It is almost mid-June and the nesting birds are already seeing their first brood fledging and learning to eat. It is amazing that the Spring has hustled past and sultry days are now becoming common. Spring here in eastern North Carolina has actually been cool and pleasant for the most part, but lookout ahead!! This is a very neat time to visit The Field . Everything is popping! The flowers are in full bloom, crops are planted and growing, the blackberries are almost ripe, and the critters are struggling with their rapidly growing new young'uns . Today I saw a pair of Blue Grosbeaks trying to coax a first flyer to leave a stake it had desperately grabbed and clung to. They flew around and around, landed nearby and called repeatedly, but the fledging was holding to its safe perch tenaciously, and would only raise its tail and flap its wings, hollering for food! It took 20 minutes for mom and dad to get the chick to follow. I was able to get a few pictures of the action--see first few pics below.
I have also seen quite a few Yellow-breasted Chats in the thick brush on the field edges. These guys are hard to see in full view because they seldom get more than a few feet above the brush. I have been fortunate to catch a couple posing for the camera in the open. There have also been House Finches, Kingbirds, Quail, and Crested Flycatchers. In the huge white oaks at the field edge, I have seen several Fox Squirrels, this being one of the few locations where I see them frequently.
The pics below are from several recent days in the Field---
I have also seen quite a few Yellow-breasted Chats in the thick brush on the field edges. These guys are hard to see in full view because they seldom get more than a few feet above the brush. I have been fortunate to catch a couple posing for the camera in the open. There have also been House Finches, Kingbirds, Quail, and Crested Flycatchers. In the huge white oaks at the field edge, I have seen several Fox Squirrels, this being one of the few locations where I see them frequently.
The pics below are from several recent days in the Field---
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