State Line Fields

 I took a drive to a neighboring area to visit, some  large FIELDS.

When I go anywhere it's never to a mall, a restaurant, a movie, or a grand opening, 

its either a cemetery, a sewage pond,  a corn field,  a rocky shore line, a salt marsh,  or a swamp...

On This day It was a huge wide open field, where people had been reporting the American Golden Plover.  I had not seen an A. Golden since the late 90's on a sod farm Southwest of me, so I figured it was time to see them again.    The fields were huge,  I had my scope if I needed it,  but they ended up being about 90 ft from the road so I saw them with my binoculars and I counted 18 birds but could only get a group shot of 14 so I went with a count of 14 to be safe,  a Northern Harrier scattered them after I had about 20 minutes to try for photos.  

This is a heavy crop of  4 of them grouped together, you want to look for wingtips that extend well beyond the tail, and a broad white line above the eye and in breeding plumage  that line in the male becomes almost a large backwards S down the neck and onto the chest. This is non breeding plumage birds.  This is the closest shot I got, the wind just wouldn't allow me to get a sharp focus...

You can see the big dark eyes,  I enjoyed being out in the open without trees blocking my view....

It's only a 44 minute drive, and the dirt road passes over into North Carolina...here is where I crossed the State Line..

  

Some others saw lots of Horned Lark also, I didn't see a single one! These fields were huge...I did see Some White Throated Sparrow, 

Eastern Towhee, 

And the Savannah Sparrow, 

Several  Song Sparrow 

And about 21 species all together It was a good day for a drive in the country. 

that was earlier in the week....

Today I took the painted rock up to Mary's Hill...the rock I chose is one I brought with me from Colorado, it's a very 3 dimensional rock...

This is the south end of the rock 

The view today was very nice as the last of the fall color is still hanging on the trees down the slope...

On the upper part of the rock I painted in a rainbow, 

A little hard to see I sprayed it with some gloss Finish to protect the paint so hopefully it won't fade off too fast....there's some trees, a pond, and some flowers on the rock, it's a landscape of what we always enjoyed about  the trips we made to Sandhills thru the years...

I placed it at the foot of this tall pine that over looks the hill..on the upper side of the dirt road...

See the one in  center with a long limb pointing down to the right...

And here it is....

The really special thing is as I started out this morning to drive over, a dark cloud came up fast and it began to sprinkle and I had to turn on the wipers for a few minutes then this came out...

That is the one and only rainbow I've seen all year long...

I took it as a HUG....

Hope you all have a fine Thanksgiving if you're celebrating.  

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

HIT or Mismanagement...

Well here it is Thursday again and My blog comes out at Midnight tonight so I better get busy and create a post!  This week sort of got away from me.  

So the first part of the week I was  not 100% then latter part of the week it rained, right there in the middle of all that I went in search of harmony.  Did I find it?  Some of it found me right here at  home. 

I see deer almost daily in my field

 One of the coolest spots I found was on my way to somewhere else.  I have taken to driving the even farther back way to get to Sandhills because US 1 is so busy with log trucks and other semi's I like to mosey, they are in a hurry.  SO I take the back way and even bypass 2 small towns that are only one block long LOL...I know I've drifted well beyond hermitress. 

So I pass through this area where there is some big Ag fields, and open space and I saw these Spanish Bayonets' in bloom.  

And some really Big garlic plants.  I believe this was an old homestead lot as I saw some old foundations here and there.  

And all this lovely stuff is growing under the watchful eye of the Blue Grosbeak up on the wire, 

And the Eastern Towhee on a prickly briar stem...

Once at Sandhills, I spooked a Great Blue Heron up a pine tree...

And a stop at Pool D gave me a look at a young Eastern Phoebe learning how to hunt on his own...I know they had their nest under the boardwalk of Pool D.  

And this shy Grey Catbird hid in the shadows but couldn't resist singing and gave away his location...

I pulled over and watched this Red Headed Woodpecker showing off his brilliant feathers. 

The ponds are kept too deep for waterfowl to flourish...why you ask? So hunters and fishermen can get a boat in the water...too shallow they get stuck...hmmm 

I was on my way to Dove Field A,

...where I never  see any Dove, actually I saw NOTHING there.  It was rather bleak.  Sometimes I have to wonder at the "managed" areas, there is nothing there to see.  But I came to ride my bike across the field and back.   The last time I was here grasshoppers were everywhere and  American Kestrel...today since they plowed up the field Nothing! The field is "managed" so white men with guns (Im on the verge of a rant)  can come to kill Dove...in the process they kill everything that is natural and even the Doves don't fall for it.  BAD management is at the root of why this Refuge has so few success stories in the area of waterfowl and grassland species. They are managing for the WRONG activity.  Plant some millet lets get some Painted Bunting, and some Dickcissel and some Blue Grosbeak in here and Birders will come by the hoards.  Hunters are has beens!!

Almost came a "dirter" here...my start and end point is over at the green tree line in the distance.  

They are growing quite a bit of Wild Onion, in other areas where they burn, then let grow what nature has put there birds are there.  Those areas are marked no Hunting.  So my ?? is does Hunting provide good habitat management? I don't think so. 

And on the edges where the tractors couldn't go some passion flowers

Over on the verge of the field where some natural grasses were growing an Eastern Kingbird was keenly looking for a meal...

Observing wildlife and birds is my hobby and my passion...it makes me happy and it fills me up with good feelings, I don't think setting wild life up for slaughter is a good thing.  WHEN will this tide ever turn left?  Just goes to show the current way is not the best way.  SO Many of our refuges are being mismanaged for the purpose of hunting.  IF they were managing for observation  and continuation of the species more people and more wildlife would benefit, currently a few white men in pick up trucks toting guns have more SAY then a middle aged couple in a Subaru. 

 According to the report I read  put out by the Fish n Wildlife Service in 2016, 43 million people identify as birders, they are on average earning $70,000 a yr and spend $80 Billion dollars in the process. Where as HUNTING:  13.7 Million considered themselves as hunters and spent $12 Billion annually. OK big difference, and yet where is the political clout?

After my dusty ride there and back and some near misses in deep sand,  I drove to lake Mays and had a sit by the water and ate a snack before driving home.  

So in closing I guess what I am saying is let it be known what side of the aisle you're on, we've been fed this line  of misinformation long enough that Hunters are the ones funding our wild spaces, I call BS on that one! Just one more Incorrect piece of info that is driving policy in this country.  

Speak your truth..

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

Random stuff...

I spend a lot of my free time these days trying to match up old photos with old blog post...so IF you see any weird posts pop up and then disappear that's what is happening.  I recently said Summer is Flexing her Muscles and so the heat is rising, afternoons are good to be inside with the AC on while I do my photo replacements...I almost have it down to a scientist, ALMOST...

Eastern Towhee at the Cemetery 

 We need some rain so Im watering the plants every day that is a chore but we have not had humidity so it dries out very fast, the last 2 days we had some humidity and even a tiny shower.  Then last night it poured...so my plants are happy.  Saw this today when I went out, 

I was happy to see they put up a blinking light and these cones to slow people down and they had 4 signs at this intersection...I hope the cows are home safe.  

The Vernal pool was busy with Green Herons all busy looking for frogs...last yr they nested nearby and I think this year they nested here again, I saw 6 in total today..in fact a few of them could have been young ones, they fledge at 30 to 35 days after hatching.  

Im trying out a new to me camera.  I was about ready to give up and relist it, because I need a bigger view finder.  I Love my old camera but now it's giving zoom motor problems.  SO if I don't keep this Nikon B700 I will sell it on ebay and purchase the same Panasonic again, I really love my old camera. (Panasonic Lumix FZ80) It has a huge view finder, it's easy to use, the buttons are all in a logical place...its fully manual if you want, and it's pretty tough and stands up pretty good to my abuse.  I think it's the sand and pollen that has ruined the zoom motor as that lens feeds out it picks up contaminates, especially in spring. I do try to clean it off. 

This was taken with the FZ 80 Carolina Wren in my yard

This was taken with the B700 Chipping Sparrow at the Cemetery 

The B700 is 20.1 Megapixel, the FZ 80 is only 18.1...they both have 60X zoom, and 4 K video.  

I dont want to rush my decision, because I like it better now than the day I first started using it about 3 weeks ago.  Because of the smaller view finder I'm not able to spot birds up in trees as quickly so that is a Big Minus.  It  has taken me this long just to become familiar with the menu of the camera.  And I still don't understand all of it. 

This I took with the B700

This one below with the FZ 80

Quality wise it's about equal but ease of use the FZ 80 is much faster, easier to find the buttons in a quick grab, and just overall I enjoy using it more.  Even with the zoom motor failing it zooms faster. 

So that's something I have to decide.  

I have my very own Blue Jay, he sits in my window tree so I call him my Blue Jay, 

There is racoon visiting my yard again...I tried to photo him thru the window glass and it's at last 50 ft away so not a good shot but I saw movement and zoomed in and that's what I saw...

I know Annie has been going out for barks lately...I guess she saw him. 
I did relocate 4 squirrels outta my yard over the weekend.  3 males and one non nursing female. There's 4 more that are making me crazy so they may be going soon.  This time of year the forest is full of food.  

Solitary Sandpiper at the vernal pool...


A couple weeks ago I took my bike to McBee...the sand is deep there but I had a go at  it.  And I have been trying to figure out how to access a pond that shows on the map in the management area...it looks interesting, I found a service road but the area is fenced and the gate is locked so I need to speak to one of the rangers and see how to get in there...While I was searching I found several  Hooded Warbler, the males would not sit still for a photo but this female did...

If the males hadn't been singing I would never have known this was the female...

So a quiet week in my world...next week is supposed to be cooler so I hope to get out and explore more.  I had my final shot last Thursday.  

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.