Ann's Bird Blog: June 2021

Tuesday, June 15, 2021

Great Crested Flycatcher

Yesterday I went to pick up my mother from the class she was teaching in a home in the older part of our city. While waiting, I noticed a bird that flew to the roof line of the house, and didn't think much about it - until another glance showed that it was a great crested flycatcher!! They are supposedly common birds, but I have rarely seen one in all these years. Honey brown wings and yellowish underneath, with a distinct crest. It was more evidence to keep looking at all times.

Wednesday, June 9, 2021

Birds from Trip to Pawleys Island, 5/22-29/2021

We had a great trip to the beach a couple of weeks ago. Hadn't seen much worthwhile for quite awhile, so it was nice to have great success. My camera isn't that great, but if birds aren't moving, and they're close enough, I can usually get fairly decent photos. I was very pleased with the results.

Common gallinule (used to be called a common moorhen). It is the less-gaudy cousin of a purple gallinule, which we have not yet ever seen.

Probably the picture of the week, even if not the sharpest. Two pileated woodpeckers - male in the front and female behind him. (Male has red on the side of the beak.) They are waiting for food. We were told later that this was their last day in the nest - they fledged the next day.

And the mother obliging.

Green heron preening

Anhinga. Not the nicest of birds in person, but it does take a pretty picture. This is a male.

Mike spotted a great blue heron eating a snake.

Tri-colored heron looking for a meal.

Snowy egret in breeding feathers.

I think this is our favorite bird of all time. So beautiful. Painted bunting at the feeders at Huntington Beach State Park. They love white millet. I'd put a feeder of white millet out here at the house, but they do not come this far inland.

Brown pelicans on a sandbar at the inlet between Pawleys and Litchfield.

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.