North Carolina Chronicles: Settling In and Getting Out

Butler's Birds is now broadcasting definitively from Wayne County, North Carolina. After a much needed and much relished pause in the mountains, the last several weeks have been all about getting up and running at work and up and filing lost or damaged claims with the moving company (seriously, the worst). 

On the bright side, we have a proper yard now, which can start generating a proper yard list. Other than some fervent lawn mowing and ferocious weed-whacking, I have not been able to tend it and make it more birdacious, but all the same there have been a few good pulls.  

Between the generic sounding name and their generic use on logos, Blue Jays have little aura about them. To be fair, they are a quotidian yard bird as well, but they're still gorgeous and not often crushable, in my prior experiences.

The best yard bird(s) so far came under odd circumstances, with 3 Mississippi Kites waiting out a heavy morning shower in the large dead pine across the street. My understanding is that any bird seen from one's yard is still countable. Luckily these birds also flew directly through our airspace when departing, so, double good.

  

As well as the incidental yard birds, we've had some cool moths and 'phibs. The first one below, a Cecrophia Silk Moth I believe, was on its last legs. The Luna Moth, like all Luna Moths, was actually an extraterrestrial. The Fowler's Toad (?) lives by our garden hose. Most evenings I watch it hunt with great success.

                      

The main mission for local birding, other than upping the rookie county numbers, is to photograph Barred Owl well. True to form, last time I saw one at Cliffs of the Neuse it was flushed and didn't stick around. So too this time. Fortunately there were still vocal Prothonotaries around then, as now, to console and to covet.