The forecast was not too great for today, lots of rain and thunderstorms. I had decided that if it looked good, I’d go birding at Anderson’s again and maybe Joe Hogan and if not then I’d go to the Hummingbird Banding event at Pinnacle Mountain State Park. Samantha happened to have wakened at 4 AM and decided to go with me. It looked like there was likely a window in the weather so we took off for Anderson’s. We got there about 8 and had barely set up the spotting scope when the rains hit so we decided to head to PMSP with a quick drive through of Joe Hogan to check out the ponds.
We got to PMSP just in time for the event to start and to my surprise, it was packed. Dan S & Samantha H were there and it Larry Witherspoon was the host and bander. We stayed close to two hours and took lots of pictures, maybe some will be good, and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Later after Sam crashed in the recliner while watching Doctor Who, there was another clearing in the weather and I decided to try Anderson’s again to see what could be seen. Pretty much the same as Friday with the addition of Long-billed Dowitchers and more mud. My shoes weighed 5 pounds more as I returned to the car than they did when I started. I tried my hand at digiscoping and they may turn out but I need to get a bracket if I’m going to be serious about it.
There wasn’t much going on at Joe Hogan but they have several drained or draining ponds so it might be a good idea to keep an eye on it in the next few months. Actually, I had the same species count there as at Anderson’s with one tenth the effort but Anderson’s had cooler birders.
Check my previous post for a map to the pond at Anderson’s.
Species seen or heard at Anderson’s
- Mallard
- Great Egret
- Snowy Egret
- Green Heron
- Semipalmated Plover
- Killdeer
- Spotted Sandpiper
- Semipalmated Sandpiper
- Least Sandpiper
- Pectoral Sandpiper
- Long-billed Dowitcher
- Least Tern
- Black Tern
- Forster’s Tern
- Belted Kingfisher
- Red-winged Blackbird
Species seen or heard at Joe Hogan:
- Great Blue Heron
- Great Egret
- Snowy Egret
- Green Heron
- Killdeer
- Greater Yellowlegs
- Lesser Yellowlegs
- Semipalmated Sandpiper
- Least Sandpiper
- Mourning Dove
- Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
- Purple Martin
- Tree Swallow
- American Robin
- Northern Mockingbird
- European Starling
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Common Grackle
- Brown-headed Cowbird
