Went across the mountains to Arapaho NWR on Saturday. Some spectacular sights. The best is to see a flock of 50 Wilson's phalaropes swirling through the sky like a flock of sandpipers (which they are, in a way) and then land in the middle of the lake like ducks. Common in Colorado, but not in these numbers. Phalorpes are large "sandpipers" and the Wilson's Ph. feed in the shallows by twirling around so their bill stirs up some edibles.
Also saw a black tern soaring through the air like a giant swallow. I know, terns are white -- but not this one.
Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013
Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013
Bobolinks sometimes get called the Star Wars bird because they sound like R2D2. Scroll down a bit on this Audubon page.
Bobolinks nest to some extent in NC. Mainly Wilkes, Ashe, and Watauga counties, wherever suitable habitat remains.
This came across my FB feed this morning...
Anyone know what kind of bird this is?
IMG_7546.jpg
"That young man has an extra step on his ladder the rest of us just don't have."
Bear bird...
Bluebirds are not the only ones that will use those boxes. Wrens and swallows love them too. Swallows can be more aggressive - at least in our yard where the swallows evicted our (western) bluebirds last year. Don't forget to clean those boxes out in the winter - it's always fun to see what stuff got including in the nest building process.
turkey.jpg
Seems everyone has a turkey photo. After this I moved the suet cage to a hook that can't be reached from the railing.
This was a bad year for irruptive winter finches here in NC. Saw a few pine siskins and purple finches, but that's about it. Evening grosbeaks were very rare in the state. Searching records, I found just five reports. One was good, however, as a flock of fifteen was seen at a feeder in Yadkinville.
I did seem to have several brown headed nuthatches this year.
Big female pileated visited.https://nchuntandfish.com/forums/ind...s30-jpg.45261/