April showers bring.....April flowers and high water and spring birds.....

Spring is here and everything is getting beautiful.....between the rain storms.

 I may my annual spring trip to Mouteau Park where I know I can always find Meadowlarks.

I love to see them stand there, nice and tall for me to photograph.  Such a stunning bird!

 Then Mike and I went over to Henderson to the bottomlands to see if there were any snipe in the flooded fields.  Unfortunately, I didn't find any snipe this year.  I was disappointed.  Maybe I was too late and they have moved on.  The water was quite high.  The Ohio River was out of its banks on the Evansville side of the river for at least a mile.  We thought we might find the road on the other side flooded too, but it was open where we went for most of the way.   These Coots and Blue-wing Teal were in a flooded field.

 Lots of Coots.

This was as far as we got.  The water was over the road here.  The River is just to the right the other side of those trees. 

 There were a couple pair of Scaups? in this area.  We saw more ducks....Shovelers mostly.... in a larger flooded area, but they were too far away for good photos.

 We saw three deer.  This one stood still for a few minutes.

Mike spotted an eagle's nest about a half mile off the road.  We found a gravel road that took us a bit closer.  This photo isn't great.  One adult on the nest.  The distance was still very great at this point.  Later we saw the other Eagle sitting in a tree behind the nest.  I'm assuming they have eggs or eaglets in the nest. 

Oops....looks like we are at the end of the road here.  The water was rushing pretty fast.  Couldn't tell how deep it was.  Will have to come back in a week or two after things dry out and the water level goes down.

A turtle in a flooded corn field. 

 At home my yard is covered in violets.  I just love them.

 The neighbor's pink crab apple.

 Standing on our road looking over the lilac bushes and toward the dome and the cherry tree.  These bushes are a lot taller than I am!

 The lilacs....not quite at their full best.

 The ornamental cherry is just beginning to burst into bloom.

One of the many squirrels in the neighborhood.

Odds and ends....

I finally downloaded some photos from the camera....mostly from February/

 A downy at the suet

Flicker female.  Her mate was there the same day. 

 Downy male

Mockingbird on a windy day 

 Red-bellied woodpecker with a few buds starting to show on the maple tree

Squirrel stretch

 Back during the cold and snow this little squirrel found a walnut and was working very hard to gnaw into it.

chickadee 

 Finches in the snow

 Cardinal male

Carolina Wren on the ball

 We have found 2 different eagles so far this year.  This one was at the Blue Grass refuge sitting on the end of a limb near its nest.  Very far and I didn't get good photos.

 Also went to Hovey Lake near where the Ohio River and the Wabash Rivers meet.  We were surprised that it was frozen over!  This was last month.  Way out along those trees there was some open water with swans, geese, and ducks.

 This is using the zoom....the ducks and geese

Also, way out there in the trees is an eagle's nest and we could see a white head in it.  Look how deep this nest is.  It seems much bigger then the one we saw at Blue Grass.  Must be old and they keep adding to it each year.  We have watched it for several years.

The swans out in the open water of the lake.  We will have to go back now that things should be thawed out.

Finally.....some birds from Henderson...

It has taken three separate trips to Henderson this year to find the Snow Geese and other migrants!  I was about to give up on finding some.  We went later in the day this time and they were beginning to gather in the corn and water to settle down for the evening.

A few of the Snow Geese in the corn.....one of the dark adults on the right. 

Lining up in the corn rows. 

 A line of the Greater White-fronted Geese in the front with the Snows in back.  A Mallard and a Shoveler in the foreground.  The geese always separate into groups by type.  They don't mix too much.  The Mallards swim around in the middle of everybody and don't seem to care.

A few in the air with a swan. 

The Tundra Swans were plentiful this year....at least 20.  They were hanging out with the Canada Geese at the other end of the field with some assorted ducks .  I saw a Pintail several times. 

This goose was hanging out all by itself at the edge of the water by the road where I was standing, so close-ups were possible. 

 Coming in for a landing.

We don't normally see swans around where we live, so it was wonderful to see so many. 

A mix of everything. 

Swans and ducks 

The White-fronts and the Snow Geese. 

Just to really top off the day, this adult Bald Eagle was sitting in a tree watching another field. Mike spotted a younger one, too chasing some of the ducks in a field, but it was too far away for a photo.

Always lovely to see!....and so willing to pose.  Do you think they know how majestic they look? 

On the way across town, we saw this Red-shouldered hawk on the wire.

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My back pain problem is finally going away....yeah!  Not gone completely, but hugely improved!  I hope to get out more in the future and take some photos.