This female yellow-bellied sapsucker has been making a daily stop at this tree outside my office, so I decided that I would take a video! It’s amazing how these birds can just rip apart a tree while looking for food. For more info on the Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker, I reccomend checking out the Cornell Lab All About Birds website.
This Barred Owl was the highlight of the trip.
December 10, 2011 – Since it was already a week since our last road trip, we took a road trip to Columbia. Since we like to travel through food, we stopped for lunch at a local place called Albert’s Deli. We tried a couple great sandwiches, one with roast beef/turkey/pastrami and melted cheese (the Better Boy), the other with Lebanon bologna and on toasted rye. Both sandwiches were great, we’d definitely go back.
This yellow-bellied sapsucker was the first bird sighting of the day.
After lunch we continued on to Congaree National Park. We had a few hours before the park closed and wanted to explore some of the elevated boardwalk. We had fun on the boardwalk, and took a few photos.
We finally saw a Red-Headed Woodpecker on this trip.
The Barred Owl was enjoying the peace and quiet in the late afternoon.
Reviews:
We were greeted by a volunteer and a Harris's Hawk upon entering the center.
August 20, 2011 – We saw a variety of birds of prey at, not surprisingly, The Center for Birds of Prey near Charleston. Despite the heat we enjoyed the tour of the various birds, including about two dozen owls, bald eagles, and a crested caracara. We also learned that fish crows can learn to talk; workers at the center were trying to teach one to say “I’m a crow!” though it was being a little stubborn.
Falcons are fast fliers, even after taking a bath.
The flight demonstration was also very interesting as the birds enjoyed eating their post-flight treats, sometimes catching items in mid-air and eating while continuing to fly. The falcon had just received a bath and was dried with a hairdryer just prior to the demonstration; he was a little less than eager to fly, but eventually took off and zoomed all over the field.
A kite was also part of the flight demonstration.
We approve of the mission of the center, which is to rehabilitate injured birds, release them when possible, and acquire others for educational purposes (e.g. bringing into schools). The tours are informative, and the flight demonstrations really show the strengths and features of each bird.
The flowers were blooming at the beginning of June.
June 2, 2011 – We spent a few days relaxing in Western NY. Relaxing, as usual, involved lots of yummy food (including gnocchi, grilled hot dogs, lemon raspberry cake with lemon buttercream icing, Pasquale’s pizza and Kone King), walking at Knox Farm State Park, and hunkering down to wait out a thunderstorm that eventually got worse rather than better, forcing us to call for a ride to pick us up. Okay, so maybe that last item isn’t “as usual.” 
We also had a fire (complete with roasted marshmallows and s’mores) and enjoyed playing with the kitties.
There were quite a few bluebirds at Knox Farm.
Daisy was happy during our return visit too.
Knox Farms has the biggest concentration of bobolinks that we have ever seen.