On Wednesday, I took my son to Sky Meadows State Park to see if the
Red-headed Woodpeckers could still be reliably found there.
We saw one within five minutes of getting out of the car. I got a so-so
picture - they seem to prefer to stay up very high in the trees. (At least
that has been the pattern when I've visited the park over the years)
http://www.pbase.com/allen_hart/image/124280607
(Note - I think I managed to copy the link to the right picture this time)
While we were in the park, we decided to try a hike and went up the Piedmont
Overlook trail. Normally my car always contains a can of insect repellent
with DEET. For some reason I had removed it from my car, so we did this
hike without any. That was not a good idea. We removed close to two dozen
ticks from our clothes between the two of us and we just hiked up and down
that trail which is only about 1.5 miles. Just wanted to mention this so
everyone would realize that the tick season is upon us. Don't forget to
check carefully after your hikes - and I'll be remembering to put my insect
repellent back with my supplies.
Good (and safe) birding.
--allen
-- Herndon, VA
