Trip Report-Smokey Mountains-Tennesse 2

I didn't make it into the Smokies yesterday-The weather was very bad with heavy Snow showers and i had a couple od things to sort out, I had looked at the forecast for today and it looked pretty good so i was itching to get out this morning and arrived well before the gates opened,There was still snow on the mountains and a report of 12'' at the top-all in one day,The morning was bright and frosty with a thin layer of snow at the base of the mountains, As per their name the floor had a nice thick layer of mist that quickly burnt off,but not before i shot some landscapes and a couple of deer, The Turkeys were still near the entrance but still distant so i hoped that i would bump into some more further round the park, Little did i know that it would be near te end of the loop that some Turkeys popped out of the woodland but were followed (too) closely by a local photographer who literally herded them along-no point in staying there so i drove off but as i did another single turkey appeared and strutted his stuff right in front of me, I took some full body type shots before grabbing the big gun (600) which had a 1.4x and D300 attached, I had seen an image a long time ago that really impressed me of these strange looking bird, I looked through the view finder and it was full of turkey, the shutter speed was very low 1/40 but i didnt want to up the ISO so a steady hand was called for and i managed plenty of shots to make sure that i had nailed it-brilliant only 2 days in and my target was in the bag, I drove off very pleased with myself and quickly viewed a large woodpecker through the trees-a pilated-it was massive (size of a crow) and only a few feet from the floor, I tried from the car but there was too many branches in the way, I slowly got out of the car and quietly crept through the woodland only for a truck to pull up to see what i was doing and the bird flew, I carried on driving to the camp site to see if any bears had been seen, i grabbed a coffee and waited, A few American robins landed nearby so i grabbed my camera and a young lad came from nowhere and chased them off-looking very pleased with himself-dont you just love em, Once the kid had gone i carried on waiting to see if they returned, they didnt but instead another pilated woodpecker landed in the tree right in front of me, I only had the camera and beanbag so had to handhold the monster lens,after a had some shots in the bag i decided to quickly go to the car and grab the tripod,The bird hung around and as i grabbed another couple of shots it dropped out of the tree and fed around a stump close by-well all my christmas's came at once and it stayed for about 10 mins and in the shade so i didnt have to worry about blowing the bright whites, The Pilated is a bird that was high on my wanted list when i came to the states and to have one so obliging was amazing-what a morning and what a place, I cant wait for the 'fall' as this place is soo picturesque during the winter it will be amazing with the golden folage


Dave

Local Patch - Warwickshire

It is cold, grey and the wind is biting as I type this on Sunday morning, although the Sparrowhawk that has gone flashing across the back of the garden seemed quite oblivious to it. A couple of new visitors of note in the last two weeks have been a pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers coming in, ignoring the many options of feed and pecking away on the dead branch on the apple tree.

I spent a couple of hours out in the garden yesterday putting in hedging. This is the time of year to put in bare root hedge stock while the growth is dormant. I have put in a total of 80 plants, all of mixed native UK species with berry, flower and fruit variety for wildlife from nine different species. It will be exciting to watch them grow this year and put some cover against a very boring wooden fence that one of our neighbours has put up.

Since I last wrote, we have generally had more of the same species in, with the blackbirds and sparrows being the dominant species in terms of numbers. Our Grey Wagtail didn't show for a few days, so we always get a little nervous in case it has been 'catted', but it put in an appearrance again on Friday and Saturday. I still need to get some better images yet.

Still hoping for Blackcap and Bramblings to come back as we had last year, but nothing yet. But I thought I would show you what we are missing this year

In the local area, we have had massive flocks of Fieldfare and Redwing, both of which avoided me when I went out trying to photograph them yesterday. I found a great location earlier in the week and was hoping to be able to get them yesterday - but they had all moved to a different location that was too far away to photograph. Sods Law!! There is plenty of buzzard activity and I saw a great sight two Monday's ago on my drive to work after we had some very early heavy rain. In one field there were eleven buzzards on the ground in a ploughed field, and a further seven in the adjacent field. the heavy rain had obviously bought all the worms to the surface for a buzzard breakfast. I have only seen this sort of behaviour once before, which was last year when I was in Switzerland with Dave, and it was again similar weather conditions that caused it.

Slightly further off patch, there have been reports of good numbers of Waxwings. I have tried the nearest location a couple of times, but have not had a sighting.

I also keep an eye on the wildlife where I work, in particular the Great Crested Grebes on the lake we have there. Last year one pair decided to nest on a small patch of reeds immediately underneath an area where there was a footpath. Unfortunately, due to disturbance, their first attempt failed, but the second try was successful, although with only a single chick fledging. As part of major bank maintenance, in which there home needs to be completely rebuilt at the wrong time of the year as far as they are concerned. So they have been given a brand new floating island, pre-planted with phragmites reeds that has been placed in the middle of the area they occupy. So hopefully they will have a good chance of undisturbed nesting this year.

If you have any unusual sightings from your local patch, we would love to hear from you. Just drop a note in the comments.

Update: After I had finished writing this blog up, Sparrowhawk put another appearance in chasing a blackbird across the garden, about 30feet up, and then a hour or two later, I was just having a break from printing, looking out at the mass of birds in the garden, and everything just disappeared at great speed into the air raid shelters and the Sparrowhawk came stooping into the garden and put down into the Apple tree, which at least gave he a good view of him through the binos. He left again after a couple of minutes, still looking for his lunch.

Martin

News - A Quicky

You never know what's around the corner, I was expecting to get up today and start downloading and processing some images from the last few days but instead we opened the blinds and there was snow-not just snow but SNOOOOOOOOOOOOOW,Lots of it. We have had about 6'' last night and its still coming down,The birds are all over the feeders and I have set up a low tent with built in ground sheet for some comfort and for the past couple of hours have been shooting constantly,So far I have seen Cardinal, Junco, Mourning dove, Downy woodpecker, Tufted titmouse and house finch to name but a few. I have some very nice stuff so far but the cardinals are not landing where I want them to, So its back out until I get the shots I want. Sorry to make this such a short post but it rarely snows here in NC so I am going to make the most of it. I will post some images as soon as I can-they look great on the camera screen so hopefully it will be worth the wait.

Dave