We finally completed the move from North Carolina to Virginia. Glad we did it. As most home owners know, moving your whole life is a pain in the butt. We got through it, and finally settled in Catawba, VA. It's an incredible place to live. It was truly what both of us had always wanted. To finally get here was a tremendous joy for us both. We now live on a creek out in the middle of nowhere and have 10 acres for us to play on. Living in the Virginia mountains and having access daily to wildlife photography is great. We are just now getting our minds wrapped around it. Having cameras at our ready 24/7 is a priority no matter where we go.
We are currently setting up shooting stages for good pictures. Getting to know what birds are around the property and what they are feeding on was our first goal. Now the second goal is to have places and stages to shoot. We want to try to make it look as natural as possible with good backgrounds and good props.
When we arrived here, there were hardly any birds around the house. So the first thing we did is set out feeders. They started to come in slowly as we put the sunflower seeds out. The first ones to arrive were just plain old house finches. As they came in and made lots of noise, then other curious birds soon came in. Within 2 weeks we had a good amount of all kinds of birds. One thing we didn't see was Bluebirds. So we decided to set up our Bluebird nesting box and see what happens. With in 2 hours of setting up that nesting box there was a male Bluebird checking it out. With in one full day the male and female were starting to hang around it. With in 1 week they were nesting in it. There ended up 3 Bluebirds that hatched and fledged out from our nesting box
An unusual thing that happened one day as we were looking outside, we saw a Peacock walking next to the house. We don't own a Peacock so were wondering where this Peacock came from. We found out it got loose from a neighbour up the road and there is a male and female Peacock who wander around the mountain eating from peoples bird feeders.
Also we have a Crepe Myrtle next to the house and started seeing Ruby-throated Hummingbirds getting lichen and spiderwebs for nesting material from the Crepe Myrtle tree. So we put up some Hummingbird feeders around the house area. We never found the nest but we watched the baby Hummingbird grow up and finally head south for the winter. We have a pair of Belted Kingfisher's by the creek that always comes around and a Blue Heron that is here every day fishing too. We will be setting up blinds and stages as time goes on and we develop the property.