Herps in SC

Living in SC has been pretty warm. I've already found some interesting birds (Summer Tanagers seem to appear on every walk I take). But last night Lisa and I took a casual evening stroll through a nearby park. Shortly after arriving (while trying to find an entrance to the building with a bathroom, I went to open a door and found a surprise:

I believe it to be a Green Tree Frog!

Later in the walk as it was starting to get dark, a couple ladies passed us and said there was a snake ahead on the trail. Sure enough, this fellow was moving across the path! Now Lisa and I have seem to have a knack for finding poisonous snakes. The last three live snakes we have seen are as follows: Cottonmouth, Eastern Timber Rattlesnake, and now......Copperhead!

You never know in August...

I've always thought August was a strange month for birds. Nesters are leaving, some migrators are starting to pass through, and who the heck wants to go out in the woods in August (i.e. mosquitos, humidity, flies, bugs, humidity, mosquitos, etc. etc.)? I always used to think growing up that September and October were the times to see migrating birds. We always used to assume August was a "dead month" for migration. I don't really know why. But, I remember a few years back hitting Higbee Beach around August 20th and finding a wealth of quality birds including Cerulean, Blackburnian, Canada, and Brewster's Warblers in a 1-hour walk. The following week landed more goodies at Brig (Yellow Headed Blackbird, CS Warbler, Wilson's Warbler, etc.)

Ever since I've tried to make a better effort to get out more in the last half of August. This morning was one of those mornings! Though I only recorded 22 species in my backyard in about 2 hours, I was treated to some very enjoyable and surprising finds!

I didn't get out of bed til about 9:00, so when I stepped outside around 9:20, my expectations weren't exactly through the roof. I couldn't even find a bird for the first 5-10 minutes in the yard.

Then I found one: a White Breasted Nuthatch. Not amazing or rare, but a start nonetheless. I ventured back deeper into the woods, and all I could come up with was a ton of squirrels. Everywhere. Oh, and a few spiderwebs (that entangled my face).

So, after 15 minutes, I had more mosquito bites than bird species, and I was ready to quit, and started thinking about where I might go to find some birds, then I heard a welcoming sound, when one is looking for warblers...a Tufted Titmouse. Then I located an American Redstart....so I decided to keep looking around.

I let my woods go a bit this year, opting not to mow much and let it get overgrown in certain spots to see if that would help with habitat. Well, the male Canada Warbler that was working in that brush certainly confirmed my decision :) I watched him for about 10 minutes. Awesome.

I had been distracted watching him and hadn't paid much mind to some other birds up in the canopy of the black cherry trees above me. So I started looking up when I caught a raptor flying circles above, about 40 yards above...a Peregrine Falcon. In August. In Sicklerville. Weird!

After spending a few more minutes out in the woods, I came up with a female Black & White Warbler, then I went in to get some breakfast.

I was telling Deb how the only "getable" hawk I had left to get for a yard bird was a Broad Winged Hawk which I told her would probably be a long shot....not 15 minutes later...that longshot was flying at 20 yards high right over the Meads house! I couldn't believe it! Deb and I ran out to the front and watched it circle over the field across the street for a bit.

The last interesting find this morning was a flyover Lesser Yellowlegs.

So 4 new birds for the yard (113 now) on a warm August morning was a surprise, though I'm starting to expect these crazy finds in August!

Birding by Kayak

Sunday I spent 3 hours with my father-in-law and brother-in-law kayaking on the Rappohannock River near Fredericksburg, VA. Beautiful sunny morning, and though I wasn't there to bird, I managed to hear quite a nice list of birds, including a surprising number of warblers! We covered 6 miles on the river total. Most of the birds were heard, but not seen. Here's the e-bird list:

Rappohannock River-Hole in the Wall to Motts Run, Stafford, US-VA
Jul 3, 2011 9:45 AM

Mallard  1
Great Blue Heron  1
Green Heron  1
Turkey Vulture  2
Mourning Dove  2
Yellow-billed Cuckoo  2
Northern Flicker  1
Eastern Wood-Pewee  3
Acadian Flycatcher  4
Eastern Kingbird  3
Yellow-throated Vireo  1
Red-eyed Vireo  5
Tufted Titmouse  1
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
Carolina Wren  1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  2
Wood Thrush  3
Gray Catbird  1
Cedar Waxwing  6
Northern Parula  3
Yellow-throated Warbler  2
Ovenbird  2
Louisiana Waterthrush  4
Kentucky Warbler  1
Hooded Warbler  1
Scarlet Tanager  1
Northern Cardinal  3
Indigo Bunting  5
American Goldfinch  4

Virginia Woodpeckers and Warblers

It's been a while since I've gotten to bird much, but this past weekend Mom & Dad were visiting, and we were able to head out to Thompson WMA and Sky Meadows SP. Had some great birds, the highlights of which were Cerulean Warblers (4), Kentucky Warblers (2) and an extremely cooperative Red-Headed Woodpecker, which landed on a fence post before we even entered the park. Having gotten about as good a look as you can get of these guys, we decided that we had had our fill and didn't need to pay the $4 to enter the park!

Here is a video of one of the Kentucky Warblers. I suspect that this pair was defending young or a nest, because they were extremely vocal the whole time and almost seemed to follow us down the path. They also were in the same area 45 minutes later when we came back through.

Lisa snapped this great shot of the Red-Headed Woodpecker:

Look what surfed in at Sea Isle!

Dad and I went striper fishing down at Sea Isle today. What a gorgeous day!

Only caught two (non-keeper) stripers and several kingfish.

There were about two hundred shorebirds in assorted flocks at the water's edge, including Sanderlings, a few Least, 2 Ruddy Turnstones, and Semi-Palmated Plovers. Also saw one Osprey and the usual Laughing gulls fighting over the clam shells.

Suddenly, about 150 feet down the beach, about 30 feet out, I saw a large bird floating in the water and coming in through the surf. I grabbed my camera and ran down to see it. Unbelievably, the bird came right in, almost to my feet. It was a juvenile (first year?) Northern Gannet with perhaps a broken right wing.

I was able to get many great pics of it. Eventually two young gals came down and asked what it was and what we should do. They made a phone call and got connected to the Wetlands Institute in Stone Harbor, who said put a wet towel around it and bring it in. Easy to say, when you're not looking at that strong bill. But that's just what they did.

So, Lisa, you can be extremely happy that this bird may not meet the same sad fate as the young Gannet of yesteryear!

Looks like it's smiling . . .

Willow Flycatcher & Cerulean Warblers

Saturday the Yeichs and I headed West to Thompson WMA and Sky Meadows State Park for some late spring birding. Our target bird was Cerulean Warbler, and they did not let us down! In fact, the first one we saw was on the ground in the path in front of us! Very unusual for a treetop species. We got looks at both males and a female. The other highlight at Thompson was a pair of Kentucky Warblers that were following each other through the understory and gave us excellent views. The whole time they were making a harsh chek note. Other highlights were Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Scarlet Tanagers, and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks. We also found a dismembered Luna Moth, whose body had been eaten, but whose wings were scattered on the path.

Our plan was to observe the Red-Headed Woodpeckers at Sky Meadows, however that quickly changed when we found out that we couldn't enter the main part of the park without paying $20, because of a strawberry festival that half of the people in Virginia were attending. So we went across the street to a different trail, and were pleasantly surprised with a life bird: a singing Willow Flycatcher beside a stream!

Some Pics From Our Family All Day Bird Trip Around South Jersey