Nice. I'm not sure I've seen a scarlet tanager, although when I was a kid, my family went on frequent birdwalks in parks, so I've probably just forgotten. Sadly, I haven't really kept up on birding as an adult, partly because my wife is not a big outdoors person. But with my son in the picture now, I can see myself getting back into it again to help him appreciate nature. It was always fun feeding chickadees out of our hands. Maybe I can even get the wife to come along because of Noah.
I remember on one of the walks, we ran into the spectacle of a rat snake slithering up a tree toward a birds nest (I think they were some variety of woodpeckers - it was a long time ago). The parents were frantically diving at the snake to try and stop it, but it ended badly for them as the snake eventually made its way to the nest. It was like Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom playing out right in front of us.
Good luck in your continued bird exploits -- I hope you crush the record!
