X'D off Another Week.

I think the weather is about to normalize, it's been whacky tho...Heat in the morning open the doors mid day then run the fan in the late afternoon, windows shut and heavy blanket at night!

Been mostly local this week...spotted this unbothered Gr Blue Heron catching a Sunfish..

He swallowed it whole...



In  one gulp

Then he climbed up out of the water onto the shore...he stood 5 feet tall if he was in inch!! That railing is waist high on me, 

I crept down along the creek's edge to spy on this Louisiana Waterthrush  singing  in a tree...I love to catch a video of a bird singing,  so here he is...

Normally I only see them on the ground so this was a rare treat. 

I have at least 50 bird song videos...so catch a listen sometime when you got nothing to do!

The Eastern Bluebirds are getting SO BLUE it's stings my eyes to look  at them! Just Gorgeous!

They are not camera shy this is why I have a shot of one every week pretty much...

And on this day I got a shot of the elusive Female Common Yellowthroat...I showed you a male last week with his black mask...

Caught some interaction between a pair of adult Bald Eagles, they landed across the river, and I made a video of them interacting and calling to each other...I will share that video next week...its taking too long to upload for todays post.  

Wednesday I was able to get out to Sandhills, and had several First of  Year birds...like the Prairie Warbler, 

The Eastern Kingbird, and I found one on a nest as well...

The Orchard Oriole...

AND the Bachman's Sparrow..

Still considered rare, but I am finding them every year in about the same area of the refuge. There was two of them one singing by the road this one, and then another answering off in the not too far distance. 

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Meanwhile back at the homestead...the Ruby Throated Hummingbirds have arrived, I didn't catch him in the right light to get  his ruby throat to display but I will keep trying...

And my Doe Friend Tulip, paid a visit she is going into her 2nd summer. 

She has a malformed or healed injury to oft hindleg, but she has managed just fine, a little limp always but she can run jump and do anything the other deer can do.  And she is sooo lovely. She will probably have her first fawn next May...Because she does not appear to be with Fawn, but she could be.  Females chase away their male offspring after the spots are faded, but female fawns sometimes stay in a family group up to two years....Tulip was with 2 others on this day one was a young yearling female and an older doe, maybe that was her mother and sister. 

See ya next week! 

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

Lynches River County Park

So as promised the Lynches River County Park visit, I made this video to capture the moments.  It was a fun day!  I have one story to relate I witnessed a thrilling event I wish I had captured but I was too stunned to even turn the camera on...

...the Lynches River was pretty full and it had a good current going...People were out and about the visitors center was closed but the park trials, canopy walk, and boardwalk open.  Lots of couples had dogs and kids with them but I've noticed a trend, either  young couples have 3 or 4 kids or they have none and opt for a couple of dogs...This couple who ran down to the rivers edge had 2 dogs of mixed breed one black and one brown and white.  So they let the dogs off leash at the waters edge and tossed in a play toy...only the toy got caught by the current and the black dog Literally JUMPED 10 ft out into the river and was immediately caught in the current and swiftly being taken downstream.  

I was standing on the boardwalk watching all this unfold..the man came immediately out of his shoes and DOVE head-first into the river and swam out and caught his dog and pushed him to shore! It was an amazing feat of pure love and bravery!! I was worried that I may have to run down and perform CPR on the MAN! But he was okay I was pleased to hear when I asked, "sir are you ok?" "Yes, i think so," he replied. I then gave him thumbs up and said "great save." "Thank you"!

Anyways without further delay here is my experience...cooked down to 5:34. 

So I got my Florence county bird list and had a great day to boot...the canopy walk made me a bit dizzy and I couldn't do the whole thing I only did one section, my vertigo is easy to trigger so I didn't want that to happen! 

I made a couple longer birding trips and will try to capsulize those in my next couple posts.  Meanwhile a few still photos that didn't make the video...to round out this day trip..

Eastern Kingbird on a wire

Loggerhead Shrike

Red-Winged Blackbird

More tobacco road

Lynches River Scenes 

Young Carolina Wren 

Prothonotary Warbler

Have a great weekend!!  Another look at the Pileated chicks from last week...

Stellar moment for me..

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

Monday Morning Special...for the Mom's

 There is no bond stronger than a Mother's Love, My first Mother's D'ay without my mom, and this sight here sure helped me feel better.  I couldn't post it ON Mother's Day 'cause I just caught the action while I was out doing what I love to do ON Mother's Day.  Last year we all went out to eat, this year that was not even an option, and the (all) is gone.   So I watched someone else eat out! I hope you enjoy my 5 minutes spent with a special mom taking care of her kids. 

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

Stay Calm and Breath...

Summer is moving right along now it's nearly 4th of July...and it's hot.  Birds are hard to find, in fact I had only one new bird in my 5 mile in June.  I already reported that to you nothing since the Cedar Waxwing, (#112) did see more waxwings today.  I am still trying to bird as often as I'm able but the humidity is UP there now and by 10 am it's too hot to enjoy being out unless you're swimming! 

her suit did resemble his pattern....

We went swimming again and this Zebra Swallowtail fell in love with my sister's swimsuit!  He spent the entire day with her.  

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Then somehow he fell into the water; we missed him then saw him flopping in the water!! We were able to rescue him and he flew up in a pine tree to recover...he is such a beautiful creature glad he was not injured in his swimming accident...

My growing containers are producing some goodies: today's haul...

Butternut squash

...a new addition to my Plate collection YUM!! Thanks Sis what a surprise. 

Bad news....2 of the clear cut areas (300 acres) have been poisoned by the owner it was  sprayed to kill off the new vegetation to clear the way for more pine trees to be planted..it was inevitable as the wealthy must continue to be wealthy, no matter the cost to the natural world.  I have no idea how this will affect the birds that are nesting there and were feeding their young from those patches. Birds such as: Yellow Breasted Chat, Summer Tanager, Blue Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, Eastern Kingbird, Prairie Warbler, Yellow Billed Cuckoo, and so many more...woodpeckers, wrens, chickadees, vireos, the list is endless...and yet does this land owner have any idea that any birds are there trying to survive? Birds and mammals that he is helping to destroy?  I saw a coyote running for his life out of one patch this morning... It's just like a run away train, that I have no power to stop.:o(

This beautiful Summer Tanager (Female) has young in one of these patches...

and this sweet fledged Blue Grosbeak...also lives there

Some fool ran over this beautiful Timber Rattler

damn why???

I have to try and stay positive as this type thing works negatively on my mind...it makes me despise all the people who live around here...

For people out there who care about and love birds, I spent a little time with a beautiful Black and White Warbler, he lives in one of these patches too....I put together this short vid of the time I shared with him a couple weeks ago and I wanted to share that with you!  (for best quality click on the title and go watch on youtube.)

Have a great week!

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

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.