Doomsday Prep part 1

Can you believe my town is the epi-center of the outbreak in our state...and no one can figure out the source of the contamination...an elderly lady who had not traveled tested positive and was hospitalized.  And now we have 16 cases in our town...(as of publishing that number has risen to 25 29 45)

So I know you're wondering where is the doomsday prep? Well we stopped at Dollar General and grabbed a 4 roll of Scott toilet paper...JIC.  Now I'm happy we did I went for supplies Wednesday afternoon, and no bread, and no TP on the shelf. 

We went about most other things as usual, but we are avoiding crowds for sure... we're outside and doing what we enjoy! A virus dies once it's outside and can't find a new host to infect so outside is the best place to be! I don't know the shelf life of this CV-19 but getting outside sure can't hurt. 

Saturday we got back on track after we took it a little easier on Friday.  And left right on time for the 3 hour drive to....

We had hopes of seeing something cool...and we did! The best way I could think of to spend a scary day on this Planet is by enjoying this planet. 

 

Wait, what duck is that just poking out of the grass on the left?? It just happens to be one of the ducks my sis wants for her life list the American Black Duck...

Yes! And we were the only ones who listed that one  on that day so I guess no one saw it but us! He was in a good spot to hide in this grass...Anyways it was CONFIRMED by ebird, which is more rare than the sighting.  

Got reptiles?

A Laughing Gull, American Avocets, and Black Bellied Plovers...

It is really beautiful here!  They just opened for the season.  

Bald Eagle

Blue Winged Teal 

tons of shorebirds

immature Little Blue Heron 

We had such fun!  She looks this way I  look that! lol

tons of Dunlin...

We found a Marbled Godwit! Haven't seen one in a long while so this was nice!  

We had rolling in and out clouds but mostly it was sunny!

American Avocet..mirror mirror on the ground... who's the prettiest Avocet around?

Shorebirds!! Galore!!

Greater Yellowlegs 

Blue Crabs!

Another Lunch view! We eat the same thing everyday this way it's simple to figure out what to take! 

 

Glossy Ibis in single file...

Boat Tailed Grackle...on a blue sky.

We had a full day of birding, and great sister conversation!  Sunday we took the day to stay home, took some new flowers to Mom's burial site, and had my son over for "linner".  Caught up on what he is up to...and Monday we were right back out there in Nature Doomsday Prepping!

Yes the Park was Open we were happy to know since everything seems to be coming to a halt all around us.  If you recall the last time we came here we brought Mom with us...*sigh* and she was not herself and asked to go home so we didn't get to do much of the boardwalk loop which is 3 miles.  We were not going to push her for 3 miles, but we took her for a short stroll on the boardwalk, this was her last outing in Nature besides sitting on the porch at home. 

Migration seems to be coming on strong and we had good numbers of the early arrivals...like Northern Parula...I was not lucky with a good photo of one they are normally curious enough to come right down...

But they stayed up against the dull sky we had on Monday.  

It was cold so I was bundled up in layers...no I'm not trying to be weird with my hat on backwards, it's easier to get my binoculars up to my eyes with the brim facing backwards..lol

Hey sis wait up!  The swamp was greener than normal from all the rain we've had...

Hermit Thrush were not scared to come eye to eye with us...Hi there. 

Yet another backpack lunch with sis and a view of Weston Lake from the boardwalk...

Yellow Bellied Sapsucker

My feet were hurting by this point as we were on the homestretch of getting back to the Visitors Center.  Of course we stop every other minute so it takes us hours to go 3 miles.  The Carolina Wren enjoyed a frolic  on a mossy log. 

 

We had some beautiful warblers to swoon over like another Yellow-throated Warbler...

So I think I need to chop this post in two, part II will follow in an extra post tomorrow!  With the virus literally breathing down our necks sis made the decision to fly home early before they possibly shut down the airport! They already put in an 11-6 curfew in Columbia, so who knows what is next...stay tuned for part II of our type of Doomsday Prepping. 

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

FALL Equinox

3.2 Billion birds have been lost since 1970, 30% of the bird population in North America gone! Sparrows, warblers, blackbirds, hit the hardest.  Cats kill 2.6 billion a year!! Habitat loss and development is the main problem according to the study.  How depressing...we can each do our best to keep our lands/yards as wild and bird friendly as possible. We are their only hope.  Ordinary citizens making good choices and spending their money with companies that are environmentally friendly is the best solution we have to do what our leaders won't...Green spaces MUST be encouraged, and more citizen ownership of special lands needs to happen! Our Government can't be trusted.

                                   early morning in Mother Nature

I can't recall a more trying week...you ever get the feeling every rock you turn over has an ogre under it? That's been my experience lately.  All I can hear in my head is NO NO NO...I must turn this around to YES YES YES.

                                                      

This is an American Chestnut tree!  The only ones I know of around here!  And the nut is inside this very spiny hull.

I think this is a yellow bellied pond slider....he was one of the few that didn't dive for cover as we drove by him at the refuge on Friday!  

The mist was back at the lake when I checked it this morning...very eerie looking, this photo although it's kind of a cool photo alarmed me a bit that piece of fishing line in the tree was out of my reach I do have a plan to try and get it down tho...because this is a man made hazard for birds!

Notice how a spider used parts of it to support his web.  I couldn't reach it without falling in the water.  But I will bring a long pole with me and get it down.  

the early morning mist really adds some drama 

And the golds of the wildflowers add drama to the ordinary roadside...

And what would we do without Goldenrod?  

I got another stamp in my State Parks book when we visited Little Pee Dee State park in Dillon County.  I really enjoyed this park and want to go back.  In 2016 there was a lot of flooding in our state, And the dam of this lake broke...and this year they reopened the lake after rebuilding the dam...

There is a campground and I forgot to take photos of the campground!  Some nice sites right by the lake, looked awesome i can see myself enjoying that.  We had a refreshing picnic break, it was humid the day we were there that has changed since then we think the humidity is gone, it will be back on Thanksgiving day always is hot and muggy on Thanksgiving.  

looks like a rebuild of the fishing pier too... we had a Solitary Sandpiper down by the spillway area with some Killdeer.  A lifer for Sis...

It threw me because it seemed so much smaller than I normally see them!  

 

And the Green Heron was also playing on the rocks...

The Immature Little Blue Heron with his greenish legs

we added up 7 Little Blue Herons around the lake...

We had Great Egrets, Great Blue Herons, and Kingfisher on the lake too...

A really curious Summer Tanager female in the trees came to see what all the fuss was about when we phished at a Black n White Warbler.  The Warbler was not still for a photo,,,,so we kept trying to phish him into submission and we also drew the attention of the Yellow-Throated Vireo a lifer for my sis!  And the first time I got a photo of one! 

What an awesome bird!

 

There is even petrified wood here!  

And at least one woodsy rental cabin, pretty cute looking too...

There's trails to hike, the lake to enjoy, a campground, picnic areas, and they will resume boat rentals when some of the vegetation dies off that crowded into the lake when the dam was broken...

im Little Blue Heron

Cloudless Sulphurs

We do want to visit this park again!  It's about 80 miles Northeast of us, and worth the trip! Summer is Over!

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.