Persistence pays. We got the Red Cockaded Woodpecker. Number 485 for us. Funny thing, in the search for the woodpecker, we got two other lifers, the Bachman’s Sparrow, Number 486, and the Brown Headed Nuthatch, Number 487. We’ve been looking for the nuthatch. The Sparrow was a total surprise.
Birding doesn’t always work like you expect. We went to the forest every day to look for each bird, the nuthatch and the woodpecker, in the appropriate habitat. Today, while I was getting out of the car, coffee in one hand, car keys in the other, the brown headed nuthatch flew down and landed on a parking bumper post right next to the car.
After we gave up on the woodpecker, walking back to the car, we found one stuck to a tree about twenty feet away. Persistence pays.
