More Geese, Really?

Yesterday I went to Mattoon by the long route, i.e. by my parents property, and saw several cardinals, a blue bird, and a fox. The cardinals and the blue bird wouldn't stand still long enough for a photo shoot and neither would the fox. I enjoyed seeing all of them, though.

What I did see was...

 A Cow...

 A Horse—a very cool horse... 

Some honeysuckle on a fence, which always reminds me of Tennessee...

 I made a turn toward the east to see if I could remember where my Aunt Joann lived before they moved to Missouri way back in the day. The house they lived in was once an old schoolhouse. The road wound around and finally brought me out by the fence surrounding the southern perimeter of the airport. I didn't find their house, but I did find a very tiny windmill...

 A Chipping Sparrow...

And a female Red-winged Blackbird. Just after this is where I saw the fox. He was in the middle of a newly planted soybean field. Sadly the field had a hump in the middle and he was standing on the hump. By the time I got the car stopped and my camera aimed, all he had to do was take a few steps to the east and he was out of sight.

 And more geese! These are on the north side of the Wal-mart parking lot. Their babies are a little bigger than the ones at The Rez.

Ugly, but at the same time cute!

Assorted Birds

This morning I saved a baby bird from certain death. I let Findley out first thing and as I waited for him to finish his business, I saw him smelling something in the grass and then jumping back. I thought he had unearthed a toad or something. When I went out to check, I saw a baby sparrow trying to hide. I picked him up and put him down on the other side of the fence where the dogs couldn't get him. Sadly, I didn't have my camera with me, so I'll post a sparrow pic I took yesterday.

As I pulled in the drive after a trip to the grocery store, I saw this very noisy sparrow sitting on top of the birdhouse. Pic taken out my car window.

As I took pictures of the sparrow, this Mourning Dove flew over my car and landed in the tree above me...

...and then flew onto the roof of the shed so he could see me better. He was backlit by the sun, so he is a little hard to see. They are beautiful birds.

Bet you thought I wasn't going to post a goose today. Wrong!

Garden? What Garden!

On my way to work yesterday, I drove by to check on the geese. Lucky me! 

Not only was mom, pop, and baby swimming closer to my side of The Rez...

...there was one...

 ...nope, make that 2 geese visitors. And this one was honking loudly. Perhaps he was warning the others of my approach.

Baby Goose is getting bigger!

~~~~~

Last evening, we decided to try to get our garden started. We have tomato plants that need set out and seeds that should be in the ground. So after supper, we loaded up the truck and headed down to Bro O's. 

His catalpa tree is in full bloom—pretty. However, the sky was turning darker and darker. As we prepared to unload the truck, O checked his weather app. Rain was imminent. So, we didn't unload the truck, opting to go home and see if we could find a movie to watch.  Guess we will have to try, try, again!

On the way home, we saw a wild turkey—way up ahead on the road leaving Bro O's house. He was at the top of the hill near where Sonny Bri's old rusty car is stored. 

Took this shot through the truck's dirty windshield.  As soon as the camera clicked, he flew up into a tall tree where we couldn't see him anymore.

Wildflowers and a Dragonfly

More from my drive down River Road. I must get ready for work, so I don't have time to look these up in my wildflower book. I'll do that later when I have more time and post the names.

 I know this one is Bee Balm.

Ox-Eye Daisy

Ox-Eye Daisy

This is a White-Tail Dragonfly. The ones I most commonly see. I took this shot from the car. I was on the right side of the road and this little guy was perched on some dead leaves in the ditch on the left side of the road.

Covered Bridge

A drive by the covered bridge.

The vegetation below the observation deck is getting so tall it blocks the view of the bridge and the river.

The pink flowers are a nice addition to the shot.

Southern view from inside the bridge.

Northern view from inside the bridge.

More Birds

More from the Ryan Bridge area.

 Another Dickcissel. I swear I have never seen one of these guys before and now I see them all the time. They sure do like to sing.

Gross shot of a buzzard eating a road kill raccoon. 

I happened to be standing out on the porch with my camera when this guy whizzed in for a drink. Not a good shot, taken through screenwire.

Horses

Sunday I drove down the road north of the Ryan Bridge where I saw the quail and a pheasant.  I wanted to get a better picture of Mr. Pheasant, but he was nowhere to be seen. 

On the way, I saw these two horses grazing on a piece of land my dad once owned. It was farmland then. Now it is a pasture. 

Then yesterday, Memorial Day, I took a drive down the River Road south of Greenup. I saw this horse. His eyes looked odd and he didn't look at me. Makes me wonder if he is blind.