Birding the Mt.

Barred Owl through the leaves

After a winter of inactivity, I'm really getting back into birding again this spring. A trip to Mt. St. Francis, across the river in southern Indiana, was led by my friend Del, who has telescopic eyeballs. He can see things without binoculars that I can't find with them, so it's always a good decision to go out on trips he leads.

There were two amazing things this morning. First, we found a Barred Owl perched in a low tree about 10 a.m. Didn't hear him, but Del saw him swoop through the trees and land here. Cool!

May Apples

Part of Mt. St. Francis is manicured retreat center. Part of it is open fields and a lake, while the third part is wooded hills going up and down to the creeks. I'm marking May 6 as the day when ALL the may apples were blooming at once! I've never seen so many of those white blossoms nodding beneath their green umbrellas at one time!

Acadian Flycatcher

Del heard an Acadian Flycatcher calling  pizza, and we finally saw him for a second between forays out and back for the plentiful insects in the creek bottom. My first photo of the elusive bird.

Summer Tanager

You wouldn't think that bright red birds would be so hard to see in the green forest, would you? I never did find the Scarlet Tanager, although I heard him singing. Finally located his cousin, the Summer Tanager, peering at us behind the branches. I wonder if the birds ever go "peopling" when they see a group of two-legged creatures with black things in front of their faces. It's pretty easy, all you have to do is sing, and they stop walking and talking to look for you.

Baltimore Oriole

Eastern Towhee

Baltimore Orioles are very plentiful this spring, and of course, the Towhees invited us all to "drink your tea." One of my favorite calls!

Eastern Kingbird

This Eastern Kingbird perched at the tip of a pine bough over the lake in between insect catching flights.

Carolina Chickadee hatchlings

Del checked some of the nest boxes as we walked by. Most seemed to be inhabited by Chickadees and Tree Swallows, although we did find one pair of Bluebirds. Their numbers are way down this year after two very long cold winters. Even those these tiny birds seem to have blue on their wings, look at the nest itself. Chickadees build on a base of moss, lining their nest with what appears to be fur.

Box Turtle

We had to be careful not to step on the little brown hop toads that sprang out beneath our feet everywhere. A box turtle waited in the grass for us to pass by.

Prairie Trillium - t. recurvatum

Southern Indiana is the only place around here where I've found the Prairie Trillium, t. recurvatum. I've never seen them at all in Kentucky. See the stems on the leaves? And the petals curve back over the anthers instead of opening up to give the pollinators a good look. Maybe they are just shy...

Pawpaw blossom

The pawpaw is an understory tree, never getting very tall, so it's easy to see their maroon bells hanging down when they bloom. When the fruit ripens you have to hurry if you want some before all the animals get them. Everything loves pawpaws!

Now that I'm trying to do eBird, I asked Del to send me the list for the mornings walk, and it totaled 55 species! Of course, I didn't actually see all of them myself, but I had the excitement of the quest. According to eBird, my life list is now 78 birds, although my spreadsheet for the last 8 years is almost 380. I think that's one reason why I was so slow to use eBird. It didn't allow me to put in my actual life list. Next Saturday Beckham Bird Club will have a booth at Bernheim Forest's Bloomfest, and I've got all sorts of ideas for a cool display to interest new people in birding. But I also have to help with the 25th Anniversary Open House at Raptor Rehab that day. Busy, busy, busy!

Whoo's Cooking on the Anchorage Trail?

By January 11, my birding friend Kathie, who recently relocated to Tucson, AZ, has 102 birds on her list for the month. It's a good thing I'm not into listing big time. Since I've had a cold and sore throat for the last 10 days, I haven't been out of the house much. But the rain stopped, and the sun came out this afternoon. With temps at 64, I couldn't pass up the chance to do a little birding on the Anchorage Trail, which is very popular here in Louisville.

I watch for any kind of animal, not just birds. This little squirrel decided that a bird's nest box makes a dandy place to spend the winter. As soon as he saw me looking, he ducked in to hide. Wonder if he'll give it up when the birds are ready to nest?

I do most of my birding by ear, and heard all the familiar Kentucky birds this afternoon. Bluebirds gave their sad little whistle, Cardinals chipped boldly, and the Kingfisher cackled on the other side of the lake, while Gold Finches called for potato chips as they flitted among the branches. This Song Sparrow serenaded more melodically than the pair of Canada Geese on the lake.

True to their names, the Mute Swans were silent, but very beautiful.

 

Then I heard a loud keer, keer, keer, from two Red Shouldered Hawks, and took off down the trail in pursuit. I saw a flash of wings, and then lost them. But there was a dark blob in the branches. Quietly I crept forward, binoculars in hand. OMG! It's NOT a hawk in the tree but a BARRED OWL! 

On other birding trips here, we saw a Barred Owl peering out of its hole in a tree, but I wasn't the one to locate it. I've never had good luck trying to find owls in the wild on my own. Even the GHO in Arizona was pointed out by the leader of that trip, who knew where it liked to sleep during the day.

But I found this bird all on my own! Whooppee! Here is was, 2:00 o'clock in the afternoon, and this Barred Owl was bright eyed and, well, not exactly bushy-tailed, but certainly alert, keeping an eye on the neighborhood while counting on his marvelous camouflage for privacy. Even when he knew I was walking under his tree, he just ignored me. How cool!

Who's Awake?

They say all good things must end, including vacations. We try to stretch ours out by stopping at Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge in Northern Alabama along the Tennessee River. The drought is just terrible and all the wetlands are dry lands where the migrating waterfowl should be stopping to feed. Acres of water lily leaves blow in the breeze, three feet above the mud which is all that remains of the lake edges. We walked a few trails, but saw little in the way of birds. The volunteers in the Visitors Center are both retired and spend their time going from Park to Refuge around the country, living in their RV and having a wonderful time. We got some good ideas from them to investigate for our retirement plans.

A cave where ten thousand grey bats reside is nearby, and we head down to it around sunset. Although the afternoon warmed up nicely, as the sun set, the temperature dropped with it. The spring in the cave poured out into a beaver pond, so this was one place with plenty of water available. The Downy and Red Bellied Woodpeckers chattered and flew about until it was almost too dark to see, but no bats left the cave that we found. How do they know when it's time to come out anyway? we wondered.

Just as we started back to the car, I heard a soft call along the shore. "Who's awake?" it asked. "I'm awake," came the response, "Me too!" Once again, wishing has made it so. We kept thinking there should be owls along the beaver pond, and now we hear Great Horned Owls! Dick hooted back, and at first, we thought there was only one bird, responding to his hoots, even though neither of us knew what the other was saying. Finally we decided there were two birds talking to each other and trying to ignore this intruder to their conversation. Especially, since he didn't speak owl very well. After a few minutes, we actually saw the two owls take wing and leave for another part of the woods. I thought I heard them mutter something about rude people who wouldn't stop talking as they flew away.

We awoke early, as usual (will this always happen when we retire?), and got an early start on our bird watching. The cave area was fogged in, so we headed to some bottom land forests. Beautiful trees! A Hermit Thrush sang a duet with itself - another life bird for us. Two Red Shouldered Hawks shouted at each other from a swampy area, but hid from our view. Small Kinglets, Warblers, Chickadees and Nuthatches darted from branch to branch, chattering happily. Again, as we headed back to the car, we heard a soft call from the trees nearby. "Who cooks for you?" this one asked. It's 10:00 in the morning. Could there be a Barred Owl looking for breakfast this late in the day? Dick tried to talk to it again. This time the voice moved to a nearer tree, then stopped. I think she decided we were not good cooks when she saw us. If we had heard a Screech Owl too we really would have scored an Owl hat-trick!

It was a perfect day to drive home. The fall foliage was at its peak in northern Alabama. The hillsides were a crazy quilt pattern of yellow, gold, bronze, russet, orange, and scarlet on a background of deep pine green, with white fingers of Sycamore reaching through the canopy here and there, and a brilliant sky blue above. As we crossed into Tennessee, we could see the colors beginning to fade a bit. By the time we reached Louisville, the hills were the brown and grey we will see for the rest of the winter for the most part. Hawks soared, just enjoying the day, I think, more than they were hunting.

I have a comment to make to those drivers on I-65, in their cars, trucks, and SUV's, their RV's pulling horse trailers, and their semis. I heard you cursing at me, as you passed going 70 mph and more.

My Prius going at 63 mph, gets 52-54 miles per gallon on a regular basis. If there's a good stretch of downhill, it can reach 58 miles per gallon. HA! Top that, Bub!