Two for a Strike Out…

It was August last year. My wife and kids had traveled back to Indiana to visit grandparents. Work kept me in South Carolina. One evening I decided to go out and try to find a Red-cockaded Woodpecker. They are an endangered species. But they are hanging on, among other places, not too far from where I live.

I knew of some trees they used to nest, and undeterred by the fact that it was the wrong time of the year for them to be nesting, I headed off. I sat and watched near the trees and looked at the other birds as well.

I saw a Great Egret and a Green Heron on the nearby lake. I saw Red-bellied and Pileated Woodpeckers. I saw some other commoners as well. But no Red-cockaded Woodpeckers.

Well, it didn’t surprise me. They are endangered, after all, and it was the wrong time of the year to expect them to show up at their nest cavities.

But what’s that? Looks like a nuthatch. Binoculars come up. Hmmmm. That’s different. It has a brown head. A Brown-headed Nuthatch. I don’t think I’ve never seen one of those before.

A few minutes later, while looking toward the tops of the pine trees, a flash of red caught my eye. That’s no cardinal. Binoculars come up again. I watch for a few fleeting seconds. It looks like a tanager. All red. Is it? Yes, no black on those wings. That would have to make it a Summer Tanager. All right! Another lifer.

So I went for one and got two other instead. It’s hard to be disappointed with that. Plus, now I’m better-armed and have a plan to find myself a Red-cockaded Woodpecker this spring. I’m visiting the same place. I’ve found what looks to be a freshly-excavated cavity, too.

But I’m keeping my eyes open for nuthatches and tanagers as well. You never know what might show up.