Osprey nests at Patoka Lake, IN

We went to Lake Patoka, Indiana today for a drive and were thrilled to see two Osprey nests on man-made nesting platforms.  I've seen platforms like this before, but never with a nest or birds.

 They were pretty far out, but I was excited to see them.  I have never seen an Osprey before and both nests had birds present when we stopped to take photos.

This nest had two adults sitting on perches or on the edge of  the nest.

 The first nest we saw, one adult had just snagged something in the water and took it up to the nest.  I sort of caught it landing.  There appears to be another bird sitting on the nest....a female with eggs?

 Both sat on the nest briefly and then one flew to a tree along the edge of the woods and spent some time grooming.

I wish these were better, but it was cool to see a new bird!

There was other activity in the water and around it, so hopefully more posts soon.

(If I don't post for awhile, I'm watching tennis again....French Open)

Raccoon family foraging......

As we were leaving the Henderson area, we saw a heron in a flooded field that usually has some wildlife in it, so we stopped for a photo.

 As I took a photo, I realized there were some "brown animals" in the right lower corner!

 A Raccoon mom with her two babies!

 They were busy chasing something in the shallow water and weeds.

 At one point they went deep into the flowers and we would just see a back or ears sticking up.  Mom spent a lot of time at one spot really digging and chasing.  Would love to know what she was finding to eat!  Little minnows?  frogs? crawdads?

They were pretty far away so my shots are so-so even the ones I did with the big extender lens.  I'm sorry that I'm always apologizing for my photos, but I never feel like I am getting the quality that I should and I hate to post poor photos. 

 Mom was very brown and the babies were more gray.

They worked their way down the field through the yellow flowers towards us, but never got really close before we decided we had to leave.  I just love it when I get a bonus sighting like this!  I started the day looking for butterflies and ended up with raccoons! 

Dickcissels in the bottomlands.....

Yesterday we drove around west of Henderson, KY in the bottomlands along the Ohio River.  This is the same area where we see the Snow Geese in the winter.  At this time of year all the roads are open and they are mostly gravel roads leading to farm fields.

 We saw dozens of Dickcissels along the edge of the gravel roads.  They like to sit on the short trees and bushes and tall grasses along the road and often would stay there to be photographed, unbothered by our presence in a car.

 They love to open up and sing while they sit there!

 Sometimes the grass and twigs were too much in the way.  This one was swaying back and forth in the wind and I had trouble getting a focus when she would sway into view!  One of the few females I saw.

 Another favorite perch....high up on the wires.  They look somewhat like a House Sparrow except for the touches of yellow at the breast and above the eye.  Their habits are similar, too and they often hang around together according to my Sibley book.

 The male peeking out of the grasses.

 The female swinging into view.  She does not have the black at the throat.

 The female again.

 High wire act :-)

Peeking over the little tree top.  I often see them like this.

They travel in flocks and we saw one about every 50 feet along one stretch of gravel.

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These are just some of the "flora" photos I took on the drive.  We travel this one wooded road that has a lot of trees like this with exposed roots.  I always wonder what all might be living among the roots :-)

 Several patches of this soft pink roses along the road side.

 Big thistles!  Don't know which particular one.

 I like their thorny outer covering.

Trumpet Vines along the road. 

 A field of winter wheat. 

 Don't know the name of these white flowers but always like how they look.

Buttercups?  I really don't know but like their sort of 'waxy' look.

Odds and ends....

A few odds and ends from recent files.....the home birds.

The Blue Jay comes by each day looking for peanuts or suet. 

 Everybody wants the suet!  This Downy doesn't seem to thrilled to have a House Sparrow interrupt his meal.

I  thought it was interesting to see this one from underneath. 

 Sometimes I'm not sure looking at them if it is a Hairy or a Downy.

 This one is Downy....

....this one might be a Hairy.  The bill seems longer.

A pair of ducks that come by in the evenings to check out the "driveway diner".  This is not my banded female that has come for several years.  I wonder if something happened to her and this is her mate with a new female.  They seem to know where to come looking for seeds.

 I glanced out the window and saw this stack of Goldfinches!  Not very good light on it and shot at an angle.

 This female looks rather wistful....she wants to join the party!

 The Titmouse looking for some suet or peanuts or both.

None of these seem clearly focused to me.  I don't know if it is the light.....or the photographer....or the camera.  Oh, well.