Saturday, April 25, 2015

Butterbutts and Green Swamp (24-25Apr2015)

Yesterday before work I went to Greenfield Lake looking for warblers.  It was really chilly but beautiful.  Try as I might, I only found Yellow-rumps.  There were some of the regulars around too.


Gray Catbird


American Bluebird

Saturday morning I headed out very early to meet up with Erla and some other birders from the triangle at Green Swamp in Brunswick county.

On the way there was some road kill with a nice group of Vultures.


Black Vulture

For those of you that have never been to Green Swamp, I think it is worth going even if not for the birds.  There is plant life there that I have not seen anywhere else.  Some of the areas look kind of surreal.  For example, there was one area today that was all Long Leaf Pines with nothing but ferns underneath.  So it looked as though the pines were floating in a sea of green.

However, the swamp is most famous for it's carnivorous plants.


Pitcher Plants were everywhere.  Bugs get caught in the funnel and are slowly eaten alive.


The flowers are like none I have seen elsewhere.


Is this a type of orchid?


I was quite impressed with several of the groups ear birding skills.  They pretty much called every bird we encountered before we saw them.


This Swanson's Warbler was singing loud and clear.


Worm-eating Warbler


This particular pitcher plant had just killed a small mammal and it's veins were coursing with the blood of it's prey..... maybe...

Starting at 10am we had a triple header for the boys soccer all the way through 4pm!!!  It was a long day.  In between one of the games Luke and I headed to Sutton Lake and found a couple birds.


Blue Grosbeak


Female Brown-headed Cowbird - despite the fact that it is a parasitic freeloader, I can still appreciate them.

Cheers.


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