Tall Tales from Kansas

a great blue heron posing

Taking a few days off after vacation is really important for me, time to re-acclimate and prepare myself to "re-enter" the work arena. It's also necessary to check on all my "spots" to be sure all is right with the world. To that end, I headed out to assess the condition of the lotuses before going back to work this week.

There was a snowy egret along my route. Which is always nice when I have the Nikon with me. 

I am pleased to announce the lotuses continue to bloom. 

In addition, there were lots of spider webs, wild flowers blooming, and a great blue heron posing for me. 

All in all a most enjoyable trip.

one of the regular customers at the wetlands

Right now in my part of the country we are supposed to be experiencing a peak bird migration, moving from south to north, heading to where they hang out at this time of year?

What I actually know about birds and their migration patterns is not enough to fill a thimble. Nonetheless, understanding that they migrate overnight, I got up early this morning to see if there were any late sleepers who missed the migration bus and where hanging out at the wetlands for a few days.





All my usual friends were there, hanging out, doing their springtime things, but I did not see anything different in terms of species or numbers.



Which should not be construed to mean that I did not have a wonderful time. Because I certainly did. 







And right near the very end of my walk, I glanced up and spotted someone coming in for a landing.





Wings spread wide, legs stretched behind.





A great blue heron, one of the regular customers at the wetlands. No matter how many times I see them I will always and forever be enchanted by their grace. When I retire maybe I will try to find a group of birders to join. A quiet thoughtful group, who will share their local knowledge with me, but not do too much talking. I like it when the only chattering on a morning walk is from my feathered friends. 

a lot of thinking and talking

Baby robin #2 took a full 38.5 hours longer than baby robin #1 to leave the nest.

There was much thinking and talking, followed by hemming and hawing, in addition to lots of ongoing feeding, nudging, and encouraging by mom, before the standing and flying off happened. In the dead of night by the way, and much to my great relief. I was starting to wonder if there was something wrong. 

Having a robin nursery on your front porch, is not for the faint of heart. Or the worry prone. Hopefully we are done for the summer. The area under that wreath needs a good scrubbing. I alerted Chris to this since I have to work tomorrow. Also because deep cleaning really falls more in his realm of expertise than mine.