Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Birding Heaven (pics)

The past few weeks has been wonderful! We finally have some warmer weather and the birds arrived pretty much on schedule. First the ducks came and then the warblers, orioles and others.

I was so enthusiastic about seeing all the different warblers I fixed us a picnic and as soon as my husband got home from work today we headed to Presque Isle for our dinner. It was great eating outside to the sound of the birds.

Tonight as I was getting ready for bed I found a tick on me! I was so upset about it as I'm so scared of Lyme disease. Deer ticks are a real concern in our area. It kind of put a damper to my "birding" enthusiasm. There is a spray out there that you use on your clothes, shoes and hats that lasts 2 weeks even if you launder the clothes item so we'll have to do that. It kills the ticks if they walk across it, not repel them. Ticks can live up to 6 months in your car or house I read, and that is even without getting a meal. Maybe we could spray some on the car seats and rugs. Every few minutes I think I feel a tick on me now.

Here are photos that I was able to get of the warblers. They are very hard to photograph because they are so quick and don't stop for a second.







3 comments:

Lynne at Hasty Brook said...

Wow, Linda, those photos are terrific! I have major Black-throated Blue envy. What a beautiful bird. Your Magnolia Warbler is great too. Were these from your festival?

I'm with you on the ticks. We are in a heavy deer tick area too. Working in the laboratory, we are seeing more and more cases of tick-borne diseases every summer. I think I will look for that spray too. If you come across the name of it, will you let me know? Thanks-

Erie's Argonaut said...

I'm so glad to hear from you, Lynn! I can't wait to read about the West Virginia bird festival you went to. I didn't actually go to our bird festival. It is held at Presque Isle and Matt and I go there almost every weekend all year long....even during the festival. But the birds I spotted were all where the festival is located. I spotted the Magnolia near the entrance to Presque Isle at Scott Park but I also spotted them in Presque Isle State Park. These were all spotted in a 3-week period. Some are still around for a bit longer, some have gone north already. The Black-throated Blue Warbler was a lifer for me. And here there were so many this year. I don't know why I never spotted them in years past.

I found some website that sells the tick spray. The ingredient you are looking for in the spray is Permethrin.

Video at this link that tells about permethrin.

http://www.sawyer.com/permethrin.htm

Here is a link to one of the websites that sell it:
http://www.sportsmans-necessities.com/TickSpray.html

And here is one at REI.com:
http://www.rei.com/product/629270/sawyer-permethrin-pump-spray-6-oz

They probably sell it at any outdoors-type stores like Dicks or Gander Mountain.

Erie's Argonaut said...

Actually, I just read it lasts 6 weeks and if you store the clothing in plastic bags it will last even longer. (from the Sawyer website under, "faqs."