Saturday, April 12 - Hatching Day!!!

The bluebird eggs began hatching today! One egg hatched today. Now comes the tough job for the parents. Here's a picture of the newest bluebird. I put some Tanglefoot on the pole to keep the ants from getting to them. They should be pretty well protected with the Tanglefoot and the raccoon/snake baffle on the pole.

I was pretty excited about birding Saturday morning. A front moved through on Friday. Humidity was low. There were light north winds blowing. I was hoping some of the birds that might have headed north during the night decided to stay put until more favorable breezes began blowing. I wasn't disappointed. Swallows were everywhere! Barn, Bank, Cliff, Northern Rough-winged and Tree Swallows flew over in large numbers while I was down at the new pond. Vireos were out in good numbers too. Blue-headed, White-eyed and Red-eyed were singing quite a bit. Philadelphia were foraging in the trees. Warblers also made a good showing. Black-and-white were out in good numbers. A couple of Black-throated Green showed up in the tops of the trees. A Golden-winged was singing from the top of a tree. It took me about 15 minutes to finally locate him! The Northern Parula was singing at his tree. A male Hooded popped out of some tri-foliate orange trees and posed for me for a couple of minutes. Yellow-rumped are changing into their breeding plumage. Every year I have to stop and wonder what I'm looking at when I seem them changing. They really are pretty warblers in breeding plumage. A Summer Tanager became my friend while I was searching for the Black-throated Green Warbler. He got in some low branches and just watched me as I scanned the treetops and looked at him occasionally. He would sing a low song and just look at me. That was pretty cool. Maybe he was people watching. With the cooler temperatures and lower humidity, the mosquitoes weren't as bad, which was nice.

Twice I was scolded by adult birds because I got too close to their fledglings. Just as I entered the woods, a Carolina Wren began scolding me and I found two of their fledglings with the yellow still around the edge of their beak. Later in the woods, a Tufted Titmouse began scolding me and I quickly found the juveniles, also with yellow still around their beak. They look so cute with their short tails!

Here's a picture of an Eastern Kingbird that showed up in our front yard a week ago. I just got it off the camera yesterday.

Species seen on April 12 (47 species): Carolina Chickadee, Neotropic Cormorant, Eurasian Collared Dove, Mourning Dove, Cattle Egret, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Broad-winged Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Great Blue Heron, Little Blue Heron, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Blue Jay, Killdeer, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Purple Martin, Northern Parula, Spotted Sandpiper, House Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Bank Swallow, Barn Swallow, Cliff Swallow, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Tree Swallow, Summer Tanager, Tufted Titmouse, Blue-headed Vireo, Philadelphia Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo, White-eyed Vireo, Black Vulture, Black-and-white Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Golden-winged Warbler, Hooded Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Pileated Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Carolina Wren