I made myself go out on a walk again this past Sunday. It took a bit of effort to get going and I ended up at the same park as the previous week. However, it’s large enough that I had plenty of new spaces to walk. I’m so glad I went because I finally saw one of my bucket list birds.
Who? Me?
Oh no, not you silly little sparrow!
This one, right here. Photos aren’t great but I have to share anyway.
Pileated Woodpecker
We are barely on the edge of their range here but they have them in the area where my husband hunts as well as in Arkansas. I spent lots of time searching to see one when we went on our Arkansas trip. I did hear them a few times. Alas, never spotted any.
And then, just in my own neck of the woods (well, a little 15ish minute if that drive south to the park) and my wish came true!
I had just walked a little further past the bridge where I saw the cedar waxwings last week (I was actually looking for them) and stopped to look up into the tree line. Funny thing, it was sort of a long week and I was having a bit of a silent conversation with God about how I could use a “win.” And then, this magnificent creature flew and landed there for much too brief of a moment before flying all the way to the other side of the park.
Feeling a little extra grateful this Thanksgiving week.
And maybe a few random thoughts. As I mentioned Monday, I went for a walk at one of my favorite parks on Sunday afternoon. It felt nice (though a bit chilly) to get out the camera again on a walk.
The weather did come as expected on Monday night, not too much snow. However, it’s still cold this morning as we’re sitting at 24 degrees with NW winds making it feel like 18. Next week, seems to be back to normal. Definitely thankful for that!
Killdeer
Sometimes I see these little birds at this park but not always. They’re usually pretty shy so I was happy (with the help of the zoom lens) to get some semi-decent pictures.
I also saw a rather large group of doves. It was fun to capture them all in flight when I was trying to determine what they were.
Doves
Not the best pictures of the doves because we have these in the backyard so I wasn’t too excited once I saw them properly.
We also have lots of sparrows in the backyard but I never realized until I started seriously bird-watching how many different types of sparrows existed. I think but very well could be wrong that this little bird below is a song sparrow.
Sparrow
Sometimes without the high end zoom on a camera it’s hard to get a decent shot (and of course, if I had said high end zoom, then it requires a tripod to get a stable shot and that’s too technical for me). Here are couple of shots that needed better zoom and/or more cooperative birds.
Hide and Seek
some type of sparrow hiding hereYou have to search but there are 2 Cedar Waxwings in each of the photos.
The Random Bits Plus Another Bridge Photo
Clearly, I don’t do well with the concept of wordless Wednesdays.
Anyway, a bit of fun about this park. It used to be an old race track so it’s quite large and tends to feel empty. It’s been a work in progress for years probably.
I have a terrible nickname for it of “Serial Killer Central” (Note: I’ve never really felt unsafe here, just need to use common sense). However, now they’re doing this:
Gonna need to find a new nickname, I suppose. At least the parking here will be better (I hope).
Today is anti-procrastination day in Fly lady land. I’m off to clean up a bit around the house, pay some bills, and work. Later, I’ll deal with the last task on my anti-procrastination list and call my brother to see if there are any Thanksgiving plans out there.
Full on working day yesterday and I wasn’t wrong about this week being busy. Had an early morning work day Tuesday as well, a half-day, voted, then worked in the yard. These photos are extras from Sunday that I didn’t have time to edit before my HHM post. Hope you enjoy!
I snapped these while working in the yard, had taken a break to grab the photo of the bunny I did share in Monday’s post.
A fall hydrangea bloom? And it’s still vibrant and pink…
Can’t walk in the front or back yard now without hearing the crunching of the
LEAVES
Still a few on the trees on Sunday, the Oak tree leaves (and the neighbor’s gum tree leaves, not pictured) are always the last trees to become bare.
And of course, the birdfeeders are kept busy with our constant stream of
Backyard Birds
Never did get a close enough look to determine the species of this silhouetted bird but still liked the photo.
These were taken in no coat (though long sleeved tee-shirt) weather. Still nice this morning, all changes tomorrow when our weekend highs are supposed to be the normal ones for January (36 degrees!), not November.
Thankful Thursday Things
So, this is a bit of a double post. I scheduled the above to publish yesterday morning but for whatever reason, it did not. I think the date on my blog doesn’t match the computer. Something to check into later. However, I’m just going to turn this into a 2 for 1 post. An early Black Friday deal but you don’t have to buy a thing!
A few Thankful Items From This Week
Beautiful weather! The chance to get my wildflower garden seeds and spring bulbs planted.
The right to vote
The joy and laughs I get from working at a preschool. An election day gem: A parent arrived late saying she took her kids with her to vote. Told us how her 3 year old daughter was very confused when they got there because she didn’t see “the boat”. Ha! How fun would it be if we could go on a boat to vote!
New adventures with old friends
Light in the mornings again! (Apologies to my night owl friends but this is so much better!)
And coffee (a staple of any time change)
A good night’s sleep
My list is of course, longer but I’m stopping there today to keep this post from getting too long. What things are you thankful for this week?
Welcome to my random bird-watching, thankful Thursday (except it’s Saturday), and week in review post! This is a combined catch up post if you don’t mind. It’s been a bit of a busy week.
Of course, I’m so thankful for the love of feeding the birds and bird watching I picked up from my parents. And to see the migrating birds making their way through our backyard again.
Stalking My Sparrows Plus A Few Others
I’ve had to pick up my bird book a few times this week. I believe this little guy pictured above is a Lincoln’s sparrow! New visitor to our yard. A few more:
Not the best quality photos as we’ve had rain and/or clouds pretty much every day this week. Another sparrow that’s been hanging out with us is one of my favorites, the white-crowned sparrow:
Such neat looking birds! Before I share the photos of a couple different species, I want to mention I’ve also seen but not caught on camera a song sparrow and (one I had to look up in the book again!) a Harris sparrow. Exciting times around our feeders. Including two more non-sparrow favorites, hoping for better photos soon:
Rose-breasted grosbeakRuby-throated hummingbird
This concludes the bird-watching part of my post. Moving on to more Thankful Thursday and Week In Review content.
Teacher Appreciation Week
This was teacher appreciation week and I worked a couple days of it. I’d have worked more but G had car troubles so I had to balance my work week with a chauffeuring gig.
I love how the MPTO at my school includes me and the other substitutes in all their gestures. It is so kind and makes me really thankful that I took a chance on working at a small, private family run school about 6 years ago. A school that’s really grown I might add. The appreciation gestures included: K-coffee machines with coffee and cereal choices (for “cereal-ously” good teachers) on Monday, Lunch from Whataburger on Tuesday (I missed that one, bummer), plus the goodies pictured above, snacks on Thursday, and I’m sure something special yesterday as well.
Excited and thankful to have some of my summer schedule sorted as well including a week with an easy 7:00a.m. to noon shift.
Quick Recap of the Week
Before I end my post, here’s a quick recap of the things that have kept me away from the computer most of this week.
Monday, I worked at 7:00a.m to 3:30 shift, followed by a grocery store run. Thankfully, my favorite grocery store’s still doing the Monday gas discount with purchase. Very much needed.
Tuesday, a day of appointments.
Wednesday, another running around day plus the spring band concert. The kids were amazing as always!
Thursday, another crazy work schedule day. I worked 7:00a.m. to 1:30p.m., came home and picked J up from school, then returned to work from 3:00 to 4:30 as a favor to another teacher who needed to get somewhere before they closed at 5.
Finally, on Friday, I woke to find my fuchsia bloomed! Took G to work, met friends for coffee at new (to me) coffee shop north of the river (always love when I get to go on the bridge over the Missouri river). Went shopping at the nicer Target up that way. More chauffeuring. Concluded the day with take-out and a re-watch of Dr. Strange.
Weekend Plans
Looking ahead to the rest of this weekend, it’s still a little busy.
G was going to take me to the new Dr. Strange movie but I’d forgotten my husband and I had dinner plans with friends. So, hopefully, we’ll go next week when the crowds are maybe a bit better anyway.
For today, I plan to do a bit of laundry and yardwork, lots to be done outside.
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How was your week/what things were you thankful for in it? And finally, do you have any exciting weekend plans?
We had a winter storm last Thursday. A real snowfall, our area had 7-8 inches of snow! It’s all out there melting away today with south winds and a predicted high of 57 degrees. It was just about that warm if not a bit warmer last Wednesday as well.
I took advantage and went for a walk with my camera. It’d been a while since I’d walked around the lake at the park I usually just cut through on my way to work.
(Adding a note here that I’m having issues with a slow computer and a bit frustrated so these are just a quick sampling of the photos I could actually get to upload to my blog)
Robin beside the path
People around the park don’t bother these birds much.
The lake is always full of Canada geese and various ducks. The only ducks I can confidently name are the Mallards.
Mallard Ducks
Female Mallard Duck
If you want to see geese as well as the Mallard ducks posing with a turtle, click back one post.
Blue Birds
The highlight of my walk around the lake was a little pair of bluebirds. The male didn’t stick around for very long but I enjoyed watching the female bluebird for quite a while. Took quite a few photos but of course, slow computer…so here are just two.
Closer to home: Hawks!
Before I left, I did spot the hawks in the backyard once again. I think I saw the little hawks twice last week.
And of course, at home, the usual collection of sparrows, cardinals, chickadees, woodpeckers, and squirrels continue to raid the birdfeeders. Along with a flock of brown-headed cowbirds that does not thrill me. We also have a collection of robins hanging out as well. What birds did you spot last week?
Joining in with the Bird Depot hosted by Anni over at I’d Rather B Birdin‘. (Think I forgot to link up last week!)
It’s been a pretty lazy Saturday over here. And in continuing with that theme, I’m not going to share too much narrative (have to share a little bit) and just add a few bird-watching photos tonight.
Hawk in Flight
It seems a couple of crows might be looking into real estate near our backyard. Not sure they’ve decided though. I took these photos after watching a crow attempt to chase this hawk from our backyard area. The crow seemed mildly successful. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any photos of the crow chasing the hawk or even the crow.
Too Many Starlings!
A large group of European starlings passed through (hoping they’ve moved on to somewhere else) the front and backyards during the course of the week. The tree in the front yard was full of them. They are both loud and messy (my son’s car is now in desperate need of a wash) birds. Here’s a glimpse of just 3 of them in a tree.
Robin!
And to end with something a little happier, here’s a view of one of many robins that have also decided our area is primo real estate. I don’t mind the robins as much.
Today, it’s blue skies and 32 degrees. I can hear the dripping of melting snow from the living room. And the robins are out in force. Spring fever is high.
Robin
The birds are enjoying the melting snow. At least I think that’s what is happening over on the roof next door.
Starling
However, going back to Wednesday and Thursday, the winter storm paid us a visit. Not horrible, really pretty standard for February snowfall around here. And believe it or not, the news said even with the snow we’re still in a drought. It was cold though. Too cold to take photos except through the backdoor.
Too bad because I had lots of birds visiting the feeders on Wednesday and Thursday. Most of them, I couldn’t get a decent through the door photo to show you. This happened a lot as well:
Time to take the photo and they all decide to fly away as I press the button!
brown-headed cowbirds
The brown-headed cowbirds were out in force. This is the first time I’ve seen them at the feeders since early fall or maybe even last spring. Not sure if they migrate? Looks like our area is right on the line between year-round and breeding.
Not going to lie, they are not my favorite birds. At all. And they were crowding out a few of my favorites like the cardinals and white-throated sparrows.
New Visitors
However, there was another pairing of blackbirds with the brown-headed cowbirds that I’ve never before had visit my backyard birdfeeders. It was very easy to identify the male red-winged blackbird (not pictured as I only saw him a couple of times) but the female bird took me a minute.
Did you have any idea female red-winged blackbirds were so beautiful? I know I didn’t.
Cardinal on left, female red-winged blackbird on right
Perhaps they’ll return on a sunnier day when I can be outside with the camera to get decent shots instead debating if I want to risk frostbite for an attempt. (Sometimes, common sense prevails).
Of course, with the obscene number of cowbirds, I did switch back to safflower seed, the favorite of the cardinals and small finches, not so much the bigger birds. So, I may just have to be satisfied to see them in passing and not in my own backyard.
Other Birds Spotted This Week, Not Photographed
Cardinals, sparrows including the white-throated sparrows, large numbers of dark-eyed juncos, blue jays (loud birds!), robins, tufted titmice, chickadees, both the downy and red-bellied woodpeckers, and occasionally a mourning dove.
In addition as I sat simply watching the birds on Wednesday mid-morning, a Cooper’s Hawk arrived and perched right over the bird feeders. Then, my son who came to see the hawk noticed a second hawk in a tree not too far off from the first one before they swooped away.
Do you ever see different birds when it snows?
*joining in with the Bird Depot hosted by Anni at I’d Rather B Birdin’
Having a few more Thanksgiving thoughts about how we’ll be spending the day. I think I’ve finally accepted the fact it’ll just be the four of us this year. And I’m finally starting to get a bit into the spirit of the holiday.
In case, like me, you have no idea how to plan and prepare a scaled down celebration I came across this fabulous planning resource. I love how she breaks it down.
We’ll have turkey, of course. And I love the idea of adding an appetizer. A special table setting using real dishes, might even spurge on a “fancy” setting (nothing over the top think melamine). I’ll let everyone pick a side, my choice is going to be cranberries. To me, it’s not really Thanksgiving without homemade cranberry sauce on that turkey slice.
Probably sweet potatoes. I’ll see if my husband wants mashed potatoes as well. He’s the only fan in our household. Dinner rolls. And something, green. Perhaps just a simple salad?
Pie Problems
Dessert is where things get a bit dicey. Another it’s not Thanksgiving without it for me is pumpkin pie. However, G and I are the only fans. And he’s just as happy with chocolate or apple. Of course, I can freeze any leftover pumpkin pie. Decisions. And more Decisions to make.
Plan For The Day
Since it’ll be just us, I’ve been pondering a bit of an itinerary just to make sure we keep the holiday special and don’t all wander right back into our rooms or doing our own thing right after the eating.
Right now I’ve got this rough outline for the day. Most of the times are flexible and I’ll need to discuss them with the family:
9ish Watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade (probably just me)
10-2ish Prepare the meal
2:30 Eat our Thanksgiving meal
3:30-5:30 After dinner, nap time/outside stuff/clean up
5:30: Light snack/leftover dinner plus dessert for anyone hungry/Game time (UNO most likely)
6:30: Charlie Brown Thanksgiving on PBS (This is my favorite and I’ll watch it by myself if they aren’t interested) *UPDATE: This is on PBS tonight not on Thanksgiving Thursday*
7:30: Maybe start on Christmas decorating to begin the next festive season?
A Bit Off-Topic: Thankful For Returning Birds
Since I typically post a bird-watching post on Saturday, here’s a glimpse of my white-throated sparrow who returned earlier last week. Other than him, I’ve not seen a lot of birds this week, probably due to my hectic days combined with some crazy winds blowing out there. Thankfully, those winds seem to have calmed down for today at least.
Tuesday, I went on a fall walk where I only saw a few birds. Perhaps the birds are as confused by the weather around here as the rest of us.
Almost seventy degrees on Monday, thirty five degrees on Friday morning. Though really, at this time of year, warmer days almost always signal a cold snap or storm arriving. I’ll just enjoy the warm days and be glad we only saw a few snow flurries yesterday.
While I took my camera, I really went on my walk to try and get some photos of the fall color before the leaves all fell off the trees. The color changing of the trees was late this year so it’s odd how the leaves still cling to the trees at this point in the month. By Thanksgiving, if not sooner, they’ll probably be bare.
Since I wasn’t really looking for birds, I found myself surprised to encounter a group of killdeer right as I began my walk.
Killdeer
Killdeer are here year-round though I seldom see them. They prefer more open ground so I don’t expect one to come out of the Oak tree to visit the backyard feeders anytime soon (ever). This park has quite a bit of openness to it (and often floods in a wetlands kind of way). However, I can rarely get close enough to these birds for decent shots. Even these aren’t the best but it’s the closest I’ve ever come around here with camera in hand.
Even though you can only see a couple of birds in the photos above, I stumbled on quite a large group of them. Usually, I only see one or two at a time. They, of course, flew off a bit deeper into the middle of the park as I walked on the path. Never staying within a decent photo range. (Blaming the birds here but should also admit to not having picked up my camera regularly for a few weeks so a bit rusty with focusing)
After checking out the river, where I heard and saw several uncooperative for photos Bluejays, I turned and continued a different route through the park.
Snowbird!
The dark-eyed juncos actually arrived last week as I spotted a few in the backyard. However, I’d not taken a photo of one (this year) until I caught this guy in the trees as I walked away from the river path and went through more forest type areas.
There seemed to be a large group of them back further in the trees (note: most the trees were on the other side of the path). Among them I also spotted a few sparrows.
Sparrow
This sparrow only stuck around for one photo, had to come home to see what I’d captured. It’s either a song sparrow or a fox sparrow but I can’t really tell from the photo. I remember being quite excited to have a fox sparrow visit the backyard last year. Hoping it’ll return.
While I heard a lot of Bluejays and of course, a few woodpeckers, I didn’t see many other birds. Of course, that might have been because I couldn’t help but crunch the leaves under my feet.
Crunching Leaves
It’s hard to sneak up on any creatures when the paths are covered with crunchy brown leaves. The joy of crunching these leaves underfoot is something everyone should get to experience at least once. We’re lucky around here as we get to do it every year. (I’m sure some of my leaf raking neighbors might disagree)
Other Birds Spotted This Week
While I’ve not been out there watching as many backyard birds (this fall has returned to busy and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every school marching band activity after having had none in 2020), there also seem to be just a few birds out there. Some of it, I think, is due to me putting out less during the summer/early fall when we had Chip the stray cat out there. Or maybe the neighbor’s have better food. Who knows.
However, Thursday morning I looked out and saw the welcome sight of the white-throated sparrow! And heard his song this morning.
In the past two days, I’ve spotted a pair of Carolina Wrens, the dark-eyed juncos again, my resident chickadees and tufted titmice. And of course, the downy woodpeckers.
So the first creature I’m sharing here isn’t technically a bird. However, I was so excited it decided to visit my front porch petunias early Wednesday morning. Made getting up at 5a.m. to get a kid off to band practice completely worth the lost sleep.
Who ever thought I’d be so excited over a moth? What a moth? Yes, a moth!
Sphinx Moth
Originally I called this a hummingbird moth as it acts like a hummingbird but I do think what I had was actually a sphinx moth and not a clearwing. However, I’m still not entirely sure. Still, beautiful and just as fun to watch as a hummingbird! Note, it was barely light out when I took these photos and I didn’t want to scare it away with a flash so they’re not the best photos but I hope you enjoy them anyway.
My New Front Porch Bench
And since I’m sharing photos that aren’t technically birds, how about a view of the back of my new bench? We picked it up on sale last week! I’d been looking to replace the bench on our front porch for about a year now, not ever finding something I liked well enough. The people at Orscheln said every time they put one of these benches together, it sold. (And they had to then take it apart like they did for us) These birds don’t cost much to feed!
Finally, so I don’t get kicked off linking up with The Bird Depot on a technicality, I figure I’d better give you a bird. Note I didn’t say the bird, that’d be a completely different post. Probably about the school car line. No, I don’t give any one “the bird” during it but I can’t say I’m not tempted at times.
Actual Birds
Sticking with my theme of being in the front yard for this post. I did finally capture a photo of the neighbor’s chickens. I don’t see the roosters in this photo but I can almost always hear them. Glad they are across the street and not next door.
And while I’ve not seen as many backyard birds lately (probably thanks to a certain Coopers Hawk hanging out), seems fitting to end this nutty post with one I did spot. The ever busy nuthatch!
Between my morning glories (finally) blooming and the moth, it was a fun week to be outside if only just around the back and front yard.
Morning glory flowers, not birds
What birds (or other winged creatures) did you spot this week?
