A place to call home

What a difference...with the lower temps of the approaching fall I have been outside doing chores, walking, birding, and  relaxing some too!  

The change is already in the air.  I see birds chasing each other...hmmm this means Get out of the Nest! I'm done feeding you, go find your own worms and your own home...lol. 

 

This looks like 2 dragons meshed into one.

Annie was raising a ruckus in the yard a couple days ago a snake was coiled up under one of the shrubs and she had cornered it! My son to the rescue he was for a while into herps so he grabbed it..(don't do this if you don't know snakes the way my son does, he is sort of an expert)

Even tho this snake looks  menacing he is a big faker.  The hog nosed snake has many defenses..one is to hiss and flatten his head to look like a Cobra...if that doesn't work he will lay on his back and open his mouth and play dead...If that doesn't work, he has a musk gland and he will let loose an odor...he will open his mouth wide like he is going to swallow you whole...he did all that but he never offered to bite even when my son tossed a towel on him and got a hold of him to get him out of the yard!

When I checked these photos is when I saw the scar in his scales this is the same Hog Nosed Snake I had untangled a week ago. See right there is his mid section that is where the garden mesh had  tightened around him and held him in place they get caught they struggle and that makes it tighter and if they don't get rescued you will find a skeleton eventually.  So happy we were able to save this wonderful creature!  I got rid of all the Garden Mesh!

So even tho we keep taking him off the premises he returns, this is his home too!

Lots of Pine Warblers are back home agian in the trees this week.   I watched an episode of Expeditions with Patrick McMillan.  He is sort of a local hero here in our state with his own nature show on PBS.  In this episode he answered my question as if I had asked him directly..."why did we have so many Prairie Warbler, and Yellow Breasted Chats this year?"  I was on the right track of the "re- growth" from the clear cutting.  This is what these birds need....disturbance...in order to breed and raise their young.  Unfortunately the way man disturbs is not the way nature intended so these birds are having a hard time...

Its hard to tell the Imm Pine Warbler from the Imm Prairie Warbler, only way for me is to hear them. 

summer tanager

The Summer Tanager has always come to my place to live and the surrounding area I think they are happy to have the little open area of my field and the surrounding woods to provide them with the food and protection they need to raise their young...see the dead leaves?  That's why I got so upset when they sprayed the clearcut with some sort of herbicide.  It kills the plants the insects need, that in turn destroys habitat and food the birds need. 

a secret pond I found home to many frogs

 I know the clearcut will regrow and the birds will use it at least another year or two then it will become a "fake forest" again...Like McMillan  explained how the Oven Bird, that I never hear anymore around here, needs old growth forest to survive...at least 8 acres of it per bird.  Since they planted the surrounding area in yellow pine there is never any old growth forest, and the Oven Bird wants dry not wetland habitat...Keep these things in mind if you are managing a piece of land...maybe one day the wooded part of our lands will be mature enough to host Oven Birds. My trees are now 42 yrs and older.

We took a short drive to the Carolina Sandhills NWR to go birding and have a picnic.

Sis, this does not count as a picture of you...so my promise is not broken. :o)

And for my sis this lifer we found in the old growth Longleaf pines that the refuge has worked hard to conserve....these Red Cockaded Woodpeckers cavity nest in live mature LLPine. We saw 3 this day. Thanks to all us Liberal Tree Huggers and a pre Trump era Department of the Interior!

Red Cockaded Woodpecker

...still makes the rare sighting list on ebird...considered endangered since it was almost eradicated by the planting of the much faster growing yellow pine, a cash crop...

                                       3 in this shot they live in small family groups  

 We found at least 2 species of Pitcher Plant growing there...here is one growing low to the ground..see the water inside?  And note the flower...

And the taller variety...click to enlarge!

These plants need a "bog" situation to survive...we didn't see many around, only a few remaining as funding to manage habitat is not happening! The water level of the pond nearby has fallen to such a level the bog has dried up...if there is no Money in it what good is it...(the current political attitude toward the Natural World).   Understanding how and why nature works is one of the most important pieces of life's puzzle that we need in order to continue to survive...The burning of the Amazon Rain Forest is a huge tragedy...yet no million dollar homes are in the way so what's the big deal?   

Female Blue Grosbeak

No hurry cause now there is more room to grow Palm Oil...that nasty mess that is in everything we consume these days....This is a big deal...habitat loss is the biggest threat to the birds and animals we love; without them what would our lives be like? I just can't imagine.  Use your voice to scream out
I'M NOT OKAY WITH THAT!  

But Im okay with this.....fall color is springing up all over the place...love it!

 the Plant that announces fall the Goldenrod! 

This plant is called "Rattlebox" due to when the seed pod dries it  can be shaken like a rattle.  It is poisonous to livestock...

Who knew a Disco Spider lived on my place? Wow what a work of art..

Oecobiidae Spider Web

So when our birds go to South America this winter will they have a home to go to?  The Yellow Billed Cuckoo goes all the way to Northern Argentina What a shame some will face a dire situation.  Is there anyway we can tell these American Corporations we don't want PALM OIL in our food?? Maybe write letters! I stopped buying mircrowave popcorn, due to palm oil...but it's in almost every product that is processed...like the coffee creamer I love.  

There is no place like home...

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

This weeks happenings...

Summer has arrived! Seems like it has been here a while we had 5 days over 100 degrees.  Later we did have a couple of Wonderful days with high in the 80's low humidity and bluebird skies...the perfect weather we all wish for but rarely get! 

Prairie Warbler against the blue bird sky...

Eastern Kingbird against the blue bird sky

Summer Tanager against the Blue BIRD Sky...

Blue Grosbeak against the Blue Bird Sky

We had a going away picnic and flotilla for my sis who has been here for the past 6 months...she is now back at her home in the Rocky Mountain State.  It was a fun day! 

The water was perfect on this hot sunny day!  We had eats and the dogs came along, and we had our floats! Poor man's kayak....it was a fun day!

That night we had

 the Strawberry Moon when it was almost to the point of Full 

...the sky was Indigo Blue!

..all the sounds of the night imagine if you will; the chirp of frogs, the singing of crickets, the distant
whippoorwill surrounded by the stillness that only a summer night like this one can bring!

My second sister is now here doing her part to help mom out...and so we are enjoying birding together.  We left the radius and went up to the Racetrack one of the county hotspots...we saw 19 species, including  7 cattle egret, 50 rock dove, 6 Mississippi Kites and 1 Swallow-tailed Kite!

A life bird for sis...a county bird for me!  

It was also a first sighting for this HotSpot...and only the 5th for the county since the beginning of time according to ebird... So it was fun to see it with my sis!  We were thrilled! 

That's about it for this week. 

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

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.

If you build it they will come, or something like that!

Today a wasp stung my butt cheek!! I have been stung many times before on many body parts,  this one is a first...man of all the luck!  So happy the Summer Tanagers arrived they love to eat wasps!  Birds are so clever, they go where the weather is good and the bugs are a plenty.  We can and should learn from them.

I was busy clearing out a spot where the brush has gotten out of hand...and I probably stepped on a nest....

So much work to do and yet my soul is saying,

"why you working all the time when all you really want to do is ramble"  So while I work I daydream, scheme, and plot my next ramble!

this is the pile of trimmings I worked through it's now loaded on the trailer to haul away

Back in March I asked my sister when she could come over from CO and stay with Mom  and my dogs for a couple months she chose August and September,,,,so I've been day dreaming ever since! It's like a book of blank pages ready to be filled.  

our little water garden 

I don't like to announce plans cause nothing is in stone!! But I can dream it and plan it, and if all goes as planned it will happen!!  I have soooo many bullet points on my list that it would take mine and a few other clones life times to do it all and truth be known way into the future I would never say I'm done...at some point I may have to say I can't go another step due to age, but the wanderlust inside will never be quenched,  never lay  dormant,  and never be let go of.  I have  had it my entire life!  Just looking at one flower makes me want to see all flowers!

rhododendron blossoms 

I had to work and make a living so I had precious jewels of free time in my adulthood and tried to make the best of it! I did however start my rambling quite early...I actually ran away from home at 16! Yep I'm a teen aged runaway but to me I was not running away I was just going on a ramble!  I inherited my rambling gene from my dad...he didn't live long but he rambled his entire life...not exactly good "husband" material when you marry a rambler better be willing to spend long stretches alone!  Unfortunately the gene is all dad left me, so no silver spoon to bankroll my wishlist! I still don't have a pot,  but  be danged neither did my dad!  When I came home from FL this winter and told my Mom I had stopped in St Augustine she said, "oh your daddy went there I recall him talking about that same place." Well ,I'll be!! If only I had known I'd have had a little chat with my dad's spirit while there.  He pretty much stayed in the Southeastern part of the country but he rambled up north too... my baby sister was born in Michigan, after he moved us up there I was 3 then.  

some of the roses in the yard 

Once it's inside of you ....you can  just forget a normal life--it doesn't matter where you are; you dream of being somewhere else!   Lately I've been thinking about my life's time.  I wanted to move to upstate NY, Lake Placid  in the Adirondacks,  mentioned that in my last post comments....when I yearned to get out of NYC.  I had  plans but all that changed when mom got sick and needed help...so I never made it to the Adirondacks, the Finger Lakes Region , like I wanted to do, I did make it to Niagara Falls, Vermont, NH, MA, and ME...and Lancaster Co. in PA.

snow peas and impatient 

 I've been charting my  route for a 60 or so day trip...for late this summer I'm thinking the Laurel Highlands of PA, The Finger Lakes of NY, the Great Lakes and Upper Peninsula of Michigan, around Lake Superior and area of Canada, Isle Royal NP, Lake of the Woods, Boundary Waters in MN, across upper MN, to ND and dropping southwest to the Theo. Roosevelt NP and ...then ??? 

Butterweed ragwort,  wildflowers I scattered the seed last fall this is a noxious weed in Ohio! Here in my yard it's a welcome sight and a native plant!

I've yet to finish charting for the return trip.   I have family in MI, and IN, So maybe drop south from ND,  to  SD and the Badlands I've visited that area before but missed Wounded Knee, and it would be wonderful to visit some WLR's on the plains, and then eventually head southeast through NB and into IN....I applied for a new passport about 2 weeks ago....as mine expired back in the 80's! In order to make things real you must live as if it is real and then just do it!!

So there it is!! My "proposed" summer trip plans--

Time...well spent.

PEACE

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