A-Birding I did Go...

...in continuance of the trip to see the waterfalls I thought I'd share the birds I enjoyed seeing. 

First in my sisters back yard she gets birds on her feeders I never get even tho those species are in my yard...Like Blue Birds!

a small family of them are always eating at my sis's feeders! I've tried buying the same seed, but still I don't get bluebirds show up to eat it...then an American Robin jumped on for snacks...

a red-bellied woodpecker waited in the wings for a turn at the feeder...

and I saw several yellow rump warblers at the feeders too!

Then over at Oak Grove and the lake there from Oak Creek...I saw the usual fare of ducks this one gave me a decent bath sequence...which was fun 

Then he glided off with a friend...

then.......The Race WAS ON....

The Geese are nesting so any intrusion was not tolerated and a chase ensued....only the fastest would escape without a honking big bite on the rear!!
I've been bitten by a goose it does hurt...

...and this red tail was making sure everyone stayed on their toes!!

The large flock of ring billed gulls that was around on my last visit has dwindled down to only one or two...I like gulls because they tolerate humans pretty well...

Brown headed cowbirds were around as well as Carolina Wrens..

More Eastern Bluebirds....

                  These guys were so back-lit I couldn't tell if they're barn, bank, or other! Either way they're swallows!

I wanted this to be a Eastern Wood Peewee but I think its an Eastern Phoebe..

...and its just not birding without a northern cardinal to brighten things up

Spring arrival....

and this killdeer wad very leery of my intentions...

and several hundred people flew over the lake....

and one totally aggravating Belted Kingfisher who wouldn't be still long enough for any kind of shot... so ended up with this extreme crop job...

How annoying is that? All in all it was a good day of birding for me!!

PEACE

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

First Waterfall Hike 2014

I did one waterfall hike so far this yr. It wasnt exactly a bust, but it was close...I will explain.

The trail I picked was part of the Foothills Trial the Sloan Bridge section.  There was 2 falls on this section so great check 2 off the list.  I knew I had to take both dogs and was a little leery because of the injuries I know how the dogs can get sometimes...but Flossie is pretty good off leash and thats what I decided to do. 

Annie is the one who likes to run off into the thick stuff and she can disappear so fast....so she has to stay on leash on a steep narrow trail like this one was..

                            

This is exactly the kind of trail I dont like...narrow. lots of roots, and lots of blow-downs! SO visibility is not so good and its hard since bushwhacking could mean a broken ankle trying to get down the edge of the Chattooga River below. Check out this large tree that was on the trail...

Got a peek through the bushes at the second tier of the falls Sloan Bridge, it has an upper drop I couldnt see....I could only hear those and didnt get a look...if I hadnt had the dogs I may have gone down and waded up the river to find it but with them and Annie on leash it was not possible.

The second falls is a 30 ft tiered falls called Hikers Peril, the trail used to cross the top of the falls but with so much blow down around the trail was moved to the bottom of the falls....and since the trail passes right in front of the falls on a little foot bridge, I couldn't back up and shoot the entire thing! SO I did a couple section shots, the water level was low on this falls which surprised me since we've had so much rain, upstate maybe they didn't have as much as we've had  in my local area..

Its always good to be in the woods no matter! It was 2 miles round trip...The weather was awesome for sure.

So after we hiked we stopped at the fish hatchery that we passed on the way up...There's fish in various stages of development in the swim ways...I think these are brown trout. They sure were crowded in there!!

Dont ask me why I got only part of this sign...I was distracted by the dogs I guess..Its the Wahalla State Fish Hatchery...the road down is a thrilling hairpin drive! Narrow, and steep!! The building is in the "holler" as they call it here in Utah its a canyon, in Texas its a gulch, in Tennessee its a Gulf...so anyways its at the bottom!!

Next time I'll show some of the birds we spotted...Maggie hates car trips something they are working on, but so far unless its a trip to the vet or to come to our house she stays home...

So now that makes 35 SC Waterfalls I've hiked in the Upstate Region. Many of the remaining ones are on private land so I dont know If make it to those...but now Im down to the Difficult hard ones, and a few roadside ones...it will be fun to find them. 

PEACE

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

Great Weekend-

Obviously Im safely back at home and almost have another work week behind me, thank goodness!! I had a great weekend and the weather was just wonderful for traveling with the trees all in various shades of spring green..this is I-26 heading west.

recent rains have everything greened up...the girls enjoyed being along for this trip...even tho there is plenty of space in the van they chose to stay very close to me...like RIGHT behind my seat...

Lunch on the road consists of one of my favorite snack foods....Thats Annie's legs dangling from the seat she likes to look out the window Flossie prefers to stay on the floor of the van...they are pretty good travel partners although they bark at ALL strangers...and everyone is a stranger to them...

Then on Saturday my sis and I drove upstate to the mountains to do a waterfall hike.  Once again in Oconee county which is up in that funny little tip of our state that is bordered by NC on the north and GA on the west...and its a very beautiful spot!! Our hike is in the Chattahoochee National Forest, and the river in the area is the Chattooga River, a Wild n Scenic River-

Fishermen were busy trying to catch Brown trout, and doing quite well from what we heard...

the forest was beautiful, some early flowers were blooming on the floor...

 

Our destination was off the Spoon Auger creek that empties into the Chattooga...and lunch on a rock by the falls...shared with some local wildlife...

After lunch and hiking back to the car (only a .6 mile round trip hike) we decided we had time to do a second hike....to King Creek Falls.  It was a bit farther but an easy hike at 1.1 miles

a boisterous and  beautiful waterfall enclosed in a nice rocky cove...

This highland area has some beautiful scenery....and lots of water, rivers, ponds, streams, rivers, and more!!

Nearby is the Stumphouse tunnel...Ive blogged about this before but had no photos of it, cause my batteries died before I got there..so this time I got some stills and video..this old tunnel was hacked out of the Stumphouse mountain before the Civil War...in fact the war was the reason it was never finished...when the project went broke..

Its more like a cave than a tunnel...check this out

and the nearby Issaqueena Falls that we saw last fall with no photos...had to go by there and get that proof photo and a little video..





the power of water is amazing...we had a wonderful weekend...I cant wait to go again!!

This weekend my BFF is coming over to spend the weekend..we are celebrating her birthday...
WE are hoping for good weather but rain may dampen our plans...IF so then its Junk stores and shopping, if its nice out its gonna be hiking, and drinks by the firepit when the sun goes down!! IM really hoping for a sunny day.

PEACE