When you go birding, you just never know what you’ll find. Or what you don’t.
The March 11 field trip was such a time. It was early spring, but hope was high for early birds, those avian miracles that fly north across the Gulf of Mexico and land in our local habitats, and in this case along the Bayou Marcus Birding Trail Boardwalk.
Preparing for the morning’s trip I ran through the list of birds I thought we might encounter – Common Yellowthroats for certain among them.
But no yellowthroats were to be seen hiding behind their jet-black masks.
And the more tardy birds, still lingering here in the South before winging northward – nope.
They, too, hid or lurked beneath skies turning from blue to cloudy and not to be seen.
But you never know just what you’ll find! Among the dozen pairs of eyes in our group, a tiny hairstreak butterfly was spotted on a blooming black titi.
Soon both palimedes and black swallowtails were seen flitting among dewberry blossoms.
A moccasin curled up in a knot soaked up the sun, while another was sleeping on a board under a protective cover of tangled vines…or was it really asleep?
Small fish darted about in one of the pools, flashing their rich aqua tails. Another beautifully patterned moccasin slipped through the shallow water along the edge of spring-green plants, the sinuous shape gliding quietly, effortlessly.
Several Green Anoles basked along the blue outflow pipes.
And then finally, a flurry of birds back near the beginning of the boardwalk!
A white-eyed vireo put on a show near the trail while downy and red-bellied woodpeckers probed dead limbs overhead.
A ruby-throated kinglet nervously fed in the vine tangles, bluebirds chased each other, gray catbirds scooted through shadows and a brown thrasher held court from the top of a tall dead tree.
While we birders are anxious for spring migrants to show up, seeing our local and wintering birds is always satisfying.
Then, coming home we were greeted by two of those avian miracles that just flew in from points south – a northern parula and another white-eyed vireo.
You never know what you’ll find!
BY, Lucy Duncan