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I birded close to home today for variety.  I arrived at Cook’s Landing at 7:15.  I followed what has become my standard route of down the backwater to the river then along Pfeiffer Loop trail for a bit until it connects back to the River Trail then that to where it meets Campbell Lake Trail then that until it meets the Isabella Jo Trail then immediately back onto the Pfeiffer Loop trail until it comes very close to (but does not connect to) Isabella Jo again then back along the back water to my car. About a 4 mile loop with a good variety of habitat although admittedly very little time on Isabella Jo.

Probably my best bird of the day was a Warbling Vireo.  I heard his frenetic warble that seemed to be falling all over itself.  I couldn’t see what it was but I knew it wasn’t the Mockingbird or Gnatcatcher that I could see. Finally I was rewarded with a look before he flew deeper into the woods.

I noticed two hybrid Canada Geese there today that were hanging together they way they were the last time I saw them.  I wonder if they realize that they are a little different than the others?  I’ve seen them about three times now and even when they are with other Canadas they seem to hang together.

I noticed that some of the recently abundant birds were absent of in decline. I saw no Dickcissel or Eastern Meadowlark and the Indigo Buntings and Eastern Kingbirds were far fewer than say a month ago.

I did see a white orange billed AFLAC style goose on the river but I don’t get to count him.

Species seen or heard:

• Canada Goose
• Green Heron
• Red-tailed Hawk
• Killdeer
• Rock Pigeon
• Eurasian Collared-Dove
• Yellow-billed Cuckoo
• Chimney Swift
• Belted Kingfisher
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Northern Flicker
• Eastern Kingbird
• Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
• White-eyed Vireo
• Warbling Vireo
• Blue Jay
• American Crow
• Fish Crow
• Purple Martin
• Tree Swallow
• Carolina Chickadee
• Tufted Titmouse
• Carolina Wren
• Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
• American Robin
• Northern Mockingbird
• European Starling
• Northern Cardinal
• Indigo Bunting
• Red-winged Blackbird

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

After reading an ARBird post about some interesting birds at Joe Hogan, I decided to zip out there on the last day of the month to see if I could get my monthly species count to 100 (it was currently at 99).  As I was driving past Anderson’s I spotted a gaggle of birders by one drained pond and decided to stop and see what was going on.  Glad I did. The pond was full of shorebirds and terns, seven species of the first and three of the other.  Of primary interest was what I mistook for a Hudsonian Godwit but which turned out to be the still exotic but more likely Marbled Godwit.  Even so, I was able to puish my monthly count over 100 for the fifth month in a row.

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Species seen or heard:

• Mallard
• Great Blue Heron
• Great Egret
• Snowy Egret
• Green Heron
• Semipalmated Plover
• American Avocet
• Spotted Sandpiper
• Lesser Yellowlegs
• Marbled Godwit
• Semipalmated Sandpiper
• Least Sandpiper
• Pectoral Sandpiper
• Least Tern
• Forster’s Tern
• Bank Swallow