May Day!

I'm happy  to get this week out of the way.  The SHOT I will let  you know later in this post how it went.  

my Earth Day pick up was an entire bag of cans dumped on the road in one spot!  ALL picked up and recycled now! I pick up trash every single time I go out in nature not just Earth Day.  Im tired of  some lazy ass who thinks Nature is a place to trash?? GROW UP!

I had a quiet weekend at home I worked on my bike rack put new straps on it, because a squirrel did a job on it when I had it stored in the old shed....for a cost of $7 I bought strapping replaced it, and it works fine, but I have anxiety with it even tho... I don't want to worry that the strap comes loose and it falls off so after my shot tomorrow I will  see if they have one at Harbor Freight, the website says they do but I will see.  

The Pink Moon from my deck

I did replace the bike front Gear shifter did not make a video because I just didn't want to mess with the camera and I didn't feel like speaking.  Some days I do not speak to another human in fact most days I do not speak to another human, I do talk to the dogs, the birds, the squirrels. 

And even dragonflies, and Im perfectly fine with that...

It took a lot of fine tuning to get the bike to change gears properly...tweaking the high and low screws and making sure the cable was the right length.  What a dinosaur piece of engineering...lol BUT it works.  So I took it out today.  Put it on the rack and hauled it out to Sandhills.  

Perfect day the sun was warm but the humidity is low.  

I had planned to ride thru 2 areas, so I parked and off loaded my bike.  I am having problems with putting my binoculars and camera around my chest like in a sling manner.  They press on my neck I think of poor George Floyd as the pain becomes unbearable...I think I want to find a Velcro attached  tote of some kind, so I can whip it on and off of the front handlebars.  I want something soft but with a foundation I may end up making one myself.,,so a bump can't send my stuff flying,  I want to be able to whip it out fast. 

While getting things ready I heard this....My ears perked up!

And I was so very excited, the Bachman's Sparrow! Not just one but many calling to each other.   I found one close enough to get a photo.  

Bachman's Sparrow

It was nice to hear so many and to know they are flourishing, I hope they have a successful nest season. 

And then off down the trail...Almost immediately there is a tree across the path..

  had to bush whack around that and then eventually I arrived at the back of Pool D. 

SO many birds were singing  A Great Blue Heron took off, along with a Wood Duck, Orchard Orioles were already protecting territory and Eastern Kingbird was really belting out a song!!

"OH I just love Spring Breeding," I think that is what he is singing.   

I parked the bike and went tromping around I scared an Eastern Towhee off her nest...they nest on the ground or in/under a short shrub, I had no clue I was so close to a nest...but once she flushed I moved away. 

 Common Yellow Throat scolded me and stayed mostly hidden...there was a pair. 

Back at the van I moved to a shady spot for lunch this is one of my favorite spots to sit and listen to the pond,,,

I enjoyed listening to Great Crested Flycatcher whistling up high in the pines, and the Frogs calling,.,

A blue Grosbeak showed up to take a quick dip in the pond,.,

I moved the van to the photo blind parking area and rode the bike down to the blind,,,

I didn't expect to see much but I was wrong, the Dutch Iris was in bloom...

I stirred up a couple of Grey Catbirds, they seemed to be defending a nest site as well

And an Osprey sailed in to see what he could find from his perch,  

On the way back I had wanted to pedal the road by the lake but there is no way to get from the Blind to the road with the bike, it's been plowed and where it's not plowed it's briars.   By then it was hot so I made my way back to the van and packed it up for the day.  

The  butterflies love the Spring Thistle

I am enjoying incorporating the exercise of the bike into my nature and bird  outings.  

So I had the shot, it was crowded but they had their process down pat so once my name was called I had the shot then 15 min wait n see they made an appointment for my second dose that will be 3rd week of May. I have my white card with one check mark, and after that I stopped and got the bike rack will have to show it to you when I get it assembled. 


Since I was on that side of the river I went up to the Lake and Dam...

an Imm Bald Eagle soared over the river 

Singing up in the leafy tops was the White Eyed Vireo..

The Cliff Swallows found a couple of mud puddles to help shore up their Adobe Condo's lined up under the edge of the generating station...

Some birds had more luck on solid ground...like the Brown Thrasher...

AND with all the skeeters and gnats we need every Blue Grey Gnatcatcher we can get

A splash of Red is always welcome...

Northern Cardinal...

Wilma sent me on this short cut from the river to the lake, turned out to be a good short cut 

I heard Bob Whites singing, as well as Field Sparrow, Blue Grosbeak, Summer Tanager and the Prairie Warbler..

and a good thing for me got my FOY Indigo Bunting and the Yellow Breasted Chat...

And he was singing his heart out...I just listened to Joe Biden's address to Congress...a real President laid out a wonderful plan for our future; I only hope the GOP will realize we are  in ALL OF THIS TOGETHER not just the pandemic, but all of it, what holds one down holds us ALL DOWN. The economy will only flourish when we feed it, by giving a decent wage to those who don't get it...that means more spending and more spending means more bottom line GDP.

WiN WiN 

 IF that is not the truth then why did the Republicans  support the TRUMP stimulus? ?????? And tax break to the rich?? ANY break for individuals mean more spending in shops, eateries, and saving for a rainy day so how can giving people more money to spend put a business out of business?? ITS trickle UP people,,,we all know that is how it works, You give me more I spend more then I need more services keeping my new Home up etc...

AND the DEMS supported it also because spending is how our economy works.  THE GOP is the obstruction party they are in a word USELESS to the f this country. Their platform is to keep people down why do you think they don't support the child care portion of the bill?? They think Women should stay home with their kids not go off to work and be independent WHY else would they NOT want to help people with decent child care???? What is the problem with that?? And it's an attempt to keep minorities from having a family and realizing the American Dream. 

Until voters (US) are able to squash this rise of the bigotry and the double talk of the Right, we will get no satisfaction as a Nation. The Right Wing of this nation is the Taliban of the USA!

Hope your week was as interesting as mine was. 

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

A Whistle and a Trill

PLEASE stay away from each other!! Our older citizens deserve to be safe! If you work in a nursing home do not work until you know you are not carrying this virus. Demand to be tested. Thank you for caring. 

I'm trying to catch up to real time...hence the 2 posts per week...April and May was so good weather wise I think I was on an outing every day..so I have lots of fun things to share and chronicle about My Journey around this Sun. 

I kept seeing lists containing Bachman's Sparrow, not rare for this place or time... coming from the Sandhills NWR where I go pretty regularly.  Mainly because it's not crowded there.  You can actually hike a trail and not see anyone else.  Great for me to social distance.

The trouble I was having is this...people turned in the Bachman's Sparrow and this is a LARGE park, so even tho in ebird it is not sectioned off, probably should be, it's under the one name, Carolina Sandhills.  BUT most people put the area where they concentrated their efforts in the comments.  So upon reading those comments when I saw someone list a Bachman's I'd go the very next day in that area and get nothing...that just does not add up.  Maybe they were confusing the song with the many Chipping Sparrows in the refuge. 

chipping sparrow

Similar but the Bachman's Sparrow has a sharp whistle then a trill to the song...so 3 different days I searched for the bird till I was sick of listening to their song  had it memorized now!  Then I gave up. 

...it was the highlight of the Common Nighthawk, nesting  I suppose, as they zoomed over head making their Preent and Boom sound.  Here is a cropped shot of the Common Nighthawk...

If  you find it on the ground or on a tree it will look similar to a Whippoorwill...it's a Nightjar. 

So they can be up hundreds of feet in the air and it sounds like they are right over your head  I couldn't  get the Boom on video but it sounds to me like  an 18 wheeler zooming down the road but from a distance...And they make that sound with their wings...IN Person when you hear it at first you can't figure out what's going on...then it all comes together...you must click this and go hear for yourself...click the one that says Preent and BOOM.  At first I thought it was  Bigfoot following me. Because I hadn't heard one in  a while. 

Cornell Labs Sounds 

I like to get off the trails and just go bushwacking sometimes, and I followed some birds upon this small ridge...the forest was so pretty back there...the bird sounds led me to a small creek trickling along, and some nice things..

By the creek it was lush and green...

Sensitive Brier

I pulled this Blue Headed Vireo out of the tangle of the canopy he seems to have some spiders web he is probably going to use on his nest building. 

So very curious, this is why I love birds they will interact with you given the right circumstances...

almost back to the waiting van from the ridge...

After all my fun with the Nighthawks,  I turned down one of the many roads of the refuge, this time it's Wire Road to the left.  I stopped and found quite a few of the rare but not to me, since I see them almost everytime I go here now,..the Red Cockaded Woodpecker, a success story as they are still on the endangered list.  

Im going to include some video here because static is not always as educational as the sight and the sound...so here is the Gray Catbird singing and preening his feathers...

After I come back to the main Wildlife Drive I cross the road and go to the other side of Wire Road and driving with my windows down I hear one! 

The Bachman's Sparrow!  One comes right up for my Lifelist photo and the other calls from a safe distance.  It may seem like a drab bird but to me it's like the prize egg...

wonderful...so not only is the song a way to know this is Bachman's it is the rusty head but not a rich color like Chipping Sp.  and the little rust colored stroke at the back of the eye, the non streaked chest...and the 2 tone bill... pinkish legs

watch him sing his song  press in the middle of the video...

PLAY
You can hear the other one answer him in the distance...and  you can hear the Nighthawk preent also..

STOKED

So then Im off to the Oxpen Lakes area in the park.  






Before I knew it the sky changed...and the winds are picking up a bit and this thunderhead came up fast....


I see an Orchard Oriole singing in the trees, In case you wonder why we have so many orioles in our area? It's the wild plum and the blackberry! They love them. 

you can see this oriole has something on his beak that he wipes off, it looks like wild plum to me..

Play

 A Buckeye Butterfly on the ground and this very striking dragon, maybe you know the species...

I came across this fledgling Blue Jay, his parent was calling nearby...

This is how baby birds get rescued when they don't need to be, if you can hear or see a parent nearby they are in good hands...

But then the wind really picked up and the rain came down in sheets!  Wow that came up quick...

PLAY

What a day eh?? 

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.