No Birds? No Problem!

For some odd reason, last Sunday's banding fell flat despite all of the encouraging signs to the contrary. Ernesto had just cleared to the north and skies were perfect for traveling birds. The morning even started with a bang with 6 birds being netted just while we were setting the lanes up.

We managed only one other bird all morning. And that was a recapture, too. Go figure.

So we walked and hoped in the hot, humid morning before finally going home. Fingers are crossed for next weekend. My records show it should be time for the thrushes, catbirds, and Common Yellow-throats.

There was plenty of wildlife to watch in the meantime. Many White-tailed Deer roamed the area all day. The first I found were an hour before sunrise. Well, we found each other in the dark by nearly walking into one another.

As we got ready to gather the nets I had a doe and fawn watch me nervously before crossing nearby up the path and disappearing into the scrub.

I made it home as quickly as possible to check the feeders. Maybe there would be something fun there waiting to be viewed. Nope.

However, no matter how quiet the daytime turned out to be, the night brought up the larger creatures. Just around dusk a pair of young raccoons made their weekly raid on the sunflower seeds in the squirrel feeder. I managed to chase one away but the other climbed up the oak tree and sat in the branches and watched me inside the house.

The best surprise came later as the boys were getting ready for bed. They called out to me that a possum was out on the tray feeder. Yeah, sure. But there it was, munching away.

I headed out to chase it away. It didn't know how to get down. We chatted for a while but it didn't want to leave. So, I had to take pictures. Nose to nose.



Fun. Still would have had more fun with more birds, though.