I outlined this post shortly after we returned from the trip, but lack of time followed by lack of Internet delayed its completion and posting until now.

On Saturday, April 22nd, Courtney, Michaela, and I headed out to Paradise Lost (formerly known as Iron Bridge Road) for the last birding trip of the school year. I parked my car outside the yellow gate as before and we started down the road. I had noticed that a pickup was parked at the entrance, but I had not noticed the Eastman employee inside. He politely, but firmly informed us that we could not enter unless we had Eastman cards. I told him that although we were cardless, we were big fans of Eastman; it didn’t help. So, until we can acquire some of these mysterious Eastman cards, we will be stuck outside the gate. I know of at least one professor at LETU that used to be pretty high up in Eastman and may still have contacts there. I’ll probably talk to him next semester about getting some cards for LOL.

Determined to still get some birding out of the trip, we decided to walk down the railroad tracks that paralleled the road leading to the gate. Unfortunately, a heavy fog obscured our view of the few birds that were around and made colors almost indistinguishable. The birds were less than thrilled about the fog, and there was not much activity in either sound or flight.

Suddenly, the sun cleared up fog in an instant and we could see a beautiful morning and a few birds too. There were plenty of Cardinals, but I was eager to see the many warblers Bolt had told us to look for. I did hear a few warblers; some sounded like the familiar pine warblers from the LETU campus, but some sounded different. However, despite my best efforts, I never managed to see any of them.

Courtney pointed out several Blue-gray Gnatcatchers that I caught brief glimpses of. We also saw a mystery bird that neither of us could identify, a hummingbird (not sure if it was Black-chinned or Ruby-throated), and a Tufted Titmouse. But the real highlight of the day was seeing two Summer Tanagers, a male and a female. Such a brilliant red!

All too soon, the heat from the sun that had moments earlier cleared the fog for us caused the birds to reconsider their activity away from the cool shade of the trees, and the area became quiet once again. Reluctant to head back to school, we continued our walk for some time.

Then we went home.