Exploring with my Sister!

Saturday, March 9, 2013, was a beautiful, sunny, warm day.  A sure taste of Spring!  So you guessed it! My sister picked me up and off we went to explore the out of doors.  First I took her to see the Eagle's nest on 180 that my GF (girl friend) and I had found the day before...got a little better picture (this eye problem really doesn't make good photos!)

She is in full view in this one and can tell this is a fairly new nest.....from here we went over to Orr Rd. to check out that nest!

This one is over 4 or 5 years old aleast...you can see the difference in size of the other nest....

The next stop on our drive was Charlie's Pond.  We hadn't been there in a while.  It was pretty quite.  Didn't see much until we saw this huge bird soaring overhead.....an Eagle!  We have never seen an Eagle at Charlie's Pond before.  We lost sight of him and drove down the end of the road and turned around and coming back.......OH MY GOODNESS!!!  What is that in the field!?

There sat the Eagle, just looking around like he was enjoying the day like we were.  We stopped and watched and I tried to take pictures....and got very lucky and got this one......

I just love looking at this picture...the lenght of his leggs, the wings....just beautiful.  We were so excited that we didn't mind that there weren't any other birds to be seen.  Our day had been made!

We then decided to go over to Canal Rd. (another one of our favorite places to just drive by).

The Scioto River is full and you can feel the power it has....

Above picture is looking south from the Canal dam.   The one below  is looking north....

You can walk a path from there down to the area where the falls and pond are.  We keep saying one day we are going to do it....One day for sure!

We have seen a wild Turkey and her babies in this area and of course frogs, snakes, birds, dragonflies...but today very quiet.  We could hear birds singing in the distance but didn't see them.

The falls finally have a little bit of water coming over....the end of last summer this was dry...(check my earlier blogs Aug. 2012)  There is the path you can walk over in the trees on the top part of the water.  We have walked a little ways on this end.  Seen Herons, Kinglets, warblers, mink, Red-headed woodpeckers, Belted Kingfisher, Baltimore Orioles, turtles, muskrats, just to name a few....So if you are driving around...try Canal Rd. between 104 and 22 south of Circleville.  The scenery is pretty and one never knows what one will see.

So we were getting hungry and decided to eat at the Deer Creek Lodge and off we went.

We both had the Waterloo Salad (think that is right name) delicious!  But the lake was very quite also!  Just a little group on the side very far away...this isn't a very good picture but they could only be seen with binoculars.

Canadian Geese and Herons and some ducks that can't ID....After lunch we hit our favorite places at Deer Creek 

Just Crows!   

Went over to the area where we took my Granddaughter to walk in the creek last summer when it was almost dry and it was very full.

We were enjoying our drive and on the way home we stopped at Paint Creek (it is a little out of the way).  The first thing we saw when getting there was an Eagle soaring overhead!  We couldn't believe it.  

Then one of the sad parts of life.  This beautiful Coyote laying beside the road in the sun like he was taking a nap....but he wasn't....

He was so peaceful looking....

On our way understanding that things like this happen and that we got to enjoy his beauty up close.

This is one of my favorite barns to photograph.  I have taken pictures in all seasons...Today we stopped for a closer look......

My Sister going up the hill to the house which is just about ready to collasp completely. 

We noticed the patches of Dafodiles....still growing in the spring even though this house is dying a little each spring.

The tree is huge...my Sister thought maybe it is an Oak...

Bet they bloom before next week....

This is the other side of the Barn that one doesn't get to see.  Would love to know the history of this old homestead.

View of the Dam from the beach side of Paint Creek.

The only things we saw here were Gulls.....

and Crows, lots of Crows.....then one of the last little pull outs we like we saw this tiny, little bird!

What is that?  Oh My!  My sister yells "A Yellow-Butt!"  I laughed....she said, see the yellow spot!

Then I remembered!  It is a "Yellow-rumped" .  

Of course, the lighting and the fast movements of this cute little fellow prevented me from getting any picture that would do it justice.  Sorry...It is our first Warbler of the year!  A good sighting.

Over on the Dam were these Black-faced Vultures, sitting enjoying the sun.

Even at the bird feeders they have at the Ranger office...there weren't many birds...

Then 3 big Crows flew in and scared all the little birds away.

But we did see several Red-winged Blackbirds, which is a sure sign that spring is just around the corner!

They were letting water out of the dam.....

We decided to check out the Heron Rookery on Rapid Forge Rd. and we saw several Blue Birds there and the Herons were in their nest!   Such a beautiful sight!

Here are a few good ones I was able to take.  It is amazing to me how they can all get in those tiny nests....maybe if I was closer, the nests would look bigger.  They are so graceful.

Well, we were tired and ready to head home (and the sun was going down)....

                                .....To dream of another day and another adventure.....

Lunch with Connie Jo

I found myself sitting in a doctor's office Friday morning, a bit depressed over things that were happening when I got a message from my girlfriend, Connie Jo!  She was inviting me to go to lunch and maybe do some birding with her.  That lifted my spirits and told her "Yes"....She picked me up and we headed to Laurelville for lunch at the Ridge Inn Restaurant.  Was a new place for me and Connie surprised me with dessert first!  They make these really large and delicious doughnuts there.  After lunch we headed to Hocking Hills.  Was a nice drive and no birds.....I suggested Lake Logan.  My sister and I had been there years ago and saw our first Kingfisher, among other things.  We finally got there and the first thing we see is the Swans.

They came over to see if we were going to feed them and when we didn't they proceeded to take baths.  Was fun watching how they roll around in the water to get water on their backs.  There were other wonderful things to see after we sat there and looked around...

We watched this Blue Heron walk out into the middle of the water.  

There were a couple of Hooded Merganser.

I think they are so pretty.  They were just lazin' around to.  There was also another couple of ducks, which I am not too sure what their name is....

 I have on good authority that this duck is a Gadwall.
Which is a new one for me.

Then Connie saw this bird fly by and land in the tree across the little pond area...

We hunted the trees until we found him....

There he was in the tree to the left of the power tower.

It was a  Belted Kingfisher!  He was beautiful and while we were watching him, he dove into the water and came back up....

and landed....

It looks like he caught something and he sat there until he had swallowed it and flew back into the tree.  We were so thrilled to have witness him getting his food.  Well this even excited the Heron, who immediately turned around and walked over to where he was.

We drove down to the end to turn around when something caught my eye.....It was the female Belted Kingfisher.....

She is prettier than the male...She has this red belt that the male doesn't have.  We watched her for a while and she flew off...

This small area had a lot of wild life.  It is the opposite end of the lake away from the dam.  A small road with water on both sides..in the picture below the lake is in the background...

After taking this....something else fly by....We are scanning the trees with our binoculars and finally found him.....

A big Hawk...He blended in that it was hard finding him...but he found us...looks like he was watching us....LOL....  I just found out that this is a young Red-shouldered Hawk. (Thanks Kyle)

Then Connie asked me if I had noticed that white thing sticking up in the water?  Well it looked like a morning glory...which didn't make much sense...so I took pictures...to view it on my computer later to see what it was.......well.....

It is one of those mysteries of nature.  Yes! Connie and I had stumbled upon......the strange and wonderful.............

Yes, a Stick in the mud faking out people like us!!!!!  LOL....  This was better than the plastic bag tree bird!  LOL

Just before we turned out to head home...we saw these cute turtles sunning themselves....

Who said tires couldn't have a second life!!!!!

We really enjoyed our visit and saw all of this from the car.  Life is good!

Well on our way home, we took the wrong rode and while we were looking for a place to turn around we saw this Red-tailed Hawk in the field....

She was having lunch.    We drove on and found a place to turn around in and headed back and in the same field....

A Turkey Vulture!  This was my first one of the spring season....This Vulture must have been cleaning up after the Hawk's meal.....

We also saw  lots of Crows ....but when you stop they fly away.....up into the trees....

We had such a great day.  My depressed mood was gone.  We are talking and all of a sudden I see this huge nest in a tree!

Do you see it there?  I knew something that big had to be an Eagle nest....we turned around...

came back and stopped....

 There sat the  Eagle  ..I think this is her back end.  I think this is a new nest.  It isn't as big as others I have seen.  It still was thrilling to find.

 A great way to end our birding outing.  Connie Jo and I were both in great spirits when we returned home.  We look forward to many more adventures..... (hopefully I can share with you, my readers)

Till the next adventure!!!!!! ;)