Birds and trees

Yesterday I went to the Fill to look for wood ducks or ring-necked ducks. Found neither, nor any swallows for that matter, maybe they had only been passing through when I saw them last week.  I did see a pair of red-breasted mergansers. So, today I go look for the butterflies, which I don't find. However, there was a pair of ring-necked ducks diving in the fountain. I wonder what they find for food there? Then walked through the rookery, counted 19 nests in a 2-3 trees, when I walked back through later I could see the massive herons standing above many of the nests. I'm always amazed at how they build on the thinnest of branches.  Walking through the forested areas always makes me feel so much more peaceful. I have the same experience with music.

Sparrow or finch

in the Fill I come across a sparrow-like bird, I don't know what it is. It's not particularly wary, and let's me look at it. In fact, it turns it's back so I can see the color pattern, the long tail, hops around, kicks at the ground a bit with it's feet, eats some bugs, then in front of me, starts eating off bits of dandelion leaves. It wants me to figure it out. It has a little gold-coloring on top of head. Eventually, I scare it off a few feet by taking it's picture. I think it must have been the loudness of the shutter.  I look it up. I think it must be a golden-crowned sparrow. It's either a juvenile or one in winter plummage.  I think the biggest clues were the color pattern on the upper back and the fact that it started to eat dandelion leaves.  I've never seen a song bird do that before, ducks, geese and chickens do that all the time, given the opportunity.

Spring break for me

walked out into the Fill with my film camera.  The sharp, green grass was glossy in the mid-day sun. Rain fell in streaks to the south, but none here while I walked. The Dime-Lot pond was crowded with shovellers and the returning swallows dotted the sky. They are the type with white bellies and greenish-capped heads. I attempted a picture of a great blue heron, because it seemed to want it's picture taken, flew over to where I was and landed in front of me.  Looked at me expectantly.  The shovellers, while close, did not want to be remembered in film.