donutsweeper (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
donutsweeper) wrote2011-05-19 12:41 pm
donutsweeper) wrote2011-05-19 12:41 pm
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Walking with the dog, May 17th 2011
It was a beautiful day when Molly and I went for a long walk down to the creek and I decided to take the camera along and document some of what we saw.
I don't know a lot about flowers, but here's a pretty yellow one.
Tulips!
This didn't come out as well as I hoped, but here's a woodpecker of some sort. (This is the same tree I saw a black squirrel on the day before, maybe it likes animals?)
This bird squawked loudly at us as we walked down the path, scaring Molly a bit.
We reached the creek! Not surprisingly, considering all the rain and snow, it's very swollen right now.
Molly did not really want to stop and pose for a picture by the creek.
We took a different (and longer) route home and passed this neat little statue
two beautiful flowering trees,
and, last but not least, lilacs with bonus bird's nest.
(Oh, and here's a bonus bunny that was outside the window sniffing around the lawn after we got home)
I don't know a lot about flowers, but here's a pretty yellow one.
Tulips!
This didn't come out as well as I hoped, but here's a woodpecker of some sort. (This is the same tree I saw a black squirrel on the day before, maybe it likes animals?)
This bird squawked loudly at us as we walked down the path, scaring Molly a bit.
We reached the creek! Not surprisingly, considering all the rain and snow, it's very swollen right now.
Molly did not really want to stop and pose for a picture by the creek.
We took a different (and longer) route home and passed this neat little statue
two beautiful flowering trees,
and, last but not least, lilacs with bonus bird's nest.
(Oh, and here's a bonus bunny that was outside the window sniffing around the lawn after we got home)
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The first yellow flower is a tulip, I'm pretty sure -- it's just about to drop its petals, perhaps. I'm just about to leave to pick up niece, but if nobody's gotten there before me I can probably ID the birds for you. :)
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As for the birds, the black one is probably a crow, based on the tail and beak, but since I can't see the size or the neck really, I can't say for certain it's not a raven. Crows are more common around populated areas, though, I'm told. (I don't know from experience as we only have crows around here.) The cute little tree-clinger is a white-breasted nuthatch http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/White-breasted_Nuthatch/id
Yay spring and yay pictures!
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I think the black bird was too small to be a crow though and it didn't have the shininess a grackle usually does so maybe it was a raven?
(I am confusing the cat by listening to the different bird calls, that site is VERY neat!
There are a lot of tulips! I was thinking about them today when walking the dog, so many colors and styles of them
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I love the Cornell Lab site! I'm glad you enjoyed it too. I think it's the best place to go for North American birds on the web. (I use an iBird app when I'm away.) It's so great to be able to hear the calls!
Ravens are larger than crows, so I think if you found it too small to be a crow, it wouldn't have been a raven. I don't know! Pretty bird though. :)
Tulips! Such an amazing story of selective breeding -- actually a series of mutations and clones, if I remember correctly, leading to such variety! Have you read Michael Pollan's The Botany of Desire? It has a big section on the history of tulips, and it's just fascinating.
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http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-tulip-mania-worked/id283605519?i=91097366
Hmm... no idea on the bird then. Oh well. It's hard to figure out species when its up above you with wings tucked in and a dog is tugging you because there is grass OVER THERE to be sniffed (as opposed to the grass right where we were standing, which was obviously inferior)
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Glad you liked!