Ruby and friends

Happy Wednesday, y'all! Before we begin I have a little update on the bird that I saw in the cemetery on my mother's birthday. (I almost typed birdday...obsessed much?) The bird I saw that day was the Ruby-crowned Kinglet. What's so amazing about this discovery is that my mother's favorite color was red―specifically ruby-red. That I saw this particular bird when I asked my mother for a sign brought me to tears when I finally made the connection (I first thought it was the Acadian Flycatcher, but a bird friend corrected me). Now I envision my mother up in heaven with rubies in her crown. :)

I tried so hard to get the perfect shot of this Ruby-crowned Kinglet, but these guys flit around faster than gnats.
My goal was to get the red crown on the head. This was the best I could do. Sigh.

Brown Thrasher

He was gorging greedily on suet.

I think this Rufous is giving me a little lip.

I rounded a corner and heard high pitched shrieking. I barely got this shot of the wood ducks
fleeing for their lives. Seriously, they made terrifying sounds as though in a horror film.

Another Eastern Phoebe

Red-tailed hawk (?)

Cedar Waxwing

Downy Woodpecker

Thanks to Stewart for hosting!

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Miscellany

Miscellaneous photos taken over the last two weeks. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Mama Eagle keeping watch over her eaglets, 2/17/13

Chickadees are the boldest birds. I was probably 6-8 feet away from this little dude at Bluebonnet Swamp. Where else? :) 2/8/13

Another bold bird. This vociferous mockingbird was creating quite a scene at Capitol Lakes, 2/13/13.

My birding friends were generous enough to point out this tiny tree frog holding on to a red buckeye tree. 2/8/13

I was quite enamored with him.

Great Egret marching at Bluebonnet Swamp, 2/14/13.

American Kestrel, River Road, 2/15/13.

Brown Thrasher, Bluebonnet Swamp, 2/15/13.

I've got an abundance of photos of the Eastern Phoebe,
so you're going to be seeing it for quite some time. 2/18/13, Capitol Lakes.

Something a little different for me. Family flying a kite on top of the levee 2/3/13.

Great Backyard Bird Count

Time to lighten this place up! Thanks to everyone who offered advice and words of comfort on my last post. I have the wisest, kindest blog followers in existence. Love y'all!

Today was the last day of the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC), so I decided to visit Arsenal Park and Capitol Lake, which are side by side in downtown Baton Rouge. Somewhere between the two areas I dropped my iphone and after a frantic 20 minute search found it lying in the grass. Whew, that was close! I was having severe anxiety, lemme tell ya!

I counted 16 different species of birds and got a bonus animal that I was not expecting. A windy, cold, but totally fun couple of hours. As I was about to leave there were two trees that suddenly became populated with birds. Thinking they were the annoying red-wing blackbirds or grackles, I pointed my lens up to the tree and saw that they were Cedar Waxwings! There must've been a hundred of them. Unfortunately, they were very high up so I could not get a decent shot. But I am posting some photos of them anyway because it's the first time I've ever laid eyes on one. What a great way to end the event.

Cedar Waxwing

Cedar Waxwing line-up

Cedar Waxwing

Cedar Waxwing

Eastern Phoebe

Ring-billed gull

Downy Woodpecker

Another sweet pose by Phoebe

Ring-billed gull

Ring-necked duck, male

Ring-necked duck, female

American Coot and Ring-necked ducks feeding frenzy

Nutria, my surprise visitor

Yellow wildflowers growing through the rocks

A Blessing

The sun returned on Feb 13, after a drab, rainy week. It so happens that I had an appointent that day with Sister Cynthia (the nun I am seeing regularly for spiritual guidance). Afterwards, I went to a lake by our State Capitol where I saw ring-necked ducks, egrets, house finches, goldfinches, woodpeckers, and one very vociferous mockingbird. Out of all those birds I was dazzled by this sweet little Eastern Phoebe who graciously posed as though sitting for her portrait.

At the end of my session with Sister, she handed me a book of blessings. She asked me to open the book, and without looking, hand it back, instructing her to read from the right side or the left. I requested the right side and this was my special blessing that she read to me, inserting my name in the sentences with such love:

KINDNESS

May the God of KINDNESS be with you, Gail, gazing upon you with understanding eyes. May you see in those eyes unconditional acceptance of who you are and how you are in any given moment of your life. And may you know God's gentle call to grow in kindness toward those people in your life. May the God of KINDNESS bless you, Gail.

How I wish you were all gathered here around me. How I would love to offer a blessing in such a way to each one of you!