Birds, bugs, and blooms. Spring!

The last one is Linville Falls. I have seen many waterfalls in Georgia and North Carolina and this was the most impressive, albeit in person and not so much from this photo.

Now that I posted about birds in North Carolina, let’s check out the BUG WATCHING!

I haven’t been out too much lately, either “life” or weather has been getting in the way venturing of outside. I’ve only had a few little walks outside, but luckily I always find something cool even on those little walks. Here are a few photos from the last week.

Brown-headed Nuthatch. I love them!

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. One of the few birds I’ve seen often around my new neighborhood. The whole family was in the tree chattering the day I took this, but only this fledgling would come down to the low branches near me.

Red-shouldered Hawk chilling out in the shade.

Day 2 in North Carolina was spent with visiting, backyard bird watching, and a jaunt to Asheville for supplies. So skip ahead to Day 3, a beautiful day spent at the NC Arboretum! Butterflies galore, and many other little critters too.

Last weekend while birdwatching I saw two firsts, one was a Northern Gannet, the other a Sora. It’s easy for me to have firsts since I haven’t been birdwatching seriously (actually IDing birds) for very long. I think I may have been lucky to see the Sora though, as it was really hiding…

Others from the day…

Osprey

Northern Flicker

Savannah Sparrow

Wilson’s Snipe

Red-winged Blackbird

Gorgeous thistles very busy with butterfly and bee action!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

From what I’m heard, Asheville’s main spot for birdwatching is Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary. A very neat place for birds and other creatures (including lots of ginormous frogs), and there were many of Asheville’s resident birds there, including a little nuthatch! (Sadly no photo of the nuthatch though. Flighty little thing.)

This last one is a TERRIBLE photo, but this guy was so cool. A Northern Flicker.