Sabine Woods, Etc.

Ok, a quick summation of what's happened since I blogged last. Ugly contact dermatitis on my hands resulting in trip to Minor Care resulting in discovery that my blood pressure was dangerously high, resulting in increased pill consumption and an uncomfortable degree of perspective on the brevity of life. Bryce has been crawling and getting into things. Lucy still doesn't have any interest in crawling, and has instead concentrated on developing her vocal talents (she's learned to hit and sustain those eardrum damaging high notes). Michelle and I had a sitter for the babies on Friday, so we went out to dinner, but settled for swill (we should have known better - the name of the restaurant rhymes with dead mobster). A couple of Baltimore Orioles were by the pond that evening - the only passerine migrants I've seen around here lately. Still no Orchard Orioles in our neighborhood, but Summer Tanagers are back, and Northern Cardinals are again nesting in the honeysuckle behind the house, apparently rebuilding the same nest they used last year.

Saturday I went to Sabine Woods, and the birding didn't suck. There were at least 21 species of warblers there, of which I had 18 (Blue-winged, Tennessee, Orange-crowned, Northern Parula, Yellow-rumped, Black-throated Green, Palm, Cerulean, Black-and-white, Prothonotary, Worm-eating, Kentucky, Hooded, Ovenbird, American Redstart, Common Yellowthroat, Northern Waterthrush, and Yellow-breasted Chat). Missed Swainson's, but other birders reported seeing a couple.

Other year birds I added on Saturday included Warbling and Yellow-throated Vireos, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Swainson's and Wood Thrushes, Rose-breasted and Blue Grosbeaks, and Indigo Bunting. Can't believe I still don't have Scissor-tailed Flycatcher for the year. Or Crested Caracara. My year list stands at a paltry 176 species. To think there was a time when I might have gotten that many in a weekend. Oh how the mighty have fallen.This is a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker photographed at Sabine Woods on Saturday. Funny that with so many neotropical migrants around the only bird I manage a decent picture of is a common "winter" species.