Birding at Stone House

We headed out again to go birding with the wonderful people at Tin Mountain. This time we were going to explore the Stone House property in Chatham. On the way we were lucky enough to spot this Pileated Woodpecker. He was right on the side of the road and we were able to stop and watch him eat his breakfast. Sarah snapped a bunch of awesome pictures out the van window. We also saw a Red Tailed Hawk but weren't quick enough to snap his picture.

The Stone House property is just beautiful. We walked in along a wooded dirt road. Mike Cline, Tin Mountain's director, was pointing out all the different types of ferns and how to identify them. We also caught a couple of frogs and saw some really large tadpoles. We heard quite a few different birds, but they are getting harder to see because of all the leaves.

Hannah and Rebekah aren't really into the birds but loved exploring. They had a great time walking along this stone wall. Hannah was amazed at all of the butterflies, yellow, orange, even blue, and in all sizes as well. We may be heading out of a few butterfly walks in the near future.

Sarah, Chris and Mason are searching for an elusive American Redstart. We could all hear him, but even with all the sets of eyes we couldn't find him. We were lucky enough to see Rose breasted Grosbeak, Scarlet Tanager, Broadwing Hawk, and Blackburnian Warbler.

Chris brought his bag of tricks to help lure the birds out of the dense trees. Here he has Sarah holding a model Common Yellow Throat and he playing its call on the iPod. It worked and the Common Yellow Throat posed for all of us to see on the edge of the trees.

Sarah showed her dedication and that birding is not for the faint of heart when she fell in the stream trying to get a better look at the Rose Breasted Grosbeak. Luckily she was able to keep here new treasure, a Sibley Field Guide (a gift from Dixie) dry. She held it above her head as Chris and Mason rescued her. Thanks guys!