Of Hikes, Hawks and Port-a-lets! What?!

I've been busy getting out for my 2 mile daily hikes.  Last week, was 6 days in a row.  I took a break on Sunday because I was tired and it was raining.  I do hike when it rains, I just hike paved trails and take an umbrella, but Sunday I thought I deserved a break.

This week, so far, I've hiked two days in a row.  Getting out really makes me feel good!

I'm almost finished "counting birds" for the season for Cornell Lab of Ornithology.   Next Sunday and Monday will be my last two days of counting until November 2017.  Since I didn't walk this past Sunday, I spent a lot of extra time watching the birds.  I counted up to 22 different species.  For the first time I saw a Chipping Sparrow...two in fact.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures.

I saw this big guy swoop through though.  He landed on a tree at the back of our property.  I wish I could have gotten clearer pictures, but are happy with these.

Our street (which is about a mile long) has been under road construction for at least 3 months.  They are replacing sewers, new curbs and eventually repaving.  The street looks like a war zone with pot holes, cones, metal plates, heavy duty machinery.  Many driveways have been torn up...I think ours will be one very soon.

We are trying to figure out how soon they will hit our driveway and we won't be able to get in or out.  I'm sure they will give us a little warning...let's hope so any way.  Our son is coming up from Florida on April 11th and he wants to drive his large SUV (we call it "The Tank") back to Florida.  So, today we moved The Tank over to our other vacant property in Mt Healthy, just in case we're trapped when he arrives.  Hopefully, it will be safe over there until he comes.

Here is the view from our house of the construction.  Love the port-a-let on the corner.  Yikes!!  It's getting closer!

Hiking for Health, Fun and Wildlife!

I've been really pushing myself to get out as often as I can to walk with Finn.  I'm seriously starting to watch what I eat, and how much.  I've also given up wine!!!  Arg!!  I'm trying to watch my sodium and fat content.  Last week, I wanted to donate blood at church and they wouldn't allow me to donate...my blood pressure was too high.  I used to take meds for blood pressure years ago, but then I lost about 49 pounds and everything went back to normal.  Well, I've put most of that weight back on...stupid me.  I have a checkup appointment next month, so I'm seeing what I can do in the meantime to get that blood pressure and weight down.  I feel like I've lost some weight in just a short week, but I have lots to go yet.

One night while driving home from church, we decided to take the scenic route through Winton Woods.  It was dusk, so I was on the lookout for deer.  There is a little side road that is rarely traveled so we drove through there, and were not disappointed.

Can you see these two cuties?  If not, look for their black noses.

 We turned around at the dead end, and coming back out, one of the deer came out to say "Hi".  Since it was dusk, the pictures are a little dark.

Today, Finn and I got out for another hike.  The following picture, is of a high water gauge down by Winton Lake.  I must have passed this hundreds of times, but this is the first I've noticed it.  Looks like it's been here for a while.  The measurements go up pretty high.  The lake is muddy and a bit high.

When we finished our hike, I decided to drive back on that same little side road that we drove on the night before.  This time I spotted this big guy...I'm pretty sure it's a red tailed hawk.  I only had the camera on my phone and he was pretty high up in the tree, so the focus isn't that great.  By the markings on his chest, I'm sure its a red tailed hawk.

I think this picture is kind of cool...even though it's far away.  See the hawk sitting out on the limb?

Here is a cropped picture.  A little fuzzy.  I guess he wasn't hungry.  He doesn't seem interested in the bird sitting close by.

Another picture of the same hawk.

Ice, Ice...Baby!

We've had a pretty mild winter here this year and it's been nice.  Earlier this week, however, we finally got hit with winter.  It was very cold and I didn't feel like bundling up and hiking.  I would have also had to put Finn in his sweater, and I guess I just got lazy.

We finally got out again today and did our favorite trail, Kingfisher Trail at Winton Woods.

Looking over the side of a bridge that spans over a small creek, I found these pretty little icy crystals that formed on the water.

A picture of a small trickle of water melting on the right side of this little stream.  The left side was still frozen.

This view is from the top of the trail.  During the winter when there aren't any leaves on the trees it's nice to see the two little streams coming together.

Two pictures of my latest project that is almost finished.  This is a reversible baby afghan.  It was supposed to be for my great nephew who is due any day now.  His name will be James Michael.  However, they decided to have the baby shower earlier than I anticipated, so I didn't have it done in time.  Luckily, I had a nice baby afghan already finished and my niece was very happy with it.  So, this will go to the next little baby boy who comes our way.  The colors may not show up true on these photos, they are lime green and denim blue.

A Nice Day for a Hike

I just can't seem to get out very often and hike or walk lately.  I get a couple of good ones in, and then I get side tracked.  Either I have the time and the weather is awful, so I don't hike.  Or the weather is beautiful but I have other commitments and don't have the time.

Today, everything worked out fine for me and Finn.  It rained pretty much over the last several days, so I knew my normal hiking nature trail would be too muddy.  I can handle the mud OK, as long as it isn't too slippery.  However, Finn's belly seems to pick up a lot of muddy gunk when it's muddy.

Today, we hiked the West Trail, which is a paved trail.  We hike from the parking lot to the Winton Rd bridge and then turn around and walk back to the parking lot.  So, we hiked about 1.8 miles.  Not real long, but long enough since I haven't been out for a while.

Over the winter whenever we hike this trail, we always pass two Canadian Geese near the ranger's station.  Of course, I always say "Hi" to them as we pass but give them plenty of room.  Today, we passed them on the other side of the path down closer to the Winton Lake Tributary.

I thought this was a pretty neat little picture.  The water closer to the fence, is a small pond.  Behind it is the Winton Lake Tributary. 

Finally, two more Canadian Geese in the Winton Lake, near the Winton Road Bridge.  I like the two colors of the water.  The blue color is due to being in the shadow of the bridge.

Looking forward to seeing some green buds soon.  We also passed a spot where the Great Blue Herons roost in March/April.  We checked out the rookery, but didn't see any activity yet.  We saw two hawks flying overhead, but couldn't get a picture of them.  All in all it was a nice hike.

Springlike Hike

The weather here in February has been unusually mild.  Temperatures have been in the 50s and 60s.  So Finn and I have been hitting the trails more than usual at this time of year.

Most of the vegetation is still brown with trees still leafless.  So, there weren't too many opportunities to take pictures. 

My son Eric and I were discussing this old foundation that has been on the side of the trail for many years.  We think it may have been an old spring house.  Back in the 70s and 80s when we hiked these trails with our kids, the parks used to provide trail pamphlets that explained the different things along the trails.  Eric ran into one of the park naturalists the next day who said she didn't realize the foundation was there.  She asked Eric to take a picture and send it to her along with the location.  Imagine that!  Us telling the naturalist where things are in the park.  I thought that was funny.

This little fungi is usually white.  I just thought the green (though actually kind of gross) perks it up a little.

Looking over one of the bridges, I spotted these cute little "hands" imprinted in the mud.  There are plenty of raccoons in this park.

Today, Finn and I spotted our first duck of the season in the Kingfisher stream.  It was great seeing Mr. Mallard!  Spring isn't too far away for sure!

A longer look of the Kingfisher stream.  You can see part of the other trail on the opposite side of the stream.

Meet Some of My Friends

I love taking pictures of the birds I see, but some are more challenging to get a good picture.  They are usually small, and quick moving birds.  They never sit still, and dart away quickly.

My favorite little bird is the Carolina Wren, and I always try to get it's picture and share every time.

When I started counting birds 6 years ago, I rarely saw a Hairy Woodpecker.  A Hairy looks just like a Downy Woodpecker, only larger.  After 6 years of counting, I finally see a Hairy or two almost every week.  Here is a male Hairy.

Always have to take a picture of the brilliant male Northern Cardinal.

When it's cold and/or snowy, I usually have a Northern Yellow Shafted Flicker stop by, this is a female.

This is one of the hardest birds for me to get a picture of...the Tufted Titmouse.  I wish this would be a profile picture, because it would be easier to see him at his best.  I'll keep trying to get a better picture.  I do like his eyes!

 I have quite a few Red Bellied Woodpeckers coming around too.  This is a female.

The last few pictures are of a White Breasted Nuthatch.  He too, is constantly on the move.  I have a ton of blurry pictures of this guy...here are a few of my best.

Birds of a Feather...

I haven't been hiking lately, either because the weather was nasty and/or I was just too lazy and not motivated enough to get up and get going!  However, I have been doing some decluttering of the house, so that's one good excuse...but it's the ONLY good one I have.

I did go hiking yesterday and the day before yesterday.  I went without Finn because I just didn't want to have to try and catch him first.  He likes to hike, but for some reason, he makes me run around the house after him to get him ready.  Then I have to get his seat ready in the car.  My car is fairly new, so Finn sits on an old blanket along with his seatbelt.  He also wears a harness and sometimes a sweater.  Then I have to make sure I have his Kroger "poop" bag in my pocket.  I just didn't feel like dealing with all that, so I went alone.

I find myself walking faster now that I have a new knee and without having to stop and pick up poop, or wait for Finn to sniff everything, I can cover pretty much ground in almost an hour of walking.  Today was really, really cold, and I had laundry to do, so I skipped hiking.

This past Sunday and Monday, I did my bird counts and took lots of bird pictures.  I will have to split them up into at least two, maybe three entries.  When I count birds, I can only count the most I see at one time.  I know there are a lot of birds that come to the feeder, but how many times do I see the same individual bird?  This past Sunday I saw 25 cardinals all at once.  I managed to get 3 pictures, before they all flew off.  There were also many cardinals in the tree that I didn't a picture quickly enough.

Here are 5 Cardinals sitting under one of the feeders.

Here are 5 more Cardinals under one of the pole systems I have.  Those two gray birds are Dark Eyed Juncos.

Six more Cardinals and more Dark Eyed Juncos

Though I like to take pictures of individual birds because I like to  look at them closely, I've been trying to take some pictures of groups of birds, to show how many different kinds come to my feeders.

This next pictures includes, cardinals, mourning dove, house sparrows, two female brown headed cowbirds (they are the larger gray birds).  The male cowbirds actually have brown heads.  Herb always teases me saying he just saw some elephant birds....bad joke.