Closing the Book on Wrens, Again

After the split of the winter and pacific wren left me with a hole in my North American wren life list (and perhaps more importantly, at a bird list disadvantage compared to Robert), I had hoped to see a winter wren within the next six months.  Happily, it only took 3 months and 3 days.  A cooperative winter wren made his spotty/blotchy little self known to me this afternoon at our local park, where Robert and I went because I felt this overwhelming need to get outside and maybe see some ducks.  Amusingly, Robert did not get a very good look at the bird this time.

By the time we got to the marshy area of the park, I was feeling so satisfied that I didn't mind at all that the only ducks on the water were three mallards.  Really, it was such a gorgeous, sunny, cool but not cold day that taking two hours away from extremely frustrating online grad school applications and the neuroscience of external food cues to just walk around, gawking and kicking leaves would have been quite satisfactory without seeing a single bird at all.

But in addition to my winter wren, we also saw two species that are new for us in North Carolina:

* Yellow-bellied sapsucker (a spotty juvenile who looked astonishingly like a bump on the tree at first, even with that white patch on its wing; evolution was pretty clever with that because under sunny conditions, the branches themselves are dappled dark and light, too)

* Golden-crowned kinglet (a bird I never saw in Texas, but have seen elsewhere)

Overall, a very pleasant outing.  However, I've still got a hankering for ducks, so I've put Robert on the case of planning a trip east to some wildlife refuges near the coast so we can see ducks, swans, and geese.  I've especially got my eye out for the American black duck, which - due to my heavy exposure to and love of Warner Brothers cartoons and hence Daffy Duck - I always thought of as the default "duck" as a kid.  (Arguably, Daffy Duck doesn't look that much like an American black duck, which is a kind of mallard-y looking bird, but it's the closest actual duck species I know of.)

Once again, I really love the serendipitous nature of birding.  We only even took our binocs with us in the event that we might see some ducks on the pond, and a lifer passerine decides to make a conspicuous appearance at the exact moment I'm walking by on the trail.  Nifty.

P.S.  I am now up to something like 6 or 7 (of 17) online applications completed.