Birding with my son

Spring is defitely in the air! The trees are budding. There are hundreds and hundreds of berry blossoms on the vines. The birds are singing on territory. It's a wonderful time!

Yesterday was pretty quiet down in the woods. Joshua went birding with me and we had a great time hanging out. I added a few new ones to my list for the property this year. Joshua and I ended up down at the new pond. We just sat down and talked for a while. While we were there, a Northern Harrier flew low over the trees causing the Red-winged Blackbirds to be quite restless. A little bit later, a couple of Mallards came flying in as if they were going to land on the pond. They saw us there and decided not to do it. But, I got a good look at them as they flew by. While sitting at the pond, I kept hearing a Red-bellied Woodpecker behind me (on the western tree line.) I turned to see a male and female excavating a nest hole in a dead tree. They worked and worked for a long time. When I finally left, the female was sticking her body in more than halfway coming out with wood chips everytime. That should be fun to watch them this year! Joshua got to get a really good look at them with my binoculars.

Other wildlife news from the property includes thousands of tadpoles in the new pond. They are absolutely everywhere! There are large ones and small ones. It should be interesting around there when they all get legs and come out of the water! Insects beware!

Birds seen March 14 (29 species): Mallard, Cattle Egret, Northern Harrier, Red-shouldered Hawk, Killdeer, Eurasian Collared Dove, Mourning Dove, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Eastern Phoebe, White-eyed Vireo, Blue Jay, American Crow, Purple Martin, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Eastern Bluebird, American Robin, Northern Mockingbird, Cedar Waxwing, Northern Parula, Field Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird, Brewer's Blackbird, American Goldfinch

'08 Species Seen as of Mar. 14: 63
'04 Species Seen as of Mar. 14: 60