Seems I'm always a week late making my posts--I used to make a one paragraph post every night when I first started blogging back in NYC on Yahoo 360. Each night I would get home around midnight after a 12-14 hour tour of crazy EMS runs in the city and it would take me an hr at least to unwind before I could hit the hay...so I would fire up my desktop and write a little one paragraph wrap up blog post on my day. I had no digital camera then...so my posts had no photos...eventually I bought a little 3 MGP digital camera (still have it), and I started to add some photos of my day in the city....I would just snap photos out the window of the ambulance as we traversed east to west north and south all over the 5 boroughs of NYC.
That has nothing to do with this post just saying that I used to blog nightly...and sometimes it was a rant of some sort of an incident--- sort of a decompression tank---...it was eventually filled with my need /desire to get myself OUT of NYC! LoL...so many people wanted in and I wanted out...after 5 yrs I was burnt out , The Thrill Was Gone for sure. So I began my exit plan in 2006---and now here I am 10 yrs later!
Last week I took a walk around my local park to see what was out and about... hiked around the side of Goodale lake..
A Great Blue Heron flew to the back side of the lake as I approached and some kind of Sandpiper I got no photo of either one, and I still don't know what sandpiper it was...but I got a photo of this bird at first I thought common grackle, but all the other grackles around were boat tailed grackles, so I think this is a Brewers Blackbird. To me he is just too small to be a grackle...what do y'all think?
The lake looked so lovely almost HD under those fast moving clouds...the water lillies were blooming, I always think of the Lotus flower as a lantern all aglow...
Another fellow was there with his camera and we compared notes on the 4 clumps of pitcher plants now reduced to only 2 clumps!! I don't know why the parks employ people who don't have a clue about the plants, animals, and environment they are charged with the care of--when I asked a new ranger who was taking a kayak out on the lake if he had seen the sandpiper he said "Now tell me again what a sandpiper is"...OKAY.....nuff said---- here are 2 of the pitchers in one of the clumps they are currently forming blooms...
and here is the Ranger, aka grass cutter...
I saw a very backlit Orchard Oriole it's a first year male,
Great Crested Flycatcher, Blue Grey Gnat Catchers, Black n Whites, and a Prothonotary Warbler was calling in the thick woods but no sighting..just about then the kayaking Ranger flushed the only Wood Duck of the day....I snapped this Tufted Titmouse singing up high...
around the backside of the lake I saw 3 female Red-winged Black Birds feeding in the new needles of the Cypress trees..
the surrounding forest is very thick and hard to spot anything unless you see it move
I saw this Skink scurry up a tree as I walked up..
out on the lake saw an Eastern Kingbird, Black Vultures circled, and I heard some Canadian Geese do a fly over but they didn't stop! I headed over near the boat rental area and startled this Savannah Sparrow, and he was very patient while I took his photo.
I had a great walk around didnt' see anything new but it sure beats any day in the City! Living in the city was quite a thrill and added a lot to my life experience but I am just not a city gal...
Time...well spent!
PEACE
Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.
Sure am glad you have a camera now! Awesome shots. I agree about the Brewers' size. I'm not surprised one iota that the parks employ people who have no business being there. It has become that way in every facet of life.m the shame is that they are taking jobs away from those that do! Or not. Maybe they don't have a choice?
ReplyDeleteOne thing I will add is you hit the nail....A forest ranger's starting salary is like 30K a yr. Most with the right degree would go in search of better income.
DeleteI loved reading a little more of your "back-story" ... when I first found you here I read some of the stuff you have on the bar up there, but I'd kind of forgotten about it -- I just think of you as a SC girl now! Beautiful walk, great birds, a shame about the park ranger. Heck I even know more about birds than that.
ReplyDeleteOnce I decided to get out of NYC it took me one whole year to put my plan in motion but it when it was in motion I was out of there in 2 weeks time! Zoom gone!! I have had some doubt about whether I should of gone with my original plan to buy a home near Lake Placid, NY and work in the hospital there I was interviewed for a position, but the snowfall amount they get yearly changed my mind!! I love snow when its under a pair of skies not on my wind shield or my driveway.
DeleteI only love snow when I see it in pictures nowadays. (Last time we saw it for real was a couple of years ago when we visited Colorado on our way here in the Fall. They have some there now -- I just hope it melts before we go there next month!!)
DeleteI counted 16 separate birds that you saw on this walk, and by anyones standards thats good. Whilst I love being in the countryside and soaking up all that it has to offer I also like being near to a town with its amenities /facilities. Living in a small village just 7 miles from the city centre suits me well as I have the best of both worlds. I spend more time in the country than I do in a town but its there if I need it. I can empathise with you when you were in N Y as I spent a few years in London and I wouldn't want that again, but living on the outskirts of a small city like Cardiff suits me.
ReplyDeleteI was well pleased with my bird walk! That's the perfect set up...I am 6 miles from "town" and it's rural right up to the main road and suddenly its Town. Cities are now way too big for my taste, I spent almost 7 yrs there and I was ready for a change.
DeleteOnce again great pictures, beautiful area. You have so many wonderful places to visit for a day or a camp out. Since I came from NJ and close to NY I too have no desire for big cities. Tucson is becoming way to big for my taste now.
ReplyDeleteMy last pictures are not so crystal clear like yours and I wonder if it was the dirty air from the bad winds, going to clean up the Zoom as best I can and take a trip for a few days and see what I get.
I've been having some problems with sharpness lately too...In my case I think it's my eye sight...a good cleaning wouldnt hurt anyway...
DeleteThat skink! So cool! Sounds like a nice place for a walk, jealous of your native pitcher plants. I've been staring at your black bird photo and it doesn't look right for Brewer's- the bill is too big and the silhouette doesn't seem right, too chunky. I'm not super familiar with grackles but I would say it's probably either common or boat-tailed. Maybe the tail is tipped up so it looks shorter?
ReplyDeleteI did the same thing stared at it and really can't put my finger on it...it could be the angle as you say...I'm used to seeing Brewers on the ground not trees.
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