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.

Horizons...

Second week of May already seems like this year is on a steamer headed for 2020! Yeah lets not forget that magical number headed our way.  Dates such as that boggle my mind since I'm always reading headstones with birthdates like 1797 or 1840 shows us how very short our life span really is. Hopefully we will all make it well into the the 2020's.  My mom was born in 1924! She is so very close to that century mark. 

Mom with a rhodie she planted many years ago...Happy Mother's Day!

Most of my time these days is spent in a couple of areas of life, family, doing yard work, chores etc, and birding between my trips to town for supplies! My walks in nature are always special to me...so lets jump right in!

I spy with my little eye something that looks so amazing!!

Polyphumes Moth the "Clyclopes Moth" a Giant Silk Moth! 

The vernal Pool hangs on...

A shed Snake Skin, at least 4 ft in length the entire skin was there! 

in the same area where the young Eagles have fledged and only one was around the day we visited...it made me sad he looked so lonely..

Like he was saying "where has my family gone..." sigh must be hard being a bird sometimes...

Down under a nearby bridge chaos of another family was going on as the barn swallows put on a flight show for me....

This is a cellphone shot of the nest of a chipping sparrow...it's in a bush right by mom's front porch we can lean over and see down into it...see the brown dots on the eggs?

and another cellphone shot of the eggs in the bluebird nest gourd...I know you may not be able to see since this is phone has small pixel, but the eggs look as if they have been speckled with tiny brown specks...

What a miraculous job they did building this nest so much work and thought and planning went into it! 

We have many birds nesting here but these are the only ones I've found the nest of...watched the Carolina Wrens as they guided they first brood of fledglings out into the world..

Ive been birding in my 5 mile radius this is one of my favorite wetlands...the roadside one where there is no place to stand have to jump the rail each time a car flies by ....but it's so pretty there!

I called it the Mt Zion wetland...after the road I saw some neat birds there like the Great Crested Flycatcher Male...

This shot captures the beautiful feather detail of this beautiful bird! 

the Yellow Breasted Chats continue to provide me with such a show!! Look at his throat as he makes some of his weird sounds...

Could watch for hours! 

MY latest finds I didn't get good photos of...in case  you are wondering why Im not just jumping into that I did get a shot of the elusive Gray Catbird this week...saw him last week...

And had a loggerheaded shrike out in the open as they normally are, the butcher bird as they are sometimes called due to they like to impale their prey on sharp objects..

Most of the fields around are in amazing color right now with the Ragwort in bloom...

SO my new sightings for the radius this week as I said I got very few photos of them..mainly because of heavy cover, and the birds are so busy finding mates, nest building, it's just a busy time of year for them..

the Mississippi Kite (#102)

had a pair one landed pretty far away...

A Black Throated Blue Warbler, (103)

I know terrible! But you take what you can get he was in and out so fast maybe on my next visit...

same thing  with the American Redstart..(104)

Anyway for the record shot... and then a couple I didn't even get a shot of the Swainson's Warbler (105)...and the Yellow Throated Vireo,(106) along with the heard only Eastern Wood Peewee. (107)  I did get him on tape with a red eyed vireo over singing him..lol 

I found an area where many of the red headed woodies are nesting...

So my count stands at 107 in my 5 mile!!  I made this my big day...it was Monday, and in my radius I  had 61 species for the day!

My Big Day List Here

my little buddy following me around..

Enjoy your week!

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

May Day

Another month gone? I can't believe it...My last report the 3rd week of April, was really a good week where I had 6 in one week...but wait!  

When I ended March had my 5 mile radius up to 77 species sighted since Jan 1st..and April really helped me push the count higher all the way up to 96 The last week of April,  I didn't get to bird every day so I got only 2 species by the 30th...the Blue Grosbeak...(#95) 

And on the                            same day in the exact same area almost in the                                       same tree the lovely  Indigo Bunting (#96)

And the beautiful turquoise back...

So I ended up with 96 for April.  Then MAY arrived and what a May Day I had.  I was in the field by 7:15 am since it is now getting hot by midday.  I had plans to go into town outside my radius to look for the Swainson's Warbler spotted by the 2 other birders who are listing in my county.  They live in the burbs but I had so much going on in my radius I never made it to town!  

I made a stop at one of my personal hotspots where I have seen quite a few of my FOY birds so far including the Blue's just mentioned...I can't make if official it's private property I bird from the road...
but I heard gunshots...probably a Turkey Hunter..it's still Turkey season.   So I moved on to a similar habitat.  Sure am glad I did... asa I got out of the van I heard this bird: (#97)

I haven't seen one of these in like 10 years was really thrilled to see 4 different individuals!  The Yellow Breasted Chat. 

these flowering shrubs are all around the area where the chat was 

Had more orchard oriole's males, immature males, and females..

Then more Prairie Warblers, more Indigo Buntings too...

All singing high up on tops of the trees.  

I pulled the van a little farther down the road and heard a somewhat familiar sound...how could I forget the call of all those yellow warblers that I saw in CO last yr so this is my FOY Yellow Warbler, (#98)

Then I moved the van to an area where I have an awesome spot to bird a swampy verge.  I found my FOY Gray Catbird, (#99)  no photo and then in the field area that is on the edge of the woods, I heard the Grasshopper Sparrow. (#100)  He /she would not pop up for a look but no mistaking that buzzy call.  

I found these tracks...I always enjoy trying to figure out tracks...so this one had me stumped for a moment...what's your guess? I'll post my guess once the commenting is done so stop back by or subscribe to comments to see if we are all in sync about what this was. 

Back at home I was hot and tired and rested on the screen porch and bam In flew this lady to make my #101 bird!  

The Female Rose Breasted Grosbeak!  

...the last week of April, we had a luncheon on the porch...I made a salad from my container grown  greens, and it was delicious served with fresh strawberries!  Mom and sis approved.

Life is not all about Birds ya know!

Here is one of my radius Eastern Towhee with the red eye..the yellow eye one that lives in the clear cut is very special...but lately I've had to venture out of the clear cut to find my latest arriving birds..

Even with this stick in the way that eye is just ....well eye catching! 

And  you can't go wrong with a posing Northern Mockingbird...

So I broke the 100 ceiling count...and now it's going to get even harder to rack up numbers...I will keep trying till it gets too hot! Once birds are in place raising young, not going to see many newbies come through.  

So ended up April with 96 and the entire county count was 146 so my % fell some; ended up with close to 66%.

Adding a Wild Turkey... the heard from the yard in April species was at 38!  

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.