10/30/2024
It is my favorite month of the year. October winds down migration and transitions into "sparrow season". I look forward to this time of year. My favorite place to visit is Goose Pond. Sparrows are usually thick there, and I can easily spend a couple hours slowly birding my way down Farmhouse Rd; pishing in sparrows.
This year, I got a late start. I spent the first half of the month in South Africa. Agreed, that is not a bad trade-off. The first weekend after I was back, I hit up Goose Pond - as if I did not have enough photos waiting to be processed. Turns out, that was not much of an issue. Sparrows are known for being skulky little birds. They can be curious, though. Usually, some pishing will get some to pop up or fly in to see what is going on. I am not sure what the issue is, but I have not been getting any kind of positive response from them. In fact, I am getting quite the opposite. As I slowly walked the road, I could see birds (20 - 30 feet ahead of me) popping up and fleeing the roadside. When I would get to an area with activity, I would pish, and nothing would come in. Sadly, it is not an isolated event. I spent Saturday at GP and followed that up with a day birding the fields at Eagle Creek Park. The next weekend, I was back down at GP. All three times, it was the same behavior. I feel like I am losing my edge.
While I saw a number of birds, I did not get a lot of photos. To compound things, I also accidentally formatted my memory card with my photos from Eagle Creek Park. My last trip to Goose Pond, I spent an hour birding Farmhouse Rd before heading to a nearby location to look for a rare Vermillion Flycatcher that was being seen. I got there just in time to watch it fly away. I waited for another couple of hours, and it did not return. It all adds up to a lot of effort and very little to show for it.
While I do not have much to show from local birding, I had a lot better luck in South Africa. Posts should be coming soon!
Thanks for reading,
Mike
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