Pileated Woodpecker!

An acquaintance from a bird group I belong to is a bird bander in the Washington, DC area. Last weekend he banded a Pileated Woodpecker and shared photos of the bird as he was holding it. I lamented to the group, once again, that I had never seen a Pileated. Another member of the group from the St Louis area told me about a sure-fire place to find one just 20 miles to the south of here.

I had business out of the office early this afternoon so I thought, what the heck, I'll just take the entire afternoon off and look for it after my meeting. It had been raining off and on all day, but I really wanted to see one to add to my life list so I took a chance.

I wandered around the park in the drizzling rain for about half an hour when I heard one and then saw it. I couldn't get a photograph because of the nasty weather and the fact that it was up high in the trees. Didn't care though ...... I had finally seen a Pileated Woodpecker!

I was happily driving out of the park when I looked over and saw it again. This time it was low on the tree trunk. I turned around, parked and grabbed my camera. He cooperated and I was able to get a couple of decent shots as he flew from tree to tree. What an awesome sight.




I can't wait to go back on a decent sunny day with my good camera.

Thank you, Angel!

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FOY Hummingbird

Today I saw my first Ruby-throated Hummingbird of the year! Since 2005, this is the earliest I have seen the first of the year. Previous earliest date was May 5th. Today's hummer was a beautiful male.


I was able to capture the shimmer of his gorget, but unfortunately it was through double-paned glass and a screen. Is it just me, or do you also seem to think the gorget is more orange-colored than ruby?


Other birds visiting the feeders today were the usual house sparrows, house finches, cardinals, mourning doves, starlings, and the lone mockingbird.

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Rooftop Birdwatching

The past few days I've seen quite a few birds up on the roof of the office building across the way. Canada Geese are quite common around here with the pond on the opposite side of the building, but they rose to new heights early Friday morning, spending time on the roof strutting about.



Right before the geese landed on the roof, I saw this Green Heron on the railing. Now that is an unusual bird. I'm not sure what attracts them to this suburban location, other than the pond, and I have only seen one here just once in the past. The day I moved in last July, one landed on the apartment roof just above me. The Green Heron is not a year-round resident in Missouri, but they do breed here. Wonder if the one I saw Friday was the same from last year returning to a familiar location?



The next bird was seen yesterday and is the one that makes me really want a lens extender for my camera (the pictures were severely cropped). If I wasn't about to purchase a house, I probably would have forked out the money this weekend. When I first saw the bird fly to the roof, my first thought was an oddly colored Rock Pigeon because of its size and flight pattern. Without a clear picture, I wasn't 100% comfortable with that ID and asked some on-line birders what they thought. Most concurred with the Rock Pigeon ID, although a couple suggested a Ringed Turtle Dove or another type of dove bred for the white coloring. It's a possibility, and I won't rule it out, but it would have to be a domesticated bird that had escaped or was let loose irresponsibly. A leucistic Rock Pigeon is more likely.




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A Perfect Spring Day

While I am anxiously going through the due diligence required to finalize the contract on the house, I thought I'd spend some time walking through the neighborhood. You've seen the view of the office building from the apartment, and it's not all that attractive. This is the front side of the office building showing the man-made pond with fountain. It attracts lots of Canada Geese and I also saw one Mallard today.



Grazing geese. There are about five buildings in the complex and management does a great landscaping job. Lots of flowers in bloom and the trees are budding out.  But other than the geese and lone mallard, the only bird on the grounds looked to be a robin or two.

Canada Goose wondering why I am following him.

Spring blooms.

Canada Goose on the pond.

The setting sun highlights the fountain.

Side note: Congratulations to the Lady Cardinals for a fantastic season. You may not have won the last game on the court, but you are champions to all your fans. And congratulations to Angel McCoughtry for being the #1 pick of the WNBA draft.

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Go Lady Cards!

Woo Hoo!!!!

The Lady Cards have advanced to the NCAA Championship Game in St Louis. Who'd have thought it. And as our star, Angel McCoughtry said, the Lady Cards are a team without a high school All-American. They may not have the talent of the players of a UConn, Oklahoma, Stanford, or Tennessee, but they work hard and play the game drawn up by Jeff Walz, and get it done.

So who will they be playing Tuesday night????  The overwhelming favorite is UConn, a team that beat them twice in the regular season. But whether it's UConn or Stanford, it's a new game and the Louisville Cardinal Fans will be behind the Ladies all the way!

GO CARDS!

Update:
YIKES ... it will UConn and arrogant Geno. I guess anything is possible, but dang, they are tough. Yet still I have to say:

GO CARDS!

Offer Accepted

Sweet! I have a contract on a house. As soon as I jump through all the hoops of inspections, financing and all the other necessities of home purchase, Birdscapes will be back in business and moving away from this temporary, but self-imposed (with good reason), apartment lifestyle.

The house I intend to purchase has a nice yard with decent landscaping, but I can't wait to add my touch to it with native plants that will attract birds and butterflies. The location of the house is very similar to my original Birdscapes location so I am hopeful that I will have a lot of birds.