GBBC and feeling good in the neighborhood

Well, I made it through a week's worth of working 1/2 days from home, thank goodness for an understanding place of Employment. I ended getting Short Term Disability for the majority of my time out of the office, so I don't have to use all my Paid Time Off - thank goodness! And to top it all off, I'm working a full day on Monday to get caught up, then get to take the rest of the week off to spend with the monkey on School Vacation. It'll be like starting a new job by the time to get back on the real world payroll on the 22nd.

I feel like a million bucks in comparison to last week at this time, except that now with all the warm weather I have allergy problems kicking in. I know I can take a pill for that and it'll stop though. :) I went to the monkey's basketball game Thursday night and was so excited to see him on first string and making baskets. I've missed so much in the past month! I'm looking forward to spending some quality time together this week!



Yesterday was the start of the Greater Backyard Bird Count and I chose noonish to do my part. I went out on the back porch with my camera and binocs to see what was going on and the dog came over all goofy (she'd been out all morning) so I was talking to and petting her.... I kept hearing a 'chip!.... chip!..... chip!' in the scrub pines but ignored it, until I saw a flash of red. Oh my, Mr. C is here! We watched each other with great interest for several minutes until I realized that I could hear him talking to Mrs. C - and she was in the bushes behind him. And then, I realized a third 'chip!' was occuring from across the field! I didn't see the third but he/she was definitely right there. I love the Cardinals! Well, after freezing my toushie off watching them I came back in the house and the yard came alive - here are my counts for day one of the GBBC:

Checklist:


Wild Turkey - 25
Mourning Dove - 4
Downy Woodpecker - 2
Hairy Woodpecker - 2
Pileated Woodpecker - 1
Blue Jay - 18
American Crow - 2
Black-capped Chickadee - 18
Tufted Titmouse - 4
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 2
White-breasted Nuthatch - 3
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) - 5
Northern Cardinal - 3
American Goldfinch - 6


Oh yeah - the Turkeys were right up to the back porch pecking the droppings off the wood with my massive mutt Sammie laying right there. It was pretty funny to see.

Comments