A Middle Creek Morning - August 15

After the thunderstorms last evening, I decided to check out Middle Creek wildlife Area to see if any early migrants had shown up...the fall migration usually only really gets started in our area the last week of August and only lasts about 3 weeks (if that - last yer we really only had on good week of birding).

I arrived @ stop 1 @ 7:45am, and scoped the ponds...the first species stopped was a Great Egret foraging along the edge of the pond, then a Great Blue Heron flew in, and I a found a pair a Wood Ducks in the back of the pond.,,,on the main pond there where Cormorants and one Spotted Sandpiper foraging on the tree stumps...I decided to move on and had 21 species.

Great Egret

Spotted Sandpiper

I next stopped just up the road from stop 1, as I spotted raptor flying low across the grass-fields (a possible Harrier), but I glassed the raptor, I turned out to be an juvenile Red Tailed Hawk...one of 4 I would see today. But all was not lost, in the same field I found Eastern Meadowlarks, Field Sparrows, and Eastern Kingbirds.

Eastern Kingbird

With my species count at 28, I next moved Stop 3 along the tour road....there was not much to see here toady, only some Barn Swallows, Tree Swallows, and several Goldfinchs....I did have a flyover Green Heron..but after about 20 minutes of scoping the area, I decided to move on...only adding 8 species to my daily total...now at 36.

Barn Swallow

I continued on the tour road without really seeing much until I was about to exit the Wildlife area and I heard the familiar song the Eastern Meadowlark,,,,I decided to see if I could spot the signing Meadowlark and was rewarded with a very close observation...and as an added bonus I also heard and saw several Bobolinks (a little surprised - they should almost all be gone by now - the hot, humid weather had a few hang around longer then normal). 

Bobolink

Exiting the tour road I proceeded to my last stop of the day, the Reesers Ponds along the entrance road to look for any shorebirds.

I set up the scope and began scanning the area....the first shorebird species spotted was a Killdeer, followed by Greater Yellowlegs, Solitary Sandpiper, Semi-plamated, Least and another Spotted Sandpiper,,,,I did see the recently reported juvenile Little Blue Heron. After about 30 minutes I decied to call it a day...,,,total species count was 47,,,,a good morning for sure,

I packed my scope away and started or home...after about 1 mile...I reached for my Monarch 7's and they where not on the seat.....panic set in....I then realized I left them on the rear bumber of my Blazer....I stopped and checked no gone.....more panic,,,,turned around and backtracked my trail....as I was re-entering the wildlife area I saw a man walking his dog,,,and as a long shot...stopped t ask if had found any bin...sure enough....he had found then laying on the road...I offered him a reward,,,but he refused....I thanks him and began checking the bins...no damage or cracks and still working precisely well...thanks Nikon for building a sturdy and hardy pair of bins...I would recommend Monarch 7's to anyone....they are light, clear, have a wide field of view and lastly they are tough and resist falls....it was an interesting 3 1/2 hours of birding this morning.

Not all that wander are lost.