Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge

Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge was pretty cool and breezy the day we were there in mid-May on our way to Chincoteague. The new visitor center is under construction - and evidently has been for years. The birds were still plentiful and seemed to pose for pictures.

There was a pair of barn swallows that had built their nest in the bird-watching blind. It took us a few minutes to realize that they were trying to get us away from their nest by chattering and glaring at us from just outside the entrance to the blind.

A great blue heron walked in the shallows - unperturbed by our picture taking although he did walk sedately up onto the sandbar farther away from us eventually.

The mallards were preening. It took patience to get them both with their heads in a photogenic position.

We saw bald eagles that were too far away, or moving too fast, to photograph but we managed to notice an immature eagle within range. Blackwater was the first place I saw a Bald Eagle in the wild (over 20 years ago) and it is reassuring that the population of the birds has continued to thrive and increase over those years.

And last but not least there was an osprey nest with a little drama while we watched. We heard the bird on the nest calling and then saw two other birds nearby. The calls brought the mate to the nest and screeching ensued between all four birds with the one on the nest never moving out of position and mate standing just beside. The intruders left and the mate flew away. All calm again at the osprey nest.

Ten Days of Little Celebrations - May 2013

Back in August 2012, I posted about finding something to celebrate each day. It’s an easy thing for me to do and the habit of writing it down reminds me to be grateful for these and a myriad of other things in my life. Here are some ‘little celebrations’ I’ve noted this month:

Peonies at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. The whole garden was special but the peonies were the highlight. See the post here.

Rhododendron at the Norfolk Botanical Garden. Lots of beautiful plants and glass artwork…but the rhododendron were at their best. See the post here.

A balanced diet day that met 90% nutritional requirements from food. I started recording me food intake on cronometer.com and learned very quickly that there was room for improvement. First I got the protein/carbs/fat percentages aligned to the recommendation (when I started, fat was overwhelming carbs too frequently); then I started to improve the percentage of nutritional targets I achieved with food (from the low 80s to low 90s). It has be more of a learning experience than I anticipated - and a very positive one.

New camera. I am thoroughly enjoying my new camera (a Canon PowerShot SX280 HS). See some blog posts about it here and here.

Planting seedlings grown in egg shells. I planted some seedlings started in egg shells that are doing well in pots on the deck. See the gleanings post that gave me the idea.

Lowest weight of the year; highest stock market day of the year. These may seem like unrelated metrics but they are both items I monitor daily. It is a day to celebrate when they both move in the right direction on the same day.

Horseshoe crabs at Sandy Point State Park. The view of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge would have been the highlight for me if the day had not been so misty. Instead I flipped over a horseshoe crab that had stranded itself upside down on the beach and celebrated that is crawled back into the water. I’ll be doing a post about the park in a few days.

Osprey, barn swallows, and immature bald eagle at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. I cannot pick which of the three birds I enjoyed spotting more! I’ll have a blog post in a few days.

Blue grosbeak and egrets at Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. The surprise of seeing a purple grosbeak in the wild for the first time was quite a high point…but then the myriad egrets and their antics took the stage. Pictures will be posted in a few days.

Finding a surprise iris in my garden. I thought I had moved all the iris bulbs from the back garden that had gotten too shady to the front garden where they would get more sun. It worked - they are booming in profusely in their new flower bed but I found on lone flower in the back flower bed….a missed bulb that managed to bloom even in the shade. I celebrated its survival.