What A Trip!!

Whoo-hoo! I'm back from Magee Marsh and tired as can be. I've picked up my dogs from the kennel at work, unpacked the car and started laundry, checked on the birds - Tree Swallow nest progressing nicely, new starling nest with one egg (discarded) in the gourd which was supposed to be for swallows (trap to be set later), fed and watered the horses and the cats (still have to do litter-box patrol ... UGH!) and read Susan's blog. Only part of what she says about me is true, the rest is made up. (I'll let you guess which is which.)

No time tonight to sort through my photos, let alone fight with my dial-up connection to post them, so I will leave you with my trip list and a teaser: I have photo documentation of a Great Blue Heron behavior that amazed everybody I told about it. More in a later post:

TRIP LIST:
(BOLD CAPS = Life Bird, HO = Heard Only,
N = Nest or nesting behavior seen)

Pied-billed Grebe
Canada Goose
Tundra Swan
Wood Duck (3 seen in trees: 1 M:F pair, 1 M)
Gadwall
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Double-crested Cormorant
American Bittern
Great Blue Heron (cool story later!)

Great Egret
Green Heron
Turkey Vulture
Bald Eagle (2 adults, 1 carrying food; 1 imm.)
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Sora (HO)
Common Moorhen
American Coot
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs (and maybe Lesser, but not sure)

Spotted Sandpiper
Ruddy Turnstone
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Dunlin
American Woodcock (N)
Ring-billed Gull
Mourning Dove
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe

Eastern Kingbird
Warbling Vireo
American Crow
Purple Martin (N)
Tree Swallow (N)
Barn Swallow (N)
Black-capped Chickadee (N)
Red-breasted Nuthatch
House Wren (N)
SEDGE WREN (HO)

Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Veery
GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH
Swainson's Thrush
Wood Thrush
American Robin (N)
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher
European Starling

Tennessee Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler (N)
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler (1 w/ white head!)
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler (HO)

Blackburnian Warbler
Palm Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Prothonotary Warbler
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Wilson's Warbler

Eastern Towhee (HO)
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow (HO)
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Baltimore Oriole
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow (N)

88 species, 20 warblers, 2 Life Birds and I added woodcock and Black-capped Chickadee to my "Nest List," which currently stands at 40 species.

We had one UFO tern, which I think was Common Tern, but not certain. Notable misses: Red-necked Phalarope, Least Bittern, White-faced Ibis, King Rail, and Orange-crowned Warbler, all of which were reported and would have been Lifers for me, and the Blackpoll Warbler, which would have been my first in spring plumage. "Duh" moments: Not turning around in time for the Carolina Wren, Red-tailed Hawk and White-breasted Nuthatch because "I'll see another one later. (Not!)

More later!