Back to Badlands!

After a long winter of not being able to get to my favorite trail, Badlands Trail in Miami Whitewater, we finally made it out there this past Saturday. 

I tried one Sunday during the winter driving the 30 minutes on the highway (I hate wasting gas), only to find they had closed the roads in the park due to a dusting of snow!  The roads there are quite hilly and they don't treat them with salt, so I ended up wasting the gas and time only to drive back home and hike on the trail very near our house.  So, it was great getting back to Badlands.  It's much more of a workout than my usual trail and goes much deeper in the woods away from homes and neighborhoods.

Here are a few shots of a bird I've never seen before, it's an Eastern Towhee.  A strikingly marked, over sized sparrow of the East, feathered in bold black and warm reddish browns - if you can get a clear look at it.  Eastern Towhees are birds of the undergrowth, where their rummaging makes far more noise than you would expect for their size.  Many of your sightings end up being mere glimpses through tangles of little stems.

We found our Towhee rummaging through the leaves near a log. 

 

 

 This next picture is of a White bellied nuthatch.  They do visit our backyard feeds occasionally, but they are usually so quick I can never get their picture.  This shot is a little fuzzy but I knew if I got any closer, he would just dart away.