Bird Hike with Grandparents (Guest Blog)

Graciela, our 11 year old granddaughter wanted to contribute to my blog before we returned home to Florida from Illinois and asked me put up some photos to illustrate her observations. She is becoming an old hand at this, having posted here in the past.  Among her contributions have been a humorous description of my encounter with a hawk, visiting a Bald Eagle nest, using grocery bags as birding boots, a Grand Canyon adventure, and  watching wildlife in Florida.

Graci has had an eye for nature since she was very young--

At Disney World when she was two years of age she spoiled a family photo op when a gull flew over. (Guess who else looked up?)

 During a visit to the zoo she noticed a sparrow in the tree above:

At four years of age, she loved to find fossils along the shore of our lake in Florida...



...and watched the Bald Eagle nest:

 

Graci enjoyed nature walks with her little sister and their huge Tibetan Mastiff:




Graciela writes--

Several times I tried to set up a bird walk with my grandparents but the first couple of times it rained. They did take me out to Bliss Woods but the mosquitoes almost ate us alive!

Grandma with me on the bridge over Blackberry Creek in Bliss Woods:



We heard this House Wren singing very loudly:



A phoebe was catching mosquitoes and I saw it carry food to a nest under the picnic shelter. Gramps couldn't find it at first in the dark but it flicked its tail:



I could not see the whole nest, behind the post:



When it stopped raining we planned to walk at Nelson Lake, particularly to try to see a Bobolink. On the way I asked Grandpa to stop off at a neighborhood park because I had found a nest and did not know what type of bird it belonged to. The nest looked like a Chimney Swift's nest but it was made of mud stuck to one of the metal support posts under the edge of the roof of the pavilion. I did see the bird but did not know what kind it was. It had a blue back, cinnamon color on its throat and a dark line like a collar. Grandpa said it sounded like a Barn Swallow and sure enough it  it was.

If the video does not launch in the space below, try this link.

While we watched the nest an adult bird flew in and seemed to be feeding one or more tiny babies. We were not able to see them, but after getting a few photos and a video we moved on to Nelson Lake.

 

It was cloudy and pretty cool for July:

 

We began hiking the trail and we saw lots of birds, mostly Red-winged Blackbirds. There was a large picnic shelter and I went under it to see if I could spot any bird nests. I found three nests, one with a robin sitting in it.



We saw some precious baby swallows on the roof of the shelter, but inside there were no swallow nests. I saw some places where there may have been swallow nests but they looked like they had been knocked down, hopefully not on purpose.

 

The tiny swallows looked right into the camera when Grandpa took their picture. They were so adorable!



As we walked along the path I mostly heard Red-winged-Blackbirds and Song Sparrows:



 

Then I heard the Common Yellowthroat singing "wichity-wichity-wichity." 



After Grandpa spotted the yellowthroat and pointed it out to me I said it was very cute with its little black mask. He had to wear a coat but I live in Illinois and am used to the cold weather.





There were many milkweed plants with flowers, Black-eyed Susan and sunflowers. We saw some Cedar Waxwings among the Queen Anne's Lace.




 
The meadowlark was whistling "Spring of the year."



At first we could find no Bobolinks until Grandpa saw a female, which flew by really fast. Then I spotted a male down close to the ground. It kept moving but down low where I could not see over the grass. Gramps could not get a picture of it, but a Dickcissel suddenly hopped up on a flower right next to the path. I didn't know how beautiful it was until I saw it on the computer:



The good thing was that there were no mosquitoes!

Two days later we went over to check the Barn Swallow's nest again. This time we could see FOUR baby birds!





 

Ten days after Graci found the nest, on July 15, 2015, there were FIVE hungry nestlings! (Click here if video fails to load in the space below):

 


Well, here is Grandfather back again, to add some sky and reflection shots from our Canada Rockies rail trip. This is Lake Louise, Alberta on a very calm morning...



...and this is an oil painting effect on a photo of Bow River just above the falls at Banff, Alberta (click to view full size image in FLICKR):

 

Thank you, Graciela, for giving me the week off!
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Linking to Misty's  CAMERA CRITTERS,

Linking to Eileen's SATURDAY'S CRITTERS,

Linking to GOOD FENCES by Tex (Theresa). 

Linking to SKYWATCH FRIDAY by Yogi, Sylvia and Sandy

Linking to WEEKEND REFLECTIONS by James

Linking to BirdD'Pot by Anni

Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday by Stewart

Linking to I Heart Macro by Laura

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Please visit the links to all these memes to see some excellent photos on display
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Crops & Clips: July, 2012 Meme Mashup

This month's potpourri gathered from the archives features photos taken three years ago, in July, 2012. Actually it is a scavenger hunt, as at that time I did not seek to portray each of these memes (CRITTERS, SKY, REFLECTION, FENCE, MACRO). Let's see how far I need to go into the month to find at least one of each. If I can get them all I will have won the game seven months in a row.

CRITTERS:

We started the month at our second home in NE Illinois, where most of the birds were still busy raising their families. My first photo of the month, on July 5, 2012, featured this abundant warbler of the prairies, appropriately named Common Yellowthroat:



Two days later, along the street next to our condo I encountered two majestic raptors, a Red-tailed Hawk...



...and an American Kestrel:



A cute baby Tree Swallow posed for me atop its nest box on July 10:



On the same day a male Indigo Bunting thrilled me with its color:



A Dickcissel sang to us on July 17, just before we returned to our Florida home:



Back in Florida on July 24, a beautiful eight-point White-tailed buck emerged from the side of the path into our local wetlands:



At the local rookery, a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron nestling crouched low, also on July 24, 2012:



Linking to Misty's  CAMERA CRITTERS,

Linking to Eileen's SATURDAY'S CRITTERS,

 Linking to I Heart Macro by Laura

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REFLECTION:

I caught my first reflection of the month on July 12, when a Bald Eagle carried off a duckling at nearby Nelson Lake:

Linking to WEEKEND REFLECTIONS by James

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FENCE:

A visit from our Illinois granddaughters at the end of July saved me from the disaster of not having randomly included any fences this month's photos (July 27, 2012):



In fairness, I also must show our younger Nieta. They were here before embarking on a Caribbean cruise to celebrate their Miami cousin's Quinceañera (fifteenth birthday):



Linking to GOOD FENCES by Tex (Theresa). 

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SKIES:

I finally captured a skyscape from the back patio as clouds moved in from the ocean at sunrise, July 30, one day before the deadline I set for this game:



Linking to SKYWATCH FRIDAY by Yogi, Sylvia and Sandy

Linking to BirdD'Pot by Anni

Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday by Stewart

________________________________________________

Please visit the links to all these memes to see some excellent photos on display

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