One Week Later...

All sorts of media was used to create this post...cause I'm scraping the barrel. 

...it's been a while since being out with my camera, I have little new on the nature front to share...but what I have I will kick in. 

My last trip to the race track I saw this Little Blue Heron on an old Windmill frame..there was about 8 white form little blue's around that day. 

You can hear a few Fish Crow in the background

Im feeling  better since my last post and worlds better than I did 3 weeks ago in the throws of the virus, I  hope that's the end of it, but please realize the virus is here among us, it's taking turns with each body it can find..be prepared is all's I'm saying.  I had my first outing on Monday day 16 after contracting the virus from hell...It was exhausting but I did it, made 2 stops for items I needed and put gas in the van...I left home at 8 back by 9:30 and it did me in for a couple of hrs but so far so good.

Yesterday I actually did a little work in my yard got out early while it was still cool and cut the grass, riding on the mower is easy all I have to do is turn the wheel...my grass was at least 8 inches tall!! Now it's back to normal and the dogs can walk around without getting morning dew on their bellies.

I refuse to use the new "blogger interface" voluntarily --just saying! Drag me to the alter kickin and screamin...

Had 2 Eastern Wood Peewees on the fence one feeding the other so welcome to the World.  It is quite nice to see all the new faces at the feeder, had 9 Northern Cardinals in 50 shades of red,  flying all over the place and the Wrens are busy as bees with their broods following them everywhere.  

carolina wren chaos

And I made this thru the window and screen video of a Northern Cardinal using the water fountain..

I had always planned to get a video of Casey drinking out of this stream, he was the only one of the dogs who would drink from the stream of water...so clever.  But I never got around to it...:0(

This Eastern Kingbird flew off just I was trying to snap a photo of him, they are so aerobatic..and such awesome flycatchers.

This was on my last trip up to Sandhills before I got sick, think I was there on July 24th, I wanted to see if any progress had been made on the pond they drained...still the same that day ,grass has grown where the lake bottom was and one Canada Goose seemed bewildered...

IT was scorching hot on that day so I didn't do any hiking just a quick look around...

Even the Egret was worried about the mud....

And if you like Sunflowers, you may enjoy this...

It's going to be a while before I'm up to any new exploring as I don't want to get out in the heat and trigger a relapse  I will be happy when I can go into the yard and water my plants or fill my feeders without it leaving me exhausted...so for now it will be what's in the yard or through the window that thrills me!!

It's amazing how small your world can become...to anyone out there who may be going thru it, I wish you a speedy recovery...

Cattle Egret from my last drive around...are about to start moving on they have been gathering in large flocks of about 50 or more in a nearby cow pasture...tempers are flaring...I think they're saying Im so ready to get outta here and go back home....where ever home is for them, maybe FL maybe Mexico..

today this beautiful little fellow showed up in my field...

So sweet...

Seems young to be alone...but I didn't see any adult they lose the spots at 3-4 months....

 the tall Goldenrod is so tall I had to tie it back with some string.  Most of my garden plants are about done even tho it remains hot fall is coming...I have some fall crops in mind for my garden pots and I already ordered my seed...some NON GMO. 

 Horn worms devastated my tomato plants while I was sick...my heirloom tomato has 2 large green tomatoes tho and my cherry tomato was eaten up pretty bad.  I sprinkled it with sulfur  powder and the worms are gone but so has the sun been gone lately...these rainy cloudy days don't help grow veg.  I had a good year with my 3 bush green bean plants in one pot...

I got a handful of beans daily perfect for me to add atop a salad...The asparagus has done well but I  think this coming year it will be even better as now I have twice the plants I had.  I harvested one butternut squash and some cucumber this week. 

I'm going with carrot, 3 kinds of lettuce, snow peas, cabbage, onions and broccoli and Im starting my Cilantro and Parsley inside and it will be ready to eat by spring.  I hope to over winter my banana and jalapeno peppers. I have a small watermelon on the vine hope it makes it...got it in sort of late and been so hot it may not survive...I have wrapped netting around it to keep squirrels away...The horn worms also got my Green bell pepper plant I hope it comes back out I over wintered it last year and I got some good pepper off it before they attacked. 

Its much bigger now this photo was taken about 3 and a half  weeks ago.  

Since Im low on news, I will share  my latest video also put together mid July, it's  happenings around the homestead, maybe you will enjoy watching, some of you have already seen it, thanks for your views!  My channel is mainly for my DIY projects but honestly I just don't tackle many projects in the summer it's just too hot...

I am excited about Biden's pick for VP Im so ready to see Trump rode out of DC on a RAIL...be prepared for all sorts of crazy antics from him to try and steal any votes he can...don't depend on the mail in GO VOTE IN PERSON!! IT's the only sure way your vote will be counted!! 

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

Way Up There...

The heat index that is, which has hovered around the 106 mark this entire week and why would the weekend be any different? There should be a mark on the thermometer that says "YOU don't want to know" and that is about where we've been!  My eyes are swimming in puddles that collect in my glasses, makes binocular using hard at best.  Sis and I made a trip over to Cheraw State Park, got a stamp on my book and this was her first visit..

 stamp goes in the square on the bottom edge...I'M so much enjoying this stamp collecting.  

There is kayak rentals here but $10 a hr didn't sit well with a couple of bargain hunters so we will do that at a cheaper rate some place else! 

The boardwalk is nice we did some birding, and enjoyed the lake views on our hike.   Mostly by ear birding as the birds are hiding back in the cool shade rather than the verge where the sun is making it hotter.  

We didn't have any new birds to add on this trip, we did scrape up 14 birds to list for our walk...including some Mississippi Kites. 

Somebody didn't clear up their lunch trash!!  

Last Sunday I wanted to hit my 5 mile radius hotspot Goodale State Park. Its only a couple miles from home.  I got a stamp for my new passport book...this is fun! I love collecting "free things" and this fits right in with my stamp collection of the National Parks Passport books, and the penny turning too...no penny turners yet but I must keep my eye out some of the gift shops may  have one. 

Again the heat was on...my photos turned out pretty awful everything was way far out there...

the sun beats down...and puts a white glare on everything, i have to make friends with summer, hello summer I love you but can you leave earlier than expected this year? :o)

I soaked my bandanna in cold water at the picnic shelter then put that under my cap on top of my head this helps me stay cool.

...way back across the pond, I had one Mallard, one Gr Blue Heron, 3 Anhinga, one Great Egret...

...back even farther away was the prize for going out on this scorching hot day the Little Blue Heron..New for the 5 Mile Radius! I think I had my count off and I'm not sure where I went wrong on relating my count this makes bird #113 according to ebird.  A blurry for the record shot...I even thought it could be reddish but it was too small for reddish egret. 

Had a Black n White Warbler looking down on me from the leafy canopy..

A juvenile Eastern Bluebird was out learning the ropes on how to catch insects for a living..

The views are closing up as the vegetation reaches out to close the gap...

And lastly a mother Blue Grosbeak was giving me the evil eye..

Time to head home and hit the showers!

there goes my Little Blue!

And Friday we made another trip because our weather is so awesome this week what a difference a week makes.  We drove about 1/2 an hr up to the Carolina Sandhills Natl, Wildlife Refuge.   For a quick picnic and wildlife drive-by birding.  Mom joined us.  By the headquarters building they have Butterfly Milkweed in the flower beds, I want some of this...

This place has lots of ponds and all are beautiful...

painted lady butterfly & friend

The button bush was attracting all kinds of butterflies and other pollinators. 

Eastern tiger swallowtail 

Not to mention the Passionflower.

We had lots of Eastern Kingbirds....

And found at least one immature Pine Warbler, 

And then it was time for the weekend to start!!

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

The last bird of 2017

I hope everyone had a peaceful new yrs and if you made resolutions I hope you can make it happen!

 I dragged my feet on getting my end of year post up so this post should have been put up before the year end  but I just couldn't make it  happen.  And even tho I was victorious in my search I had little to show for this bird in the way of photos...but I will share what I found.

It's a beautiful area...

                                         Bennet's Point rd

I get the SC eBird Rarities alert in my inbox daily.  I had seen for about a week people reporting the Eurasian Wigeon in the area we call the Low Country, low meaning it is barely above sea level at Bear Island.

 

    Mary's Pond the birds are way at the back can't even see them can you? Neither could I!

I have blogged about Bear Island before it is a Wildlife Management Area in Colleton County, SC not too far from Charleston. Y'all may recall.  It's a solid 2 1/2 hrs south of me,  south east of I-95.  They do a great job with the water levels and keeping the habitat just right for waterfowl, waders, shore birds, forest birds, mammals and reptiles! BUT unfortunately Wildlife Management means hunting is allowed...so they close the place down every year (Oct 31 - Feb 8th)...just as all the ducks arrive! It's so infuriating.  The main gate is closed but if you have the secret code you can get in and kill your limit...grrrrrrr

        It was easy to see the Tundra Swans, I counted about 55 in total.

I was able to get a zoom on the big birds and see the little bit of yellow at the base of the eye on the beak to ID as Tundra Swans. 
 
The wigeon had been spotted in Mary's Pond which happens to be at the entrance and one can hang by the bank...so me and one other guy froze our asses in a stiff wind to look at the flotilla.  He was not looking for the wigeon, but he so kindly allowed me to scan with his scope and I did find it...all the birds were so far away it was especially hard trying to take photos...I never thought of bringing my tripod! It would have helped in the wind...

This huge mass of ducks is mostly Gadwall, there is some Bufflehead in there, some Hooded Merganser, Canada Geese, and American Wigeon.  Some Ring Billed Gull flew around, Great Egrets were hanging out in the trees out of the wind, and a Bald Eagle kept buzzing the ducks scattering them around each time I hoped they would resettle closer to me, but they never did...I guess the guy and I was as scary as the Eagle to them.

                                              Bald Eagle Duck Hunting

                                                       and away they go...

Mostly Gadwall these few came a little closer to the road, until the eagle returned to flush them away.

A Tri-Colored Heron settled in some marsh grass to look for a meal from a higher perch...

The Belted Kingfisher watched from the high line, mostly he watched me and the guy try to figure out how to get any photos of the far far away waterfowl.  

 

 The Little Blue Heron found a perch and hunkered down keeping his back to the wind...

 Across the road one Great Egret came out to hunt....

 

The Eagle finally settled in some trees nearby when I went to the Van to warm up and have some lunch...

And not far from  him Black Vultures rested too...

 

I had some left over home made hummus and I made 2 wraps and some olives, and a piece of left over fruit cake too!  I saved one wrap for later.
It looks like he is saying...
"WHATTTTTTTTT you eatin?"

LoL

I tired several shots of the wigeon and this was the best shot I got of him he was soooo very far away...a very shaky wind blown shot; he is the bird in the dead center of this image.  It would have been a better shot if he hadn't stuck his face in the water just as I clicked.

      

   (Mostly white on the sides trailing off to grey and black on the back...a cinnamon head and you can just barely see the shimmer of white down the center of his face..and a darker shadow around the eye.)

And actually my shot was about in line with others who were there that same day...this couple was there early in the morning check their list from ebird.  
 
So I felt a little bit vindicated when I saw their photo was not much different than mine...we all did our best under the circumstances.  I did however notice one thing on ebird.  (this is an aside) One list that popped up today was submitted by a fellow who happens to be an area ebird reviewer, the reason I know this is he has reviewed me a couple times.  When you submit a bird and the rare birds pop up it's the reviewers job to "confirm" or "not confirm" the bird as being correctly identified...I just happened to notice some that were submitted with a documenting photo, were still listed as Unconfirmed...and yet his personal sighting without any Photo was listed as "confirmed" 
Who reviews the reviewer? hmmm  Corruption in birding politics? Without a photo I'd say unconfirmed...lol.

The chill of the afternoon was really setting in by 2 pm and the man left, and an hour later so did I, he gave me his card and asked me to check out his website...so I did. 
Andrew Griner Nature Photographer.  He was an older man with some disabilities, and yet he was out there brazing the cold and enjoying himself while his supportive wife waited in the car.  I noticed she got out and helped him load up all his gear...it was sweet.
Take a look n see...some of his work is really good!

 https://andrew-griner.squarespace.com/

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.