Bird Counting in Kentucky

Trees near the hotel in Oak Grove, KY 3-15-10

The sun shone brightly as we left the hotel in Texarkana, AR and headed east to Oak Grove, KY. I watch for birds out the windows as Gus drives. The landscape before me amazes me. I had expected to hate Arkansas and instead I am delighted! This place is beautiful! I watch as creeks flow through woodlands, and green fields roll to the horizon. So much of what I see reminds me of New England where I grew up. Even as the clouds gather and the light dims, I enjoy the drive across Arkansas.

We get off the interstate highway in Tennessee and travel the back roads through small towns to Oak Grove. The hotel we booked is a dive with holes in the walls and the sheets and dusty old pillows. It is late at night when I finally see the place and I am so tired that I just fell into bed. I was thinking of asking Gus to switch hotels in the morning no matter how much it cost. However, I awaken early this to the sounds of birds outside my window. Dressing quickly and warmly I exit my room on the second floor to a vacant lot before me and agricultural fields rolling away towards the road.

 

The vacant lot and the agricultural field are separated by a hedgerow with tall trees and brush. In the vacant lot the weeds and grasses have grown wild and untamed, the fields are mowed short and turning green. A large puddle has formed at the edge of the dirt in the vacant lot, and all the trees and bushes and grass are full of birds. At that monument I decide I will stay in this room. I want to see the birds!

Of course, my primary reason for being here is to see Alex, Diane and the new baby, but I did my research on eBird before arriving here and I know that NO ONE has counted birds in Christian county KY so far this year. Every bird I count matters. It may be the only data that eBird gets for this county this year! I already have my bins on with my pen and notebook in hand. Though the day is gray and drippy and cold, I stand on the second floor balcony and count birds. I quickly discover that this set-up is perfect. The balcony acts as a blind. The birds are used to people walking by under the rooftop, and so do not flee when they see me.

I hear field sparrows calling from the weeded field. I see cardinals, robins, starlings and house sparrows. I count a song sparrow, a killdeer and an eastern meadowlark. Then, in the midst of all the other sounds I think I hear a bob white call! I scan the agricultural fields looking for movement. I listen to hear it call again, but it never does. Was it my imagination? I do not have Bob White on my life list, though I grew up hearing and seeing that species as a child in Connecticut. How I would love to see that bird. But though I wait and wait, I do not see that bird today, or any other day while I am here.

When Gus gets up we drive onto Main Street looking for someplace to eat breakfast. Gus notices a large flock of turkeys in the field. He turns the car around for me and parks on the side of the road and I count birds.

We find a local restaurant called G’s Pancake house. We decide to eat there because we call our oldest son “G.” I count the birds in the parking lot on our way into and out of the diner. Since we sit near a window, I count the birds from there. I see mourning doves, a mockingbird, a blue jay, 2 crows, 4 starlings, 10 common crackles and 3 house sparrows.

We stop at Wal-mart on the way to Alex’s house. I count 1 ring-billed gull, 2 killdeer, 1 robin, 1 mockingbird, 3 red-winged blackbirds, 5 starlings, 10 house sparrows and 30 rock pigeons there. All day long, where ever I am, I count birds in Oak Grove, Kentucky. Over the course of our 3 days I see blue birds, turkey and black vultures. I see mourning doves and blackbirds everywhere. Monday is our last morning here. Alex had to go back to work this morning but he will be home for 1 ½ hours at lunchtime. So, while he is at work and Gus is sleeping in, I finally decide to get down off the balcony and take a walk in the fields.

The sky is gray as it has been every day that we have been here. Though my pictures won’t be great, I take my camera with me anyways and walk quietly along the hedgerow. Cardinals and sparrows fill the foliage. Blackbirds line the utility wires or feed in the field. I still hope to find a Bob White, but no luck. The earth is damp and soft beneath my feet. The misty air makes me feels as if I am moving in a dream. All my senses are on alert and I watch and listen for birds. I find white-crowned sparrows and song sparrows. I see and hear field sparrows. A killdeer calls and then flies by. Eastern meadowlarks sing from a weed and an eastern towhee appears briefly in the brush before me. I find Carolina wrens singing in the trees, and then a hawk flies over my head and lands in the tall trees near the hotel.

 

 

At first I think it is a Cooper’s Hawk with its long and banded tail, but after I see the photographs I am doubtful. Is it a red-shouldered hawk? I haven’t decided yet. If you think you know, please tell me! Whichever species it is, I believe it is a juvenile due to the vertical streaking on the breast. At the far end of the field I near a marshy area I find a fox sparrow, and then a swamp sparrow! I have been gone quite awhile and I sense it is time to head back. My journey across the field was slow, but now I walk briskly back to our room. I know it is time to go and say good-bye.

We savor the last hours with our son and his wife and our new little grand-daughter. I carry her outside with my bins hoping to infuse her with this love of nature and birds. Then we gather on the front porch for family photos and hug and say good-bye. I will not cry. Not now. Alex will be going to war soon. I do not know when I will see him again. But for his sake, I do not cry. I choke, but I do not cry.

Gus stops at the gas station near the highway to fill the tank for our trip to Alabama. It will only take us 3 hours to get there. While he gets gas, I count birds. I will not cry. 1 turkey vulture, 2 killdeer, 1 red-winged blackbird, 2 starlings, 2 rock pigeons, 2 house sparrows, my last count in Kentucky. I will not cry.

In the end I added counted 29 species in several locations in Oak Grove Kentucky.  For the moment they are the only birds counted in Christian county, KY.  I do hope that some one out there will add to this information.  You may not think your one little birding list will matter, but it does!

Birds seen in Christian County, KY March 12-15, 2010:

1. Killdeer
2. American Robin
3. Mourning dove
4. European Starling
5. Field sparrow
6. Song sparrow
7. Northern Cardinal
8. red-winged blackbird
9. Eastern meadowlark
10. House sparrow
11. Wild turkey
12. Turkey vulture
13. Blue Jay
14. American Crow
15. Northern Mockingbird
16. common Grackle
17. Ring-billed gull
18. rock Pigeon
19. Eastern bluebird
20. House finch
21. Red-tailed hawk
22. Black vulture
23. Cooper’s hawk*
24. tufted titmouse
25. Carolina Wren
26. Eastern Towhee
27. Fox Sparrow
28. Swamp Sparrow
29. White-crowned sparrow

*This data will change if it is determined this is a red-shouldered hawk or some other species.

The Reason for the Trip: Natalie!

Introducing Natalie Brown, my newest grandchild! 3-14-10

 

Our first day with Natalie.  Her Papa can sure make her smile!

Welcome to the world, Natalie! 3-13-10

Natalie and her Momma, Diane.

Gus and Alex play one last game of Cribbage before we get on the road. (It’s a Maine thing.)

   Three generations of Browns!

Grandpa having fun.

Natalie, Alex and Diane.  It is so hard to say good-bye.

  My son and my soldier.  I am so proud of him.

Perhaps this Eastern Bluebird in his backyard is a sign, a symbol of hope, the Bluebird of Happiness. I miss them already. I want to go back!

On the Road to Kentucky 3-11-10

It is Thursday morning and I am going crazy packing suitcases and doing laundry and filling bird feeders. I am so excited because tonight Gus and I will sleep for a couple of hours before getting on the road and driving west to Kentucky to see our new grand daughter and her Mommy and Daddy. On our way we will travel through several states, some of which we have never been in before. I am hoping to count birds wherever I can and try to enter new birds lists on eBird as I go.  I already know from checking the eBird Top 100 link that absolutely no one is counting birds in Christian County, KY so far this year.  Perhaps I will be the first to provide that valuable data to eBird. It is late by the time we get to bed but we get about 4 hours of sleep before we rise and hit the road.

The sky is barely gray when we head east on I-10.  We make our first stop in Wilcox, AZ and as I walk shivering and cold back to the car after getting some hot coffee I am amazed at the snow-covered Chiricahua Mountains blushing blue and pink in the early dawn light.  I snap a few quick pictures, but Gus is eager to get on down the road.  He is always eager to get on down the road, so I squeeze in birding and photography wherever I can. But I am not complaining.  I am glad to be on this trip. It has been a long time since he and I have done a road trip together.

The drive across eastern Arizona soon becomes a drive across New Mexico. I have never been east of Deming, so once we cross this town we are driving new roads for us.  Much of the land seems so barren but as we come over the hill on I-10 near Las Cruces I am astonished by the sight before me.  Saw-toothed peaks rake the eastern horizon in such glorious majesty. The road descends to the valley floor where flowering trees line grassy fields.  This is a beautiful place! I watch slack-jawed as we drive through. I make a mental note of this as a place I want to come back to.  A place I want to explore. El Paso is interesting to me because my son, Alex did his basic training here. I have never seen this place so I look at it with eyes examining it for traces of my son’s life.  I thought of El Paso as a flat dusty town so I am quite surprised by the rolling hills and curves.  As we drive through I am looking for birds along the highway, but it is windy and I am not seeing much. For most of Texas it is this way.  As we leave El Paso behind the land does flatten out until we are in oil fields.  For most of the trip I see no birds until we reach the eastern edge of the state. We stop at a rest area at the edge of darkness where I marvel at green grass and tall trees.  It has been a very long time since I have seen any place like this.

We press on through the darkness. Our time is so precious to us.  Alex only has the weekend off and we are trying to get there as soon as possible. I drive for a while to give Gus a rest but soon I can go no further. I pull off the road somewhere and we switch places once again. By now we have been driving for 18 hours or more, but Gus does not want to stop. Finally we pull off the road in eastern Texas for gas.  We are in some back road truck stop with men dressed in camouflage and smoking cigarettes in the store. Do they still do that here?  The walls are dingy, the floors dirty.  I walk down a long dark hall to find the ladies’ room. The broken and dirty tiled floor is exposed by a door propped open with a trash can.  I have no trouble finding a stall to use; they are all empty.  I wash my hands in a sink next to a condom dispenser padlocked at the corners with industrial padlocks. Are people that desperate here?

This place is giving me the creeps and I leave as quickly as possible. I take the dog for a walk while Gus takes his turn inside. All along the roadway the semis idle in the cold, dark night. I pull my coat tighter around me, praying that Gus will hurry.  It is 1:30 a.m. by now and I am exhausted.

Gus returns to the car and we get back inside. A discussion arises about whether we should stop for the night or press on.  By now we have been driving for almost 20 hours.  I make my case for stopping; Gus wants to press on.  He says he is so wound up he cannot sleep. I say he will be asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow. I tell him that I am too tired to relieve him if he gets tired. We get back on the highway and go one more exit where Gus pulls off the road and we get a hotel.  We drag our suitcases and our tired bodies inside. Gus lays down on the bed, pulls the covers up around him, and falls asleep.  He does not even move again until the morning when he hears me going out the door, binoculars in hand. 

I walk outside the hotel in Texarkana to discover a vacant lot on two sides of the hotel that are birder’s heaven for they are teeming with birds. While house sparrow woke me with their harsh and raucous calls I am now delighted to find mocking birds, cardinals and white-throated sparrows.  Soon I spot one brown thrasher and then another. Overhead I see some large dark birds soaring. I spot a turkey vulture, then black vultures! My first bird count for Arkansas is very good and I am satisfied. Soon we are in the car and headed east with the sunshine in our eyes.  We are on the road again.  Kentucky, here we come!

Blogger’s note: Gus and I are still on the road. We go birding with TR Ryan tomorrow!  More stories and photos to follow.