Spring Birds and Blooms
It was the first of week of April when we began seeing this year’s first Spring peeks of tree buds and blooms.
Today it’s as if Mother Nature snapped her fingers *click* and the trees are all leafed up!
During the last three weeks, I tried to capture some nice compositions of birds surrounded by the tree buds or blooms in my backyard.
Here’s the photos I liked the most. They are in date order to see the changes of the trees as well.
Blue Jay
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
White-throated Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Tufted Titmouse
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (arrived two weeks ago, staying until fall)
Carolina Chickadee
White-eyed Vireo (arrived three days ago, staying until fall)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Now the challenges of all those leaves that are getting bigger and bigger by the day, hiding the birds! 😉
Leave Nothing But Footprints – #6 Lazy H Campground
This is my contribution for Heaven’s Sunshine’s weekly challenge, “One Step At A Time”.
So come along and hike with me, one step at a time!
Lazy H Campground, Akron, Iowa
Over a mile of intertwining forest trails
Back in 2021 when we were crisscrossing the United States in our RV, we pulled into Lazy H Campground to rest up for a couple days after driving two long days.
The next morning, their trails were calling! So off we went to refresh our legs and explore the forest trails behind the campground.
A beautiful invite to hike!
My husband suddenly stopped me and told me not to move. Off in the distance, he saw what was possibly a mountain lion or bobcat resting atop a downed tree! I then saw it too.
My husband had me back up behind him, and we slowly went back around the bend and then hightailed it back to the campground. We soon saw a campground worker and went directly to him to alert and report what we saw!
He started laughing, telling us there were all kinds of surprises in the woods. He assured we were safe, there definitely were not any lions or bobcats in the area.
And then he enlightened us about one of the campground’s “family fun” was to take a hike through their ‘walking safari’, where they have placed life-size ‘wildlife’ throughout the woods, on the ground, eye level and up in the trees, as if they were in their natural habitat. He guessed the front desk at check-in forgot to mention the wildlife safari. They had forgot.
Yep, we were bumbling east coast fools! 😂
Laughing (and embarrassed!), we turned back around and went back on the trail, and this time I took photos of what we saw of that wild cat.
It sure did look real from a lot further back with the naked eye! 🤣
Life-size, stuffed toy tiger
Spread out and far apart, some “animals” were easy to spot and some were not. When you hadn’t seen one for a bit, it was then you knew you really had to look to find it.
But real wildlife was also around, and I went back to concentrating on what was alive!
My four favorite ‘real’ wildlife shots from the beautiful, intertwining “safari” trails~~
White-tailed Deer (real!)
Red-headed Woodpecker (real!)
Yellow Warbler collecting nesting materials (real!)
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Take a hike, short or long, one step at a time.
Mother Nature promises to reward you.
And please remember~~
Leave nothing but footprints.
Kill nothing but time.
1-2-3 Medium Bird Jubilee – #28
More on the lines of handsome and beautiful for these common medium-sized birds in my backyard.
Gray Catbird
(popping out of hiding)
Cedar Waxwings
(drinking water around pump on our pool cover, ignoring my bird baths 😏)
Brown Thrasher
(a pair is nesting in the marsh thicket background of this photo)
Northern Mockingbird
(my backyard “mayors” hunting insects & keeping tabs on intruders; I think they like me 😉 )
Belted Kingfisher
(female ID’d by rust-colored belly band, fishing the marsh pond)
Comparing Bird Couples – #2
With some birds, it appears there’s almost no way of telling which is male and female by looks alone. Some may have just slight, maybe hardly noticeable differences. And for others, it’s quite obvious between the two sexes. The reasons for this are simple.
The male and female of a bird species that looks different (sexual dimorphism) is because of their mating, behavior, and survival pressures. The males develop bright plumage and songs to attract females and fight rivals, while females are drab for camouflage while nesting and brooding. These birds usually do not mate for life.
Bird species where both sexes look alike (monomorphism) often share high nesting duties with nest building, incubating eggs and protecting territory as well as hunting, making camouflage equally important for both sexes. They will also mate for life.
When birds sexes do look different, we often associate the bird with the male’s look and gorgeous coloring. Learning the females can be difficult sometimes as they look no way near like their mate. However, when they look alike, learning what is the slight difference that tells you it’s a female is the ID key.
Compare for yourself!
Northern Cardinals
(male left, female right)
Red-bellied Woodpeckers
(male has red on head/nape, female only on nape)
Northern Flickers, Yellow-shafted
(male has black ‘mustache’, female not)
Eastern Towhee, Red-eyed
(male on left, female on right)
House Finches
(male on left, female on right)
1-2-3 Cute As Can Be – #42
Birds come in all shapes and sizes, but the little ones surely do treat us to their cuteness! Some are coming, some are leaving, and it always entertaining to watch those that stay year-round.
Common Yellowthroat (male, welcome back!)
American Goldfinch (male, year-round resident)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (aka, Butter-Butt; leaving very soon)
Pine Warbler (welcome back!)
Swamp Sparrow (leaving very soon)
Carolina Wren (year-round resident, building a nest in a pot on my back porch)
Purple Finch (just recently left)
Savannah Sparrow (just recently left)
Leave Nothing But Footprints – #5 My Backyard Trails
This is my contribution for Heaven’s Sunshine’s weekly challenge, “One Step At A Time”.
So come along and hike with me, one step at a time!
Donna’s Backyard Trails, Bozman, Maryland~~
A peek at my ‘backyard trails’ that includes roaming my four neighbors’ vast properties. I am so thankful for their permissions!
This specific nature walk was last week when grandson, Jaxon (9 yo), visited us during Easter break. He loves nature walking and birding with me. This time he wanted to include “shed-hunting”, a first for me lol. Now he’s the teacher, telling me what to look for, and telling me we needed to sweep the farm fields too, not just the borders and woods. Okey dokey!
So let’s begin and follow one of my property deer trails….
that pop’s out to one of my neighbor’s farm field.
Jaxon is sure there’s a shed out there in the middle of that seven acres, so we walked and swept much of it. No sheds, but we enjoyed the sights and sounds of birds, wildlife footprints, and the several critter ‘dens’ we found dug.
We headed back to my little deer trail and continued our walk.
Below you can see the beginning of one of my “trails” that’s an almost mile-long private drive to my four neighbors’ vast waterfront properties.
At the bend above, to the left is the below marsh behind our property.
And to the right is the below tidal marsh pond that Jaxon and I love, love roaming around!
That yellow in the water is our Spring pollen that has been falling heavily and drifted in with the tides. Yuk.
Continuing on up the driveway, there are two more plats of farm fields, another marsh, many sections of woods and brush/thickets. Jaxon wanted to sweep the next farm field, so we did, again with no luck. We then followed a few deer trails in and out of the woods surrounding the second marsh. Birds were flitting about!
Jaxon in bird action!
Suddenly…..
What????!!!!!
Jaxon found a five-point shed!
(his 4th shed found to date)
We pretty much ended our walk there lol, Jaxon was too excited and wanted to go back and show Pop Pop and facetime Mom & Dad!
For this Grammy, this just became another top nature walk I’ll never forget. 😊
Since our walk also included birding, I’ll share a bird photo by each of us to round out this wonderful walk that recorded as 0.76 miles and 26 bird species total.
Tree Swallow
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Take a hike, short or long, one step at a time.
Mother Nature promises to reward you!
And please remember~~
Leave nothing but footprints.
Kill nothing but time.
Painted Bunting
I am excited to share this Painted Bunting, a rare sighting for us here in Maryland, and a lifer for me! 💃
A fellow bird club member had this male Painted Bunting show up at her feeder for breakfast and allowed me to watch and wait to see if it’d show again yesterday morning.
And it did! I was about 45 minutes into waiting while enjoying and photographing the numerous other birds flitting around.
I did crop heavily just to see this bird up close, so many colors!
Just stunning!
Once it left the feeder, it disappeared into this shaded bush I lightened up.
It’s normal range….
Painted Bunting’s Map Range (courtesy AllAboutBird.org)
(orange, breeding; yellow, migrating; blue – winter grounds; red – Maryland sighting)
With the vivid fusion of blue, green, yellow, and red, it’s as if this male Painted Bunting has flown straight out of a child’s coloring book!
💃 Yep, I am still dancing with this lifer! Thank you, Cristina & Lou for the opportunity, you made my weekend!
Five On The Wire – #21
Who have I found lately perched on a wire, exploring their views?
Tree Swallow
(they’re back!)
Eastern Phoebe
(they’re back!)
Broad-winged Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Leave Nothing But Footprints – #4 Rock Creek Vista Point Trail
This is my contribution for Heaven’s Sunshine’s weekly challenge, “One Step At A Time”.
So come along and hike with me, one step at a time!
Rock Creek Vista Point Trail, Beartooth Highway (US Rt 212), Montana
1/4 mile round trip
We are at 9,190 feet in elevation.
Rock Creek Vista
What a view!
Easily spotted along the trail were Golden-mantled ground squirrels climbing on the rocks. Piles of unshelled nuts and empty nut shells were scattered, obviously enticing these squirrels to make their home there.
9–12 inches long
7.4–11 ounces
They were indeed adorable and an added bonus in seeing the gorgeous vista!
Take a hike, short or long, one step at a time.
Mother Nature promises to reward you.
And please remember~~
Leave nothing but footprints.
Kill nothing but time.
Happy Easter
Osprey on Cross
Holy Family Mission
Everglades City, Florida
February 2021
Seen near Libby, Montana
July 2021
Wishing you a wonderful Easter celebration!
Bay Photos by Donna 