Bachman's Sparrow

Bachman's Sparrow has a very limited range in the southeastern United States, and within that range it is extremely difficult to see--it's almost legendary in that sense. We spent a good two hours in search of the bird, in a pine forest in the middle of Louisiana. We needed to find it to begin with, and then surround it with our group; according to our guide it then sometimes perches up in the underbrush and remains still for a couple of minutes. This was about our fourth try, and finally that is exactly how it happened--fortunately rather close to me, and I got off a number of shots. A life bird for me and Marylee!

Another very rare bird in the same habitat (though one that we had seen before, in Florida) was the red-cockaded woodpecker. In this case we came upon a group of four or five of them, although very high in the trees--too much so for a good photo. Finally, I enjoyed seeing many brown-headed nuthatches--in the same limited range, but much more common.