Date:         Wed, 20 Mar 2002 13:43:01 -0500
Reply-To:     Nathan Klaus <naklaus@MINDSPRING.COM>
Sender:       Georgia Birders Online <GABO-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Nathan Klaus <naklaus@MINDSPRING.COM>
Subject:      birds from all over
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed

I've been running all over the state the last week and had a few good
birds along the way:

Thursday 3/14 Ichuaway Plantation in Baker Co.  many SINGING Bachman's
sparrows.  Amazing how these little buggers are so hard to find outside
of the breeding season and so obvious during the breeding season.  I'd
really like to see a study of their winter habitats sometime, maybe now
that we have radio transmitters small enough we will see such a study.
 My bet is they hibernate underground in gophor tortoise burrows (just
kidding).

I also got to spend a little time at Mayhaw WMA which is very nearly in
shape for Bachman's sparrows but still a little too shrubby.  None heard
there confirming my suspicions.

Friday 3/15 Chickasawhatchee WMA- Wow, what a place.  If you are in the
area be sure to find the 13 bridges road.  Really nice birding.
 White-eyed vireo, singing (and seen) yellow-throated vireo.  Lots of
butterflies at both places, about 12 species total.

Later that night at my home I found a red-shouldered hawk nest on my
property by a ravine, Culloden, Monroe County.  They've been raising
Cain for months back there, they finally got to it.  No-one incubating
though, so maybe a 'dummy nest'.  I also hear a whip-poor-will for about
10 seconds that night.

Saturday/Sunday 3/16-3/17 canoeing the Broad River in Madison Co.  Many,
many black and white warblers, nearly always one singing nearby Sunday
morning along about 7 river miles.  Barred owls called during the night.
 At lunch on Saturday we pulled out at the base of a steep hill/cliff.
 Napping after lunch we heard something above and saw 9 turkeys jump off
the cliff directly above us and soar over the river to the bluff on the
other side.  The slope was so steep these birds had a difficult time
landing, one pluging headfirst into a bush.  At that same site I got a
life butterfly that has been eluding me for a couple of years, Eastern
Pine Elfin.  Many cowbirds were seen during the two days on the river,
which shouldn't be a surprise given how open the uplands are along the
river.  Interstingly my companion camping a couple of hundred miles to
the north on Friday night also heard a whip-poor-will the same night I
did.  We also saw 4 fresh looking burrows in the river banks that might
have been Kingfishers.

Yesterday mother nature found a unique way of letting me know I'm not
getting enough exercise (no it wasn't the usual short of breath, run
down feeling or pants that get seem to be getting smaller).  Instead I
went out to grab my bike and a wren had built a nest AND laid eggs in my
bike helmet.  Guess she didn't think I was using it.

Nathan Klaus
Culloden, GA (when I'm home)

--
____________________________________
Nathan Klaus
Wildlife Biologist
Georgia Department of Natural Resources
Non-game Endangered Wildlife Program
(478) 994-1438, (478) 994-3380 (home)
nathan_klaus@mail.dnr.state.ga.us
naklaus@mindspring.com
____________________________________