Out and About

Our household now consists of Mark, myself, our 16-year-old dog Maggie, and a 7-month-old puppy, Zoey. Yes, a grandma and a baby...well, more like a teenager now. Walks with Maggie have been reduced to saunters at best, but with Zoey, I find myself out and about a lot more, ranging far and wide. And on these trips I am mostly remembering to bring my binoculars and do some bird-watching at the same time (as much as you can do with a noisy puppy along). I've been pretty lucky lately; here are a few of my recent sightings.

From a walk by West Bay:

House sparrow

Unknown! ID needed.

The unmistakable red-winged blackbird

Handsome fellow

Caught mid-song!

Mrs. Red-Winged Blackbird

Only saw him through the leaves, but here he is: the rose breasted grosbreak!

From a walk behind Building 50 (the old state hospital grounds), one of my very favorite places to go:

Indigo bunting!!

Song sparrow

So sweet!

Another view of the bunting

A walk at Center Road Natural Area, just a mile and a half from our house...

Pileated woodpecker

We were very close, but Zoey didn't see him at first.

Oh, now she sees him!

We went to investigate what he had been eating. Maggie, too (she's at the top of the photo).

Later, in the meadow, we observed some crows pestering a red-tailed hawk.

Finally, back at home, we had some excitement, too:

The common grackle has found our feeder. I think it's uncommonly iridescently beautiful!

Sighted yesterday about four houses up on our street. Wow!

Northern flying squirrel at the suet feeder! What the heck?

Not a bird, but does "fly."

Porcupine spotted out for a midnight walk by Rite-Aid Pharmacy.
We were driving home and Mark's excellent eye picked him out along the road.

Maggie was actually along for many of these excursions. Come to think of it, bird watching and sauntering go quite well together.