Summer rambles...

I guess while I have internet I will post while its fresh in my mind--I figure once I hit the road on my solo journey I may find it hard to get a wifi connection.

Yesterday we walked the dogs near an area called Silt Island Creek an off leash area for dogs to walk.

Jimmy (my sis E's dogs) loves the water so in he went right into the swift Colorado River!

I was afraid he would get caught in the current but he seemed to know where he should and should not go...there is no telling Jimmy what to do!  Some people had memorialized their loved ones who had passed..but once loved walking this trail.

PHOTO MISSING

My other sis M has a home here too, she has already decided this is where she will retire so they bought a home here last yr. We went up today to check it out and it was my first time seeing it..I love the surrounding rocky hills...

And there's horses to look at too from the back porch...

There's a line shack where they hang out..

I loved this lichen on the rocks..

And the ever present Black Billed Magpie

What a wonderful change of pace we are enjoying....Mom and I had a hard summer in S. Carolina, its so refreshingly cool here..and we've been having afternoon thunder storms to help freshen the air. Last night it was 52 degrees here...and today the high was 79. with NO humidity - feels so good to us.  

Here's the neighbors!

sister M- flies in from Carolina tomorrow and we will all be together for the labor weekend!! 

PEACE

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

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-