Finally, I post again!

I know, it's been forever since I've posted, I've just been so busy.

May 20, 2007



Mrs. Barrow, Zack and I went to the Craven's House (A Civil War Battle area in Tennessee) hoping for some Oporornis (Connecticut and Mourning to be specific) Warblers that had been reported the day before. We struck out on both of them. It was pretty slow up there, but the highlights were: Canada Warbler - 2



Chestnut-sided Warbler - 1



Worm-eating Warbler - 1



Hooded Warbler - 1



Undidentified Emdpidonax Flycatcher.







Clyde Blum (who was there and birding with us) happened to mention a Chuck-will's-widow nest at Chickamauga National Battlefield in Georgia. We immediately perked up our ears, as that would be a (LONG overdue) lifer for both me and Zack. Since there wasn't much else going on at the Craven's House, we headed straight for "the Battlefield". He found the nest with ease. There was a blue marker to mark where the nest was, but it took our eyes a while to adjust and find the extremely camaflauged bird.







Here are a couple pictures:

After we soaked up the bird for about 20 minutes, we went back to Zack's house. We picked up a few other good birds: Orchard Oriole - 3+ , Northern Bobwhite - 1 , Grasshopper Sparrow (!!!) - 1 .

The Grasshopper Sparrow

The Northern Bobwhite

Harrison Bay State Park, Tennessee

Hello all,

On Saturday, (1-27-07) my family went with the Burns family to Harrison Bay State Park from 5 pm to 6pm. We got to see some nice birds, including some uncommon birds for our area.
Here is the list from our visit:

Red-tailed Hawk - 1 (on the way)
Ring-billed Gull - 125+
Herring Gull - 2 (juveniles)
RED-HEADED WOODPECKER - 3 (1 adult and 1 juvenile, the other one we didn't get a good enough look to age it)
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1 (male)
Downy Woodpecker - 1 (male)
Brown-headed Nuthatch - 1
White-breasted Nuthatch - 2+
Carolina Chickadee - 10+
Tufted Titmouse - 3+
Carolina Wren - 2+
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 3+
Pine Warbler - 1
Northern Cardinal - 7+
Common Grackle - 10+
RUSTY BLACKBIRD - 50+ (Rusty Blackbirds are uncommon to rare in our area, especially in this big of a flock. This is only the third time I've seen Rusty Blackbirds in our area!!!)


Good Birding!


David Hollie

Nocturnal Birds!!

Hello all,

On Friday night (1-26-06), I went on a walk at my house around dusk. After about a minute of walking, I heard an American Woodcock (AMWO) calling by the creek. I went closer and came within 15 ft or so of the bird (there was bamboo blocking my view, so I never saw the bird). I heard another AMWO a little further off, so I know we have at least 2 AMWOs on our property.

As it got darker, I decided to call an Eastern Screech Owl (EASO). In a minute or so, one responded with it's tremolo call! That was the fastest I have had an EASO respond! After a little more calling, I finally saw him (a Red Morph EASO) and got really close to him. Another EASO was calling further off (I'm assuming they were a pair).
Unfortunately, I didn't get any good pictures to post because it was too dark for the camera I was using.



All for now,

David Hollie

Greetings!

Hello all,

This is my first post to my blog and I will be making many more. I will mainly be posting on my birding adventures and will post lots of photos. If you couldn't tell by my title, I LOVE BIRDS!!!! I currently have a life list of 371 bird species, all in the ABA Area. One of my favorite birding spots is in my own yard, in the spring and fall, my yard can be filled with lots of migrating warblers, vireos, tanagers, etc. My yard list is currently 148 species. My family has many trips planned for this year, so I will be sure to let you know of the results of these trips.

All for now,

David Hollie