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a swift night out in Conway, SC (pretty sporty day, too)



hi y'all,

did my part for A Swift Night Out this dreary eve. 360+/- 'flying cigars'
chittered, twittered, swirled, whirled and finally fluttered to roost here.
the numbers have varied from 233 to 430 these past two weeks. why, i'd be
willing to bet these are different birds every night. whatch'all think?

their miniscule cousins, the hummers, put on a pretty sporty show here today
as well. one rather portly imm. male is the current king of this hill. he's
beginning to look like a feathered ping-pong ball. when he lumbers up from a
perch beneath his fav feeder with his tail splayed, the would-be
transgressors vacate immediately, no argument (their vocalizations appear to
be on the order of 'flee! flee! flee for your lives!') he's like a
Sumo-hummer. i'd luv to get him in a trap; he's gotta weigh around 6g. (fish
ain't bitin' there though; maybe tomorrow. dum spiro spero, animis opibusque
parati as the mottoes go.) the other hummers look like they've been feeding
in the Ethiopian desert compared to this guy. did catch a cpl of skinny
birds during a lull in the rain (4.1 - 4.5g) no sign of any Selasphorus;
guess it was another whunadoze one-day wonders. they've been coming to
Carolina forever; y'all do know that don't you?

Common Nighthawk, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Great Crested Flycatcher, Red-eyed
Vireo, several imm/fem-type redstarts, the second-ever Tenn. Warbler here
and a oh-man-what-was-that passed thru today. too many grackles and one ad.
male Red-winged Blackbird stopped for awhile. a flock of starlings loafed in
a sycamore for a bit. feeders were pretty busy as all the locals checked in.
even the Rock Pigeons came by. Mr. Cooper's terror must have moved on.

yesterday eve, a total of 23 Osprey lazily made their way southward over the
confines here, arranged in groups of 8, 4 and 11. also a nice flock of
Cattle Egret, a few White Ibis and a solitary Red-tail.

a few Carolina Satyr and several unknown-to-me moths made up the Lep list
today.

maybe i'll venture out of the yard for awhile tomorrow...then again, maybe
not.

;-)

gary phillips
conway, sc
sunset zone 31

"...where is the person, I ask, who, on observing this glittering fragment
of the rainbow, would not pause, admire, and turn his mind with
reverence..." (J.J. Audubon)