Azalea Path: Part 1.....

We went to a beautiful place near Princeton, IN called the Azalea Path Arboretum & Botanical Gardens.  They have lovely walks around two small lakes and some woods filled with azaleas, rhododendrons, and other plants....hostas, lilies, iris that weren't currently in bloom.

The colors were beautiful and of great variety. 

 Love this purple one.

Scattered among the flowers are sculptures, wood carvings, architectural bits and pieces, quilt squares and other interesting things. 

The yellow one was very pretty. 

This lake has a reception center built next to it where private parties can be held.  They are getting ready to create a water fall running under the center flowing into this lake.  It is a beautiful setting.  Would be great for weddings, etc. 

A pretty peony and hostas. 

Does this look inviting? 

 A quilt square....rather hidden.

 This orange stood out nice next to the fountain.

This one above is one of my favorites.....pale but tinged with a darker pink. 

A couple of bears I came across :-)

More flowers and such in Part 2 in a couple of days.

Odds and ends.....

A few misc. shots from at home and another wetlands walk.

 A Red-headed Woodpecker! 

 This is the first time for one of these to come to my home feeders.  I see them in the wild, but have never had one visit.  It came several times, so it must have a nest nearby.

At the wetlands, we saw these soft shelled turtles. 

 That is a second one in the water beside it.

 A dogwood tree along the creek.

 A Canada Goose on its own.

The Great Blue Heron 

Lift-off! 

Back at home, the Rose-breasted Grosbeaks have arrived on their migration north. I look forward to these beauties stopping by briefly each year.

A couple of males.  The female hasn't posed for me yet. 

 A Hairy Woodpecker found the new suet hang-up.

A female Red-winged Blackbird.

A male Goldfinch in his lovely yellow coat with black head.

The turtles are out at the wetlands and "wren-o-vations".....

I stopped by the wetlands one day last week and the water was very high still.  Hope to go back this week and maybe the water will have gone down some.  But the turtles were out on the logs in the creek.  There just weren't as many logs above the water level for them to sit on.

 The water in the creek was high, but clear.  A beautiful day to be out!

The boardwalks that cross the ponds were under water, so the goose was sitting on the railing. 

 Young maple leaves that looked pretty.

A robin 

 First damselfly shot of the year

Skink.....they are sometimes on the bridge over the creek.

A few turtles :-) 

Balance 

One of the few in the water. 

Ready to paddle? 

"Get out of my way....I was here first!" 

 This goose had its spot surrounded by turtles.

The one in the middle is doing the Hokey Pokey....."You put your right foot out...." 

 Assorted sizes.

 All alone and happy

"Can't you scoot up higher?  I don't have enough room!"

This one is for Rose, who likes to count my turtles :-)

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At home I have a pair of House Wrens making "wren-o-vations" to my nest boxes.  I've seen them putting sticks in at least two of the boxes.

Wren filling up the nest boxes with sticks. 

"Hmmm.....I'm sure this should fit in here somehow." 

"Well, what are you looking at?"

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.