Standing in the field at the organic farm where I work part-time in Northern Alabama, about 20 miles south of the Tennessee River along the I-65 corridor, I am always aware of the train schedule. The tracks are across the road from the field.
This season the chickens are running free range and covering a much wider territory closer to the fields where we grow produce. But not in them. On this day they were very active close to the barn and house.
I looked up. There was my reward. Soaring above was a solitary bald eagle just a little north of our field. As it soared on the thermal current spiraling upwards I observed its white head with each return until the Bald Eagle soared above the clouds and out of sight. I had no binoculars on me and my spotting scope was in the trunk of my car. So the entire magical moment was a naked eye sighting. My favorite kind. Perhaps my most common viewing of wildlife is without assistance. It is often just noticing something different and focusing my attention on it. This is what birding and birdwatching is about for me. Taking moments from each day and appreciating the aerial escapades of whatever birds I happen upon.
Of course when I have my binoculars (Bushnell compact) or my spotting scope (also Bushnell) I can spend a little more time exploring the details of the scene and the bird. Those are the times when I wish I had a Swarovski spotting scope and Leupold Katmai Compact binoculars with me. That day shall come my way but it must wait until some household essentials are purchased first. In the meantime I share the joy of birding with you today, another magnificent sunny (that is unusual) spring day in April.
Autumn is my favorite time for hiking.
Today came close to being absolutely heavenly! Magnificent weather. Muted yet soft leaf color giving the hills an amber-rust overall appearance. Just enough gentle gusts of wind to send waves of colorful leaves across my path.
At the Azalea Cascades path in Desoto State Park the brittle brigades paraded across the boardwalk before me. I caught a white oak leaf in flight, then a chestnut oak leaf and later a red maple leaf and picked up a sweet gum leaf with its vibrant red sheen.
You might think I had forgotten to absorb the cascades and birds along the way. But no. Because of all the recent rains the water level was high at all of the waterfalls.
I was blessed with some up close and personal visits from several of my favorite confusing fall warblers! I heard and then saw hairy woodpeckers, a yellow-shafted flicker and a yellow-bellied sapsucker all right along the trail as I simply stood still. I think the warblers came close to investigate me.
It was the first time I hiked in this area, I wore my hearing aids and it was refreshing and rewarding. My ability to locate the bird sounds was skewed by the location of my microphones. However, without the aids I heard neither the birds nor the waterfalls.
The crisp clear blue sky coupled with the intensely varied forest reminded me how much the mixed mesophytic forest of the Appalachian Mountains speaks the language of home to me.
Just as I realized that, I turned toward a nearby chirp sound and saw a Yellow-throated Vireo (Vireo flavifrons) too close to use my compact Bushnell binoculars! I could almost touch it. It perched on the branch of a blooming witch hazel shrub.
Of course! Insects were coming in to feed or drink at these tiny spidery yellow flowers and this saavy little bird was just perched and waiting for them. I froze in place for several minutes and established eye contact with the warbler once or twice before it flittered away to a different feeding area. I felt privileged to be there at its buffet table. This little charmer is often mistaken for a warbler and the “hanging around” behavior is typical for this species.
