Cool Birds in Cool Places!

I've been trying to get in some last minute visits to places I wanted to explore more...Mom has already moved back to sis's house in town, so I have a few days to myself before heading back to SC,,,

Saturday it was the Buford-New Castle Road in the White River National Forest aka West Elk.   It was ATV day as most Saturdays are in National Forest Lands,

but I found a quiet road and was able to seek out a few interesting things...Once  you climb the forest service road you arrive what is called the Old Gravel Pit...

Once I got past the locals, I stayed off the OHV trail and skirted the open area following the trees on the left.  Phished up a few Mountain Chickadees, 

  This little fellow came out to see what all the ruckus was about..

Alvin the chipmunk!

Lots of pretty vistas

the forest was glittering with awesome light as the smoke was chased out by rain and some wind too...

here is the spot I found to park on the quiet road...

It turned out to be a good patch busy with lots of Yellow Rumped Warblers, 

Mountain Chickadees, Juniper Titmouse, and Red Breasted Nuthatch added more activity to the patch...

I think lots of new insects are out and about cause these guys were feeding like crazy!  Another

Red-Naped Sapsucker was working on a tree trunk he didn't seem to even care that I was creeping around..

red naped sapsucker

hairy woodpecker

Also had a Hairy Woodpecker show up and a few Blue Grey Gnatcatchers...and a cool bird new to me was this taxa of the Dark Eyed Junco the Grey Headed Dark Eyed Junco.  He is very similar to the Red-Backed, he has the red back...but he has the solid color beak...and a very cute one at that..

Grey Headed Dark Eyed Junco

A first for me, not a lifer tho since it's still considered a Dark Eyed Junco...I was just as excited no matter!

A Golden Eagle soared overhead...

On the way back home I was checking out fields for birds because there is always birds around especially when cutting is being done that stirs up bugs and tosses up seed so it's a good smorgasbord. 

Many of the irrigation ditches have cattails and that means Red-winged Blackbirds..but I found what I think is the Bicolored form...they have an orange patch without any yellow or white...

...and what looks to be a bicolored female is on the lower mid right with the brown head.  There was a couple Immature yellow headed blackbirds in this mix too. 

Back at home the rancher in the valley was chasing his cows that broke through the fence and were on the neighbors field...

Great entertainment for me as I sat on the deck  with a refreshing drink overlooking his dilemma.

teehee...he ended up calling for backup and 3 of them finally got the cows back on the right side...

Next day, Sunday  I hit up Lion Park in the I-70 Rest area...was up early so caught the sunrise first..

out with the dogs on their morning break 

Casey 

and the moon was still around on the west side of the tree...

it's a waning 3/4 moon 

My buddy the squirrel was up bright and early that day...

I hit the walkway by the Colorado River checking for birds have more luck there than at the lake.  

A very busy Grey Catbird came out 

The Silver Bush has berries, and although I didn't see the birds eating the berries they were eating the bugs that are attracted to these willowy bushes.  

Got a cute Brewer's Sparrow...

And Cedar Waxwings and Lesser Goldfinch were all over the place as well as Song Sparrows..

the Song Sparrows here are much bigger than the ones I'm used to seeing back home these look very muscular....while the SC version is like a little powder puff...

And this one stole the show cause it's rare as far as ebird is concerned...and it was a lifer for me, the

Black Phoebe

Completely adorable!! 

a couple Osprey flew over I caught one in action...

this could be the mother from the nest I watched when I first arrived here...

On the way back up the hill to this house saw a pair of

American Kestrels...the female in red and male in blue!

Then today I went north up to Meeker.  (via hwy 13) I had a hunch...

That's up next!! 

In real time I am packed and heading out in the morning...it's a sad day I don't want to go...but I'm trying to stick to the plan, I'm already 7 days later leaving than my original plan...One thing I have learned in my lifetime is nothing stays the same. There is so much left to see here and now most of my family is here...sigh. BUT I know we will be together again in the near future! 

Goodnight all 

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

Seney WLR, Michigan's UP

I had the Mackinac bridge in my rearview mirror as I headed west on Hwy 2 a scenic byway of the Northwestern shores of Lake Michigan.  It was a bit windy and hazy on that Monday.  I stopped at many roadside overlooks and took photos..this one had a distant Lighthouse...there are MANY Lighthouses in the Upper Peninsula...this one as I found out is Epoufette. 

and a little closer...

I saw some movement in these reeds and pulled over for a closer look..the golden rods were at peak in this area...

But this is what I saw moving in the distance.  He was way in the back just beyond the water on the left...

sandhill crane

Only one alone....solo traveler like me!  I turned and headed up highway 77 north to Seney Wildlife Refuge.  There was a Unit up at Whitefish bay and I did walk that section.  I spotted a couple red breasted nuthatches, but that was about it...many were out with scopes looking for piping plovers I thought I saw one but the fellow with a scope shot down my theory and said its a killdeer...oh shucks.

I saw more Red Breasted Nuthatches on the boardwalk trail also. 

There is so much fresh water up here it amazes me to think we could ever run out of water? Every 5 ft there is a lake or pond or swamp...its amazing!  I saw other forest birds on the boardwalk and the trails leading off it...like these guys.

the black capped chickadee

Yellow Rumped Warbler

the Hermit Thrush

the swamp sparrow

and more red squirrel

they run right in front of you then up to a tree to hide..lol  The trail was lined with rose hips I bet it was awesome when these wild roses were blooming..

There is a nice visitors center and they showed us a movie too..

It's surrounded by water on 3 sides, I saw this line of wood ducks..

After the boardwalk hike I did the Marshland Drive its 7 miles in length...and there is water everywhere...

there's over 70 Trumpeter Swans that call these waters home...

the reddish on the neck is caused by the tannin in the water...
One of my very favorite birds here was the common loon still in breeding plumage!

there were pied billed grebes and ring necked ducks around too...females here 

a  Eagle was on the nest while the mate hunted...

so many beautiful landscapes were around every corner...

Once I had finished the marshland drive I continued north on 77 to find camping for the night.  I had seen a little dot on the Map for a Forest Service camp not far away...East Fox River.   So that's where  I ended this day.  Got a good spot right close to this small lake...

had a small balcony for fishing and for me  a place to sit and relax 

there was resident Mallards...

and what's this??? Not one but 2 River Otters!

I enjoyed watching them for a while and then they realized I was there and began to hiss at me...check out this video..

I've been lucky with getting sites with electric lately and wifi has worked. Hope this trend continues as I have a lot to share and it gives me something to do when the sun goes down besides listen to Casey snore...IT poured rain in the night and we got soaked in the morning going out for his walk...

..In real time I'm about 2 weeks behind with the blogging... and I've covered many miles!! AND Im still many miles from home.  As of today (9/18)  I have about 14-15 days to get my tuckus back home. 

ON ward we go.

PEACE

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