The binos that I've been using are a cheap set that I bought years ago, and the Monarchs are sooo much nicer! I took some photos from Granny's sun-room.
A Eurasian Collard-Dove:
A House Sparrow:
A Blue Jay (these always make me think of Rick):
I had a good time hanging out with Granny, Uncle Mike, and Aunt Becky. Mike & Becky had spent the day working at Black Bayou. We went to dinner, then I started the 11 hour drive home. My plan had been to sleep for a few hours when I got home, but I wanted to take a quick peek at the lake with the new binos first. I stepped into the back yards, say a Pie-Billed Grebe in the middle of the lake, and took a quick look at it through the binoculars. This was enough to let me know I needed to run back in the house and grab the camera!
All I've ever seen these Grebes do is float around and dive under the surface of the lake to escape if they thought that I was too close for comfort. I never gave much thought to their eating habits, so I was surprised to see this one with a big ol' brim in its mouth! Actually, the fish isn't that big, but this is a tiny little bird. He would play with it, drop it, wait a few seconds, dive back down, and resurface with the fish in his mouth again. At one point he tried to swallow it, but I think his scaly prey proved to be a bit more than he could handle.
In the end, I think he let it go and carried on with his relaxing life.
But, now I had the binoculars and my camera out on the dock. This is an ideal situation for me to lose a couple of hours. All of the regulars were around, the huge flock of Double Crested Cormorants, the Canada Geese, the Mallards, even the Blue-phase Snow Goose that is still hanging out with the Canadas.
But, before too long, I decided that it was time to hang up the binos for the morning. On my way off the dock, I heard a call that I didn't recognize (I don't really recognize any of them, but this one sounded new). I scanned the tree next to the dock and saw an Eastern Pheobe. I've a photo, but its face is obscured by a twig, and it flew off to the other side of the lake before I could get a decent shot. As I listened to its call from the other bank, I stopped by the pine trees that line the side of my yard. The Yellow-rumped Warblers were out in full force! Last week I was talking with a friend and there was brief mention of how Warblers move. I thought (and maybe said), "I've never noticed how warblers move." Then I remember trying to take a photo of one of these guys a couple of weeks ago, and I knew instantly what he meant! If ever there was a bird with ADD, this incessantly moving critters would qualify!
I watched a couple of Cardinals following around three Brown Thrashers that were in a very weird mood. The Thrashers were chasing each other about and causing quite a raucous. Mating season, perhaps? Finally I gave in and went to get a chair. I parked myself in the yard for a while. I watched Tufted-titmice, and saw my first Goldfinch. This probably wasn't my first, but it's the first I've been able to identify, and decent binoculars really helped with this!
A Robin crept close.
I saw what I thought to be a pigeon of some sort light in a tree by the dock, but my rockin' new binoculars informed me that it was, in fact, a Northern Flicker. I've seen loads of these in the CONG, but never at the house.
As I watched the Warblers flitting about all around me, I heared the distinct trill of a Red-bellied Woodpecker behind me.
A couple of the Warblers found the back deck and had a lot of fun hopping around. This one spotted what must have seemed to be a tasty morsel of something on the side of the house:
Playful little critters:
Before going inside I wanted to take a look from the dock one last time. I was hoping to determine if my Hooded Mergansers are still around, and they tent to be late risers. They were not out, and I think they may have moved on. But, I did see three pairs of Wood Ducks!
Notice the turtles in the background in the above picture. Turtles were EVERYWHERE! I didn't even see these. I counted the turtles on the bank directly across from me. Every time I counted there were more, so I stopped counting at 59. Here are just a few of them:
Before I could make my escape inside, I saw a Downy Woodpecker in the Sweetgum tree behind me. I thought the light was pretty neat in this photo.
I could not believe how many species were out and about! I thought to myself, "If the Bald Eagle were here, we'd have nearly everyone!"
Not five minutes later, I saw the Bald Eagle circling overhead.
So, naturally, I thought to myself, "If the Ivory-billed Woodpecker were here, we'd have nearly everyone!" Good try, but that didn't work!
I looked out across the lake and was met with a curious sight!
I was excited, I've been dying to have a gator or two in my lake!
But... It was two turtles swimming in tandem. I saw this "Gator Formation" several times and again wondered if it was mating season.
There was a hawk soaring high above. I later decided that it was a Red-tailed Hawk, the first I've seen here.
I finally resolved to make my way inside for my much needed name. At this point I had been up for going on 29 hours. As I approached the house, I caught sight of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet.
I watched it for a while and took some not-great photos (as you can see). This is the first RC-Kinglet I've seen at the house. As I watched, I saw movement up a nearby tree trunk.
This Brown Creeper made the 29th species of the morning! (Including everything mentioned above as well as a Blue Jay, Common Grackles, Brewer's Blackbirds, Black Vultures, Blue Herons, Carolina Chickadees, Slate-colored Juncos, a Belted Kingfisher, and Rock Pigeons.)
A very birdy day. Must be the lucky new binoculars!!!
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