The State Botanical Garden continues to be a rewarding location for birding during the summer breeding season. Species such as YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT, LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH, and SUMMER TANAGER are relatively numerous and can be seen without too much effort. INDIGO BUNTING, AMERICAN GOLDFINCH, and BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER are more common/numerous species that can be enjoyed by even the beginning birder.

This morning a small group of ORAS members enjoyed the species mentioned above along with highlights of GREEN HERON, LITTLE BLUE HERON (imm.), and MISSISSIPPI KITE.

Wood Warblers: HOODED WARBLER, KENTUCKY WARBLER, BLACK AND WHITE WARBLER, NORTHERN PARULA, PINE WARBLER, AMERICAN REDSTART, COMMON YELLOWTHROAT, LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH, YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT.

The full eBird report follows:

Location: State Botanical Garden of Georgia
Observation date: 7/5/08
Notes: Overcast to mostly cloudy. Very humid. 75-88°F. Observers: James Neves, Bill O'Grady, Karla O'Grady, Alison Huff, Ed Maioriello, Jim Hanna. Areas covered: White, Blue, and Orange Trails and International Garden.
Number of species: 53

Great Blue Heron 1
Little Blue Heron 1
Green Heron 2
Black Vulture 2
Turkey Vulture 3
Mississippi Kite 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 3
Rock Pigeon 30
Mourning Dove 33
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 3
Chimney Swift 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 10
Belted Kingfisher 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 8
Downy Woodpecker 10
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Pileated Woodpecker 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee 1
Acadian Flycatcher 13
Eastern Phoebe 9
Great Crested Flycatcher 4
White-eyed Vireo 16
Yellow-throated Vireo 1
Red-eyed Vireo 4
Blue Jay 4
American Crow 4
Carolina Chickadee 14
Tufted Titmouse 25
Brown-headed Nuthatch 3
Carolina Wren 20
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 30
Eastern Bluebird 2
American Robin 1
Brown Thrasher 3
Northern Parula 6
Pine Warbler 2
Black-and-white Warbler 6
American Redstart 1
Louisiana Waterthrush 4
Kentucky Warbler 4
Common Yellowthroat 5
Hooded Warbler 4
Yellow-breasted Chat 3
Summer Tanager 8
Eastern Towhee 5
Chipping Sparrow 3
Northern Cardinal 40
Indigo Bunting 9
Common Grackle 3
Brown-headed Cowbird 5
House Finch 2
American Goldfinch 17
House Sparrow 1

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

New to birding, but am interested in learning more about the birds in my neighborhood. Yesterday I saw a pair of bright yellow bird, very small, in my zinnias. goldfinches? And then today I see birder in my neighborhood (Beechwood) looking at the kites. Tell me more!

Cross-posted to GABO-L

Joel McNeal and I started a muggy morning of birding on Ward Rd, listed as Curtis Farms on eBird. SWAINSON'S WARBLERS were singing agonizingly close to the road in the first densely forested area from the entrance off GA 15; no visuals. PROTHONOTARY WARBLER were also heard in the same area. Many species including GRASSHOPPER SPARROW and ORCHARD ORIOLE were seen in the big open field and recently created wetland area. The ORCHARD ORIOLE was a pair with at least one fully fledged young.

Dyar Pasture does have some water in the wetland area. Unfortunately, there are also a disturbingly large number of cows grazing beside the GREAT EGRET, LITTLE BLUE HERON (immature), GREAT BLUE HERON, WHITE IBIS (immature), and KILLDEER.

After trying a couple of quick stops in Oconee County in hopes of finding a MISSISSIPPI KITE, we covered the Orange Trail and river section of the White Trail in the State Botanical Garden. Two MISSISSIPPI KITE were seen circling over the river downstream of the privet eradication area. (A life bird for me)! Good looks at YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT, LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH, and BLACK AND WHITE WARBLER were other highlights.

Complete species counts from the three locations can be found below:

Location: Curtis Farms (Greene Co.)
Observation date: 6/28/08
Notes: JANE & JOMC. Mostly overcast, warm, and humid.
Number of species: 48

Great Egret 1
Green Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 3
Mourning Dove 4
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 4
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Downy Woodpecker 3
Pileated Woodpecker 2
Eastern Wood-Pewee 1
Acadian Flycatcher 3
Eastern Phoebe 4
Great Crested Flycatcher 2
White-eyed Vireo 2
Yellow-throated Vireo 1
Red-eyed Vireo 2
American Crow 7
Fish Crow 5
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 4
Barn Swallow 30
Carolina Chickadee 3
Tufted Titmouse 8
Carolina Wren 4
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 6
Eastern Bluebird 8
Wood Thrush 7
Northern Parula 1
Black-and-white Warbler 1
Prothonotary Warbler 2
Swainson's Warbler 4
Kentucky Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
Hooded Warbler 3
Yellow-breasted Chat 2
Summer Tanager 2
Eastern Towhee 1
Chipping Sparrow 4
Field Sparrow 3
Grasshopper Sparrow 2
Northern Cardinal 7
Blue Grosbeak 8
Indigo Bunting 15
Red-winged Blackbird 25
Eastern Meadowlark 1
Common Grackle 2
Brown-headed Cowbird 2
Orchard Oriole 3
American Goldfinch 4

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)



Location: Dyar Pasture
Observation date: 6/28/08
Notes: JANE & JOMC. LBHEs and WHIBs all immatures
Number of species: 45

Great Blue Heron 9
Great Egret 13
Little Blue Heron 2
White Ibis 2
Black Vulture 1
Turkey Vulture 3
Killdeer 20
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Downy Woodpecker 2
Eastern Wood-Pewee 3
Acadian Flycatcher 1
Eastern Phoebe 1
Great Crested Flycatcher 2
Eastern Kingbird 2
White-eyed Vireo 3
Yellow-throated Vireo 1
American Crow 4
Fish Crow 2
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 1
Barn Swallow 3
Carolina Chickadee 2
Tufted Titmouse 5
Brown-headed Nuthatch 1
Carolina Wren 3
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 5
Eastern Bluebird 2
Wood Thrush 3
Northern Mockingbird 2
Northern Parula 4
Black-and-white Warbler 1
Prothonotary Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 2
Hooded Warbler 1
Yellow-breasted Chat 1
Summer Tanager 1
Eastern Towhee 1
Northern Cardinal 3
Blue Grosbeak 2
Indigo Bunting 2
Red-winged Blackbird 5
Common Grackle 3
Brown-headed Cowbird 1
Orchard Oriole 1
American Goldfinch 1

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)



Location: State Botanical Garden of Georgia
Observation date: 6/27/08
Notes: JANE & JOMC. Hot, muggy, but breezy and overcast. MIKIs on white trail along river.
Number of species: 42

Great Blue Heron 1
Black Vulture 1
Turkey Vulture 4
Mississippi Kite 2
Red-shouldered Hawk 3
Mourning Dove 2
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 2
Chimney Swift 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Belted Kingfisher 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 4
Downy Woodpecker 3
Acadian Flycatcher 5
Eastern Phoebe 2
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
White-eyed Vireo 5
Yellow-throated Vireo 1
Red-eyed Vireo 2
American Crow 3
Fish Crow 6
Carolina Chickadee 3
Tufted Titmouse 7
Carolina Wren 4
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 15
Eastern Bluebird 1
Northern Parula 3
Black-and-white Warbler 1
Louisiana Waterthrush 4
Kentucky Warbler 4
Common Yellowthroat 1
Hooded Warbler 6
Yellow-breasted Chat 3
Summer Tanager 2
Eastern Towhee 1
Northern Cardinal 18
Indigo Bunting 4
Eastern Meadowlark 1
Common Grackle 3
Brown-headed Cowbird 2
House Finch 1
American Goldfinch 4
House Sparrow 2

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

Happy Birding!
James Neves
Athens - Clarke Co., GA

Here's the full list of birds from my walk last night ...

Location: State Botanical Garden of Georgia
Observation date: 6/26/08
Number of species: 39

Little Blue Heron 2
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Mourning Dove 2
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 3
Barred Owl 1
Chimney Swift 4
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 5
Belted Kingfisher 3
Red-bellied Woodpecker 5
Downy Woodpecker 1
Pileated Woodpecker 4
Acadian Flycatcher 3
Eastern Phoebe 4
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
White-eyed Vireo 3
Red-eyed Vireo 1
Blue Jay 2
American Crow 10
Barn Swallow 3
Carolina Chickadee 4
Tufted Titmouse 2
Brown-headed Nuthatch 1
Carolina Wren 12
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 6
Gray Catbird 1
Northern Parula 2
Prairie Warbler 1
Louisiana Waterthrush 3
Kentucky Warbler 3
Common Yellowthroat 2
Hooded Warbler 2
Yellow-breasted Chat 3
Eastern Towhee 8
Chipping Sparrow 2
Northern Cardinal 18
Indigo Bunting 8
Common Grackle 1
House Finch 1
American Goldfinch 8

Edited by author 06-27-2008 04:09 PM
I did a little birding in the Bot Garden yesterday evening (7-8:30) hoping to locate a Mississippi Kite but was unsuccessful. (I haven't tried the Beechwood Hills flock yet, but I will this weekend). It was still a very nice evening with one little surprise. As I came to the last bit of the white trail before it turns away from the river, I heard a harsh squawking coming from the top of the trees across the river. At first it sounded like it might be a Great Blue Heron, but it just didn't seem to have the right quality (not Jurassic enough ... let's call it Mesolithic). I then saw a large crow perched at the top of the tree and wondered if the crow was the source. As I reached the point directly across the river from the crow, I was pleased to hear the raspy croaking again from a little further down river from the crow. Finally, I spotted the bird, a large white egret/heron. Being white, my first thought was great egret, but it looked far too small. Although, I couldn't help feeling that it looked too stocky to be a egret and more heron-like. Definitely not a Cattle Egret, so I start thinking about Snowy Egret. Bill, not bright yellow (also confirming not Great Egret), but light colored, and with the setting sun shining in its face, a little yellow. Snowy Egrets have black bills right? (I didn't have my field guide with me). Ok, let's get a good look at his legs as he scratches his head. Legs were definitely light colored, not black but again, not really yellow ... yellow-green maybe. They were definitely not black legs with yellow feet (that I did remember about Snowy Egrets); the color was consistent throughout the legs and feet. I felt stumped as the bird flew off out of view down river. I reached the end of the white trail along the river and found a way to situate myself with a good view of the river and sat for a minute hoping for the bird to return. As I was about to leave, I heard the bird calling again and saw it heading back in my direction through the trees. It began to turn towards me when I realized it was intercepting another flying bird, blue and heron/egret-like. I immediately identified it as a LITTLE BLUE HERON, and that solved the riddle of the white bird. It was an immature. Sibley comments that it can be difficult to distinguish between the immature Little Blue Heron and the Snowy Egret. Take a look for yourself. I'll post later the full list of birds of note.

We had a Hairy Woodpecker in our yard a little earlier this afternoon. We don't see them often out this way, in fact, this is a first for this yard.

I had a pleasant morning surveying birds in Oconee county. At one point, I was watching and listening to a gorgeous male Scarlet Tanager when movement a short distance up the road (in an undeveloped subdivision) caught my eye. I spent the next ten minutes watching a pair of juvenile red foxes romping around playing with a stick and watching me back.

Sad tale here. I had a nest of brown thrashers in the bush in front of my house. However, yesterday and today, I saw neither parent. In the nest I found a dead chick and an unhatched egg. The only thing wrong that I found was that after 3 seconds of contact with the bush, I was covered in mites.

I did some plant scouting this evening at the botanical garden, but thunder claps and occasional sprinkles kept me from carrying a camera- so, by rule, I was bound to see something good up close. The highlight was a family of Barred Owls on the Orange trail along the creek. I first heard a parent hooting up in the woods a bit, then I kept hearing a couple babies whisper-hissing and finally got bad looks at one. After being passed by a number of joggers, I wasn't expecting to see many good birds while not carrying binoculars, but I almost had a heart attack when I looked up from my plant-scanning to see an adult owl directly over the trail and the creek (at the upstream bridge) only 7 ft off the ground and about 3 feet from my face. I think it wanted me to pet it, but I refrained. It actually seemed most concerned with trying to catch something out of the creek for its full-grown youngsters than to pay much attention to people (a safe strategy, seeing as how no one ahead of me saw it or stopped, and I was so close before I noticed). Other highlights were a White-breasted Nuthatch again along the orange trail, 3+ Chats again in the lower powerline, a good number of Yellow-billed Cuckoos, and 3 Louisiana Waterthrushes.

Joel, adding to your list of Nuthatches, I had a Red Breasted Nuthach in my neighborhood (River Oaks, just across the Bot. Garden)

I just got a good look at a male scarlet tanager right outside my house. I've seen females a couple of times here, but this is the first male I've ever seen in my neighborhood (River Oaks).

Bill O'Grady, Ed Maioriello, Alison Huff, Karla O'Grady, and I birded the botanical garden this morning. After being out-of-town for my birdwatching fixes the past couple of weeks, it was good to be back in familiar territory. I was really hoping to find a Mississippi Kite today since they had yet to be reported from the botanical garden this year, and one did not disappoint; an adult male flew past low and at close range for a brief look along the White Trail, then later landed only about 20 ft or so from Alison and allowed us and other passersby great looks and photo opportunities. We also had White-breasted Nuthatches at both the privet eradication area and the creek portion of the orange trail after having no reports of that species since April. After being a late arrival and remaining scarce through the spring, Yellow-billed Cuckoos were out in force today, and the 8 we saw and/or heard amounted to a record botgarden count. Warblers were impressive, with a rare double-digit June species count (10 warbler spp.). We set a new botgarden high count of 4 Yellow-breasted Chats, with one singing across the river while we watched 3 on our side flying around and being unusually obvious in the powerline cut. Our count of 7 Black-and-White Warblers tied the previous botgarden high count and was aided by one large family of at least 5; we also encountered a family group of Pine Warblers (blue trail) and Louisiana Waterthrushes (powerline at river). A few highlights are below:

Mississippi Kite 1 (white trail)
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 8 (all trails)
Eastern Wood-Pewee 1 (from lower parking area)
Acadian Flycatcher 11 (all trails)
White-breasted Nuthatch 2 (orange and white trails)
Brown-headed Nuthatch 5 (blue trail)
Northern Parula 6 (white and orange trails along river)
Yellow-throated Warbler 1 (from blue trail and lower parking area)
Pine Warbler 6 (mostly blue trail)
Black-and-white Warbler 7 (including family of 5 at greenhouse spur off white trail)
American Redstart 1 (female/juvenile plumage- being chased by a White-eyed Vireo)
Louisiana Waterthrush 4 (family of 3 at river/powerline, 1 much further down white trail)
Kentucky Warbler 4 (mostly white trail)
Common Yellowthroat 3 (powerline, across river on white trail, beaverpond)
Hooded Warbler 6 (orange and white trails)
Yellow-breasted Chat 4 (lower powerline)
Eastern Meadowlark 2 (S. Milledge)

I've seen EUCDs at the corner of Astondale Rd and US 441 just south of downtown Bishop (Oconee County), and down in extreme northern Greene County at the Greshamville community.

Eurasian Collared-Doves seem to be limited to areas with houses and structures. I have NEVER seen one without being able to see a house or structure in the vicinity. They are common in downtown Athens and Watkinsville and present, but less common along Experiment Station Road/Hog Mountain Road. They are pretty regular at the Oconee County High School at Hog Mountain Road & Union Church Road. I've seen ones & twos scattered throughout Oconee County...most recently near New High Shoals Rd. and Elder Road. Any sightings in Bishop or Farmington?

 Steve Holzman
North High Shoals, GA
Oconee County,
USA


< replied-to message removed by QT >

Michael,
I had one Eurasian Collared Dove in Watkinsville in May. It was in someone's yard on Farmview Dr. in Morgan Manor subdivision.

James,

Are you sure that's Oconee? I think its either Oglethorpe or Madison. Either way, I've had Eurasion Collared-Doves in downtown Watkinsville in the past as well as on Hog Mountain Road between 441 and Daniells Bridge Road (behind the QuickTrip) on quite a few occasions. Despite being just a couple of miles from downtown Athens (as the dove flies) we have not yet had them in our yard in 5 Points. I'm figuring its going to happen though.

Ed.