Ann's Bird Blog: May 2016

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher and more

We've had an interesting 24 hours of birding. We made two trips to the Farm Ponds - saw herons and egrets both last night and this morning. We also got great looks, close-up, both times, of a red-headed woodpecker on the fence posts. And this morning - a great look at a barred owl that flew across the road, then stopped in the trees and posed for us.

Then I convinced Mike to go to Gunter Road in Piedmont to try to find the scissor-tailed flycatcher that is way out of its range but in that area. We found it easily and it put on quite a show. We watched it for about 20 minutes. It was a haul up there but well worth the trip.

Saturday, May 21, 2016

Yellow-Breasted Chat

New bird today. Mike and I traveled to the farm ponds because it is a cool and overcast morning. Not much action at the actual ponds - just a few mallards and a few meadowlarks. But Gaines Road was full of action. Mike picked up on an unusual sound, and then we were able to identify a yellow-breasted chat - a new bird for both of us. It's always interesting to study a new bird, then read about it and realize it matches the information given almost identically.

Apparently the yellow-breasted chat only sings in the spring, so we got a special treat.

Also saw a lot of blue grosbeaks, indigo buntings, goldfinches, cardinals, and other bright birds. And two beautiful eastern kingbirds posed for us on a fence post. It was a good morning.

How This Bird-Watching Happened

I'm always a little self-conscious and reticent about telling people that I like to watch birds. Somehow that hobby conjures up pictures of little old women in khaki shorts and boots, peering through binoculars at some little spot in the woods. Maybe wearing a pith helmet.

But birdwatching is something that really brought my husband and me together in the early years of our marriage. He was a huge hunter; I had never picked up a gun. We were very different. But we discovered that we were quite a team about birdwatching - I was the bookworm about them, and he had the outdoors knowledge to pick up sounds and motion in the woods. We kept lists and watched everywhere we went. I picked up some of his extensive knowledge about wildlife. And it was fascinating.

Even after our son was born, we still could keep up with this hobby somewhat. Our home had a great shelf feeder, directly out of our second-story bedroom window, that was about fifty yards from woods and stream. So we had great variety coming directly to our house.

After moving to Mike's hometown, the hobby waned. Two children, not a good location for much variety at a feeder, not as easy to take trips, either short or long ones. So it became an occasional thing rather than a main focus.

On our trip to the northwest, fourteen years ago, we put fifteen new species on our lists and got excited about it once again. And on our recent California trip, we got a few more.

Now that our children are gone, we're intent on watching birds again. It is still bringing us together. And we don't even need khaki shorts or pith helmets.