The day started well with a Blue Jay from the house, and the Sharp-shinned Hawk was again seen, this time showing well as it soared round over the estate.
First destination of the day was to be the Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area, which is just to the south-east of Joe Overstreet Road, and which is most well known for its Red-cockaded Woodpeckers. Arriving at the hunters campsite, we were informed that a turkey shoot was in progress and although no-one has yet to be shot by accident, we were advised to stay to the main track and not wander off through the trees!
Along the edge of the camp we found a feeding flock of Warblers which contained both Pine Warbler and a simply stunning Yellow-throated Warbler, along with the usual Palm Warblers. A House Wren was also watched skulking through the vegetation before showing well up on a fence.
Further along the main track a small flock of Chipping Sparrows and Palm Warblers were seen feeding on the forest floor and then a superb Eastern Bluebird showed very well right alongside the track.
Having seen one briefly by the Hunters Camp, another Bachman's Sparrow was watched as it sang from a pine tree giving excellent prolonged views of this typical skulker.
Despite finding numerous Red-bellied Woodpeckers our main quarry continued to elude us and other visiting birders over the next hour or so, and then I detected a faint tapping in the distance which was undoubtedly worthy of further investigation. After a lot of searching to try to pinpoint the location the tapping was coming from I eventually found the culprit and was delighted to see that it was indeed a Red-cockaded Woodpecker which went on to show well as it moved from tree to tree, with the lower pic showing the usually hidden red 'cockade'.
Before we left the main area of trees, an Eastern Towhee was watched as it sang from one of the pines.
Moving on to an area further along the track of mainly deciduous trees, a pair of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers were located, with this species becoming one of my favourite birds seen during the trip and which could be easily 'pished' whereupon they flitted around the branches just above your head showing excellently. The first Parula Warbler of the trip was also seen here, along with White-eyed Vireo and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Another warbler was seen here briefly which at the time I thought was a Prairie Warbler but after failing to find another during the remainder of the trip in retrospect I started to doubt the id infavour of it being just a bright Palm Warbler, so probably it will be left as one of the few birds that got away.
A Swallow-tailed Kite was seen passing overhead, along with the now regular Red-shouldered Hawks and Black and Turkey Vultures, and a Wild Turkey was also seen which thankfully had avoided the guns.
