It has been over a month since my last blog post which may be the longest gap since I started this blog back in 2009. My birding has been only local recently, so not really much exciting to report. This winter has been particularly good for "lost" western hummers here in NC. I already reported on the Allen's and Anna's hummers back in Nov. and Dec. For the past few weeks a rufous hummer has been hanging out at the UNC arboretum, so on a sunny day I decided to go check it out. There were alot of early season robins running around the grounds of the arboretum.
It took a bit if searching to locate the hummer's preferred feeding area, and even then it was not all that cooperative. While waiting patiently to get a photo of the hummer I saw many other birds including Carolina chickadees and lots of cardinals (click on any photo to enlarge).
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There were also mockingbirds, white-breasted nuthatches, tufted titmice, hermit thrushes and white-throated sparrows. While I saw the hummer several times over a 90 minute period, I was never able to get a good photo.
Our largely winterless year is moving early into spring here in NC. It has me planning spring migration trips already for Kansas and Ohio in early May. In the mean time I will begin to bird more on our property here outside of Chapel Hill. The first of the year Louisiana waterthrushes should be showing up in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned!
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