A birder's paradise

A birder is a person who watches birds as a hobby, or something like that. I know you knew that! Debbie and I are birders. You knew that too!

Well, this place in the pictures is one of our favorite places to watch birds. It almost feels like our classroom; because we've learnt and appreciated so much about birds there.
It's the Ocmulgee National Monument where you'll find the ancient Indian Mounds.

To a lot of people, the Ocmulgee may look a bit drab, almost desolate in its landscape but we love it and the birds love it. It's right in Macon which makes it pretty convenient.


At this time, you can see all kinds of woodpeckers including the Red Headed (abundant there!), the Downy and the Hairy, the Northern Flicker, and now we've been sighting our favorite Pileated Woodpecker.

If you like Bluebirds, you'll be pleased. They're a regular sight. Northern Cardinals, Tufted Titmice, Carolina Chickadees, all kinds of warblers and sparrows have made their home at the Ocmulgee Mounds. You'll probably find close to 100 species of birds around there. I hope I'm not exagerating because I haven't actually counted. I just know there are A LOT of bird species there. Some are transient, some are permanent. Our friend the Anhinga just went back home. He didn't even say goodbye! We came one day and he was gone. The Kingfishers are still hanging around as well as the Killdeer, and the Lesser Yellowlegs.

At the beginning, we would just marvelled at the big birds like the Great Blue Herons and the Great White Egrets and of course the different hawks. Now, we're getting to appreciate the little ones as well especially when we can identify them by their songs and calls.
Some of the little birdies are just shy so need to listen to them then find them. There is a large population of the Yellow Rumped Warbler now and they are actually quite playful. The Flycatchers, Vireos, and Wrens are a little bit of a challenge for us to distinguish for now because our great binoculars are not that great after all. Good birders use better binoculars. We're getting there.

If you have not been birding, it's not too late to start. It's fun and there are plenty of places to go.