Serene Scenery Sunday

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cam.  This week, our pictures are for the birds.  I mean they are of birds.  Mostly.  Anyway, these are photos Mom took on a few different outings to Tuttle Creek State Park.  Ready to take a look?

Here's a little birdie with a snack!

White Breasted Nuthatch

We've had a lot of rain lately and there has been a good deal of flooding.  The water levels in the River Pond, Willow Lake, and the other little ponds where Mom usually sees all kinds of birds are higher than she's ever seen them.  Unfortunately, this means a lot of the water birds aren't around (that doesn't make sense to us, either -- something about food sources not as readily available or something like that).  One of the birds Mom has seen a couple times is this little Sandpiper:

Spotted Sandpiper

Mom usually sees them along the "rocky shoal" in the River Pond, but that is totally under water!  Fortunately, that guy discovered a log along Willow Lake where he could look for whatever it is that Sandpipers eat!

Since Mom has resorted to photographing little birds, she has seen a few she's never seen before!  Here is one:

Great Crested Flycatcher

Mom was mighty excited about seeing him - and being able to get a shot!  She was even more excited to finally get some shots of this gorgeous redhead:

Redheaded Woodpecker

We do have a love of redheads around here, you know!

There have been a lot of these birdies around:

Eastern Kingbird

There are a couple areas in the park where Mom can spot Indigo Buntings.  Unfortunately, they are in heavily shaded areas, so it's hard for her to get a decent shot.  She LOVES these birdies, though, so here's one of the better shots she got off:

Indigo Bunting

They are intensely BLUE!

Here's a birdie doing a levitation act:

Swainson's Thrush

Pretty tricky, isn't he?

While we're using the word "pretty", check out the iridescence of this guy's feathers:

Common Grackle

His name might be "Common" Grackle, but the way the sun was hitting him made him look rather extraordinary!

Here's one pond resident who didn't seem to mind all the recent rains:

Froggie!

Mom said she asked him how deep the water was and he said it was .... knee deep.  Get it?  Ha roo woo roo!

Moving right along ... here are more tiny birdies:

Eastern Phoebe

Remember the levitating Thrush we showed you?  Not to be outdone, here's a Bluebird trying his hand ... errr ... claw at it:

Eastern Bluebird, floating on air

There are bunches of Swallows swooping all over the ponds, catching bugs.  (GOOD BIRDIES!!!)  It's hard for Mom to get clear shots of them in flight, but she managed to find some who had actually perched!  Here is one of them:

Northern Rough-Winged Swallow

We heard yesterday was National Turtle Day or something, so here's a turtle!

Red-Eared Slider Turtle.  We think.

A birdie that likes to tease Mom by flying right in front of her, then hiding in the bushes and trees is the Oriole!  They like to go deep into the brush areas, making it tough for Mom to get decent photos. She was delighted when this guy held still:

Baltimore Oriole

And last, but not least, is one of the coolest things Mom has seen out at Tuttle lately:

Mama Opossum - with babies on board!

Isn't she a good mama, getting her babies to safety!?!? Go Mama, go!!! And her babies are SO CUTE! Oh! And in addition to eating snakes, rodents, and fruits, guess what else they eat? Bugs - to include TICKS! That's right - opossums apparently eat the kind of ticks that carry Lyme Disease!  How wonderful is that?!?  I think that's a cause we can all get behind!

That's a wrap for Serene Scenery Sunday - we hope you enjoyed your virtual trip to Tuttle Creek State Park!  Have a wonderful Sunday!

Cammie!