End of 2015......

I know it has been a long time since I did an update...some of you know why and others might not...so to end the year 2015...I will bring you up to date on the year......

I have been having problems with my left hip for a while now...I went through the therapy, the injections (which helped for a while) and finally I got a hip replacement on Sept 28.  So I have not been out and about except for a few car rides.....This is what my hip looks like today!

I have this new equipment which took away all the pain I was having and plus the pain pills too!   It has been a slow process and each day is better than the last...during recovery I had the stomach virus and vertigo....but finally got to get rid of my cane and venture out!

Today is December 22, beginning of winter, and it is over 50 outside...I went for my first long walk to the park....wearing only jeans and a sweat shirt...felt just like spring!!!!

The first thing I see on my walk....

 Dandelions!!! Blooming in winter!
















Robins singing in the trees....thinking it is spring......

 And a Starling or two .......

Then my first view of the park...I can't remember the last time I walked down to the park...

I just stood and enjoyed the beauty of the Park for a while.....












 I am going to let you just look at the pictures and enjoy.......

Under a bush was some ducks still sleeping.....

Mallard Ducks

                                                               Park Squirrel

                           My favorite tree....

                                         Geese came running thinking there was food....

    The single Swan...This man comes down and feeds the swans everyday...they know him and they came on the  double to see him...He can even touch the Swan.....

Here comes the family Swans........Mother

            .....Father

.......Baby.....

I spotted this lone Common Merganser swimming and diving in the lake.....

The beauty of the trees in the park caught my eye.......

All too  soon it was time for me to head home...didn't want to over due it on my first long outing.....

Saw Cardinals in the trees on the way home.....

                             Then I saw this Forsythia Bush blooming.......wow

                           

                                    Iris coming up......

                                           This flower blooming.......

Home again and my barrel of Snapdragons are really growing and have buds....

                                     My Chrysanthemum is greening up......

So I have brought you up to date on my year....I hope 2016 is better and I think it will be.....

Wishing all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!!!
Love you all, Terry

Wild life found in Yoctangee Park!

It has been a while since I have posted and I am sorry....the weather just hasn't been the best around this area and finally we are getting Spring!  I am participating in a program at the North Side library in Chillicothe, Oh on April 22nd.  It is on bird watching....Hopewell Ranger Bruce will be there and I am just for support.....so I thought I would do this blog on the city park, Yoctangee, and all the wonderful wildlife and others sights that I have seen.  It is a great place for beginner birders.

We have a jewel right in the middle of Chillicothe, our park.  It use to be the route the Scioto River took but it was rerouted many years ago to help with flooding.  The park was formed.  It has a great history but I am going to just show pictures of the different birds, ducks and all that I have seen over the years.

We were given a pair of Muted Swans a few years ago and it has been such fun watching them.

This is the Female and male ( he has the bigger black knob on his head near his beak)

This shows 5 Muted Swans in the park this winter.

This is a picture of her eggs....

It is such fun to watch the Swans train their young.

Papa Swan is very protective of his family and will keep other ducks away from where they are.

I felt so sorry for the one Cygnet that survived this year.  His/her parents started fixing up the nest and left him on his own.   He was probably thrilled!

In the winter, the park gets a variety of wild ducks that visit.  It is so exciting to stop and see what ducks are there.   I don't even have to get out of the car, with binoculars, I can see every duck almost.

Here are a few:

A breeding male Bufflehead.












Below are two female Bufflehead.

This picture shows a Redhead and a Canvasback.  The Canvasback in the one with a whiter body and in the front.

Here The Canvasback in behind the male and female Redhead.

This handsome duck is a Hooded Merganser, in breeding display.


Here he is with his crest down......with the female.......









Here his crest is down and with the female.

For several years we have had an American Coot living in the park.  He has the most unusual legs and feet...

A Double-crested Cormorant has visited the park.  This is a juvenile, because he is brown and his beak isn't as orange as it will be when he turns black as an adult.









         
                                I love to see them sunning themselves.

A frequent visitor to the park is the Great Blue Heron.  He can be there any season.

 Here he is in winter...there are 3 Heron rookeries around the city. They can only be seen before the leaves come out on the trees.  (one near Paint Creek also)

The Green Heron also visits the park often.....They make a loud sound that isn't pleasant.

They are so pretty....

Female Lesser Scaup.......

Male Lesser Scaup.......

Pied--billed Grebe....cute little ducks...this one
is fishing and caught a big one....

                               These are Red-breasted Merganser...1st year...

 These next ducks were probably dumped in the park.  They are Indian Runner Ducks. They are a domestic duck.  They were so neat to watch....there was 5 of them...one had babies....

Notice how tall and straight they stand.....They have since disappeared from the park.. I miss them.

Sorry for the quality of this picture...but these are Northern Shoveler ducks..that I saw once in the park in winter....I find them a neat duck...

This is what they look like (taken at another place) I wanted you to see how beautiful they are and they have a very long, spatulate bill....

 The beautiful Wood Duck.....

 They nest in trees....and it is amazing to see the babies jump to the ground after being born....

Then there are the Canada Geese...they are everywhere but it is wonderful to see them fly and land on the park lake....I found this one tagged and on the internet you can report it...I did a blog a few months ago about her....Later found out that I know the people that did the tagging of this one.

Then last but not least of the wild ducks is the Mallards.....

They are pretty...close up of their feathers....

They are very nice to photograph.....

This female made her nest just under where the Swan's nest last year.....

They usually have lots of babies...so cute!

 But the male Mallard likes everybody...he will mate with any duck....so our park has a variety of Mallard mix......

These are all mixed ducks..part domestic, part Mallard and part others....but they are beautiful too.

Love the color on this one....

There are very mean people in the world and you might see some horrid things, like this poor duck that someone shot with that arrow...yes in our park.
I don't know what happened to him...I know people tried to catch him...but I don't know for sure if they ever did....

The black duck is a Black Cayuga Duck ..a domestic duck...












Just love this picture of them resting.....

I have also enjoyed watching these 3 geese with pink legs....They are a mix but I call them the triplets and they have been in the park a few years.

 Sometimes just watching a duck stretch out his wings...Redhead

This cute couple are also a mix....but they are so sweet.

There are also birds in the park too....

Song Sparrow

House Finch













Common Grackle

Northern Flicker

Mourning Dove










Black faced Vulture

White-breasted Nuthatch

Crows

 Plus I have seen Belted Kingfisher, Chickadees, Starling, Robins, Downey Woodpeckers.....
and I can't forget the Squirrels....

Lots of Squirrels, playing and running around.  They are fun to watch and sometimes they watch you....

I saw this Groundhog one day....

Several kinds of Turtles....

See this unusual turtle just in front of the Coot.
I have even seen tiny baby turtles in the spring.









                             Do you see him?

Our park offers so much for us who live here....I visit it often because I never know what I might see...So this would be a perfect spot for someone to start bird watching....the first place would be your back yard...put up a few feeders and it is amazing what will come...but that is for another time.....

This is one of my favorite park pictures....the duck in the Daffodils !!!!

So until my next update of my blog....enjoy the Spring and enjoy the Park .....I know I will....