Herons of Pickerington Ponds

My sister and I stopped at Pickerington Ponds to see what was there.  We had never been there so we wanted a new experience.  With Susie (my GPS) guiding the way, we finally found it....the first thing we saw was this........

A Heron Rookery!  Of course I pull off the road to get pictures.

              

It was amazing to see them in the nest with their babies, not allot of room!

This is another view of the Rookery.  There were ducks and a Belted Kingfisher.

He is on the tree limb to the right.  I know this picture isn't that great but there seems to be a bird or duck on the branch below the Kingfisher.
We also saw American Goldfinch.  They were in this flower section.

They were flying around everywhere...one minute you saw them then they were hidden in the flowers.

At the lookout at the Glacier Knoll Picnic area, my Sister spotted an Osprey.

He was way in the distance, but he was watching everything going on from his perch.

We hope to return one day and spend more time, it is a big place.

Friday Drive in June!

My sister and I just took off for a quick drive to Deer Creek to see how the Osprey were doing. We arrived and found them on the nest.  The happy couple have twins!  They both look very strong.  They were hot and hopefully they will survive the heat.

When we got there both parents were on the nest too.  I was a little excited and those pictures of the family group, well they were a bit blurry. She knew we were there and kept making this chirping sound and then a boat of fisherman came up and past right under the nest and she took off!

 She made a circle and came back in for a landing. I was thrilled to get pictures of this.

So we decided to leave her and her babies, and drive around the lake. In this one tree we saw a couple of  Eastern Kingbirds.

Then we saw this bird flying out across the water and back into this dead tree.  Oh My!! It was a Red-headed Woodpecker!

He was beautiful. He let us watch him for quite a while.  We figured he was catching bugs. Was a fun sight to watch.  We were feeling pretty great after these two birds......

 A butterfly group by the water. Lots of  Pearl Crescent, above and a couple of American Snout, left, and the bottom is a Common Buckeye.  They were hot too. Made a very colorful sight.

So back into the car and on to our next pull off sight.......

This cute chipmunk stopped climbing the tree the moment he saw us and we saw him.  He sat there and let me take pictures.

Now we are excited and ready for our next stop!!!

 This Belted Kingfisher was way in the distance but we could still see him and they are so pretty.

The Indigo Bunting is breathtaking! He was singing to us (well we like to think that! LOL)
So we were really having a great drive.  We had also seen some Herons, Grackles, Robins, a Great Crested Flycatcher, Tree Swallows, Purple Martins and an other bird I haven't ID yet.  We had seen an amazing amount of birds but a few turtles too....so off to the Dairy Queen for ice cream and drive down Canal Rd on the way home.......We didn't think the day could get any better....

We heard him before he flew down and landed, this beautiful Belted Kingfisher and then when he flew on down the Canal...here comes another one!  So we thought maybe a fledgling because they were both males.

But wait...there is more to this story.....
We pulled off the road by the falls (dry right now) and the pond and decided to walk the path for a while......it wasn't long when this flew right past us....

 Two Red-headed Woodpeckers!  As we were walking down the path, they kept flying back and forth from tree to tree.  We just couldn't believe our luck.  We had only seen one, once about 4 or 5 years ago. Today we had seen 3 and 3 Belted Kingfishers....a very great day for bird watching for us....

After they flew away we headed back to the car and drove on home and decided to stop at Hopewell (Mound City) and see what was there. We didn't see much as it was getting to sundown but on the way back to our car....

This handsome Blue Bird bid us good night!  His spouse was sitting on the branch above him but she blended into the tree to much for me to get a picture of her.  It had been an exciting day.

Yard Work and Planting!

Finally it is time to clean up the yard.  I didn't do anything to it last year as I was a bit under the weather all summer and couldn't.  What a jungle it had become!

This is how it looked in April when all the purple spring flowers were blooming.  I had to go in there and pull them all out!   Has taken about a week just to clear this area.  I put on an audio book, Stephen King's 11/22/63, a nice long book.  So out I went and battled the "jungle" that once was my garden.....

Today it looks like this....I still have to finish mulching and planting some pretty annuals...but I am on my way!

The only color seen right now is the lilies that were hidden....they survived!!!!

Here is a view of the small pond....it was almost out of sight......

Yes, that is the small pond and you can see the ugly black cover on the pool.  So depressing...

This is the small pond now!!!!

I couldn't finish the mulching because I took a day of rest today!!!!!
One more before and after for you to really see what a mess it was!!!!

This is a view from the porch and that is a bird bath by the fence.  When I got to it, I found it broken and of course, went SHOPPING  ...and got a new one......

Looks much better...Just need some flowers for color.  I do have some flowers blooming around the yard....

I have some flower pots done.....

 Some Petunias for the porch.. They smell so good. I love Sage..so got a bunch of different kinds and Rosemary in the middle...makes such a nice arrangement and smells good too.....

This is succulents that I purchased at the Amish nursery out past Londonderry, Oh.
Cecil and I got the cover off the pool and it looks so beautiful...

It was so clear when we took of the tarp, just a few crickets in it.  Just have to get out the pool chairs and umbrellas and of course I have to finish the rest of the yard....all that along the right side of the pool and in the back and to the left....so I guess I have half done....then I can relax!  LOL....
Our daughter, Jill and her family are coming for the holiday week end and the kids love the pool...so I have a few more days to relax and tomorrow a nice massage and my old back should be ready to go for the rest of the yard!
Have a safe and happy holiday!!!!!!

Going to Columbus

My sister and I were driving to Columbus today to do a little shopping and of course had to stop by Charlie's Pond since we drive right by it.....was pretty quite there but did see this Heron.

Then we spotted the Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrel....

Made it to Columbus, did a little shopping, had something to eat and drink and headed back home.

But of course since we were on 104....we had to stop at Canal Rd.  It was so busy!  A Kingfisher flew by us. A group of Mallards....

They hurried and hid in the weeds.  As we drove down the road we saw this other duck on this log.

It turned out to be a female Hooded Merganser....

Then on the ground we saw this blue.....

An Indigo Bunting!  The color was breathtaking!  They are back. We drove on down to the Park area and there were several on the ground there too.  We saw this little yellow bird but he wouldn't hold still long enough for us to ID him. But this one posed!

This pretty Grey Catbird.  He was singing a pretty song and hoping around the tree. The next bird was just a couple of trees over...Cedar Waxwing...

Then we heard the Baltimore Oriole.

He was really enjoying that tree....got a great tail shot too!!!!

You might say "he flashed us"   LOL

Then in the shelter we saw these Barn Swallows.......

She is sitting on her nest and he was watching us.

This couple was on the fence...

We drove back the way we came to make sure we hadn't missed anything and wanted to check out that duck....Well in the same place we discovered this one....

This female Wood Duck and she has her babies under her feathers....We thought she looked strange and after a few seconds she decided to take her babies and hide in the weeds behind her.  We don't know where the Hooded Merganser went but this must be a favorite spot.....

We saw a couple of Ring-necked Pheasants.  Our first sighting of them at Canal Rd....

The water in the Canal was so clear...this reflection was beautiful.  We had a great start and end of our shopping day in Columbus.  One never knows what one will find!  Always keep an eye open!!!!