April 7, 2014

Monday and Migrating Birds

Monday,  April 7, 2014

It has been a nice day, except as I had feared, I could not get to sleep last night until about 3:30 after my long afternoon nap.  So it made for a short night.  I didn't go to the office very early.  In fact I got there in time to do only a couple of things before I had my lunch.  We used to joke about employees who did things like that.  

Before going to the office, I worked some on the quilt in progress.  I got a couple more blocks laid out and sewed one together.  I am so pleased with it.  Still much work to be done on it.  Then I saw a couple of new additions to the yard this morning.  There were a couple of new migrating arrivals.  There was a Waterthrush - probably a Louisiana Waterthrush and a warbler - which confuses me.  May be a Nashville Warbler.

As always, I am open to other opinions on my bird identifications.  I am posting two photos of this one to help with identification. 

Along with these, I also had the Wilson's Warbler that showed up a day or two ago.  He was out and about taking baths frequently. 

In this photo, his black cap doesn't show up well, but trust me, it is there.  He loves the water falls.

I love this photo of the White-winged Dove getting a drink at the waterfall.

There were ducks and doves, along with grackles, and Red-winged Blackbirds.  Of course, the ever present sparrows.  I kept hearing a Wren this afternoon but could not locate him.  The yard was filled with birds and their chatter.

This morning, I finally left all the fun behind and went to the office.  Ron had an errand to run to take some things to his mom and when he got back I ate my lunch.  In the afternoon he had an appointment and was out most of the rest of the day.  I worked on an assortment of mail, emails, bill paying, and filing.

After work I ran my usual after work errand and stopped by the resaca with the Roseate Spoonbills again.  There were more than ever.  I counted about 20.  The mating plumage of the males gets deeper pink but the day.

Back home I spent more time photographing the birds after I filled the ponds and feeders.  The Mallards are getting into the big pond and disconnecting the pump for the waterfall.  I am baffled by ducks that prefer the little ponds to the big resaca!

This Great Egret was back today, looking for his supper out back.

I am amazed at how much bird chatter I have missed over the years.  They are noisy!  I am enjoying listening to them as they try to establish who is in charge.  They don't think it is me.

The little Waterthrust kept me entertained until it was getting too dark to get good 

photos of his quick movements.