Chirps and Cheeps

My daughter, Kate, and I went down to Evangola State Park today hoping to find some warblers. Warblers weren't to be found anywhere on this beautiful, sunny day - but we did pick up 3 lifers for Kate and 1 for me, a Brown Thrasher (finally!).

We found the thrasher pretty much right off. The beautiful songs and mixed notes drew our attention to its presence quickly. S/he was fairly high in the tree, so photos weren't great, but at least I've got some fair shots to remember this lifer.

Did you know the Brown Thrasher has the greatest song repertoire of all the North American birds?  They can vocalize something like 3000 distinct songs! Remarkable!

Kate's lifers were the Brown Thrasher, White-throated Sparrows, and the Common Mergansers we found at the lake. We also saw a Belted Kingfisher, at least 8 Cedar Waxwings, 2 Northern Flickers, 2 Northern Cardinals, a couple of Ruby-crowned Kinglets, American Goldfinches, many American Robins, a couple of Black-capped Chickadees, 2 Song Sparrows, a few Chipping Sparrows, a Tufted Titmouse, and an elusive Eastern Towhee that we finally laid our eyes on after hearing him sing during our entire time at the park!

I could swear we heard a Gray Catbird, but I never could find it. The park was alive with birds and a few escaped our identification - and, although no warblers, it was a great day to be out!