Return to Patrick Marsh

Today Travalon and I got to go to Mass for Corpus Christi, then we went to brunch with a bunch of people. That was the first time in months we have been able to do that! Because we had walked so much yesterday and gotten so much sun, we spent some quiet time at home on our porch before venturing forth to Patrick Marsh. We saw quite a few birds there that we didn't get photos (or good photos) of, including a blue jay, a yellow warbler, a scarlet tanager, and I think I did see one of the elusive yellow-headed blackbirds. But Travalon did manage to get a lot of decent photos, including this bald eagle flying overhead.

There were a bunch of pelicans who always seemed to be on the far side of the lake from wherever we were, swimming along in a conga line, or a choo-choo train. It was entertaining to watch, but not easy to photograph. A couple of pelicans were much closer to us.

Travalon caught this little swallow about to take flight.

I took this picture, and unfortunately the oriole is in shadow, but you can kind of see her sitting on her nest.

We saw a mourning cloak butterfly that we didn't get a picture of, and a bright blue damselfly Travalon tried to take a picture of but it didn't turn out. He did get a pretty good shot of this black swallowtail butterfly.

Flowers are easier to photograph. Here is some wild indigo...? Prairie Man told us that's what this is.

And a wild rose in a much deeper shade of pink than I'm used to seeing.

Travalon was hoping to see a green heron, but alas, we did not see one. I have only seen one once. We did see a great blue heron flying overhead.

This is either a black duck or a female mallard, with babies.

I said we should try to get a photo of a red-winged blackbird, since they are all over the place at Patrick Marsh.

I think this might be a kingbird, and what I said was a kingbird on a previous post was actually a swallow.

And I think this is a female red-winged blackbird. She was sure yelling at us.

We did have a female red-winged blackbird fly into our window as we were sitting on the porch one evening. I ran outside and found she was alive but dazed. I picked her up, and after a few minutes she flew into the marsh, and the male came and took care of her. I sure hope she recovered completely.

The hummingbird outside our window must have been a female ruby-throated hummingbird. We are hoping she has a nest nearby. We have never seen a male in our neighborhood.

On a completely different note, my black light arrived yesterday, so I am painting the old Lourdes water bottle of Our Lady with fluorescent paints. And guess what? It turns out I didn't need to order all that stuff to make a black light rosary, because I had one all along - my boat rosary! That's okay, I'll make a fancier one. It was my play money anyway, since it was from the gift card I got from my health insurance for doing their "stay well" program.

Famous Hat