Oak Grove Visit!

A spot I always visit when I'm at sister's home is Oak Grove Lake...The dam broke about 18 months ago so the bird-life has not returned to full occupancy but some have returned...its always a great spot to see babies in various stages of infancy!

Other Birds who love the water are around....like this Red Winged Blackbird.

and the belted kingfisher

 this fishing line scares me.... hope he never gets entangled in it...

Eastern Bluebirds are always around catching flies....

and ah......Got Worms? This Grackle does,,,,he has a mouth full!!

Lovely  wild daisies in full bloom...

and I can never pass a thistle by without getting a photo, such a beautiful plant...

Its only a 1/4 mile around this small lake but there is so much to see...these mallards look so perfect...

I have not looked this fellow up...but he sure is pretty look at those green eyes!!

I heard this call unfamiliar to me...then I saw this Pied Billed Grebe floating around in the reeds I think a nest was nearby...I tried to get his call but he clammed up when I turned the video on...

Such a cool encounter...he had his eye on me the whole time!!

another great day in nature!!

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.

WBW-25--Variety is the Spice of Life-

And another Curious  Bird--the Eastern Kingbird--A super fly catcher!

Tyrannus tyrannus

Here is the Indigo Bunting--he came down to check me out as I was hiking on the Foothills Trail--

Passerina cyanea

A couple of Purple Martins...female (L) Male (R) also great mosquito catchers!!

Progne subis

And the always vulnerable and so delicate duckling this is another muscovy...I really hope the next time I visit they are all still there but I know last year only 2 made it to adulthood this brood is 9 strong at the time of this photo--

Cairina moschata

Here's a pretty nice Red Shouldered  Hawk almost flying out of the last third of my frame...BUT he had such beautiful form I am liking this shot!!



So thats a few of the cool birds I ran into since we last had the World Bird Wednesday--

Dont forget to check out all the contributors!



PEACE

The Next Generation-

You know how "those" grannies run around showing off the offspring of their offspring...Well until mine arrives I adopted a few-- come take a look--I was so enchanted....

SO yesterday upon arrival to my destination the very first thing I did was check out my favorite pond and sure enough there they were the Next Generation!! It was supposed to be a rain out today but the sun is shining so Im off to do something....WHO knows what I'll find!!

OH and lately Ive been doing some genealogy research and in so doing I signed up to be a contributing  photographer for my area meaning I get requests from individuals for a photo of a grave to add to a persons grave page and I made one for My Father... We are taking a trip to TN end of May to celebrate my aunt Jeans 70th and I will be photographing more of the grave markers in our family cemetery...and meanwhile I got 14 Photo requests for headstones in MY area JUST YESTERDAY--wow its an unpaid endeavor so I will have to combine a few trips when I get back to my area Im in Greenville until Sunday night--SO I'll be doing the "cemetery shuffle"..lol

Tomorrow -weather permitting-a waterfall hike ;o)

PEACE

WBW 12- Watch the Birdie~

This week and next --very busy for me, sometimes we have to earn a living--and Im trying as hard as I can to do it from home--NOT easy! You have to scrimp and save and put lots of things on hold so no trips to report back about on this post.  However that doesn't stop me from sharing birds I ran into -mostly the local yokels-- so here goes--I did take a drive down a different country lane last week--(left) and I found this nice setting--

...and did you ever notice that birds have a favorite past time of watching US as we watch them?  Well, watching me intently was the Northern Mockingbird--he kept his yellow eye on me till I moved on down the lane--nothing matches the aggression of these guys they are highly territorial-

Mimus polyglottos

When I dropped my plastic and cardboard at the recycle center I was spotted by this fellow overseeing everything-making sure I put all my stuff in the correct bins--this is the Loggerhead Shrike-notice the almost raptor shaped tip on the beak--this bird is a hunter! Notice he is sitting on barbed wire he will impale his catch on a sharp spine in aid in ripping it up to eat. 

Lanius ludovicianus

In the afternoon I was busy filling up the feeders in the yard and many birds waited and watched including this curious little fellow-the Chipping Sparrow-

Spizella passerina

I enjoy comparisons so here is the Carolina Chickadee seen in my backyard...

Parus carolinensis

...then the  Black Capped Chickadee--differences to look for are the black bibb is not as neatly outlined as the Carolina-and the wing feathers have more detailed /heavier streaking along the edges--this one shot in the northern part of SC in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains-in my sisters back yard....although this shot doesnt show either of those ID tips...very well

Parus atricapillus

...and the Mountain Chickadee-I found this one out west in my other sister's back yard in Colorado and the Rocky Mountains..the difference is striking as
you see -- white stripes on the head-this guy was really staring me down!

Parus gambeli

And another shot of that stripped head on this Mountain Chickadee in Bryce Canyon, Utah HE pretended to ignore me, but as you can see he styled for me so he knew I was there-

Just to sort of throw a monkey wrench into this string of song birds I wanted to show an -update photo-...one WBW post i did was about a Muscovy Duckling--and this is how he/she looked on my last visit to the Oak Grove Lake-he was slipping on the ice a bit--looking sort of clumbsy out of water-

                               
                                           Adult Muscovy Duck someone requested a better look-



                                                                      Baby Muscovy

cairina moschata

I hope you all found something of interest here today--make sure to visit Springman's blog and post your own World Bird Wednesday adventure or just to see other bloggers offerings! Thanks for stopping by-

World Bird Wednesday II

I wanted to take a fresh hot off the press photo to contribute to World Bird Wednesday over at the Pine River Review Blog, but alas...its been dreary and rainy for the past couple of days so Im pulling out a recent shot  (October)...this Duck with her young was sunning on the bank of the Oak Creek pond near my sisters home in Greer, SC.  Every time I go there I always visit the "duck pond" as we call it.  Have seen other wonderful birds there from time to time also.  But I wanted to show off these little fuzz balls-

  These little fellows are so cute!! I love all birds & have always thought the Muscovy might be the ugly duckling..but NOT TURE...look how pretty!  Here's one more... I wanted to reach out and CUDDLE them they were so charming!!

Another fun shot I got that day was this fellow--

"Bottoms up"-and thanks for stopping by-If you want to see other blogs of birds participating in the World Bird Wednesdays  Just follow the link below, and if you want to add your own World Bird, get on over there there's still plenty of time!