I went birding!!!

Swami and Swamette took the girls for the night, presumably to give us a break, but Swamette just wants to go shopping for school clothes. Hell hath no fury like Swamette with a credit card.

And look at Swami's new pet:

This is Stanley. He enjoys music and shedding skin.

A cute-burrito...with an extra helping of girliness.

I went to Kelley's Nature Preserve, and I saw more bugs than birds, but I was just happy to be out in 75 degree weather, so it was okay.

I like praying mantis's. Is that right? Mantis's?
This one checked me out while upside down...

And this one was giving me the evil eye right side up.

I jumped up and down with this one: A Viceroy!
The difference between monarchs and viceroys...the black line on the hindwings and smaller size. A life bug for me.

The Little Miami is so low, I was able to walk out to the middle of it. I stood there so long, soaking up the WARM sun and cool breeze and bird song, some neighbors poked their heads up and went about their business:

Some killdeer...

And let me say it now...give me a million ambiguous hawks ID's, but you can keep the sandpipers! I am lost on this one. Fairly clean grayish back, dark eye line, yellow legs and mostly white underparts with just a bit of gray/brown wash on the throat.
I need the Birdchick! She's the expert sandpiperess now!

I think this is a juvenile wood duck. That whitish chin strap is all I can see every time I look at this picture.

It's a bird! It's a plane!




I added a few new caterpillars to our habitat. I found these guys on some milkweed...milkweed caterpillars, soon to grow into milkweed tussock moths!

1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Who goes there?
King Arthur: It is I, Arthur, son of Uther Pendragon, from the castle of Camelot. King of the Britons, defeater of the Saxons, Sovereign of all England!
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Pull the other one!
King Arthur: I am, and this is my trusty servant Patsy. We have ridden the length and breadth of the land in search of knights who will join me in my court at Camelot. I must speak with your lord and master.
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: What? Ridden on a horse?
King Arthur: Yes!
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: You're using coconuts!
King Arthur: What?
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: You've got two empty halves of coconut and you're bangin' 'em together.
King Arthur: So? We have ridden since the snows of winter covered this land, through the kingdom of Mercia, through...
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Where'd you get the coconuts?
King Arthur: We found them.
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Found them? In Mercia? The coconut's tropical!
King Arthur: What do you mean?
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Well, this is a temperate zone
King Arthur: The swallow may fly south with the sun or the house martin or the plover may seek warmer climes in winter, yet these are not strangers to our land?
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?
King Arthur: Not at all. They could be carried.
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: What? A swallow carrying a coconut?
King Arthur: It could grip it by the husk!
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: It's not a question of where he grips it! It's a simple question of weight ratios! A five ounce bird could not carry a one pound coconut.
King Arthur: Well, it doesn't matter. Will you go and tell your master that Arthur from the Court of Camelot is here?
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Listen. In order to maintain air-speed velocity, a swallow needs to beat its wings forty-three times every second, right?
King Arthur: Please!
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Am I right?

Bounty at the Oxbow

I had the day free today, so I headed out to the Oxbow.
I am so glad I did. I have never been there during spring migration (Why? I don't know.)
Let's do the ho-hum stuff first:

As I saw this fly in, I was hoping that it was a loon, seeing the pale chest.
But it was a juvenile double-crested cormorant. I've never seen a juvenile, but cormorants are a dime a dozen up at Lake Erie.

This was pretty cool. I saw what I thought was a water bug skimming along the water about 20 feet away. But I realized that it was moving way too fast to be a bug.
A snake! A Northern Water Snake, to be exact. Not venomous, but aggressive. Glad I didn't get close. If you click it to enlarge, you can see his tongue flicking!
Okay, onto the good stuff:
*(Note: I am 95% sure of these ID's. But if anyone has an opinion, I would love to hear it. I am weak in warblers, shorebirds, vireos...well, I'm weak in a lot of areas. But I rock at raptors!)

I'm calling this one a Northern waterthrush. But parts of it make me lean just a bit towards Louisiana. The habitat is wrong for a Louisiana, though. This was swampy, flat shoreline.

I'm called this one a Palm warbler, and though you can't see it well in the photo, he had a faint reddish cap.

With a better view, I could probably ID this one better. But all I got to see was his eye ring and a very faint yellow wash on his flanks. So I am saying Warbling vireo, but I like to hear if anyone thinks Solitary.
I heard way more birds than I saw today. The warbler family is a tough one to learn when it comes to songs.
Other birds seen today:
Robins
Mallards
Killdeer
Canada geese
Tree swallows
American coot
Some warbler smacking a caterpillar against a branch

6 Days until Magee Marsh!
I am especially jazzed about this year's trip, not just for the alone time, but also because my confidence as a birder is stronger now than in past years. The first year we went, I was new at birding, and Magee Marsh is an overwhelming place to go on a first bird-trip. I didn't know the landscape, or most of the birds I was seeing.
Last year, I was better at it, but still a little unsure.
Now, I am ready to rock it hard on the Boardwalk. I've heard that some birders never make it out of the parking lot, it's so birdy there.
Anyone who reads my blog and is planning to go up to Magee, let me know. Maybe we can meet up and stumble over some warblers together!