Lucky Day

We are all a great deal luckier than we realize, 
we usually get what we want - 
or near enough. 
~ Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

I was thinking about fate and luck and life today as I drove slowly down the roads looking for birds. I would like to say I was only on untraveled country roads, but I cannot. I can say that I mostly pulled over and never got a honk or a shaking fist from another driver. It's Sunday. Traffic is light.

Zelda waited patiently for me to finish (and twice I left the car - I almost never do that. It turns out that it was part of today's luck). And this time I had her belted in. For some reason I was nervous about her safety. Perhaps it did matter. just before the final turn back towards our town a stray dog was guarding the pothole-riddled road that marked the end of the bird-crawl. The dog jumped up when it saw us coming - it wanted to play chase and the passenger-side window was open. I've heard nightmare stories of dogs jumping out the window of a moving car. I'm not sure that Z would consider it. She made no move to jump, but she did see the dog and looked over at me. She could have been thinking "what's the matter with that dog?" or "aren't you proud of me for staying put? Whatever. I probably need to make belting her in a habit.

The state highway traffic was slow enough for me to be lured to a stop (I pulled in by a gate, people. I'm not completely crazy.) to photograph the eagle's nest.* The grey and gloomy day did not lend itself to good photos. I will play with it, but will likely have to try again - before the trees leaf-out.

I noticed very few birds in the usual spots so slowing for a group of "little brown birds" seemed important - I might not see many birds today (and I was later in the day than normal - already not expecting much). Then, in a location I've never seen one before, I recognized the weird low swooping - unmistakeable black and with wings - of the Pileated Woodpecker.** 

I feel like I'm always trying to shoot through a fence or twigs or something. Still, there is no mistaking this bird.

Woohoo!

 It stopped near the turtle pond and I fumbled for a few shots. There are moments on this little stretch of road that are hard to describe. 

I laughed away the tears and moved along to grab some photos of the usual suspects...mockers and grebes, teals and cormorants, killdeer and vultures, and cardinals - the cardinals were everywhere. I missed a photo of the lone hawk (probably Red-shouldered) that refused to wait as I made the u-turn. Meadowlarks, phoebes, and bluebirds showed up. And I finally saw some Cedar Waxwings. [Last winter giant flocks showed up everywhere and often - in the parks, along the country roads, and in the neighborhood. We usually see them starting in early January. But this year was dramatically different.] Today I watched a large flock of birds fly across the road and perch in our red oak. Finally, the Cedar Waxwings showed up.

I think the Robins have been here all winter.

One grebe at the ponds and two down the road near the "ford."

Terrible shots from below, but you can at least see the black mask and yellow-tipped tail that say  Cedar Waxwing.

A number of cardinals were just across the highway from the ponds

That showy male cardinal often gets all the attention. The female is a beautiful bird. This one was feeding on a hackberry, I think.

I'm closing in on getting a new camera...maybe...

Another red bird at the turtle pond...

...and one at my house.

Zelda had to wait again as I watched, but missed documenting, another six or so different woodpeckers.  She is a good dog - asleep now and bubble-barking as she chases squirrels in her sleep. 

It is big enough to see from the highway, but only in the winter when the trees have shed their leaves.

NOTES:

* I have a crazy thought rattling around in my head that I'd like to hike closer for some photos. First I'll need to research the property owner and hone my approach. The last time I sought access to someone's property I got a multi-call runaround followed by a reluctant sounding, but firm "NO." 

**Other people have reported seeing the pileated over the last few weeks, but I don't know that I have seen it since the CBC. And, since that was the important day, I tried not to be impatient or frustrated. If I had not delayed going out today, if I had not stopped to photograph the eagle's nest...lucky, lucky me.

FOOTNOTE:

A friend called to let me know she was going to be in town and would be able to pick up some materials I was going to donate to our Junior Master Naturalist group. I asked her if she would have time to come to this place with me. Once I introduced her I knew she would be able to navigate the "bird crawl" on her own. 

We checked on the location of the Spotted Chorus Frog from last weekend. We heard no calls, but saw Greater Yellowlegs and Killdeer.

So we took a couple of hours and identified ducks (!) and other birds. We saw many more than I'd seen earlier AND the Vermilion Flycatcher appears at the very end and there is a strong suspicion that we saw the juvenile Bald Eagle as well. What a day!

The coot shook out its wings.

Redheads and a coot.

Red-bellied Woodpecker

The final list of birds:

Red-shouldered Hawks
Bald Eagle
Merlin
American Kestrel
Turkey Vulture
Great Egret
Great Blue Heron
Pileated Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Logerhead Shrike
Vermilion Flycatcher
Eastern Phoebe
Northern Cardinal
Northern Mockingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Red-winged Blackbird
Pine Warbler
Red-crowned Kinglet
Carolina Chickadee
Pipit
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Meadowlarks
Eastern Bluebird
Ring-billed Gull
Greater Yellowlegs
Wilson's Snipe
Canada Goose
American Crow
American Coot
Pied-billed Grebe
Chipping Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow

Oh, heavens! And the ducks...

Redheads
Blue-winged Teal
Green-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Gadwall
Northern Shoveler
American Widgeon

And the one frog:

Spotted Chorus Frog (heard along Shallow Ford Road just to the west/southwest of Slough Pond)

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Great Blue Heron

Vermilion Flycatcher

NO MORE PARTIES (I said it, but I guess I didn't mean it - you would have to know my friends)

Come come! Come Out!
From bogs old frogs command the dark

and look...the stars

~ Kikaku, Japanese Haiku

It is winter-ish* and a few of us have been listening for winter-breeding frogs. Down in Leander there is a location where the Strecker's Chorus Frog are calling while the Spotted Chorus Frog has been heard near Temple.** And they aren't calling to direct attention to the "stars." The males are calling to the females. It's courting conversation. It's more like "come over here baby!" [I know - not an appropriate pick-up line, but the frogs don't know that.]

This spot is usually dry. When the field floods the birds come out to eat whatever the water attracts (and forces out of the ground). If it is winter, the Spotted Chorus frogs wake up. This view explains why we will NOT see the frogs from the roadway. It also explains why we will be able to take audio recordings. It's a pretty quiet spot. The folks living nearby almost rolled their eyes - wait, they did roll their eyes - when I started talking about the frogs calling.

So, a few folks were interested in taking a short road trip up the highway in the hopes of hearing the Spotted Chorus Frog. There is always the hope we would SEE one too. But the frogs are calling from private property. We might have to be satisfied with recording the call (which is very distinctive - a fast call that sounds like one is running a fingernail across the small teeth of a comb). Anyway, I was the hostess as I am the one who knew where to find the frogs in question.

I know, I know - I said I wouldn't be responsible for any more events/activities after some of my past wayward attempts. But these folks are pretty easy - no sign-up and minimal organizational details required. They will show up or not. We will hear the frogs or not. If we open our eyes we will definitely see birds as we will be in the middle of a couple of "hot spots." One way or another it would work out - and it did.***

There was an attempt at gaining physical access to the property. I stopped at a nearby house and got the name and number of the person responsible for the land. Three phone calls later I got the "reluctant" refusal**** so we would stand at the fence and be satisfied with audio recordings.***** To prepare I visited the area a number of times during the last couple of days - to know if and when the frogs might be counted on to start their calls (so some of the photos may come from an earlier drive. The sky will tell - early morning shots are grey and dark. In later shots there is sunshine.).

KM and BD recording and checking out the field.

HY grabbed some amazing photos. He's promised to share.

In any event the group gathered and we headed down the road (as I made the last attempt at permission to cross the fence). The frogs were located and recorded in two spots (we also think we might have heard some calls of the Southern Leopard Frog later, but they didn't call long enough for us to record). 

Then it was on to the birds. We saw a Bald Eagle, Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, the Vermilion Flycatcher, Loggerhead Shrikes, American Kestrels, Northern Mockingbirds, Eastern Phoebes, Eastern Bluebirds, Wilson's Snipe, meadowlarks, hawks, cormorants, White-faced Ibis, Greater Yellowlegs, and ducks (lots and lots of ducks). Here you go:

I saw this Red-tailed Hawk on the first trip of the day. We saw another later.

Greater Yellowlegs filled the flooded field. I was reassured by KM that this species did not eat frogs. 

The shrikes were out in numbers.

The Canada Goose is called the rat of the bird world. I do like to hear and see them, but they are on the increase here.

The first of a few American Kestrels.

The Bald Eagle would appear early and again as we were preparing to leave...quite an accommodating bird.

I never get a decent "in flight" shot of anything, but this is the eagle.

Here is another.

Ring-billed Gull

DUCK BREAK: Yes, there were ducks. I took a few photos. The ducks are still mostly too far away for me to get good photos. I am often frustrated in the field when trying to identify them. But as the winter rolls along, I start to be lured into an appreciation of some of them.

Cinnamon Teal

Gadwall

Northern Shovelers

Here we have American Widgeons and a couple of Hooded Mergansers. The male merganser dove as I took the shot.  I think one of these ducks in the foreground is a juvenile and the other a female. I dunno. 

There is the adult male with that obvious white "hood." The wild-feathered wild-eyed bird  is the juvenile.

This might be a clearer shot of the male merganser.

There were other ducks - pintails, Blue-winged Teal, Ring-necked Ducks, and likely a few more. [I have to stop including ducks or they might make me identify and count them on the Christmas Bird Count next year. And I do not do ducks.]

More birds and stuff:

White-faced Ibis

If you catch the sunlight just right their whole body glows an iridescent green...gorgeous.

Greater Yellowlegs

The Ibis is in the shadows, but it almost looks like these Wilson Snipe are showing off their improbably long beaks to  another bird with an impressive one.

Wilson's Snipe

This Killdeer popped up a the last minute.

Once the sun came out the turtles were warming up.

Another shot of the Greater Yellowlegs from where the frogs were calling. 

We saw 15 to 20 Canada Geese along our route. 

The Bald Eagle returned. 

One of our company was hoping to see the eagles. I really thought it was too late in the day. I'm glad I was wrong.

Most of the birds left the pond when the eagle arrived. This GBH moved up to a perch in one the trees surrounding that pond.

I didn't adjust any of the photos here. My computer is full and I don't have time. The Vermilion was high on a utility line as the sun was going down. I took a few "silhouette" shots before it turned and looked into the sun.

NOTES:

* We haven't had much of a winter this year.

** Yeah, it was me. I discovered them calling a couple of years ago while birdwatching and there are 3 or 4 spots where we look for them. This year I started hearing them in one area and quickly notified the Amphibian Watch folks I've been volunteering with the last three years.

***And I love these people - I trained with all of them at one time or another. They have taught and continue to teach me so much. And they make me laugh. What would be a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon?

****There are some "famous" examples of rare species impacting land use in our general area. Property owners and such are VERY reluctant to even whisper about an unusual species or let someone on their property to look (or listen).

*****I'm used to driving up and down these roads and being satisfied with recordings and photos made from the car.

Final Note: As we were about ready to leave (154 photos of the Vermilion Flycatcher) a car pulled up. It was a fellow just getting started in birdwatching. I showed him my camera, talked to him a bit, encouraged him to try a couple of "nature nerd" apps, and handed him my card. If he is serious (and writes for info) I can send him information about getting in touch with the local Audubon. 

People are starving for the wild.

I get fed regularly.

There is still enough to share - for now.