Green Herons at the wetlands......

We had a great day at the wetlands this week!  I could see as we drove into the parking lot that a Great Blue Heron was stalking the lake....always a good sign :-)

This particular heron was very spooky and flew away into a tree as soon as we headed out onto the boardwalk across the lake.

The water level is real low right now and the Evening Primrose (?) covers huge areas where the birds like to stalk for food.

Sitting right on the edge of the flowers was a Green Heron!  I've never had one let me get this close before.  I think that it is an immature one or first summer. 

A very beautiful bird and I was excited to get that close to it.

It decided it should move if I was going to walk past it, but just flew up on to the railing of the boardwalk a short ways in front of me....giving me more photos opportunity!  What an accommodating bird.  The spotty wings definitely make it a young one.

It decided to "fluff" up a bit.

As I approached that spot it went on around the railing to the far end.  Didn't seem to get the idea that I was going to have to cross the entire boardwalk eventually.

Then it flew down into the flowers to stalk something.

Ready to strike (I thought it was hiding from me at first :-)

Caught something, but I can't tell what.  Looks like a big dragonfly or something of that nature?

However, I wouldn't think a dragonfly would require this big swallow. 

We headed back through the woods and were taking photos of the turtles on the logs in the back part of the wetlands, when another Green Heron flew over and landed on the turtle log!

I think this one looks older....more reddish color and the crest is more obvious.

My last view of him.....sitting on this stick where he could watch all that was there. This is a bird that I don't often get to see, so I was thrilled to get some close up photos for a change.

A very "ducky" day......

We actually got out of the house for awhile today!  We went looking for both butterflies and birds and found some nice photos ops.  I couldn't decide what to post first, but I fell in love with this little family of ducks at the wetlands :-)

When we first got there mama duck didn't want anything to do with us and took her little brood over to the far bank.  I figured that was the best I was going to get.

But when we came back across the boardwalk later, she had apparently decided we looked safe and might be a food source, so she brought her little group over to show them off.  And what a bunch of cuties they are.

I thought that mom looked a bit frazzled, but maybe having 5 little ones to take care of does that to you.

"Quack, quack, quack!"

She really seemed to be proud of them :-)

Little ducklings are always so well-behaved as they swim along in line behind their parents.

A little closer look.

I sure hope these little ones make it.  I was surprised to see ducklings so late in the year.

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Well, we have newly patched drywall and new paint in our bedroom (yeah!).  Now we need to purchase carpet.  We are tired of the guest room bed.....not as stiff as what we are used to.  Maybe we owe our guests a new bed. I hope by the weekend to be sleeping in our own room even without new carpet yet.

Butterflies and birds in Henderson.....

We drove over to Henderson, KY this week to the "butterfly road" hoping for some good butterfly shots.  We didn't see very many varieties.  Usually I can count on seeing the swallowtails as well as the little woodland butterflies.

This is the Hackberry.......a very small butterfly that likes woods with Hackberry trees.  They can be very friendly and land on you while you are taking their photo :-)  They like the gravel road and we see them flitting all along it.

It is always willing to pose with its wings open for me!  I wish all butterflies were this easy.

This is the closed side view.

Another butterfly that likes the gravel and the woods....the Question Mark.  Very similar to the Comma, but with slight differences.

Harder to get this one when it is open.

The side view showing the question mark that gives it its name.

There was a spot in the gravel road where someone had emptied a cement mixer and boy, did all these little butterflies like that!  Must be the minerals that they like best.  This is the American Snout.  I have never managed to get a shot of the wings open on this one.  It always rests with them closed.

A very torn up swallowtail.......I think it is a Spicebush.

Talk about good camouflage!  These grasshoppers were all over the place.

I think this is the Blue Dasher female dragonfly.

We didn't expect to see many birds, but actually saw more birds than butterflies!  This little Eastern Wood Pewee was flitting along the narrow road between tall trees just ahead of us.  We would stop ever so often to take its photo.

A back shot.  It was a very shady area, so my shots are so-so.

He stopped by these webworms.....I wonder if they eat them?  I would hope that some bird would.

Out in an open area we spotted this one power pole with a whole group of birds on it.  Very plain, grey/brown birds.  I think they are young Grackles.

Talking to each other.  They had long pointy beaks.

On another wire....a Dickcissel was singing his tunes.

....and Swallows in the same area.

They always seem very sociable.

We figured the wet areas would all be dry, but there was one shallow wet area and an egret enjoying the water there.

Very pretty as he glided in and out of the plants.

Here he lifted one foot....black legs, black foot.....Great Egret?  Didn't seem that tall.

 A Kingbird swooped out of the bushes chasing a Brown Thrasher away.

Panting....it was a hot day!

Finally, on the way home there is a swampy area and we stopped the car to look.  This bird was spooked out by another bird from its hiding place.  I think it is a young Red-wing Blackbird, all fluffed up.  It sat there squawking and I was hoping for better shots, but about that time a pick-up truck showed up behind us and another one coming the other direction, so we had to move on.  We have an uncanny ability to find trucks in the middle of nowhere whenever we are trying to photograph something....frustrating!

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We are busy trying to do some remodeling in our house and have a crew coming in this next week to do some work, so my posting is going to be sparse, I'm sure!  The biggest question of the moment is where to put our bed while they fix the drywall and paint in our bedroom??  Not much time for picture taking :-)

A few birds at Wesselman Woods.....

My bird photos aren't very good because of the glass and the heavy shade, but I saw a few I wanted to post anyway. 

This was a new bird for me....a Black-and-White Warbler!  It was very pretty, but it moved around so fast, I had trouble catching up and getting focused.  I hope to go back and look for it again.

Another shot of it.  I can see where it got its name.

This bird I'm not sure about....maybe a Vireo?  Again, my photos aren't very good for identification purposes.

Another view of it showing the wings.

This one I know....a baby Cowbird......

....all the more obvious when you see a pair of Cardinals feeding it and know that it is NOT a Cardinal!

"What do you mean I'm not a Cardinal??.....Aren't you my mother?"

Another "babe" hanging on a branch way over my head....hard to shoot at it.  The beak looks Cardinal-like, but I'm guessing a young House Finch by the stripes on the chest?

It stayed on that branch for a long time and I never saw a parent bird feeding it, but there were House Finches in the area.