Birding at Camille's House

   We left heading for Nashville to celebrate my niece's graduation. My sister let us stay at her place. After storing our gear in a room full of teddy bears, Berry and I walked from the house to a shed at the end of the yard. This farm is situated on a hill inside a deciduous forest. A Red Headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes Erythrocephalus) swooped down from a tree and flew across our path. We saw the white patches on its wings in flight. The birding had begun.

   To our left, a blue male Indigo Bunting (Passerina Cyanea) flew out of the bushes and hovered briefly, flapping his wings vigorously to remain in one spot. This was classic fly-catching behavior. It found an insect and flew back into the bushes. We listened carefully and heard the liquid, waxy whistle of the Indigo Bunting (Passerina Cyanea) which we had heard recently in beautiful Vicksburg, Mississippi.

   The celebration that night was a huge gathering of our extended family. We were served a choice of Barbecued Chicken or Lamb with Mint Jelly. It was great to see everyone when it was not either Thanksgiving or Christmas. A good time was had by all.

   The next morning, my brother-in-law and I got on his Mule ATV and toured his property. We discussed the different birds he might find on his property. He stopped before an open field and looked for birds. There was a Yellow Throated Vireo (Vireo Flavifons) perched on a sapling to our right. It is a yellow warbler with a white and gray rump. I shared my binoculars with my brother-in-law, so he verified this sighting. The bird immediately flew to our right, back into the woods. This is the first time Robert had ever seen the Yellow Throated Vireo (Vireo Flavifons), so this was a "Life Bird" for Robert. At another clearing, we spotted a Summer Tanager (Piranga Rubra) perched on an electrical pylon. Berry was sure to be jealous that she did not come along on this tour of the property.

   My sister and her husband live along the Natchez Trace near Nashville, Tennessee. After breakfast, we took her corgis to the "Timberland Park" and walked them. They are quiet dogs, so we could still bird, without them disturbing the birds. We immediately heard the song of the Eastern Wood Pewee (Contopus Virens), which sound like it is saying, "pee-wee", like its name. Deep in the woods, we heard the beautiful flute-like song of the Wood Thrush (Hylocichla Mustelina).

Here is a List of the Birds we saw at Camille's House

• Indigo Bunting
• Yellow Throated Vireo
• Wild Turkey
• Red Headed Woodpecker
• Eastern Bluebird
• Eastern Wood Pewee
• Wood Thrush
• Bluejay
• American Robin
• Summer Tanager
• Carolina Wren
• Turkey Vulture
• Black Vulture
• Red Tailed Hawk
• Brown Thrasher

   We left them at the park and drove down the Natchez Trace to Leiper's Fork. There were cute shops and an art gallery there. We stopped at Puckett's for a bite, then headed back to Memphis.

Robert and Berry

Photos courtesy of rfowler, wikipedia

Birding the Old Forest State Natural Area

   For breakfast, my wife ate a homemade Apple Turnover. The pieces of apple had been diced small so that the apple would bake correctly and be soft, but not mushy, the way Berry likes it. Robert had his usual bowl of fruit. This was a Saturday. We decided to go birding. Robert suggested Overton Park in midtown Memphis. This is a large urban park with a nine hole golf course, an Art College and a municipal Zoo. Part of the park is a beautiful deciduous forest, deep and heavily clogged with underbrush. We pulled the bird-mobile to the curb near the golf course and parked the car. It was only then that we noticed that the name of the forested part of the park had been changed. It is now called "The Old Forest State Natural Area".

   In the park, we started birding by walking on a paved road. Berry spotted the first bird we saw to the right of the road in the branches of a tree. Robert used his binoculars to identify it as the Yellow Rumped Warbler (Setophaga Coronata). He saw a brownish gray warbler scrambling from limb to limb. What made the identifiction was a bright yellow spot on the rump of the bird. We also saw this little fellow in Mexico when we birded the Yucatan Penincula in October of 2006.

   We turned away from the paved road and started walking carefully along the side of the fairway of the fourth hole. There were Indigo Buntings (Passerina Cyanea) and Northern Cardinals (Cardinalis Cardinalis) playing on the green of hole number four. The Cardinals say "purdy, purdy, purdy..." The Indigo Buntings have a very distinct, liquid whistle. We stood still and watched them putt. When it was time to play through, Robert spotted a small flycatcher, perched on a bare limb on a sapling. He had just found a Least Flycatcher (Empidonax Minimus). This handsome flycatcher was our bird of the day.

   We walked through the woods to the green on hole number two. We saw a lot of other birds during this short birding trip, and lots of dogs. It is primarily a city park, so the dogs were all on leash. It started to rain. To avoid the sprinkles, we walked to the car. It stopped sprinkling just as it had started. We gave up and drove to a restaurant and ate lunch.

Robert and Berry

Photos courtesy of rfowler, allaboutbirds, dpancamo