3rd Week Apr update

When you're writing a post do you write the whole thing in one sitting, or do what I do and work on it little by little?  I come back and add to it as the story develops unless I'm traveling and I know I will only have internet for a limited amount of time.  So this post has been building since the end of week 2 and here it is the 3rd week of April, our migrant arrivals are moving along quickly! So the 5 mile radius numbers continue to grow!!

A bluebird pair seem to be settled on this plastic gourd in the yard for a nest spot...

they took turns going in with very small bits of nest material...almost one small blade of grass so I will check later to see if this was a false start or a practice run or the real McCoy!

The very next morning I went to check out the Sorghum field area and found my FOY (88) Eastern Kingbird up on a wire...

Checked out my hotspot on the following day and BAM..got that Prothonotary Warbler to show himself..(89) Now no longer "rare" as I know he was here earlier than his normal arrive by date, but I don't need any unwanted attention preferring to remain in the background of life rather than be paving the way for others. 

"Finally got you on pixels!"  I made a recording of his call too...

Also while I was trying to pick this warbler out, the Northern Parula and the White Eyed Vireo were all over the canopy again...gleaning little tiny gnats and caterpillars off the leaves and branches. 

northern parula male

and the female!

she had me with going nutz for a while trying to figure out wtheck she was... finally it hit me!

                                                                          white eyed vireo

ALSO look who else is in Adams Mill Pond at my hotspot...

I've heard for years there are gators in that pond but this is my first sighting! Most of his body is hanging below the water I'd say he was a 4-6 ft specimen..I thought of sharing my find with the ranger but then I had this image of the gator being harassed so I kept it on the QT i have never heard of any issues with people and alligators here.  

We took a ride over to Lee county to do some cemetery survey work and we stopped to check out my new found wetland where the beaver pond is



...the eagle nest had 2 juveniles in it...happy to report, I had seen the one but there is two!! I don't know if they have fledged and still hanging in the nest I have not seen them flight testing or out of the nest...they will continue to use the nest and depend on the parents for help for a while yet. 

My priority this week was to find those cattle egret in my radius and that I did pretty easily! First I found 3 with cattle then a field where cows had been moved recently and there was at least 25 Cattle Egrets (#90) in there along with 4 PIGEONS! I was almost as happy to find the pigeons as the egrets.  

here's 2 of the 4 rock dove.  (feral pigeons) (#91) 

that same field had a flock of geese coming in...

This is a stretch of road where I pull over and look for warblers in the swamp I bird from the road...I had a red eyed calling but he would not come out for a photo opt yet! I'm trying to get his call to share but he stayed so far back it was not a good recording. 

Back at home that night I got up for a bathroom visit about 4 am and through the open window heard a Chuck Will's Widow!! (#92) And then last night I took a walk and recorded his sound...I couldn't figure out how to upload it to blogger. 

At home in the afternoon the wonderful sound of the Summer Tanager (#93) came floating in and soon I spotted him..

Then Sunday Morning whilst most were putting on Easter Bonnets, I was grabbing my binoculars and heading to one of my fav spots...it's only 1 mile away and it's more roadside birding but it's not a busy road...I got out and phished a little bit and got the attention of 2 Orchard Oriole, (94) one a first year male and one mature male..

They came in flying like Luke Skywalker in that scene of Star Wars, Return of the Jedi....when they flew at incredible speeds and taking runs down those narrow channels of the Death Star!  So I snapped a couple fast ones missed the immature male altogether. 

It is now going to get tough...Hope I can pull it up to 100 but most of my expected arrivals with a few exceptions are accounted for...

7 new additions this past week!  Total 94.  Im hoping for the Blue Grosbeak soon saw him on Sunday but not in the radius! 

Heard in the yard additions this week:

35. Chuck Wills Widow

36. Summer Tanager
37 Northern Parula

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

April is Fooling me!

Well here it is the first week of April over! I Predict this year will go faster than last..what you say?  So in the way of new birds got the most distant look at a spattering of (78) northern rough winged swallows.. hoping for better looks soon, and as predicted the (79) Northern Parula showed up in my radius..

Up pretty high in the tops of the newly leafing out hardwoods...in this case a sycamore tree.  Got a better look of a black n white warbler doing his thing...

The focus on my camera is getting worse by the day it will drive me batty!
 

I had an (80) Osprey at Goodale! So only 3 this week.  Got a really distant look he flew right over me, I just stood there with my mouth open and didn't bother with a photo because I thought it was another turkey vulture as the shadow came over me like they do...then he landed far to the back of the pond! I don't even know if you can see him here that black dot.  It didn't fly like an Eagle or Hawk, and the flat looking angle of the head and long wing span drew me to Osprey. I should go back today but it's Raining today!

Had another nice Palm warbler just a 1/2 mile down the road..

and a really good look at a blue headed vireo who finally poked his head out of the brambles for a quick look over the shoulder..not FOY but he is just so pretty.  Also not new but pretty the redheaded woodpecker.

hello gorgeous

The spring bud is on and the trees take on that soft awesome hue that doesn't last too long in these parts...

with a splash of lime?

and a splash of  curry?

Below: is something you rarely see anymore around here its a tobacco barn, the reason I know it's for tobacco is the height! They used to hang the tobacco in these tall barns to dry out before taking to market,

 they would hang it up high I tried to find an image to share here but they are all copyrighted so here is a link so you can go see for yourself..how they used to cure it up in the tall barns, 

I have not seen a field of tobacco in this area for years! I did see some when I traveled the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia a couple years ago...just a small field.  When my cousin in TN decided to get married he built a house and he paid it off by growing one field of tobacco a year he had his house paid off in less than 10 yrs on one crop per year.  I remember very well seeing the leaves hanging up in the rafters of these tall barns.  The main crops here now are: cotton, corn, soy beans, sorghum, and sunflowers.  Mainly all for textile and oils, HEMP would grow awesome here it's only a matter of time...and it should be legal to grow!  

Our challenge this month is "birds heard in the yard, including fly overs" 

So here is my list of heard birds (most seen also) so far this week:

1. northern cardinal 
2. eastern bluebird 
3. brown headed nuthatch 
4. blue grey gnatcatcher 
5. black n white warbler 
6. yellow rumped warbler 
7. yellow throated warbler 
8. tufted titmouse 
9. Carolina chickadee 
10. Carolina wren 
11. A. crow 
12. fish crow
13. chipping sparrow 
14. pine warbler 
15. killdeer 
16. Canada goose 
17. hermit thrush 
18. pileated woodpecker 
19. downy woodpecker 
20. red-bellied woodpecker 
21. n. mockingbird 
22. a. goldfinch 
23. purple finch 
24. house finch 
25. Blue Jay
26. Eastern Phoebe
27. Eastern Towhee
28. Red shouldered hawk
29. brown headed cowbird

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

Notes from the road...

Hello from the highway...

We spent our first night along the GA/FL Line in a place called Traders Hill...large live oaks, with lots of birdsong in the morning...

I found one rest area in Mississippi with WiFi...So far we are having a good trip not great as the weather has turned soggy on us..this was yesterday...

but before that we had a nice trip around Okefenokee Swamp NWR..and that was nice sunny and warm...

Saw lots of gators, and some warblers...the boardwalk was a nice walk with a observation tower at the end..

Northern Parula is everywhere singing loudly 

Aong with Yellow throated Warbler, 

I saw Palm Warblers, 

And Blue headed Vieros,  

Common Yellow Throat...and of course lots of yellow rumped warblers..

I really enjoyed the old  Chesser Swamp Homestead, much like my Granny's old home place looked back in the day..

We found spring!!

We boondocked in the Osceola National Forest...

Last night we stayed in a very soggy Big Buloxi Camp part of the DeSoto National Forest...a nice campground with a great shower..but not photos since it was pouring rain and this morning heavy fog and we left early and now here we are at Mississippi rest area making this blog post! 

Hope to be in TX by night fall! 

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

Fall, Revisited

When I arrived home it was cool and blue sky, marvelous....then BAM...it changed,  had a couple weeks of sucky weather,  fall out from Nate. It gets really crazy during Hurricane season in the south...you never know when the weather will turn on you...I'm only just now getting a handle on all the dead wood and over grown shrubs and hedges around here.  I have been making busy with lots of  trimming of branches and other stuff...and even the gate is overgrown...

                                                      filling up the trailer with trimmings

Another chore: a large limb fell and smashed a section of my aging yard fence.  I headed to Lowes for supplies to fix it up...found out it was cheaper to buy this damaged section than to start from scratch so that's what I did...one broken picket made this 8 ft section half price...fine by me cause it will blend in better,  other sections have broken pickets...

                                                   once it's weathered it will blend right in

                                                             eastern bluebird

       I can tell from this shot the new door panels I put on the bird houses have been squirrel chewed!! WTH??

Here is another hunt n seek shot for you, the Northern Parula I mentioned,  they summer here so it's not rare to see one...but rare for me to catch a photo of one...do you see it?

                                                                  Northern Parula 

A DIY project I'm glad to have behind me:

The storm door that enters the screen porch had to have a doggie door.  There was an old doggie door missing the flap in the shed...my X removed the metal bottom panel of this storm door and got rid of it...so I put screen in the bottom and that worked for keeping bugs out but the dogs couldn't get out without me coming out to open it, I used to keep it slightly ajar, but then a bird got in and that was bad...so that didn't work out.  I made a new bottom section of scrap wood...and fashioned  a flap from a vinyl place mat! It works!  Another $80 saved, more like $180 in this case you can purchase a storm door sporting a doggie entrance but it is not cheap. I did it for $1 for the place mat at the Dollar Store.

                                                  dogs can get in and out and no birds and no mosquitoes 

Hard to get a crisp shot anymore with my ailing camera...even a still bird close as this Northern Cardinal is blurred! BUT for now I'm still using it! With all the car repairs I had this past year, I'm trying to wait as long as possible to replace this camera...and that means the one I want to get is getting older and cheaper :o)

                                Three deer sneaked into the pasture the other day I sneaky shot of one. 

                                                               white tailed deer

So after almost 2 weeks of HOT humid horrible weather, it improved, chilled down in fact I've had to use the heat!  I'm  outside again tending to chores and cutting up firewood.  

                                                                 I have a lot in common with beavers 

 I saw this Yellow Throated Warbler,  Got this  photo but at least I can add it to my yard list.  

                                                   Yellow Throated Warbler

                                                       

It was so backlit I ran it through an editing program just to see what it was...glad I did cause I thought it was a yellow rump which is pretty common here, but after the editing I could see the yellow throat, the wide bright white wing bars, and the black face line including the eye...so a new yard bird for me. Normally I see these when I walk around Goodale State Park in the spring. 

Picking birds outta the twigs is hard with any camera! 

                                        

                                                             White Throated Sparrow

See that dogwood tree trying to bloom? That's how warm it got; the buds that should wait till spring started to open...

I've enjoyed reconnecting with my yard birds....here's our Carolina Chickadee...looks like a Coal Tit to some of you I'm sure!

I get daily visits from our State Bird the Carolina Wren.

...here is one I don't have to go far to find, just check my feeder and he will be there the Tufted Titmouse with his ink black big eye...so much more colorful than the Juniper Titmouse I was seeing in Colorado...but not as cool looking as JO's Bridled Titmouse down in Arizona!

Another common bird (but not in large numbers in my yard) is the Eastern Phoebe...a couple have been hanging around fighting over the best mosquitoes...

e phoebe

The Eastern Phoebe

Today I was chasing Ruby Crowned Kinglets around the yard I counted 5 in the Holly bush out back...they can hover almost like a hummingbird and they are super small...

Then up on the dead limb the Red Bellied Woodpecker was knocking quite loud...pecking out bugs..this shots shows why it's called Red Bellied!  

Red Bellied Woodpecker

Good yard bird friends!

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.