Sunday, September 15, 2019

The (Good) Life...

I was aiming the remote at the TV trying to UNMUTE, most of the time I have the sound on mute but if something catches my eye I may want to hear it...pushed and pushed the button, "what's wrong with this thing" I'm asking myself...that's when I noticed I had the remote backwards DUH!! These duh moments seem to come more and more often, and it's unsettling...Life is short.  The good life, even shorter.  With that said...let's get out into reality, the great outdoors, the real good life!

At the lake, I was the only person there, the only car in the lot....the parking area is big enough for about 20 cars maybe more, and yet....when someone else arrived


 

SO close they park?...I like to have space by my side doors, and people crowd up to them...its a pet peeve of mine. I mean we are not worms following a scent trail left by the worm in front of us..are we?  

 

These are Contracted Datana Moth caterpillars and they were in the yard.  Once I looked this up and saw the moth OH YEAH I've seen those moths around.    


The lake is back to full again, I wish they had left the level down a bit cause the birds were closer in for my viewing purposes when it was low...

great egret

I've been going up early because I've been waking up early...like this Great Crested Flycatcher.  



And then sometimes the Early Birder bites off more than she can chew!  Especially when she's wading into the edges of the lake grass for a better view...



OH Awesome: a Pit Viper! Cotton Mouth aka Water Moccasin 

Me: "do not move"
Him: "do not move lady if you want to live,"
he moved first so I went the other way...whew that was close! I'd rather turn around and find a gator than this guy...he slithered off no video of that slither as I made hay the other way! 




Had an Osprey checking things out for a couple days...check those talons!




Woodstorks are around...

Then onto the fields...


Grasshopper time!  I go looking to find some sparrows...nothing new yet on that front. 


Monarch Time, and then....


WOW and on the way home just  4 blocks away BAM...got a photo opt with the Barred Owl, whose feather I found and who flew across my path a couple weeks ago...We introduced ourselves,   
Me: "HI there, I'm into birds"....
Him: "WHO, WHO Cares."  
Well dang! 


Had a Hairy (of the Eastern flavor) Woodpecker up in this pine tree..


I guess these will  be split up at some point, the Rocky Mtn, the Pacific etc...the Eastern has spots on the wings, and wider facial bands and of course the long beak.  This was the species tie breaker that put my hotspot into first place!! Meaning I put my Hotspot into top ranking in my county with my birding effort this year.


Stood under this Brown Thrasher  for an hour as I was hiding to check out the little pond at the Racetrack...





Watched this Northern Harrier swoop over the Killdeer and scare them he wasn't after them tho he actually tried to scoop a frog out of the water with his talons!  

We have had some really high humidity since Dorian came close by...


And then overnight as it cools down we get heavy FOG! Could barely see a thing...at my midweek lake check



Not exactly good birding weather...



this is the sun reflecting on the water but you can barely see the sun up in the sky...


Let there be Grasshoppers!   And then there is the Kestrel on the wire making sure there is not too many grasshoppers.  



I hope the yellow billed cuckoo has a place to land when he migrates to South America...




So I've found a little bits of the good life in my little corner of the globe...Hope you have some good life moments in yours!


PEACE
Every day is a new Adventure.

21 comments:

  1. I can well imagine that the pit viper scared the living daylights out of you, but I am glad to hear that you agreed to go your separate ways without conflict. Maybe you should have caught the snake and introduced it to the guy who insisted on parking so close! In any event you had a good birding outing, and it doesn't get much better than that.

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    1. Yes the "close parker" could use a lesson in just how close is too close..LoL.

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  2. You are a hot(spot) birder for sure! Congratulations. Thanks for sharing your beautiful sightings, (except , eek, that cottonmouth). I’d much rather stumble on a gator too...they only need to eat occasionally and otherwise probably wouldn’t bother with you. But that snake .....). BTW, I even like your foggy morning picture, and as a rule I hate fog. ......

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    1. The Fog was making my clothing damp for sure...The snake already knew I was there long before I knew he was there so I don't think he had any ideas of actually doing anything other than getting as far away from me as he could...lol I was shocked tho!

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  3. That snake was just to close for comfort and no I did not watch the video. But you did get lots of great bird pictures and I love the fog over the water and the one with the bird on top of the tree. The shot with the reflections is gorgeous. You had a great day birding. Hope the humidity burns off soon.

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    1. Hi Jo, I had another snake run in since this one...snakes are everywhere this yr!

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    2. Yes they are here to someone got bit but with only 1 fang but it sure didn't matter it was pretty bad. They say the rattler snakes are looking for places to crawl into for when the weather gets really cold and they are not in a good mood or hiding where you least expect them to be.

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  4. Hello, what a great outing. I love your lake and reflection photos, just beautiful. Awesome birds, the Barred Owl photo is great. I would like to see the Yellow-billed Cuckoo. I am glad you noticed the snake, I am glad it moved away. Great video and photos. Enjoy your day, wishing you a great new week ahead!

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    1. Thank you Eileen. And I see people letting their kids run right up to the edge of the lake,,,,just like me they forget out in the wilds animals rule!

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  5. Great photos, I love the curious owl! A bit of a scary moment with the snake! I don't get the whole parking so close thing either, it's something we generally do the exact opposite of!!

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    1. Hi Pam! I've had the same thing happen when I've been camping...an almost empty campground and someone comes and parks right next to me...if I can move to another spot I normally do that.

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  6. Haha it never fails, I'll go to the grocery store and be the only car in a huge area, and when I come out someone will be right next to me. So weird. Awesome on your hotspot success! And very jealous of the cuckoo!

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    1. Hi Jen... I sort of made my own little challenge to put my hotspot top of the charts at least for now! I've had good luck seeing plenty of YB Cuckoo's this year, they've been more visible than I ever recall!

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  7. Wow, what a great post and wonderful photos. I think you got way too close to that Water Moccasin, but it's an excellent video! Love the owl shot.

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    1. HI, thanks for the comment...the owl was such a great surprise I rarely see them, hear them more often. The Snake really got me with my caution down!!

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  8. Hi Sondra, A great post and thats a classic shot of the trees reflecting on the water. Certainly a framed print for the wall ?
    Some great shots too and a video of the snake. My experience of snakes is virtually nil as we only have 2 native ones and only one is venomous. Do you stay still or back away, it would have scared me.
    Yes why do people park so close when there is loads of room, it happens everywhere, it must be the herding instinct in us humans.
    We've just got back from France so I must do some posts as its been ages since I posted something. All the best and I hope all is well.

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    1. OH France! Those posts I will look forward to. I normally stay still to make sure there is no threat from my end so I can back away....BUT if it's a snake I know is harmless I will even try to move it to safety or in the case of one in my yard this week...I tried to move it so the dogs wouldn't bother it, they may get a bite and that could get infected...bt the snake out ran me!

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  9. You've shared some lovely photographs …
    That was a slightly scary moment with the snake though.

    All the best Jan

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    1. Hi Jan, thanks for much for your comment...I was a bit fearful since I knew immediately it was a viper. He sneaked right up on me!

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  10. Love this post! The barred owls are singing every night here. We definitely have a family in the swamp woods around us, even with the cutting they did this spring. Thank goodness it wasn't a clear cut. Boy, I sure wish we had the money and the influence to buy all these woods around us and let the wildlife roar back to life!

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    1. I have those same type dreams I want to preserve all the land I see but I have no means with which to do it...When humans are no longer on Earth then paradise will appear.

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