Showing posts with label SUTA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SUTA. Show all posts

Friday, May 6, 2022

More Migrants arrive


 Learning Bird calls and songs is a very important part of growing your craft of birding. 

Like this bird here...if not for hearing the song I would not have looked hard for it and found it...the Swainson's Warbler. 


play 3 seconds song



I've never gotten a decent shot of one, but this shot I like! I did make a video of the bird singing but there was a lot of background noise so I made a recording of the call only and combined with my photo. 
 

A Green Anole changes his color to brown ...

A White Eyed Vireo is a very vocal bird...and this is one of  his calls



Just a 3 second clip of the bird and call..

he found a grub or spider to eat...


And GOSLINGS! Not many but we will take it. 



Summer Tanagers are in my yard looking for a nest mate...


They are a delightful shade of Orangey Red...



And this first year male Orchard Oriole is multicolored with gold, yellows, blacks and greys...



Other First of the Season birds of this week are the Yellow Breasted Chat...another bird with a loud and boisterous call..


I also saw Indigo Bunting this week I hope to get some good photos of him next time out  I wasn't successful in capturing any good looks this week...They were all around the edges of this wide open field...a new birding spot for me.  It's nearby, it's a dirt road with no homes on it....all rural forest and fields. 



Lots of Savannah Sparrow, and this is one of our May Challenge birds, along with Indigo Bunting, and Eastern Towhee.  


And I will leave you with a look at the vernal pool that I monitor...it's quite large now...


recently I've seen Great Blue Heron, Green Heron, 
Red Winged Blackbird, Killdeer, Red Tailed Hawk, and so far I've seen 50 species here since I starting keep records of my sightings at this pool  of water that is controlled by the amount of rain we have!!

This is in the river tho...hope you have a rock to rest on when you need one,,,



And this is my Mother's Day cactus, given to me by our family friend Nettie who passed away in 2020..
Remembering her and my Mom this mother's day. 




Thats all for this week... 

PEACE
Every day is a new Adventure.

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Field Trips!

..literally in Fields! 


I've been out and about alone socially distanced as normal for me to places a couple or less hours away and continuing to get more hiking in while our weather is still nice and cool. That intro means this post is gonna be just stuff I saw here and there!  More mixed media, hodge-podge and hopefully move me closer to real time!


 April 14th, I visited Carolina Sandhills and I saw this Wild Turkey standing by the lake and before he realized I was there he moseyed around enjoying his time feeding...it almost looks like a starry night...

On that same day I checked out this Eastern Bluebird house number 30 while looking for some grassland/verge birds and here is how that went...

Prairie Warbler
press play...


One of the fields I checked was so pretty on that day...the light and the rolling hills it was breath taking...and then a few days later in the County Riverside Park reopened so I visited there...the fields were alive with yellow...



There is a river here and a bridge...under that bridge Cliff Swallows have a breeding colony...There is a lot of traffic noise as cars pass overhead so I lowered the volume on this video... of a couple residents! 

cliff swallow

Near the edge of the field in the trees, I found a very difficult American Restart, he refused to come down to my level....so very hard to get a good look at this magnificent migrant.  



He is black, orange, yellow and white!  I wish I could have seen more than his belly!  


Then I took a hike to Lake 12 at the Refuge on April 28th.  





This is a Summer Tanager another beautiful migrant, the female is calling in the background...I think this is  her young he looks like a juvenile. 

summer tanager
Play

Near the end of April,  I took a hike in a field of wildflowers...it was so amazing, except my socks got filled with all sorts of prickly stuff...took me an  hour to pick it all out...


                                                       Variegated Fritillary

Coreopsis


Eastern Kingbird hunting for moths and butterflies, ut-oh



Field Wildflowers up close


Female Commom Yellowthroat hunting insects, while I hunt for birds to enjoy...

Oxpen Lakes Area found out there is a game camera mounted for a direct view of where I stood and readjusted my clothing...OMG! Don't ever take for granted you are not being watched...I thought about confiscating the camera but really it was pretty far away but my point is there is no escape the prying eyes of mankind.


Thistle seedhead...

A Common Nighthawk took to the sky in broad daylight!

The telling white bars on the oversized wings 

Around the first of May,  a wetland I check on a weekly basis in my 5 mile radius, gave me a beautiful Prothonotary Warbler, he flew right at me, I may have inadvertently been close to a nest..


Beaverdam Creek Wetland (I named this wetland it has no official name) is the place I filmed the Pileated Family. 


I found one leucistic Indigo Bunting had me fooled for a minute but his back still had most of the normal color I see...


May 1st, I went to bird one more of my unbirded counties...so glad I chose the place I did....and You'll have to wait till next time to learn about my visit to Lynches River County Park, in Florence County. I drove the rural roads to get there which I enjoy doing when I am able to make it work...


...and I see many scenes like this I call these the Tobacco Roads....It's reminiscent to find old homesteads like this still in use...much like my Grandma's farm back in TN.  Of course its not like it was, it was modernized and in my opinion that destroyed it.  Many homesteads like this still stand in rural counties complete with contents I WOULD love to do a walk thru and just go back in time s simpler way of life where at the end of the day you felt like you had done your best to survive and you had that feeling of life is good.  


So that's up next!  We had a couple rain days so Im posting a mid week extra post in an attempt to catch up soon the weather will become sticky and I probably won't be out and about as much but we'll see!

PEACE
Every day is a new Adventure.


Sunday, October 13, 2019

October is Hard

...for me, the moon in my house must be falling...


I have been birding a little... my radius continues to draw the regulars nothing new so far this month...I hope it will improve as the migration goes forward. So I've been on warbler watch and I'll share some of what I've found along the way not all were photographed...none of these came out of my 5 mile...because I didn't want to miss all the good stuff that is out beyond the 5 mile. 

                                                           Olive Clouded Skipper


Eastern Phoebe 

American Redstart female
And a male



White eyed Vireo


And the first Ovenbird I've seen a long time!


                                             Palm Warbler


Eastern Wood Peewee


Scarlet Tanager Non breeding male, a county bird for me..


Summer Tanager Immature Male


Young Eastern Bluebird


A Northern Parula 


A Spice Bush Swallowtail Caterpillar


One of the deer went into the old barn...I think they like it in there...

Sadly my Mom fell again and she got some really awful cuts as she hit the door frame on her way down.  With old fragile skin it just ripped it to pieces...She went to the ER and was back home a few hrs later, but she will be house bound for a while till she gets able to use her walker again...

That morning we had taken her with us to the Congaree National Park..she didn't really want to go but we made her go anyway...




She had her 95th Last week...


...this reminds me of meringue on Mom's Banana Pudding.

She actually did not enjoy the outing and demanded we take her home so we did...home is not always a safe place to be...she has forgotten how much she loves a day out and about in nature... I hope I never forget all the great times I've enjoyed sharing nature with my Mom the tree hugger...taken Dec 19, 2010 on the same boardwalk!



I know you all have read many blogs featuring my Mom...I've been sharing our Adventures for many years so I will keep you posted on her recovery.  She has a strong will and spunk and  I know she will try hard to get over this set back...if love alone could mend her she would be healed instantly. 



PEACE
Every day is a new Adventure.