[Larry Lade]

This morning about 11 o'clock I went out to our backyard, sat down in a lawn chair and thought I would just relax and enjoy the great weather. A small bird was rather high up in the Elm tree, flitting around like a kinglet. I went back into our house to get my binoculars and returned to my comfortable chair to see if I could get on that little bird. It must have flown off because I could not relocate it.

I settled back to see what else might show up. AMERICAN ROBINS were in and out of the yard, perching in the various trees and drinking/bathing in our small pond. BLUE JAYS, HOUSE SPARROWS were numerous. Then arriving were NORTHERN CARDINALS, COMMON GRACKLES and EUROPEAN STARLINGS. Monarch Butterflies kept flying over heading south. Soon a RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER and a NORTHERN FLICKER vocalized and went flying by. Looking skyward I watched many CHIMNEY SWIFTS flying lazily overhead. Before long some bigger birds mingled with them. They were COMMON NIGHTHAWKS, feeding and heading in a southerly direction. I counted about twenty of these. Next a large flock of RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS went flying over the yard.

I then noticed that the House Sparrows were "flycatching" small, flying insects. They continued this for twenty minutes or so. I don't believe I have ever seen them exhibiting this behavior for so long a period of time. The flying insects they were catching were quite small. I believe they may have been some sort of flying ants. It seemed that they rarely missed catching one, once they left their perch and took off after one. An EASTERN PHOEBE came and perched on a utility wire to see what all the excitement was about.

Checking the tree again where I had initially seen what I thought was a kinglet, I noticed a RED-EYED VIREO picking through the leaves. Next I heard a WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH somewhere near by, but could not see it.

A C130 Cargo Plane from Rosecrans Airport flew over our house about then and spooked about 30 BROWN-HEADED COWBIRDS out of a nearby tree.

One lone TURKEY VULTURE cruised slowly over the yard about noon. I guess that was a signal that the bird activity was done for the morning, because it became quiet at this point.

A nice, relaxing hour in our backyard!