X'D off Another Week.

I think the weather is about to normalize, it's been whacky tho...Heat in the morning open the doors mid day then run the fan in the late afternoon, windows shut and heavy blanket at night!

Been mostly local this week...spotted this unbothered Gr Blue Heron catching a Sunfish..

He swallowed it whole...



In  one gulp

Then he climbed up out of the water onto the shore...he stood 5 feet tall if he was in inch!! That railing is waist high on me, 

I crept down along the creek's edge to spy on this Louisiana Waterthrush  singing  in a tree...I love to catch a video of a bird singing,  so here he is...

Normally I only see them on the ground so this was a rare treat. 

I have at least 50 bird song videos...so catch a listen sometime when you got nothing to do!

The Eastern Bluebirds are getting SO BLUE it's stings my eyes to look  at them! Just Gorgeous!

They are not camera shy this is why I have a shot of one every week pretty much...

And on this day I got a shot of the elusive Female Common Yellowthroat...I showed you a male last week with his black mask...

Caught some interaction between a pair of adult Bald Eagles, they landed across the river, and I made a video of them interacting and calling to each other...I will share that video next week...its taking too long to upload for todays post.  

Wednesday I was able to get out to Sandhills, and had several First of  Year birds...like the Prairie Warbler, 

The Eastern Kingbird, and I found one on a nest as well...

The Orchard Oriole...

AND the Bachman's Sparrow..

Still considered rare, but I am finding them every year in about the same area of the refuge. There was two of them one singing by the road this one, and then another answering off in the not too far distance. 

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Meanwhile back at the homestead...the Ruby Throated Hummingbirds have arrived, I didn't catch him in the right light to get  his ruby throat to display but I will keep trying...

And my Doe Friend Tulip, paid a visit she is going into her 2nd summer. 

She has a malformed or healed injury to oft hindleg, but she has managed just fine, a little limp always but she can run jump and do anything the other deer can do.  And she is sooo lovely. She will probably have her first fawn next May...Because she does not appear to be with Fawn, but she could be.  Females chase away their male offspring after the spots are faded, but female fawns sometimes stay in a family group up to two years....Tulip was with 2 others on this day one was a young yearling female and an older doe, maybe that was her mother and sister. 

See ya next week! 

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

Nest Season

The past week was a mixed bag of weather cold nights warm days some sunny some windy some stormy..

A small flock of  American Goldfinch stopped to refresh themselves at my feeders while on their Northward Migration. 

I visited Lee County on one of the windy but warm days...One of my new favorite spots is on Newsome road, its only a short cut-through road and gets little traffic....so I can do roadside birding of the wetlands there,

without fear of being run over...

There is two different places on the road where I stop about 3/4 mile apart...

The newly migrated Common Yellowthroat is always good to react to my phishing and comes out to scold me...

Another Migrant who loves to share his call is the White Eyed Vireo.  They have a rather harsh loud call...

The white eye is striking...

Have you ever seen this kind of thing growing on the forest floor?  It's a Fungi, and it's called Stinkhorn Mushroom...

Here it is with a fly on it because it stinks like rotten flesh!! This is how it gets pollinated...it's a striking red color and grows close to the ground...but it's pretty disgusting otherwise!

Saw another Banded Water Snake, he was moving so fast I almost missed him...

A late to leave  White Throated Sparrow was seen...hiding in the Yellow Jasmine...

And I enjoyed watching a pair of Blue Grey Gnatcatchers work on a nest..

They both participate in the building, protection and care of the young, This is the male, wallowing in the nest to make it fit well and...

This is the female below giving it her touch...

Looks like a good fit! 

Below is a video I put together with little editing of the pair at work...and there's some nesting facts in the description so best to watch it on YOUTUBE I think you will find that info interesting!!

 
I plan to check in with them when Im in the area...see how it's going

Im trying a new idea to discourage squirrels....a man I  met in the bird seed section told me to use the Cayenne Pepper birds don't mind it and squirrels wont bother it...so I got some cayenne pepper suet...Im giving it a try.  But I will say don't handle it then rub your face like I did!! AND def don't rub your eyes. 

This was short but hopefully you found something to make you smile. 

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

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...

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! 

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. 

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.