Local Fliers

Even though it is mid-summer, the bird activity is picking up the tiniest bit.  There have been reports of a few migrants already passing through the area.  I have two hummer feeders up in anticipation of their arrival, hopefully soon.    To date, no hummers have shown up but the house finches seem to be interested. 

Yesterday at this same feeder, there were three juvenile titmice hanging on the chain all at one time.  Needless to say, by the time I could get my camera they were gone.  Hubby told me today that just after I left the room, there were four juvenile cardinals on the feeder and chain outside my sewing room.   We have seen the titmice also clinging to the anchor bolts protruding from our brick wall, particularly when it was raining about 10 days ago.  Juveniles do strange things and it is so funny to watch them travel around together as they explore.  Won't be long before they are each on their own and won't be spending much time as a group. 


Another incident of no camera in time was yesterday morning when a pileated woodpecker swooped across the yard.  I ran for the camera and sneaked out into the garage looking for the limb he had landed on but the cluster of crows out there spooked and took off.  When they did that, the pileated left too, going across the street to the neighbors.  We don't often see pileated woodpeckers here, so it is a real thrill when they do visit. 


Late Sunday afternoon, I picked up Birdlady and we went to Ft. Pickens.  With the heat, its easy to wind up just staying inside all the time.  Too easy to do, so we figured we needed to get outside for a while.  There had been a thunderstorm at the beach the day before, so there were areas where fresh water was standing.  The gulls loved it and congregated for wonderful baths. 

We were hoping to see some late tern babies, but although we did see terns, no babies were visible. 


We did have good fortune, however, in seeing a somewhat unusual white morph of a great blue heron.  He was not a welcome visitor as the two great blues were harassing him constantly until he left their immediate area. 

Please forgive the poor photo.  You can see that a longer lens would definitely be of help.  Oh, well.  Not at the present. 


While we were on the beach, the Blue Angels came through.  Birdlady commented that she had many photos of them.  I didn't admit that I had none, and just snapped this one, hoping for the best. 

It was very late and they were across the bay,  but at least you can tell they're airplanes.  After they went by, they did a peel off where each jet went in a different  direction up into the sky.


Y'all take care.