February 10, 2009
Warmer weather
The temperature jumped considerably last weekend, which made for much more comfortable 8am birding starts. Hard to believe that while I was lounging on the back porch in a T-shirt, my parents in SE England were shovelling snow from the drive! On Saturday I walked Cook's Trail in the hope of finding Rusty Blackbirds for the First Annual Rusty Blackbird Blitz, but found none. The Turkey Vultures seemed to be enjoying the early morning sun in their regular roost spot.
A few Swamp Sparrows were showing along the trail.
Red-tail.
A female Shoveler at the Oxbow Lake was a Bigby tick, and was duly celebrated with some fine BBQ pork from Weaver D's, a cafe frequented by Athens residents REM and the inspiration for their album title 'Automatic for the People'.
On Sunday morning, the fields at the entrance to the Botanical Garden were full of the sounds of singing Meadowlarks, Bluebirds and Savannah Sparrows. Brown-headed Cowbird was a BIGBY tick. The garden itself was pretty quiet, though I enjoyed watching a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers excavating a nest-hole in a tree overhanging the river. The red moustachial stripe and brighter eye colour distinguish the male from the female.
I was joined later in the morning by JP, an expert on local plants, for a crash course in southeastern flora (sorely needed, I'm woefully ignorant about plants in general). The first Hepatica of the year were peeping through the forest floor.
Back home, Dark-eyed Junco and Chipping Sparrow were new yard birds.
A Brown Thrasher seems curious of all the activity around the feeder, but hasn't yet taken the bait.
The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker is still around the yard and now looking a little bit neater - the lack of a red throat means it's clearly a female.
The only birds brave enough to visit the feeder when I'm sitting outside are Carolina Chickadees and Cardinals.
This female seems to be trying the hummingbird approach to feeding.
