Sunday, February 24, 2019

If It Weren't For Pictures I Would Have Forgotten


 I try to keep up with blogging once a week even when it's busy but I really couldn't remember anything memorable during my recent outings. It wasn't until I downloaded photos that I remembered a beautiful winter morning along the Connecticut River.
The sun illuminating the hay covered brush piles reminded me of the story of Rumpelstiltskin who could spin straw into gold. There ere lots of sparrows in the pile that my camera could not keep up with.
Not far down the road was this old wooden shed. Now that I see it I can remember the scene giving me a feeling of calmness.
 Just across the street turkeys were gathering for breakfast.
 I drove a little further into the country for a stop at Leesville Dam.
 I don't know if the Common Merganser could see his reflection because it looks like his eyes are closed (more like just a bad photo).
At Machimoodus Park someone had dropped a little birdseed to keep the Juncos busy.

The pictures were a reminder to me that I actually saw and experienced more than I could remember. Sometimes special moments in life are made up of quick snapshots that are easily forgotten if you don't take the time to remember.

Monday, February 4, 2019

It's Not What You See But How You See It


This time of the year the Connecticut shoreline is a great place to find sea ducks. Based on difficulty of finding one, my duck of the day was the Long-tailed Duck but....................
......I would forfeit my sighting of the Long-tailed Duck in favor of the beautiful view I had of this Red-breasted Merganser!

Saturday, February 2, 2019

eBird Target Species Add Fun To Common Birds

 As I mentioned before, finding foy (first of year) birds for your year list adds a little excitement to seeing some of the more common birds in your area.I spent a little time walking around the border of the old brownstone quarries.
I try to make a habit of entering my local bird sightings on eBird. Under the explore button of eBird there is a link called target species hich allows you to generate a list of birds that you haven't recorded yet for the year.You can also generate a wish list of birds you have never seen in your lifetime.I use it to keep track of county birds. It made this common Song Sparrow a real prize for the day!