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.

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.

Belted Kingfisher

I saw a belted kingfisher on New Prospect Church Road on Saturday morning.  The profile was unmistakeable on a wire over a bridge.  I turned around and came back, to see him flying across the creek to a tree--too far away to get a good look except for the characteristic white "belt" around the front.  But I heard him rattle.  Haven't seen one of them for probably 25 years, so it was a great treat.

Blue-Winged Teal

(not my photo - taken from the internet)

This morning Mike and I went out to the Dobbins Farm Ponds to see what was there.  Our first beautiful sight was not avian - As we turned onto Fred Dobbins Road, about a half mile down, two deer came running across the field, leaped over a barbed-wire fence, crossed the road, leaped over a second barbed-wire fence, then disappeared across the fields into the woods.  They jumped those five-feet fences without any trouble at all, and what was instinctual to them appeared to be something that had been practiced for months or years.

Then we watched about 20 blue-winged teal on the farm ponds.  There were a couple of scaup mixed in the group.  We could tell they were teal because of the white markings on the face and back end.

A female kestrel practically posed for us on a fence post.  The bird book said "hovers while hunting," and we watched it hover on three occasions before it returned to the post.

Saw two mallards on the second pond but that was all.  I also watched a Savannah Sparrow.

A good morning!

Feeder Birds 2015-16

1. Carolina chickadee
2. Tufted titmouse
3. Pine warbler
4. Yellow-rumped warbler
5. Pine siskin
6. Downy woodpecker
7. Red-bellied woodpecker
8. Yellow goldfinch
9. House finch
10. Purple finch (almost certain)
11. Carolina wren
12. Red-winged blackbird
13. Blue jay
14. Brown-headed nuthatch
15. White-breasted nuthatch
16. Ruby-crowned kinglet
17. Cardinal
18. Mourning dove
19. Chipping sparrow
20. Northern junco

Winter Storm Birds

Winter storm - feeders crazy all day.  Mike went out and refilled the feeders, as well as cleaned out two of them that were a little stopped up.  He also pruned the rose bush outside our picture window that was hiding some of our view.

All these birds were there today, as well as a female finch of some kind that might have been a purple finch.  Not certain enough to say so.

1. carolina chickadee
2. tufted titmouse
3. northern junco
4. carolina wren
5. pine warbler
6. goldfinch
7. house finch
8. pine siskin (new for the year)
9. ruby-crowned kinglet
10. cardinal
11. mourning dove
12. red-bellied woodpecker
13. downy woodpecker
14. brown-headed nuthatch

Immature Bald Eagle

Last night at the Dobbins Farm Ponds, a young man asked if we were there to see the eagles.  We had no idea there were eagles--we were just looking to see what was there, and since it was near dusk, hoping (against hope) that maybe that short-eared owl from a couple of years ago might show up.

There were no eagles--it was just too late, the young man said.  But - I drove out again this morning by myself, and had no trouble at all locating an immature eagle.  It was right where the young man said it would be.  It was watching the first pond, apparently (again according to the young man) looking for young gulls to eat.  It did a fly-over for me, and in my new binoculars, it was quite a sight.  I was able to watch it for a full half-hour.

I had forgotten that an immature eagle is mottled brown and white - no black anywhere except a little on the head, and certainly no white head.  It was still unmistakably an eagle.  Huge in size, huge crooked beak, and feathers partway down the leg.  Beautiful.