Sadly, my birding activities have been much less frequent since last semester. Over the summer, I tried to go birding at a local nature preserve several times, but soon discovered that the heat of the Texas summer discouraged the birds from showing themselves very often. On several occasions, I got up early and trekked deep into the preserve only to catch some glimpses of a few unidentifiable birds and a lot of bats. I did get to see plenty of Mockingbirds, Cardinals, Chimney Swifts, and Blue Jays around the house, but not much more than that.

I was hoping to start back up again this semester, but my busy schedule prevented the first few times I intended to go, and then I just sort of forgot about it.

Over Thanksgiving break, I had the opportunity to pull out my Sibley for the first time in quite a while. I saw several kinds of birds at the bird feeder out on the deck and wanted to verify what they were. The first one I knew easily enough as a Red-bellied Woodpecker. The second Courtney helped me identify as a White-breasted Nuthatch. And the last was either a Black-capped Chickadee or a Carolina Chickadee. I’m not really sure how to tell them apart. In any case, it was enjoyable to take some time to watch and learn about birds again.

I doubt I’ll get much more birding done over these last three weeks of the semester, but perhaps I’ll be able to do some over Christmas break, and hopefully my lighter load next semester will permit more regular birding excursions after that.