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Saturday, May 11, 2019

Saturday Morning Walk

My second "couch to 5K" session on Thursday wasn't too bad.  I didn't get drenched with rain, which was the best part.  I'm still the second slowest of the group, but that's OK I guess.  We did walk-one-minute-jog-20-seconds for the full length of our trail, which wasn't too bad, although by the end of it, my chest was feeling a bit tight and I was definitely out of breath.  I hope that will improve.

This morning I went for a more leisurely walk in the Sackville Waterfowl Park, which is one of my favourite places to be.  It's a beautiful park and so many birds make it their home - I feel really lucky to be so close to it.  This morning there were vast numbers of Yellow-rumped Warblers (formerly named Myrtle Warblers) all over the park.  They're so cute and quite bold, so I can get relatively close to them.  I took a lot of photos, but they just captivate me.  I really liked this shot with the cattails from last year, even though he's not looking my way. 

The perfect little models, they are!

Imagine this one with a Scottish accent, saying "Och...the wind's blowin' up me kilt!"
 
Lady, can I have a little modesty here?  Please?

There are also Palm Warblers around - it's so good to see them again now that spring is finally here.


I love their little rusty coloured "hats."

A good number of sparrows are also out and about.  Some are bold and others are more shy. Here's a song sparrow—and they do have a lovely song!

This is the back end of a swamp sparrow who was being really reticent about having his picture taken, so I had to take him in two halves!

Peek-a-boo!  The front end of the swamp sparrow.

This one is a Savannah sparrow.

Of course, none of those birds are waterfowl.  Here's an actual waterfowl—a green-winged teal.

I'll leave you with a whole series of tree swallow photographs, because I couldn't decide which ones to share.  They were being especially helpful with posing today! 
 
This one sat for a while just a few feet from me on the boardwalk railing.


There are houses on posts in the lake that they prefer for their nest boxes.
 

Some of them have a more distinct dark chest spot.

I think this one is my favourite shot - it's a swallow pretending to be a small, grumpy penguin.



4 comments:

Deairdre said...

I love the photos.

Crazy Lady with purple fingers said...

Beautiful photos!!

Lin said...

These are GREAT!! I enjoy the humor in your photos. You are great at capturing some really silly bird stuff!

Don't worry about the speed on your runs. Work on strength and endurance. Or just getting out and moving! I admire you so much for doing this!

porkpal said...

I have really been enjoying your bird chronicles. You have so many species that we never see here. Thank you!