5/11/24 Stopped over to the not-so-local local Audubon Center for an early birdwalk, neither are my forte, early nor populous but nice to chat with some fellow birders. To start at the beginning of this Global Big Day, a la Cornell...at the homestead, I was out dumping coffee grounds into the compost before Sol crested the Sentinel Pines to the East, when I realized all of the morning activity I miss being a night owl:
Ovenbird
Black Throated Green
Myrtle
Phoebe
Robin
Rose Breasted Grosbeak, singing, unseen
Blue Jay
Hermit thrush
Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers
Pine Warbler
RB Nuthatch
Dark-eyed Junco
Winter Wren
Black Capped Chickadee
Mourning Dove
White Throated Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
All before coffee!
Enroute to said non local Audubon:
Left some rubber on the road skidding into a cemetery as a hawk of sorts glided up into an oak, lost him in the screeching of tires, regained with binos when stopped, beautiful Red-Shouldered Hawk, great view of its vibrant, contrasty colors and outspread wings as it moved between trees. Distinct red shoulders and bright tail bands. I don't see these often, maybe 3 times perched, moreso when they are migrating in the Fall but one doesn't get to take in the fullness of Red Shouldered splendor when against the sky. Lucky enough to see another later.
Passed 8 Turkey crossing the road and a Broad-Winged Hawk perched on a wire.
On site, with maybe 25 others, most from the Audubon chapter:
Gray Catbird
E Bluebird
Lots of Tree Swallows
Unidentified Flycatcher, probably Alder
B&W Warbler
N Parula
Yellow Warbler
Downy and Hairy WP
Yellow Bellied Sapsucker
Turkey Vulture
Crow
Purple Finch
Goldfinch
Solitary Sandpiper, a first for me, that I'm aware of.
Common Yellowthroat
Chestnut Sided Warbler
N Cardinal
Rose Breasted Grosbeak
Swamp Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
And as finale--another Red Shouldered Hawk, close in, flew out of a boggy area to spiral up and call twice above us.
While at the Center's nature shop, tried out a pair of 8X42 NL Pure to asses the hubbub. Call me a cretin, but I noticed little difference in image clarity or contrast/brightness when compared to the Hawke 8X42 but what was impressive was the voodoo they threw into that glass to give the impression the barrels were only an inch long,
A LOT of periphery in those Pures!!
While in the neighborhood, back to the raised bog with some drama to the sky:
And the Hexagenia hatch, millions of these guys drifting in clouds and only 3 Phoebe and 1 Eastern Kingbird in the platform area to take advantage. This is like sitting on the couch, eating chips for flycatchers:
Stood here for about 3 hours, 3 fiddlehead hunting young gents popped by, had a brief chat about flora, fauna and local geology, other than that the place was and is often quiet. It's about a 2.25 mile roundtrip to the platform at the edge of the NWR bog on fairly unmaintained, muddy trails and a third-world, severely pot-holed dirt access rd to thin the traffic. Maybe that is by design, for the wildlife or maybe it's because the USG would prefer to fund disrepair and rubble creation in other parts of the globe rather than upkeep in its own...I digress.
Today's tools, including the gentleman's smudging device. The blackflies weren't bad but a little smoke deters some of them.
Ball heads for spotting scopes are bunk, suspected this but thought I'd try, tilt/pan incoming:
From the start of the walk-in through Red, White Pines, Hemlock, Birch Poplar and Red Oak down to the platform:
Another unidentified Flycatcher with abrupt, sort of nasally call, lots of these guys mid to treetop level.
Yellow Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Timberdoodle AKA American Woodcock in aerial display over a cove in the bog
E Phoebe
B&W Warbler
Myrtle Warbler
E Kingbird
Numerous Swamp Sparrow
F Northern Harrier, hunting, soaring.
Sharp Shinned Hawk, scattering the treetop warblers.
Barred Owl called twice, unseen
American Bittern heard (but unseen) throughout the time there, a unique, wild "song."
Leopard Frogs/peepers heard
Otter seen briefly
Not a bad day.
Compiled this am under spiraling, calling Osprey, dueling M Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds, Ovenbird, Black Throated Green, Rose Breasted Grosbeak--he showed up at the feeder this am-FOY here, Tufted Titmouse, Pine Warblers singing away.
