A Whistle and a Trill

PLEASE stay away from each other!! Our older citizens deserve to be safe! If you work in a nursing home do not work until you know you are not carrying this virus. Demand to be tested. Thank you for caring. 

I'm trying to catch up to real time...hence the 2 posts per week...April and May was so good weather wise I think I was on an outing every day..so I have lots of fun things to share and chronicle about My Journey around this Sun. 

I kept seeing lists containing Bachman's Sparrow, not rare for this place or time... coming from the Sandhills NWR where I go pretty regularly.  Mainly because it's not crowded there.  You can actually hike a trail and not see anyone else.  Great for me to social distance.

The trouble I was having is this...people turned in the Bachman's Sparrow and this is a LARGE park, so even tho in ebird it is not sectioned off, probably should be, it's under the one name, Carolina Sandhills.  BUT most people put the area where they concentrated their efforts in the comments.  So upon reading those comments when I saw someone list a Bachman's I'd go the very next day in that area and get nothing...that just does not add up.  Maybe they were confusing the song with the many Chipping Sparrows in the refuge. 

chipping sparrow

Similar but the Bachman's Sparrow has a sharp whistle then a trill to the song...so 3 different days I searched for the bird till I was sick of listening to their song  had it memorized now!  Then I gave up. 

...it was the highlight of the Common Nighthawk, nesting  I suppose, as they zoomed over head making their Preent and Boom sound.  Here is a cropped shot of the Common Nighthawk...

If  you find it on the ground or on a tree it will look similar to a Whippoorwill...it's a Nightjar. 

So they can be up hundreds of feet in the air and it sounds like they are right over your head  I couldn't  get the Boom on video but it sounds to me like  an 18 wheeler zooming down the road but from a distance...And they make that sound with their wings...IN Person when you hear it at first you can't figure out what's going on...then it all comes together...you must click this and go hear for yourself...click the one that says Preent and BOOM.  At first I thought it was  Bigfoot following me. Because I hadn't heard one in  a while. 

Cornell Labs Sounds 

I like to get off the trails and just go bushwacking sometimes, and I followed some birds upon this small ridge...the forest was so pretty back there...the bird sounds led me to a small creek trickling along, and some nice things..

By the creek it was lush and green...

Sensitive Brier

I pulled this Blue Headed Vireo out of the tangle of the canopy he seems to have some spiders web he is probably going to use on his nest building. 

So very curious, this is why I love birds they will interact with you given the right circumstances...

almost back to the waiting van from the ridge...

After all my fun with the Nighthawks,  I turned down one of the many roads of the refuge, this time it's Wire Road to the left.  I stopped and found quite a few of the rare but not to me, since I see them almost everytime I go here now,..the Red Cockaded Woodpecker, a success story as they are still on the endangered list.  

Im going to include some video here because static is not always as educational as the sight and the sound...so here is the Gray Catbird singing and preening his feathers...

After I come back to the main Wildlife Drive I cross the road and go to the other side of Wire Road and driving with my windows down I hear one! 

The Bachman's Sparrow!  One comes right up for my Lifelist photo and the other calls from a safe distance.  It may seem like a drab bird but to me it's like the prize egg...

wonderful...so not only is the song a way to know this is Bachman's it is the rusty head but not a rich color like Chipping Sp.  and the little rust colored stroke at the back of the eye, the non streaked chest...and the 2 tone bill... pinkish legs

watch him sing his song  press in the middle of the video...

PLAY
You can hear the other one answer him in the distance...and  you can hear the Nighthawk preent also..

STOKED

So then Im off to the Oxpen Lakes area in the park.  






Before I knew it the sky changed...and the winds are picking up a bit and this thunderhead came up fast....


I see an Orchard Oriole singing in the trees, In case you wonder why we have so many orioles in our area? It's the wild plum and the blackberry! They love them. 

you can see this oriole has something on his beak that he wipes off, it looks like wild plum to me..

Play

 A Buckeye Butterfly on the ground and this very striking dragon, maybe you know the species...

I came across this fledgling Blue Jay, his parent was calling nearby...

This is how baby birds get rescued when they don't need to be, if you can hear or see a parent nearby they are in good hands...

But then the wind really picked up and the rain came down in sheets!  Wow that came up quick...

PLAY

What a day eh?? 

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

Two More Counties...

Please let me know if the font in this post is too big...Its huge in edit, but in preview its about what I want...so how is it on your screen?

On my way to York County

The next counties I chose to get a bird list in were York and Union counties.  They are neighboring counties, and once getting these north central counties out of the way that leaves me with the Georgia/SC border the Savannah River area.  I have been through all these counties but didn't create a bird list some I was able to compose a list by checking the birds I shared on my blog, photos are date and time stamped in the EXIF info so with that info you can figure out some things...In the case of the remaining counties I have not been able to put anything together so get n the van and go back there is the answer...

On the way to York I stopped in a POURING rain storm see upper photo and got my Passport Stamp for Landsford Canal as I said I would...

Needless to say I dashed out under my umbrella stamped the book at the Kiosk and ran back to the van, and continued on..so that goal got 2 birds with one stone, getting my stamp and adding a bird list to Chester County. (My Landsford Canal post) Done goal realized!

Back to York County.  Why choose York County Airport and not the Kings Mountain State Park?? Well a couple reasons.  I want to go to Kings Mountain when the weather is cooler and I can camp overnight.  And then I can also visit a couple more parks in that area...some I've been to, just not since the Passport Stamp Program started and some I've never been to so some I will dart in get my stamp and some I will spend the day...SO why did I chose the airport in York county?  A rare bird sighting.  So this way I can work on another goal I am unofficially keeping my eye on, and this bird  helps me with that goal.  

along the way I stopped in Lancaster County at the Reservoir and found this nice tree swallow

If you use ebird, as most do these days, you can find all sorts of data.  So in my State, I check the top 100 ebirder's list pretty regular Im always trying to move up...I hit 38 then slide back to 41 as other birders were able to get more species on their list...so the leader who I told you about, Harold, has 251 species, I am #40 with 194.  So I guess it's like a tennis match of sorts.  SO now it's my Add....in a way!  I have met on trail the top 3 contenders also...over the past few months.

a prop plane comes in for a landing at York County Rock Hill, SC 

I have no aspiration to be in the top 10 but the competition is very tough up there in that 1st tier...but I am in the mix so I'm just keeping my eye on it as people move about the state finding great birds...

The rain followed me but was only dripping when I found parking near the airport..it's a small air-field and the field is the reason Im here!

Canada Geese enjoy the grass in the field.  

The grass is not mowed! So that brings grasshopper, moths, all sorts of insects and there are the birds!  So in a way it's a grassland! Its in the middle of a noisy intersection and very heavily populated area...so I can't imagine they really love it here but they are here.  I found Eastern Meadowlark,...

  

Just look at these wonderful plants! 

Some small trees just outside the fence gave landing spots to Field Sparrow..

..and Brown Thrasher 

There was a nice parking area called the Airport Observation area, so I parked there...and soon curious birds came to see what I was up to...

Cooper's Hawk

House Sparrow female

Killdeer

I hung out in the Observation Area parking for a while had my snack walked around the fence line on that side getting my feet soaked I should of put my waterproof boots on but too late my socks were wet so I slogged on...Found Eastern Kingbird, Northern Mockingbird, House Finch, more of the birds shown above but my target continued to elude me.  Until from a very long distance I saw this...

...yes it's a crappy look so let me move closer...along the main road side of this airfield is a bike path! It actually starts not far from the Observation deck and follows the fence and then to the other side of the airfield so I moved my car to the other end of the bike path and parked in a gas station parking lot and walked the bike path back toward the area I had seen from this long distance away..

Then he moved to the fence...still a long distance away and sharing with a European Starling, the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher! 

Last year a pair was recorded here and this year they have returned...this bird is normally in the south central/western USA not southeastern...so they are expanding.  I always think Route 66 when I think Scissor-tailed...check out this range map from Cornell Labs..

You can see South Carolina way over there on the east coast and this area where I am is in the Upper North Central section of the state...it is also worth mentioning that scissor tailed have been found in two more north central counties Cherokee and Spartanburg! 

He moved onto the field and landed on this survey marker 

So a county and State bird for me....and on the way back to the van I saw a second one sitting on the fence... so I think breeding is taking place.  I saw this one fly in from across that busy road, I will post for you this very noisy video just so you can get a feel for the calamity of misplaced birds...but this uncut field is the key to their survival...in total I had 15 species of bird on or around the field.

PLAY -----press in center to view in this window.

I kept driving and made a weird loop into Union County to a bridge over the Broad River, I "car birded"  about 8 species to get a list for the county I will, I'm sure, at some point in time be back to do more in this county,...but till then It's 

covered! 

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

Offensive Day!

Do you ever have days where everything goes wrong?? Today Thursday the 4th of June...was one of those days for me...I have not been 100% present lately...so when things like this come along it shakes me awake...with a shudder. 

The photos in this post do not match the narrative so I will caption each

the Heron nest tree Santee Bluff had 3 successful nests.

I got up early and I knew a steamy humid day was on tap so I thought may as well head out early and get in some birding and my walk (which I do together) over with while it's cool...And I figured to go someplace nearby  where I could stop and pick up a few items I need on the way back.   I don't enjoy walking on the dirt road here like I used to for some odd reason, I want to go where there are no cars and no other people to annoy me!
(the whatcha' looking for people--grrr) 

Evening Primrose?

So I thought of the county park by the river I have not been there in a while...left home at 8:15 and was at the closed and locked gate of the park by 8:40...1st offense why is it closed???? WHO KNOWS!
dang... so what's plan B? I had no Plan B...

the guy who tromped into the field and flushed the Bobolink I came to see

there they go....

so I pulled back onto the highway and made a quick stop at the Food Lion grabbed a few fruit and nut items, for my on the go lunches, and then did a U turn back towards town and to Big Lots they have the coffee and chocolate bars  I like there pretty cheap.  I turned in and there was this tiny kitten standing crying in the entrance road...omg

2nd offense

female Bobolink

OH NO...he was heading toward the busy highway..I stopped jumped out and he hightailed and ran into the deep thick shrubbery surrounding the new car wash, they are a prickly holly of some kind with thorns on the end of each leaf...I called and called he was hiding and not coming out...then cars were pulling in and around me in an aggressive way so I moved my car into a parking space and went into Petsense.  There was a Animal Welfare lady in there they do adoptions there she had brought in 2 cats for adoption...and so I told her about the kitty...I don't think she cared she didn't promise to go look for the kitten :o((

3rd  offense

closest I got to some male Bobolinks

 I checked twice more and he never reappeared.  Poor kitty...I am not a cat person but I have rescued cats many times...Ok got my goods at Big Lots, check one more time, no kitten...and leave...so then I mentally form a new plan.  I think maybe since it's June now the racehorses are normally gone north by now, I can bird and walk at the Racetrack...so I drive over there...
Stables still full of horses!! And some on the way toward the track for their morning workout...
4th offense!
It's way too hot here for training racehorses this time of year are they nutz?

there they go again

So I make another U turn sit there and try to think what is close by....I decide to drive to visit Mom at the cemetery its about 6 miles north...it's a weekly thing I do and I normally bird there too so here we go...Mom's flowers still look good and the little wind chime I hung for her tinkles a sweet tune...but today they have mowers, weed eaters, and guys all over kicking up clouds of dust and noise...so no birding.  Even the normal 5 Northern Mockingbirds are hiding, I do make a mental bird by ear list. As I head out of Forest Lawn giving the maintenance crew a disgusted look and scowl.
5th offense And it's only 10 AM...

Bobolink hike lunch break

Not far away from the cemetery is the Revolutionary Battlefield where British General Cornwallis whipped General Gates and killed our Patriot hero Baron DeKalb.  Shot him dead!!  Did I tell y'all my sister did all the hard and arduous work of getting inclusion for US into the DAR? She sure did!! Thank you sis for all that hard work!! So our family was here long before that they lived in Plymouth Colony...AND in the Civil War we had ancestors who fought on BOTH sides shows how undecided and divided we really can be!! Im just happy the South lost the war! Can you imagine it the other way around?  

A male Bobolink with his back toward me

Anyways on the WAY to this bloodstained battlefield to go birding I was pretty far, but not far enough, behind a log truck who was barrel-assing, (that is a Patriot word of old) without a load, up Flat Rock Rd, and one of his many huge wheels spun a ga-zillion miles per hour flat rock right into my windshield...immediately made like a  quarter sized bulls eye !! Holy Guacamole!
 6th Offense!! 10:05 am.

Ring Neck Duck near the edge of the Bobolink field.

Not to be deterred from my morning BIRD TRIP AND WALK (Hell or high water type scenario) I park in the shade  shake my head curse like nutz about it, and take to the trail...NOW it's no longer cool like it would have been at 08:30 when I was turned back at the gates of the county park...it's actually rather steamy and hot...sweat rolls down my back and puddles in my eyeglasses...But I go anyways.  Using my cell phone to track me on ebird this is kind of a poor man's fit bit.  I walk 1.2 miles on various trails they have laid out in the site. 

Eastern Meadowlark...at Dobbins Farm Townville SC

I ran into a group of State Archaeologists who are out with some sort of metal detectors, looks similar to the kind they carry while trying to refind a bull moose with a huge life changing collar on his neck up in the Yukon...it's beeping so I guess they are finding artifacts.  No telling what all is out there...

NO offense in this part...unless you count running into other people.  

Male Dickcissel at Dobbins Farm

I see and hear some good birds...Ovenbirds, Wood Thrush, Yellow-Throated Vireo, and lots more! 28 species all toll and I enjoyed it. All my bad karma of the morning forgotten... I am completely soaked with sweat and so on the way back to the van Im plotting my next move which is go home and shower thinking,"okay tomorrow I will take the van into town and see about the windshield see what they suggest, maybe it can just have that chip stuff put on it..even tho it's the size of a quarter...and then when I arrive back the windshield is NOW completely cracked from top to bottom...I can almost hear it cracking from where I'm standing...like I'm standing over Crater Lake with a thin crust of ice under my feet...

Offense # 7

Grasshopper Sparrow Dobbins Farm 

So instead of going home, it's only a 12 minute drive from my location, I head back to town...in town I am told by the guy in the red shirt, after I tell him how this happened, that "You must have had your AC on, and that caused it to immediately crack"  Well yes on the ride here I did,  but I said "It cracked while it was parked for an hour when I took a walk, had not put on the ac at that point"

"OH, so it was sitting there all locked up, the heat  got it," he replied  

I think that was an Offense...#8. First it was too cold then it was too hot?? It can't be both can it?

Dickcissel male Dobbins Farm

SO he says to call my insurance company first and they will set it all up...but he warns me, "if there is any rust in there we can't do it, if  the previous installation was not properly done, that could create a problem".

Could this be #9???

So then I inform him that would be THEM 5 yrs ago! 

"SO if it's not right Y'all Did it"!  I think he scowled.  

OKAY...so that was my morning now past noon and heading to a steamy 1 pm...I call, insurance, good they set it up for Tuesday here at my home, hope it's not raining could be since there is a storm chugging in the gulf right now...So we'll see on that one.  Do you ever have those times in life when absolutely everything goes wrong due to one locked gate??? Open that gate and NONE of this would have happened!! And  you're wondering about the final Offense of this tragic morning??

MY CHOCOLATE BAR MELTED IN THE HOT CAR!!

this is like a 10 even if it's not really #10.. it's in the fridge chilling as I type.  

Yellow-Throated Vireo Battle of Camden Historic Site 

So these are photos of various bird trips I did back in May...Santee Bluffs is part of the Santee National Wildlife Refuge it's about 90 miles south of me, and then the Dobbins Farm is about 170 miles away in the northwestern part of the state in a place called Townville.  Quite a long drive, but it was a beautiful day and one tank of gas got me there and back. At  Dobbins farm I went there to see the White-rumped Sandpiper, and I did see it however I got no decent photos of the bird, due to the distance.  One lady was there with a scope and I got a look at 2 of them...we all got a look ,she was kind enough to use sterile wipes between lookers so that was nice.  SO a new lifer for me, and shared with  other 4 other interesting birders! 

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Tuesday windshield all new ... just got it in this morning...last time I had one put in I was hit by a rock in 3 days it left a small ice chip as I called it and it never offered to crack...so Im knocking on wood!!

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.