Day 122: May 1st – More colors (plus)

Sunny, hot (89), and calm

       We set our sights on Santee National Wildlife Refure today as we continue our journey north.  Santee is a very large refuge, and we just don’t have time to explore the entire site.  OK, perhaps we DO have time, but we are simply anxious to get home to our home and to our family.  So, pick the one area you want to bird, do it, and continue the trip home. 

       We decided to spend a couple of hours in the early morning hiking the White’s Bluff Trail.  A one mile loop, the trail winds through a mixed pine-hardwood forest and passes through several long stretches of swamp as well. 

       Yesterday’s theme of the fantastic colors coming through at this time of year continues.  Our very first sighting of the day is a beautiful Eastern bluebird.

       We photograph it from afar, but the lighting is adequate to make for a decent image.  Next, we hear and finally get a glimpse of a Common yellowthroat (starting to see a pattern here?)

       Next, Sharon hears the oddly distinctive song of the Brown-headed cowbird….a sound reminiscent of a dripping water faucet.

       Next on tap are a couple of woodpeckers.  The first was a Pileated which kept flying around us as if to ascertain who or more likely “what” we were.  Then the distant call of the Red-bellied woodpecker.    

       As we approached a long boardwalk winding through a swamp, I could only think of one bird….the Prothonotary warbler.  This is perfect habitat and we are in the southland, home to this brilliantly-hued warbler.  As if on cue, the bird sings out and we are quick to find it perched high above us. 

Prothonotary warbler

       With this “first of the year” bird checked off on the list, we continue and find several Painted buntings.  We had several of these gorgeous birds yesterday and suddenly a fairly rare bird is becoming a “junk bird” (just kidding, of course).

       We round up the trip around the White’s Bluff Trail with a Cuckoo…..of course the Yellow-billed variety.  WE heard it over a long period of time, and we saw two of them pass overhead……never close enough for a shot, however.

       After 6 ½ hours of travelling north, we took a quick look at the Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge.  While far from being a species ranked among the top 100 as far as color, we did find a nice addtion to our “Year list” , the Northern rough-winged swallow.  Patience paid off, as after following the swallows for more than an half an hour, I finally managed to fire off two shots as the birds flew by and I’ve determined them to be “blog-worthy”.  After dinner and a good night’s rest, we will return to this refuge tomorrow morning in the hopes of finding some new migrating warblers.  From there, it’ll be New York or bust as we head home after being away for almost 4 months.  Ah……home sweet home……at least until June when we head for Montana!

       PS:  Today marks 1/3 of the way through our year’s project date.  As Pete Seeger so poignantly put it, “And the damn fool said ‘Push on!’”