Birding With Attitude!

This morning I had to grocery shop...ugh!  I'd rather work 5 hrs in the field to grow my own but until then I slug off like everyone else!  Then later I ran the mower over Mom's front and back now Im sitting on my sofa, with my feet up and watching a Ruby Throated Hummingbird sip the sugar water I have hanging in the tree outside.  Life is good! He didn't have to slug off to the IGA but his sip came from there same as mine!!  Too lazy to get up and wait him out for a photo here is one from times past...

The month is half over...we've had some good weather lately so I've tried to get out as much as possible and enjoy it while it's here!  

My birding has slowed down a little as I feel like I've peeled the onion about as deep as I can in the 5 mile....of course that is not true! LoL..but I have slowed down a wee bit...same old problem-----> no access! And now with the trees fully leafed out my vantage view points are being blocked and ticks and snakes are out...so even roadside can become more hazardous in this tall grass.
more and more I'm attracting unwanted attention, from roadside interlopers...then I have to listen to their "bird" stories, you birders out there know the stories I'm referring to.  Ugh. OKAY so anyway... an ebird reviewer got under my skin when he wanted a PHOTO to prove I had seen a Purple Finch female at my feeder last week...HELL! No habeas corpus!  That Purple Female did not show up the next day...oh well what ever.  How about ebird Prove I didn't see it? LoL.  

No demands for more information on the Red Eyed Vireos that hover over me to see what all the movement below is about I try like crazy to get a decent shot of one, and yet they want a photo of the Purple Finch...**crazy giggling** LOL.  SO very common, but not 2 weeks after the prom!

Wild Plums are nearly ready...life does not come in neat little bundles like plums do...too bad eh? LoL 

A week of hot weather and I'll be picking!

                                

This is a nest hole it's in the clear cut so that's fun to scan each time I pass by there..

red headed woodpecker

In our Cemetery travels we always find an out of the way spot to get some french fries and a cold drink and last week we hit this little spot...good iced tea and great service!

Get Your Kicks on Route ...341

You can almost hear this "M-I-Crooked-Letter-Crooked-Letter-I-Crooked Letter-Crooked Letter-I-Hump-Back-Hump-Back-I"  Kite saying, "what you looking at?"  We had to learn that mnemonic in grade school in order to remember how to spell Mississippi, 

Have seen so many Mississippi Kites since their arrival...really could watch for hours...

Carolina Wrens have fledged their first batch of youngsters and now they are teaching them how to sound the alarm! 

Good Job guys! 

On the 5 mile count...its full moon  I went outside and heard the Eastern Whippoorwill (#108) calling, my nocturnal got me another tic in my 5 mile...and soaring over one of my cow pasture visits I saw 2 Tree Swallows! (#109) No photos of either.  Took a drive to one of my spots and while there I got dusted...

Literally!! I felt so bad for the 20 kites soaring above who just had their diet poisoned by this yellow menace...I shook my fist at him oh well, I can't save the world...

BUT my reward for putting up with that assault from the air... was this, see on the wire?

...course the plane scared everybody including me...and he flew over to this tree 

Painted Bunting (#110) not just one but 3 of them; 2 males and 1 female..

I wasn't even expecting to see one let alone 3 in my county. County Bird!

SAY WHAT? Happy Dance!

...All week I had been trying for the Yellow Billed Cuckoo.  I was pretty sure I heard one but I wanted to photo it also...I used playback on one of the dirt roads Ive been birding from...and then this guy stopped... long drawn out convo about his experiences with birds...I endure, after I have to completely explain my weird behavior.  "Hi, what you looking for?"
Birds...well we kill turkeys, dove, and quail pretty regular...not that kind of bird hunting mr....ugh

ok then he says, "I had this weird bird hit my window died right there on the spot"... he pulls out his phone and shows me a photo...damned a
 Yellow Billed Cuckoo, so I said in plain English but with a smirk..."It's a Yellow Billed Cuckoo." ...so he says in typical redneckese,
"A yellow billed whattttt?"

When I finally got rid of him I gave up and went home...sat on my porch later and bingo heard one, ran out with my camera and Bingo

Yellow billed Cuckoo (#111) 

More Happy Dance!

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.