Before my Mom brought Isabelle back today, I took Lorelei birding with me. I'm here to tell ya: Hanging out with one child when you are used to two is like a vacation. We had a blast today.
My little birder...at least today she was looking through the right end.
Geoff found a new nature preserve for me so Lorelei and I went to explore. Magrish Riverlands something-or-other. Lots of different habitat here: River, forest, prairie, pond and swamp.
Some pancake fungus for Pam.
Me and my shaaaaaaa-dow...
Not too many birds there today, but I bet it rocks during Fall and Spring migrations.This is the swamp. Very cool. Can't wait to see it green.
After trading the girls with Mom (Isabelle came home, Lorelei went to sleep over at Mom's) I took Isabelle birding. Lake Isabella is chock full of really old, awesome sycamores. This one reminds me of a star-nosed mole. Or a hand. Or an octopus.
Here's it's badge. Tree #1955. I would love to know how old it is. Anyone know if parks will let you look through its tree records?
I heard and saw a kinglet. This is a picture of where it had been. I'm not sure if it was a ruby or golden-crowned. Hard to ID a bird the size of a hummingbird in thick underbrush.I also saw the first tree sparrow of the year. And yes, Julie...I KNOW this was a tree sparrow.
:)
7 comments:
Cute little birder you have there!!
Thank you for the cool fungus!
I was thinking of going to 1000 Acre Swamp tomorrow (study avoidance - I'll come up with anything to do not to study). I love old sycamores.
"My little birder...at least today she was looking through the right end." Precious. How nice to have quality time one-on-one with each of your cuties.
What a great day...I would have loved to be with you. You are so adventurous.
I've had just Liam for the past two days and it has been heaven. (PLT has been in town with cousins). I spoil him shamelessly, with no one to protest that he's getting all the attention, and we get along like a house afire. He draws in the studio next to me and prattles away. We show each other what we've done. Oh, it's wonderful. Lucky Lorelei, lucky you. She's toooo cute.
Forgot to mention: ruby-crowned kinglets should be all cleared out by late October; golden-crowneds are the only kinglets here in Dec. and Jan. Their call is a three-part sibilant whistle, see see see, very characteristic of the winter woods.
If you look very carefully and study the faint reflection in the glass of the binoculars Lorelei is looking through, you can tell what bird she was looking at: an Ivory-billed Woodpecker!!
Great life bird Lorelei.
Started to say that you most likely saw a Golden-crowned Kinglet, but Julie beat me to it. If you can "pish," you can usually call Golden-crowns in pretty close. For all that they are so tiny, they are bold and inquistive and respond to pishing fairly well.
Used my ever-improving "pish" technique at the CNC yesterday. I was looking at an empty, "birdless" field, pished once, and about 20-25 White-throated Sparrows popped up (The first species I ever successfully attracted, and by far the easiest.) Did it again and added 3 male Cardinals and 3, possibly 4 Rufous-sided Towhees. (Yes, I know they are now called Eastern, but I protest that name change.) First I saw one beautiful male towhee in the distance, then heard 2 calling from that area. A third male popped up very close by and posed in the sunlight (Rats! No digiscoping equipment!) and when I left, I could hear at least 3, maybe more, calling back and forth. The pish is a powerful tool; I recommend it highly.
~Kathi, who needs one of Birdchick's "Pish Off!" shirts
Cool new area to bird, Susan! Looks like a blast. Great that you got to have some one-on-one time with your kids. My sister-in-law and her ex-husband do this weekly with their kids -- one-on-one nights. They alternate kids and weeks so that they each get special time with their boys. I think its a great idea and I think when our kids are older, we may institute something like it in our household. For now, we just have too much fun together! :)
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