homestead Happenings this week Tulip came to visit, 

And brought her first Beau with her...

Thru the window so a little wavy....but isn't he a beauty?  I think they make a great couple...

And then the Sun went down and the Moon was huge ..

Hope your week had some highlights...

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

Last Full Week of Summer

Last week was pretty nice weather wise no real complaints for a change!  I can't seem to get the font the size I want so hope this one works for everyone...

Thru the viewfinder:

I went to my favorite cemetery nearby it's always good to find something alive....and this time I found one Loggerhead Shrike...

He found some high perches to hunt from and then he got tangled up with a couple of Mockingbirds, and they went into defense mode.

And chased him away...

From another perch not far away an Eastern Phoebe watched and made sure he wasn't going to be attacked next...

He was safe, then the Mockingbirds started to chase each other...lol so no one got to settle on the poke berries on the edges...

A Red Admiral hung onto this twig in the cedar tree I tried and tried to get him wings open but he would not co operate...just stuck h is nose up in the air!

The really small flowers on the ground attracted this Bee Fly, pretty good name for this fly that looks and acts like a Bee...

And I read that flies actually do a lot of pollination so I guess we need to think before we swat that fly! 

This flower is called Meadow Beauty...another awesome fall bloomer...

On my way out of the cemetery I heard a chip coming from the pines and found an immature Blue Grosbeak up top looking around 

Easy to see that big beak...he will eventually turn blue...

Moving to another location saw this field with a line of Canada Geese pulling the tops off this winter hay crop..

... on the way to my old stomps, of the Beaver Pond, looks very different now there is no pond to speak of since they trapped and killed the beaver...

 Im still bent about that...I did see this turtle with a garden growing on this back!

Pond Slider

And I found out from one of the locals the Eagle Nest tree has fallen down wondered why I couldn't spot it, hope they will find another tree in the area to build in come late December. 

---

I made a stop at the vernal pool I have been watching for a couple years and lately this Great Egret has been fishing there, I believe there is still plenty of tadpole, frog, and small turtle in the pool...

a bit too deep for the Green Herons that I normally see here although earlier in the season they were around..

I went to Sandhills took a couple of short hikes, and had a lot of Pine Warbler scolding me along the way...

Hunting season is about to get going so I will have to be careful out and about from now till the end of Feb. 

Buck Eye 

Grasshopper with bonus spider(??) 

Meanwhile back at home look who is in the flower bed...

Writing Spider 3 inches across!!

I did find some seeds for my winter garden plans...But I had dig through the Halloween costumes, and Spooky yard decorations and push aside the boxes of "Christmas Garland" waiting to be unboxed...dear readers  we will starve to death if the Pandemic gets worse, every store is over stocked with useless junk from China and I had to dig through a disheveled box of seeds looking for some to plant....at the Dollar Store!   To me this is a real shame.  Every community should have a seed exchange in it...not talking GMO seeds either...The garden centers are full of Mums, Pansies, and decorative plants.  We can't eat that. 

What are your thoughts on this subject. 

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.