Early Sunday morning, we drove back to the little place called Goose Pond Colony. This was the same place where we had gotten stuck in the mud. Goose Pond Colony is a planned community with a huge boat dock and a golf course and cabins. We found a honeypot for passerines between the golf course and the parking lot of the Community Center. We stopped the car and watched the buzz of activity in front of us.
On stalks of Pigeon Pea, we saw beautiful American Gold Finches (Carduelis Tristis) decked out in their autumnal feathers. We saw a female Purple Finch (Haemorhous Purpureus), pecking at things in the wet grass. All around us flitted Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis Cardinalis) back and forth across the road. One bird we identified was the Yellow Rumped Warbler (Setophaga Coronata).
Around the corner, we caught a Northern Flicker (Colaptes Auratus Auratus) flying toward a tree. The wings of the Northern Flicker can have either yellow or red shafts. This differentiates the two families of Northern Flicker in North America. We quickly identified one we saw as "Yellow Shafted" by spotting the black moustache on its cheek.
We saw a handsome Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter Cooperii) perched on a pole. We counted the brown and gray stripes on its tail.
This whole vacation has been an investigation of the huge dams along the part of the Tennessee River in the state of Alabama. The furthest east of the dams was the massive Guntersville Dam. Water was coming through the dam over ten spillways, crashing violently into the water below the dam. There was a lock on the far side of the river, so boats and barges can travel up and down the river.
In the lake formed by the Guntersville Dam, we sat on a park bench and scanned through the hundreds of American Coots (Fulica Americana) to find about ten Gadwall (Anas Strepera), a handful of Canvasback (Aythya Valisineria), one or two Bufflehead and a small tangle of Common Goldeneye (Bucephala Clangula). Even though the entire lake is covered in coot, you must pick through the entire flock to spot the other birds mixed in with them. As we were leaving, we saw a Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle Alcyon) flying away from us.
It has become something of a ritual for us to close out the day with a cup of coffee at Starbucks. We found a hotel and got dinner. Berry is planning tomorrow's birding adventure.
Robert and Berry
No comments:
Post a Comment