October 6, 2013

A Very Good Sunday

October 6, 2013

Ron was still out of town, but I was up extra early.  Took care of the bird feeders, ponds, and bird baths as soon as it was daylight.  I had a relaxed morning before heading to Sunday School.  Since Ron was out, Tracy Sexton taught his class for him.  Tracy did a great job.  He is one of our pastors and is an outstanding teacher.  I have been in few of his classes in the past because he was too hard for me to hear.  He is soft spoken and talks very fast, but I got a fairly good amount of what he shared today.  There were gaps, but I was pleased with the percentage I did get.

In the worship service, I again could follow the familiar old hymns enough to sing, but not the newer songs.  This is Pastor Appreciation month and they started by recognizing two of them today: Terry Roberts and James Martinez.  We are blessed with a great staff.  After church I spent a little time with the grandchildren and then headed home for a quiet afternoon.

I took a brief nap and then spent much of the afternoon reading and watching the birds in the backyard. 

If you aren't from South Texas, you may not be familiar with the Chachalaca.  This one seems to have moved in the last few days.  He was playing King of the Mountain on the little water fountain.

They are interesting birds and can be very noisy, but this one seems to be pretty quiet so far.  They are known to frequent yards with dry dog food, but we don't have a dog, so he is stuck with bird food.

This adult male Redstart played on the waterfall for a while late in the afternoon.  The one yesterday was probably a young male.  Really like these little birds.

There were several Wilson's Warblers enjoying the waterfalls. 

  Several played under the strong downpour on one of the water falls.  It is amazing how much time these tiny birds spend in the water.

This Black-and-white Warbler joined in the water play. 

The assorted little warblers that are yellow in color can be a real challenge to photograph.  They like shady areas where the lighting is limited and they are very fast as you can see from this photo; of the three in the picture, only one is in focus - the other two are a blur.   They hop, jump, and fly about the time the shutter snaps.

There was a lot of bird "chatter" in the yard, but I can not yet identify individual bird calls.  Maybe with more listening time...

Ron arrived home about 7:30 and said he did fairly well with the foot that is still healing.  It still gives him trouble but he says every day is better.  Yea!