I think the talk about our off trail hike and the threat of rain may have scared some people off. There were no takers on our Saturday walk down into the ravine. So I walked alone, which is never a bad thing. My intent was to show new habitat and in so doing new birds, namely the Louisiana Waterthrush. I've observed these birds on many occasions and they quickly became one of my favored birds. I've even tried locating nests but timing and the difficulty of doing so seem impossible. I remember the first time I saw this bird. I was at the Middle Creek School parking lot observing the heron rookery. The waterthrush's song got my attention as it sang on a branch. Its three long introductory notes to me sounded like a song sparrow but the visual had me stumped. It looked more like an ovenbird. Scott Shallaway helped me make the identification. Since then I am more vigilant in finding both the Louisiana and Northern Waterthrush.
So my vigilance took me down into a deep ravine. Its not a long walk, just a steep one. I followed the stream bed for about five minutes and heard the call note of a waterthrush so I stopped. Soon I had a visual on one bird with a beak full of insects. Within a minute I watched the bird make its way up the steep bank maybe twenty feet up near the top where the grass and roots created an overhang in some sturdy ground. There she disappeared for a moment feeding her nest of chicks.
I climbed the bank, took some pictures (posted) and then sat and observed the calling, fanned-tail bobbing, singing, and feeding behavior of this pair of Waterthrush. The climb was nearly impossible as muddy conditions made for bad footing. I noted that the bird that watched me climb was extremely wary of approaching the nest. The other bird was quick to enter, feed and leave but the first bird took along time to make its way back.
So much time was spent observing this activity that I ran out of time to continue the long ravine hike. So I simply made my way back up the hill toward the banquet hall. Before leaving I also observed an Acadian Flycatcher on nest and the constant perseek of its partner in the tree near the waterthrush. It was already a good nest day. Had I continued down stream I probably would have encountered a pileated woodpecker family. I hear them in this ravine constantly.
As I checked nest boxes I encountered new bluebird eggs, tree swallow young quickly changing, and also a busy Baltimore Oriole nest. So what a day at Grand Vue! June is prime time for nesting and fledgling activity and as such, prime time to take hikes to places seldom seen.
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