Deb and I took advantage of the beautiful weather this past weekend and visited a few briding location around the state on Saturday and Sunday.

The first stop was to check on the SCISSOR-TAILED FLYCACTHERs in Henry County at the original breeding location. At first, the birds were not visible but after about 20 minutes the male flew in and perched on the highest wires and began calling softly. I had looked with the spotting scope at the tower earlier but could see nothing on any of the cross bars. The female appeared from the right side of the lower bar and both birds flew around for a few minutes and returned to what I assume is the nest location. It was impossible to see either bird when they went in to the corner, even with the scope. Hopefully they will be successful nesting here again this year.

We continued south to Mitchell County and added several county birds including SNOWY EGRET, LITTLE BLUE HERON, WOOD STORK, CATTLE EGRET, GREAT EGRET, GREEN HERON, GREAT BLUE HERON and COMMON MOORHEN and KILLDEER, the later two both with young. A brief stop at Reed Bingham State park produced a lot of people but not the hoped for Purple Galinules that were found here last year. On the way back to Atlanta, we stopped at Bond Swamp NWR just southeast of Macon and drove along Bondview Road. A word of caution, Bondview has become quite a bit rutted and flooded in many spots. We went a couple of miles and turned around. The SWAINSON'S (3) and PROTHONOTARY (4) Warblers were very vocal and there were also a few SUMMER TANAGER, ACADIAN FLYCATCHER, WHITE-EYED VIREO, and a nice look at a perched MISSISSIPPI KITE ended the day.

On Sunday, we headed north to the mountains and it was a very nice day. Nothing unusual to report, but we did find CERULEAN (2), BLACKBURNIAN (9, adult feeding young), along with the expected warblers, BLACK-THROATED GREEN (38), OVENBIRD (31), CHESTNUT-SIDED (22), BLACK-AND-WHITE (15), HOODED (12), WORM-EATING (11), AMERICAN REDSTART (6), NORTHERN PARULA (2), KENTUCKY (1), COMMON YELLOWTHROAT (1), YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT (1).

A nice sighting was a pair of CEDAR WAXWINGS stripping bark and carrying it to a probably nest in an Oak tree. Also of interest was the high number of PILEATED WOODPECKERS (9) seen or heard along FR 100, and high counts of RED-EYED VIREO (53), EASTERN WOOD-PEWEE (11), SCARLET TANAGER (21). Rounding out the list were BROAD-WINGED HAWK (2), YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO (2), YELLOW-THROATED VIREO (1), BLUE-HEADED VIREO (5), WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH (8) and BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER (1).

A very enjoyable weekend to be out enjoying the beautiful Georgia countryside.

Thanks, Bob and Deb Zaremba Marietta, GA

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