A Cold for Christmas

I caught a Christmas Cold.  So that gave me time to get a blog off early and this will give me time for one more post to finish out the year! Happy Winter Season to you All!

Back to the cold...it's the first one I recall having in many a year, just hope I can overcome it quickly.  I thought something was wrong when I went to bed at 9:15 night before last...I felt so tired and exhausted.  Yesterday another deluge 4 inches of rain it came down all day long.  Today is sunny but I  feel cloudy. :o(

I went out one day this week toured around my 5 mile.  I have not been participating much lately.  I have no hopes of adding a new species to the list.  However I was happy to add River Otters to my hotspot, Goodale Park, 

 

One with his tail up and the other just barely has his head out of the water...they are full grown adults by the look of them.  I was thrilled to find this!  I can't wait to tell the park staff next time I see them.  There was trimming of trees on one section of the lakeshore, it has thrown some birds off their normal hangouts so it may take a while for them to find new perches.

 

Yellow Rumped Warbler

the cut reveals another patch of pitcher plants 

I had a couple of surprises, not new but the Fox Sparrow was there 

He was pretty bashful and not showing his face...this guy showed his face  had some pine needles in the way, the Blue Headed Vireo.  

And if not for Ruby Crowned Kinglets this time of year would be quite boring...

Did not show his Ruby Crown!  I drove over to my favorite AG fields and checked those out...had 100's of Brown Headed Cowbird joined by some Red-Winged Blackbird.  

There were other trees full also...

Lots of sparrow present, the Field, the Chipping, the Dark Eyed Junco, the Eastern Towhee, White Throated, and Song were all accounted for.  

The coloration of Song Sparrow here locally vary, some are dark and more chocolate brown while these red ones with warm grey tones can fool you into thinking they are something else.

An alert Eastern Phoebe holds on and looks over his shoulder at me...

Midweek we were shooting a cemetery in Fairfield County and it was about another 10 miles to the Lake Wateree State Park not in my radius...but it was fun to see lots of Ring Billed and Bonaparte's Gull around.  

There's a pedestrian bridge that is fun to walk over...Allowed me to get close to this colorful female Northern Cardinal 

Hope your Holiday  is festive, can you imagine trying to remember it's 2020?

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My Mom Memory for this Christmas day: Mom we cherish our memories of all those delicious Magik Cookies!

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.