Stepping outside to look up

Good, beautiful morning, about 7:00 am, 4/9/23 (Easter)

I begin the day by stepping outside to look up. I see this sky. 

Often I walk and then sit down for at least 20 minutes. When I still and sit, I notice what's around me.

I heard someone say again, "There are no birds now." Maybe this was a comment about migration. The many different warblers that filled the oak behind our place have left. But, oh my goodness, there are birds. 

10 Wood Duck ducklings a few days ago. I saw them leave a natural area and hop into the pond. Maybe this was their first day. 

Saturday afternoon, 4/8/23 - there are 6 ducklings. A Little Blue Heron is in the foreground.

Female Downy Woodpecker, April 2023. Difference between Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers? HERE.

There are many ducks. Here is a Lesser Scaup, male.

Blue-winged Teal Duck, male and female (dabbling)

This (I think) Mallard female duck is going to get in trouble.

An Eagle flew overhead.

Susan Herman shared a photo of a soon-to-be Monarch chrysalis.

From the butterfly garden, I took a photo of a soon-to-be-born Monarch butterfly.

Behind Pat and Cathy's place, a Belted Kingfisher in the Southern Live Oak.

Cardinals are plentiful! A male portrait.

 A female looking for Betty, or its male partner.

Yeah. She's looking for him. A male Cardinal looking back at that female.

Tri-Colored Heron, breeding plumage. This photo shows its neck. That is a good identifying clue.

The TCH used its wings to hop along the shallow water to catch fish.

It caught one!

A Brown Thrasher. Not as good a photo as Barb would get, though you get the idea.

Three male Wood Ducks, big pond.

Behind our place, a pair of Great Blue Herons. One in the water spray mist.

The other a distance away. They kept an eye on each other.

Keeping an eye on us. This curious juvenile Raccoon came down far enough to peek out over the yellow orchid blooms into our back window. Happy spring morning little masked-guy.

Brown Anole often checks us out, too. After all, we share a neighborhood and world.

Enjoy this beautiful day! Take a chair outside and sit in the shade. After 15 minutes, the birds will get used to your presence, and if you're like me, you'll wonder why you don't spend more time in nature. This wonderful photo was taken by Terry.

There Kingfisher goes!

Male Belted Kingfisher, November 2021.

This is how it goes. I hear the Belted Kingfisher's call. It's an elongated trill that sounds like THIS. I dash inside for my camera and back outside to the pond's edge. My head goes right, then left, and up as kingfisher does a loop d'loop. I try, oh how I try, to get a photo to show you.

I notice there are two. My guess is that they are both males because I cannot see any rust color on their breast, the sign that the Belted Kingfisher is female. They're probably "discussing" territory.

After birding, I come home and read about the birds I see. Today, from this David Allen Sibley book:

On this page.

It says, 

"Kingfishers catch fish by 'hovering' and then diving headfirst into the water. If you watch carefully when a kingfisher is hovering, you'll see that the head remains stationary in the air, holding a fixed position over the water, while the wings flap, the tail adjusts, and the body shifts around, doing the work of flying. It's important to keep the head steady so that the eyes can remain fixed on a potential target below..."

Sibley's website has a blog, his drawings, and links to his wonderful books. He designs birding apps. 

Here is a photo I took of a female BK a year or so ago. 

Looking up

White Moonflowers seek the light of the moon.

The Hunter's Moon begins to set in the west. I think of Lesley who swims laps under the moon and stars. Every morning.

Wise people say that if you're feeling agitated, step outside and look up. I did and felt a spontaneous breath arise. I decided to take photos of the sky. 

Looking east. I wondered if this is a contrail. Marc Holtsberg might know.

Southeast.

East.

As the rising sun warmly lit morning, I noticed that Lesley and I weren't the only ones looking up. 

This is a Little Blue Heron - a one-year-old (so say the birders who know way more than I do). Little Blue's attention is caught by an Osprey making its call. 

What Osprey? This one.

Did you wonder why Little Blue has white patches? They are feathers left from its juvenile molt into adulthood. Look HERE. 

Anhinga looks up.

This one perches on a dead tree limb behind Tom and Jeanne's place. 

WWI lets some dead tree trunks remain - that's so healthy for the habitat because they're a treasure trove of bird meals (insects), and 5-star nesting spots.

A Northern Mocking Bird.

A Bluejay.

Arriving home, I heard the Belted Kingfisher! I looked and clicked. More photos of the Kingfisher to come. But here, the Kingfisher with another flyer.