Today I drove to Greenville to "volunteer" to help nestbox cam hostess Jen with her nestbox projects. I say "volunteer" because I really wasn't much help. Mostly Jen made her rounds and showed me stuff, and I kept her company while she installed a piece of wood to block glare from one of the nestcams, and also some predator baffles on the bluebird nests.

I was really just curious about how it was all set up, as someday I might like to have my own nestboxes and cameras. I got to add six birds to my list! SIX! They are: Wood duck, Eastern Phoebe, White-breasted nuthatch, great-crested flycatcher, black vulture and blue-gray gnatcatcher. (There were two more specie that I heard but did not see.) Altogether I saw 26 kinds of birds today, counting all the ones in my yard and hers. Jen has been birding for about a dozen years so she was a font of useful information and advice.

If you would like to see pictures of my day at her place, click here. There are no actual pictures of birds as I don't have a camera that good, but you can see the nestboxes and Jen's beautiful property.

Hope you're having a lovely weekend,
Kara

Wow, Kara - "gorgeous" doesn't begin to describe your friend's property! You're very fortunate to live in an area like that; I keep hoping the hubby will finally give in to my pleas by selling the house and moving to a more "wild" place out in British Columbia; the scenery there is spectacular, and although they're hard to find, there are still parcels of "wilderness" where you can build a home and really be with nature. Thanks for linking to the pictures; they were wonderful!

Holly--
Glad you liked the picture. The town where my friend lives is something of a drive for me--about 1-1/4 hours. I live splat in the middle of the city! But with all the rain we've had it's unusuall green in this part of the world.

Very cool! I should look for some birdcams out here! Too fun!!

Cate--
More and more cams are coming on line all the time. I guess the technology is getting pretty cheap that anybody can do it. I've thought of setting up a camera in my chimney to spy on the swifts, which by the sound of things are raising hundreds of babies in there.

Well, it's nice that you're not SO far away that you can't make the drive to your friend's house and enjoy being out in nature. I would love to move out of the city and into a place like Jen's; my Muse really comes alive when I'm out in the woods...

Holly--
There is something very soothing about being in nature. I am so used to the city noises that I block them out, but I really notice it when it's quiet and the air smells fresh.

I like being by the ocean, too.

I've enjoyed reading this blog since I had been watching the wood duck site. It is so nice to see photos of the area as well as pictures of you and Jen. If you ever come northeast, you can stop by and add many more birds to your list! :) Although I have been a bird watcher for many years, seeing the web cam is something totally new. What a joy!

Judi--
Thanks, that's very generous! Just watched the baby ducks leave the nest this morning--fun!