"Blursday"

Do you suffer from blursday? While I'd never heard the term before we had lunch with Bill and Lisa last Monday, it is most definitely going into my lexicon going forward.  Can it really be February 25 already? Apparently so; the days pass one to another with such regularity. Well, duh, of course they do! Bruce and I took a mini-trip this past week during which time I kept asking what day it was. 

But, before we get into the mini-trip,  I need to put some events down for posterity. First off, there are a few new green sprouts on our front tree which brings a sigh of relief to us both. 

Oh look a darling little bird perched in said tree! Speaking of which, there will be plenty in this post because, well, because we have seen a bunch! We took another trip out to the OWP in the late afternoon to take advantage of different lighting. Both of us brought a camera along.

There was a lot to photograph indeed. I am gaining a new appreciation for Wood Storks with their emerald wings. I'll overlook their weird heads to gaze at that beautiful wing span.

The cypress needles are falling leaving a reddish carpet atop the shallow water on the ponds below.

Instead of the sun being behind the Spoonbills, we were afforded beautiful afternoon lighting and a very willing subject.

Actually there were gobs of willing subjects, however, we wanted to get home before dark, so did not do our usual walk around. Just to break things up a bit, here's a youngster for you.

Being wannabe citizen scientists, for the next four days we participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count, and was it ever fun! It is neat being a part of something that is done worldwide by folks like us. Don't know what it is? Here is the info. Pretty much we counted birds on all four days, beginning with a trip to Kissimmee to see the famed eagles nest. Arriving around 9:30 in the morning, it is in a large tree in front of an elementary school. Not hard to miss at all because it is huge!! We circled the nest hoping to see the eaglets and were not disappointed as they raised up into view after a bit.

As you can see, they are all blackish when young, and I think remain that way for awhile. Both parents came and went, keeping a close watch out for trouble. That said, the only time I've heard of a bird causing an eagle real trouble is when I learned that a pair of Great Horned Owls kicked some eagles out of their nest in Greenwood Cemetery. Hard to believe, but I'm assured that it is a true story.

New lens in action! We did a little exploring in a nearby park close to downtown where we saw or heard birds, but the best find of them all was when this Snail Kite flew in. Oh yeah baby!

Roaming around the main streets of downtown Kissimmee, I was super impressed with their bold use of street art to bring otherwise bland buildings to life. You knew I would like this one.

It does not get much more vibrant than the one below.

That was Friday's outing. The weather was pleasant, but it has warmed up considerably since then. As I type this, Saturday afternoon following a fun and hot morning of pickleball, it is 87 degrees! Yikes, we need more winter!

Back to last Saturday afternoon, we drove over to Lake Davis to count birds and were not disappointed. Will it surprise you to learn that we counted 275??? Maybe I should give credit where credit is due because it was Bruce, not me, who carried a pad around and marked it all down!! From there we went over to Lake Cherokee where we counted even more, including these Egyptian Geese immersed in the duckweed.

Common Grackles might not be on the top of anyone's list of favorite birds, but in the right lighting, their color is very, very nice.

Which brings up an interesting point when it comes to birds. They are crazy hard to identify because they have various color plumages during the year and oftentimes, the male and female look not much alike. The Mallard ducks below are a case in point. As is oftentimes the case, the male is the most colorful of a pair.

They could not look any more different right? 

On Sunday we played hooky from church. Okay, I will fess up and take the blame.  Somehow I wasted too much time looking at pictures, leaving me little, to no time, to wash my hair so that was that. Instead, we counted more birds. I needed to make a second visit to Lake Davis hoping that the Pied Bill Grebe and her family would be in good light and closer to shore. Those little ones are so crazy looking with their almost tiger stripes. While they were closer you will definitely want to enlarge the photo to see for yourself.

From there we went over to the Wetland Park adjacent to Greenwood Cemetery. Again the birds were plentiful, so you know what that means, don't you? Indeed.

A very small Downey Woodpecker above, and a very large Pileated Woodpecker below.

I could hear it, but finding it amongst all the tree branches was what gave me a fit. A Blue Jay having a drink.

Merlin is the name of the free app for identification, and eBird is what I used to enter it to add to the worldwide total.  The great thing is that Merlin has three different ways to identify birds, one of which is to answer five questions, the other is to record the song, and the third is to share a photograph. Bruce used all three during our trip this past week that I'm dying to tell you about but I was also dying to tell you about all of the above too. Trying to maintain sequential posts. :)

After birding we went downtown for lunch, a rarity these days; not the out to lunch part, but the downtown part. It is far more crowded than when we spent our Sundays down there, that's for sure. At any rate, we landed at Rusteak and it was an excellent choice. Sitting on the outside patio, we enjoyed the shade and had some yummy food. Inside I noticed this super cool chandelier.

Ha ha, I just noticed they are missing a bulb. At first look I thought they were musical instruments, but on second thought, maybe it is just meant to look like one?

Pickleball Monday morning, followed by a very fun lunch with Bill and Lisa at Johnny's Otherside. 

In town from Live Oak to visit their grandchildren, we talked and laughed for several hours. As I recall it was Bill who introduced the term "blursday" and I may be remembering it that way because he has had a way over the years of coining some funny sayings. Back when our children were young, he used to have his kids, thus ours as well, say roaches when having their picture made. It never failed to elicit a smile.

While on the subject of our boys, my heart melts whenever this photo pops up, as it did recently. 

When I look in the mirror, or try to get up off of the floor for that matter, I have to remind myself that I was once young and vibrant because I sure don't look it or feel it sometimes. Never one to sink into a pity party, I then remind myself that two of my sisters will never have the opportunities that I have for fun again. And boy did we have fun on our trip to Apalachicola or Apalach as the locals call it. Or so we learned.

Soon you will be seeing what we saw. Until we meet again...I remain,

your friend,

Gail

p.s. Here is a link to last year's post at this time.  Sadly the war continues and the dove pin remains fastened to my clothing. Not helping though.