Yesterday and today we visited my wife's in-laws in NE KY. Often I take my bike, but this morning's forecast was for mid-20s and I just wasn't feeling the bike thing.
Instead I took some hiking gear, and this morning while everyone soundly slept, I did my early thing and drove down to Blue Lick State Park, which is about a 25 minute drive from the house. I was able to connect a few different trails and put in about 5 miles total, and along the way I had a nice time doing some birding. I was out for 3 hours in temps right around 30F, but I managed to dress very well, and aside a little occasional headwear adjustment, I was comfy the entire time. Following are some images, as well as a list of the birdies I saw.
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| Crossing 68 |
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| Bench I slept on a couple years ago after a bike ride |
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| Northern Flicker, although it looks like a pigeon |
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| Tanner Station with unfortunate graffiti of some kids who probably smoke a lot of meth. Notice the smoke. |
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| Official vehicles from a group of reservists doing their weekend thing. I didn't take pics out of respect. The smoke from the "fort" is theirs. |
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| In case you were wondering, this is what KY cedar scrubland looks like. Birds like it. Little brown ones I can't identify. |
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| Tanner Station with backdrop of bend of Licking River, which the trail follows. |
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| More wet. |
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| New trail into a more wooded area. |
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| Licking River at boat ramp |
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| My path took me along the River Rd. for a spell. |
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| Who's that?!? He's one of 4 who poked their heads out to take a look at what the heck I was doing along the river. Their snorts were louder than expected. |
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| Full body (river otter in case you weren't sure) |
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| Didn't notice the dab of green along with the orange of the Fall and white of the Winter. |
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| Indian Loop trail, which followed the river before headed up the hill. Loved this trail. |
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| Climb |
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| Interesting barn atop the hill across the river valley |
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| E.bluebird and Juncos at parking lot |
I would say it was a Sparrow and Woodpecker day. I still have doubts about my sparrow IDs, but it's my list and my blog, so there! I had a big problem, too, in a thicket below 68 (obvious pic above) in which I saw lots of little brown or dark birds that weren't sparrows, but I couldn't really tell what they were otherwise. I assume they were vireos and warblers, but who knows? No me.
**- first sighting
Junco
E.Cardinal
A.Robin
E.Bluebird
Bluejay
Downy Woodpecker- lots!
Red-bellied Woodpecker**
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-Breasted Nuthatch
A.Crow
Carolina Wren
Eastern Towhee
Golden-crowned Kinglet**
N.Flicker
Song Sparrow
Fox Sparrow**
Field Sparrow**
White throated Sparrow
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