Good Bad Ugly

I gotta say this week was such a challenge for me.  Right off the bat, nothing went right...and I guess I drew all that to me somehow...And all the PTSD of 9/11 wears on my mind.  Our beautiful humidity free days ended too fast but they say it will get better by the end of the week...hopefully by the time you are reading this post. 

This is one of the Butternut Squash I grew, actually I grew everything in this bowl except the Rice and Quinoa.   I love one bowl meals, easy peasy, 

More Homegrown
 

This Great Blue  Heron was grooming while standing on a submerged log and he made a nice reflection...I took this last week 

SO my new camera arrived it's exactly like my old one only not worn out.  It just arrived yesterday and I haven't done much with it since it's been raining  since it arrived...and what I did last week with my old camera I lost when my computer CRASHED...Windows 10 and Microsoft...used to put out a good product now its an unstable and temperamental beast. 

I thought this could be immature Northern Shovelers...thanks to a  couple of birding buddies, Jen of I Used to Hate Birds, 
 and Steve Patterson a local ebirder, who both advised  me on these ducks...
Best consensus is Blue Winged Teal female.  I don't think I've ever seen them without males to help give away the identity.  

modern turf sod farm 

 
I made a trip to a local sod farm last week to look for Upland Sandpiper 

found them. they were too far out for decent photos (on the right) and I found these 2 below  later but didn't have a clue what they were then  another birder  listed them as Buff Breasted Sandpiper, again pretty far away...we are not to disrupt sod farm operations by driving up their access roads or tromping out on the sod, so its hard to get close this one is 3.4 miles in total area

 so that was good 2 rare birds in one field.

And this was kind of rare also...and sad.  IN an empty Parking lot right across from the Piggly Wiggly in town  I found a dead Armadillo.  Poor thing-- they are so cute when they are alive...I can't see any obvious cause of death I wonder if poison was at work here??

Sometimes Nature is not all rainbows and everything nice...

Once only seen along our border states the Armadillo has made it's way north and some consider it a nuisance animal for the digging they do...can't say I would want one in my yard, but I think I would try to relocate it.  

Had some Wood Stork fly over one of my stops last week,,

Since my blog posts on Thursday at Midnight I normally start putting it together on Wednesday...I did upload a few photos to Google Photos that I havent shared so I will just have to dive into that and put something together since I lost all the photos on my laptop,  Thankfully I have saved most of my heirloom photos on T-Drives, so those are safe... but the recent stuff is what I lost. 

POP QUIZ:  What track do you think this is?  Not the man made ones but the ones in the middle? 

Here is another hint...

Answer at bottom 

 I  enjoy how the light glows through this Fritillary wings, from my butterfly field trip..

Answer to the Pop Quiz is:

Wild Turkey, the feather is a tail feather...and the track of Turkey  always has a big middle toe. I hope you  learn something new from this blog each time you visit. 

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.