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Happy Valley Birds



Dwayne and I birded with Dom and Emma D'Ostillio this afternoon at the
Wagner Property in Happy Valley, NC.  We had a lot more than we expected and
look forward to introducing some of you to this property at the upcoming CBC
meeting in May.  Here's our list:

2 Green Herons
8 Blue-winged Teal
4 Wood Ducks
1 Common Snipe
7+ Solitary Sandpipers
2 Greater Yellowlegs
10+ Northern Rough-winged Swallows
5 Barn Swallows
3 Tree Swallows
5 Blue-gray Gnatcatchers

And, for those of you who are interested-----today, April 11, is our three
year birding-anniversary!  We began birding around 1:30 pm on this day in
1997, while planting an herb garden in the backyard.  We noticed several
very striking yellow birds at our neighbors feeder---Goldfinches---and
promptly went over to inquire about them.  She told us what they were and
that they were eating thistle, and Dwayne was off and running to Wal-mart
where he got his own thistle feeder and seed.  Within five minutes of
hanging the feeder (in close proximity to our neighbors) we had a feeder
covered in these beautiful birds.  The next day, he bought another feeder
and put out mixed seed.  We already had a field guide which we had bought
the year before for some unknown reason----fate, I dare say!  Within a week,
we had our first Indigo Bunting and Blue Grosbeak at the feeder and within
two weeks we had a male Rose-breasted Grosbeak.  We were hooked, and the
rest is history!  We didn't make our goal of seeing 300 species in three
years.  We tried very hard though, and wound up with 299.  We've each seen
the same species and plan to keep it that way!  If that darn Bachman's
Sparrow would have just cooperated for us . . . . .   Oh well, that's what
makes birding so fun---it's unpredictable and sometimes a little
frustrating.  We still have about two hours left in the day though, perhaps
a Northern Hawk-Owl will visit us tonight!

299 and counting . . . . .
*************************
Dwayne & Lori Martin
Foothills Bird Club
Claremont, NC
dlmartin@twave.net