I had big ideas for birding in Georgia this past weekend during a visit to see my sister and her family. A fall that occurred on Saturday, April 20th because I missed the final step has left me with a worrisome knee injury that is, as yet, undiagnosed. X-rays taken in the ER shortly after the injury occurred revealed no fractures. But x-rays will not show all of the parts of the knee. So, I wait now to see a sports medicine knee specialist on May 6th.
Thank goodness I had no big trip planned for this year. But, I did and do have plans for lots of local birding that, in addition to this Georgia trip, includes Point Pelee and Tawas Point.
I wasn't planning to allow my knee to disrupt birding on this trip either but on the first evening of my arrival, I was "walking" (actually my gait is a stiff-legged limp) on uneven terrain to enter a large woods when I miscalculated a step, my knee buckled and I landed on my backside with what felt like a re-injured knee. Over the weekend, it recovered back to baseline, but that incident pretty much put the kibosh on any further attempt at real birding.
The focus of my Georgia trip was to be a visit to Sandy Creek Nature Center near Athens, Georgia to actually see Swainson's Warbler. I visited there in 2011 and had good luck hearing the bird, but never did see one.
The one birding exception was a visit to a very nice local park that has all kinds of beautiful habitat. Earlier in the day I had purchased a $12 cane in a resale shop we visited. Curiously the cane was exactly the right length and though it looks like it was in use during the civil war, I had to buy it. Using it to walk helps my knee feel more stable and I feel safer. I was so pleased to see this cooperative Sora - not a bird I see everyday.
Shortly after the Sora slipped into the grass, this solitary Wood Duck floated by. I took this terrible photo to show my family just how ornate this duck is.
C'est la vie.
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