Marching into breeding season...

March has been slow!  A Lone Pine Siskin made an appearance at my mom's feeder when I was over visiting,,,and the Fish Crow who was menacing a Bald Eagle made an addition to the list.   And so far that's all and it's the 11th! Meanwhile love is in the air!  I don't think this pair is nesting here but they are very cozy date night maybe?

The blue birds have picked one of the fake gourds to build in, as they normally do...and they normally have 2 broods.  Soon they will be joined by the Great Crested Flycatchers they also  nest build in the gourds. 

Got this hybrid activity kinda interesting...

                           

What do you see in these shots?

Besides the fog and gloomy sky that is...

Yep thats' our challenge this month, to leave things better than we found it.  Good Idea.   Meanwhile we went to this really neglected cemetery ...something this way slithers!

One of 2 black snakes I saw...and the great thing was the cemetery is located right next to this really awesome wetland! 

complete with an Eagle Nest...

After looking as closely zoomed as possible I do see at least one bird in the nest You can only see the back in this shot 

...and here is at least one of the pair.   I also heard a barred owl calling out! What a nice surprise that was!  No it's not in my radius not even in my county but I will continue to bird here...it is not far from home.  I suggested it as a hot spot.  Had some other expected birds around and even my FOY 

Yellow Throated Warbler, hope to get one in my radius soon too.

...this Female Pine Warbler, had me fooled normally on the feeders at home the male is around to remind me of what I'm looking at, she is really a beautiful bird!

Back in the radius 

Yellow shafted northern flicker...

The Great egret lined up just right for a fun shot...

this old machinery has been here so long the trees have grown it "in" it's still in amazing shape! I bet if you pulled it out of there you could use it again. 

Our state flower is blooming, the Yellow Jasmine

And look what we found...

A Hickory Nut sprouting I just mentioned not long ago how nice it is to have a hickory tree in your forest so Mom and I plan to plant this one at out homestead!  Mom comes with us when we go cemeterying..she doesn't really enjoy it cause she has to wait in the car with Jimmy she forgot my name and called me Camden, hmmm I kinda like it, but she never forgets Jimmy's name...lol  If it's sunny and the ground is level and not muddy she gets out and sits in the shade.  She gets to eat lunch out -french fries-cookies- and ice cream, she is 94 and eats what she likes.  In her mind we are berry picking why else would we put on straw hats and go tromping around in the woods??So we play along... and she asked how many did we get today I got at least
1 quart of blackberry 

THORNS ouch! 

Mom Berry picking June 2008

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

Pea Island

We drove on Monday, did the Beach on Tuesday, and the Hatteras Lighthouse and Pea Island Refuge on Wednesday.  I told you about the light house.  Pea Island has the potential to be a good birding area but we hit it at just the wrong time,  the hottest part of the day...AND  if you're going there leave your pet some where cause they don't allow dogs on the trails.  So we had to cut it very short as Casey was with us....I left ALL the windows open  in the van and put my battery fan on for Casey...he was fine when we returned but we did a very fast look around... so that translates to us not seeing much of nothing!! They do get Black Necked Stilts but we saw none in our fast walk around. 

Not many birds were out in the open a few Least terns, lots of Red Winged Blackbirds, and a few Egrets..

 fritillary and brown pelican 

This cute snapping turtle poked his head up to have a good look at us..

Eastern Towhee and Eastern Meadowlark were around...

The trail has this cool living arch over it  in several spots...

and there is quite an accumulation of sand dunes along the road

Thursday we broke camp and this was our last day of touring the Outer Banks we had a couple more stops in mind before heading to cooler climes for the duration of the weekend. 

more on next post...

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.

Sandhills Nat'l Wildlife Refuge --no labor at all!

2 posts in almost as many days? What's going on? Anyways yesterday we went to Sandhills NWLR.  We really are fortunate to have a state park and a wildlife refuge within a few miles of our home! It wasn't too hot so off we went--the hope was to see wildflowers and butterflies..we saw some of each a bit too early for the full force of the wildflowers and the butterflies seemed to be having tequila shots or something they were so buzzed they wouldn't sit still...but Mom has to pack today she is headed to my sisters for 2 weeks...so it was now or 2 weeks from now and we decided to do both What the heck!

the lillies are in bloom so little white dots along the edges of the ponds..the water was so warm...a footsoak was in order Mom sure enjoyed it--

Little shiners came to nibble at her toes..lol I was busy photographing the wildflowers weeds and such while she soaked...

 

                                   Tall Iron-Weed 

Joe Pye Weed

 

                                                                            Eastern Kingbird

 

                                                                           Button Bush really cute

  

                                     

This was my favorite shot of the day!!

I always make a mistake trying to I'd dragonflies...

more sightings included....  

buckeye butterfly

                                                     

Got a pretty good look at some blue grosbeaks and one posed for a somewhat distant photo..his breeding color fading a bit now to drab I am digging his big beak tho!

Just so you can see how vast the landscape is...

I caught a glimpse of an egret near the backside of one of the ponds...and then I saw she was not alone..

 Pretty far away but I think that is her  a white form little blue,  with her and they are traveling with a domestic duck they def. were all 3 together! They moved around as one unit not getting too far from each other...sorry the whites are so blown out...I'm still trying to figure out this camera..I am NOT a fan of digital buttons!! I'd rather have analog for that--one button for F-stops one for SS, etc..the good ole days but the film I can do without...do love the digital format for that!  Anyways this is like the incredible journey...it was 2 dogs and a cat right? How cool is that??

Then we carried on into a different area of the park...stopped to check on a few other sites..

Mom looking for more wildlife...once in the forested area I spotted this...and please do convince me it is a willow flycatcher cause that would be a new lifer for me!

not great crisp shots as he was high up in the tree...but here is what I see: Un-remarkable eye-ring,  whitish throat, orangey color to the slender beak, has some pale wing bars, buffy-breast, notched tail, and that flycatcher hair-do!

I put it on Ebird they will probably scream at me...but so be it!

Safe Travels on Labor Day!

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.