Most Outings Amount To Only A Piece Of A Post

 I decided a long time ago that a reasonable goal would be to average one post a week but even that can be a challenge for me sometimes. I usually need something to inspire me like a good bird photo, a particular thought or idea I want to express, a great day of birding, or exploring an interesting new place are a few possibilities that might do the trick. Unfortunately, there are times when I don't get decent photos, don't see many birds, or my outing turns out to be ho-hum. Not bad, just not enough to motivate me to post something.

 That red barn is at the parking lot of the Taylor/Palmer preserve by the way. Nice trails, but I didn't see much in the way of birds on that particular afternoon.

 I saw this frog (Leopard frog?) over by the fairgrounds one morning. I also found a Marsh Wren there that day which was a bonus.

 I like reading gravestones from old cemeteries. I was surprised at the number of graves from the 1700's that I found at Center Cemetery. One of the things I noticed was that a lot of people died at a young age back then. I often find  Chipping Sparrows and other birds using  gravestone as a perch in cemeteries.

 Early one morning in July I visited a place called Bear Hill Wildlife Management area. There were lots of Field Sparrows, Indigo Buntings, and White-eyed Vireos that day. I managed to get a photo of a Prairie Warbler.

 I made a trip down to Sandy Point In West Haven. I took some photos of shorebirds but they were too grainy to use. Nice morning but I was a little too early for the incoming tide.

 I came across this hawk somewhere along the Connecticut River in Portland. Maybe a young Broad-winged or Red-shouldered Hawk?

I've been seeing more butterflies around this month but I haven't been able to get close to them. I took this photo of a Tiger Swallowtail from about 15 feet away. The Zoom they have these days is amazing.

All of the photos in this post were taken on different days. Many times my birding day seems to equal a piece of a post that falls a little short of what I'm looking for.

Blogging is an outlet for creative expression or to share something of interest. Sometimes I draw a blank but try to post something. Blogging is like exercising. If you get out of the habit of doing it then you might end up quitting all together.  I've got to keep things going to reach my 10th year of blogging in 2014! 

There is an old poem that I think of sometimes when I'm stuck.
 It's titled "When Thomas Takes His pen" by Elsie Hill. It can be found by clicking the link to the following link on HistoryProfessor.Org (Maintained by Zachary M. Schrag):   http://historyprofessor.org/miscellaneous/when-thomas-takes-his-pen/