Bird Sightings – Page 3 – The Hermits' Rest

There’s a lot of water here

Since it’s Monday, I had to work. But since it’s Eastern Time, I didn’t have to work until late morning. So I took the opportunity to head over to Tomoka State Park, which is quite close to where I’m staying in Ormond Beach, Florida.

The park is surrounded by two rivers, the Halifax, which is also part of the Intracoastal Waterway, and the Tomoka, which joins the Halifax here. As you can imagine, there are beautiful views, many without any signs of humanity. My kind of place.

There are lots of kayak trails and camping areas. The nature trail and the trail around the point were what I focused on today, though I have plans to return and either go on a boat tour or hike another path.

Oddly, I didn’t hear many birds, just a very persistent Osprey and a Belted Kingfisher were loud. Blue Jays, Cardinals, and Carolina Wrens rounded out the songbirds, and I spotted an Anhinga, some Ruddy Turnstones, and a Great Blue Heron. Nothing too exotic.

There were plenty of very interesting plants to distract me from the lack of birds, however. The scenery was lush and verdant, with some new plants, like a hog plum (Ximenia americana), also known as a sea lemon. Apparently they’re common on the Florida coast, but I don’t remember them.

Take the tour of the nature trail with me! It’s fun.

There was lots of turtle and tortoise evidence here. I saw a nest that had recently hatched and found a beautiful gopher in its hole. I sure enjoyed gopher tortoises as a child!

Here’s more on the Gopherus polyphemus.

Okay, I’ll just share a few more interesting plants and insects I saw.

After exhausting my eyeballs from all this, I headed back to work and tried not to let the pelicans distract me as the majestically sailed by. The ocean was very blue.

After working I took a short walk on the beach to enjoy the sea birds and the shifting sands. This is a great place to come in summer after school starts. It’s warm but quiet. There are so many beautiful colors to enjoy.

And finally, I got to hang out with Vicki, whose headache was over, thankfully. We ate at a fun place in a non-touristy area with a great ocean view. After an amazing grilled cheese sandwich and much conversation about taboo topics like politics and religion (where we disagree less now than at other points in our lives), we went to a quiet beach park and watched pelicans dive as the sun set. A fine day with much water!

The cordoned off areas are turtle nests.

Sleepy time!

Hooray for friends and nature endorphins

I’m having a good time in Ormond Beach, which, by the way, is just north of Daytona on the east coast of Florida. I spent the morning getting set up and organized, then went to get my friend Vicki for breakfast. We went next door to her apartment, which is an old local favorite. The food was good, but the conversation was the best! I love being around people who know me very well but still like me. Having known each other since we were teens means we can poke fun at each other about stuff others are unaware of. That’s fun.

After lunch we rode around town, so now I’m much better oriented and know where all the vital places are, like where to get socks (I forgot socks). I just love looking at all the pine forests that cover north Florida and all the houses that look like the ones we grew up in, only more brightly colored. Sorry, but the only photo I got with Vicki was this Cattle Egret we saw while in line to get a soft drink.

I took Vicki back home to have a migraine (I’m such a good influence), then set off on a trek to get socks, an extension cord for my laptop monitors, and some food. It all went fabulously. Marshall’s had socks and nothing else that tempted me. I got all my groceries and nail polish remover at Publix (yay, the chain Mom shopped at when I was a kid), and I got an extension cord at Dollar Tree, thanks to a helpful Publix customer suggesting it.

I can see the ocean from my desk. The only place with a good view.

In the afternoon I got my nature endorphins. I really needed them, since I didn’t get much solo nature time in Ruidoso. First, I took a walk along the beach, which was pleasantly uncrowded and full of friendly shore birds. I like the beach sand here, which has a lot of pink in it.

I kept walking and crossed into the neighborhood across from the beach. I tried to listen for birds, but there weren’t too many, other than a persistent Osprey and many Blue Jays. I enjoyed all the houses in various states ranging from disrepair to perfection. Of course, I also recorded weeds/native plants.

I was surprised to see a small garden and trail that the garden club made fairly recently. I mostly took pictures of specimen plants, but it was a nice, neatly labeled, oasis of semi-wildness, right next to a pretty cemetery.

I continued walking and was about to turn back when, suddenly, there was a sign directing me to a museum and garden. Garden? Yes! I found a woodsy wonderland at Ormond Memorial Museum and Gardens. Coming the back way, it sneaks up on you.

Okay, someone really loves this place. It’s beautifully designed and cared for, with sweet surprises everywhere you look. So much tropical greenery, with water trickling everywhere. What a gem! My heart was filled with pleasure at every turn, even if it was bursting with non-native plants. They were still beautiful.

Entrance, which would be prettier with fewer signs

The turtle pond was my favorite surprise in the garden. It was so lush with water dripping and bubbling everywhere. And so many turtles! I didn’t try to ID the ones I saw, since they have so many kinds, but I did sit and watch them for a while. I love a good turtle pond.

By this time, I was a bit warm and tired, so I headed back. It was 104° at home, so I’m not complaining about the high 80s. I realized I’m really out of shape since I stopped doing horse stuff and hiking all the time. I’ll just use this trip to get back my walking legs. At least my last pleasant sights didn’t use my sore muscles. I got all these sunset photos from my balcony, from where I can see a sliver of water. I liked how the colors of the water and sand also changed.

It’s just great…

Imagine that said in the voice of the boss in The Office. I always use that voice when I see these guys.

And all the things I can talk about are greeeat, too. Work is great. I have a greeeat new orange suitcase for my next trip. And I got this thing that gives a laptop three screens. It will be greeeat for working at condos and in the RV.

Nothing that’s really on my mind is bloggable. So I’ll thank everyone who responded to my last post, remind my family who reads this that I love you, and let the rest of you know I appreciate your kindness to me. You really are great, without any sarcasm.

Nothing wrong with uneventful days

Yeah, the last couple of days have been fairly low stress, with just a couple of bobbles. Also the blog prompts are so repetitive that I didn’t feel like answering the last few. Nonetheless, there have been highlights.

Master Naturalist meeting was last night, and I even made the end of the Board meeting (but missed some ruffled feelings, thankfully). A highlight of the meeting was getting a photo with all our living Presidents as our current one received a commemorative Bald Eagle pin.

The other highlight has been Stumpy’s growing popularity with its avian buddies. We now have little flocks of House Sparrows vying for stump space, as well as Cardinals seeking out their sunflower seeds. My patience has really paid off! Here are blurry phone photos to prove it. I’ll have to bring out the good camera now that there’s something to photograph.

Look at all the birds in the tree awaiting their turn.

I’ve felt good about work, because I’ve hit a few deadlines, but I’m glad the weekend is here. We had a pleasant dinner with my son and his partner at the new restaurant in town, which always is a pleasure. I do enjoy the little downtown area.

It rained somewhere near here this evening, but not here. We are back in crispy season, with extreme heat and brown plants. I’m glad to have water to look at here! Tomorrow I’m working with the water garden some more, too.

Stumpy success

Now, that took a while. The huge stump has been sitting in the corner of the back yard for months.

It’s been many weeks since flat bits were created on the surface.

Spring Stumpy with bird bath fountain and flat spots.

I have been adding bird seed whenever rain or wind washed it off. I waited patiently, knowing the birds had plenty to eat after all the rain. But yesterday, out of the corner of my eye, I caught motion. A sparrow was eating some seed!

Today I looked over at the stump every time I went out to check the bird phone for new birds (Swainson’s Hawk today!). Sure enough, the House Sparrows are eating my admittedly low-quality offerings.

Since I’ve established that birds have discovered Stumpy’s magical gifts, I can now give them better stuff. I even sprinkled some corn mixture on the ground to attract the doves who have been hanging around. Tomorrow I’ll break out some better seed mix I’ve been hoarding so maybe songbirds will see what’s there. I can store all the food safely in my birding hut, too, since I have a tightly sealed bin. Winter may be fun when all the various sparrows return.

It makes me feel trusted when Carlton sleeps right next to me—he feels safe.

Note from self?

If your future self could send you one sentence, what do you hope it would say?

I hope my future self (maybe when I’m 102) would tell me how proud she is of all the learning and growing past me did, and that she appreciates all the memories of my fun with nature, friends, and family. My guess is she’ll have a lot to say.

Thankfully, today was uneventful, which allowed me to get lots of work done in between helping people, which is also part of my job, come to think of it. Other than work, I just enjoyed the animals and their antics.

Apache always thinks everyone else’s food dish is better.

There must have been something outside this evening, because there was sure a lot of barking. But I forgive the dogs, due to mostly being cute.

Watch Benito’s tail.

And hey! I finally saw a bird eating from my tree stump feeder. I kept putting food on the stump, just in case. No photos of that, just dogs. Enjoy.

I’d like to talk to you about life insurance.

It makes me irrationally happy to see Benito play with toys. The other dogs no longer do. He is so full of pure joy.

Looking and learning

I’m pretty much wiped out, but today was extra, extra fun. I enjoyed listening to and watching birds behind the hotel. I got to watch Lesser Goldfinches eating thistle seeds and the happiest Raven, who had scored an entire biscuit. I also saw unidentified animals in the hills.

Hard to believe this is behind the business district.

Next we met a fun young woman named Alison, who showed us some representative houses here that might work as summer homes. Alison was a lot of fun. We met in a restaurant where her fiancé painted a cool mural.

There was quite a collection of properties to see, ranging from sad small condos to rustic cabins to a house nicer than ours. It reminded me of the good old days when we bought houses and fixed them up.

Of course, I also found flowers that elk hadn’t eaten. This is scarlet cinquefoil.

I didn’t think anything would match all my criteria:

Not too big
No close neighbors
Space to park an RV
Lots of nature
Attractive view

Two did. One rustic place in need of some TLC near town, and one doublewide in a more rural area in really good shape. (There are so many well preserved mobile homes here.) They both are quirky, which I like.

The lady who owned the rural house had taken great care of the yard, which I liked. It was very low maintenance. The other one needed occasional weed whacking. Anyway. Here are a couple things I enjoyed in other houses.

Upstairs family room in a house that was too big

After a lot of driving around, we dropped Alison back off at the restaurant and went back to look at the area where the rural house is. It’s a big, green high mesa with a mix of double wides and nice traditional homes. There are also many horse properties nearby. However, the most interesting thing is in the middy of the neighborhood. A rock shop. Not just a shop, but the place where miners of fancy rocks with geodes and other beautiful formations inside process the raw material!

We got to see all the grinding and polishing stations. It was fascinating! We got to look at beautiful examples of the finished products and watch a slideshow of how they mine the rocks (almost all in New Mexico). after mining, they put back all the dirt they dug and seed it with appropriate plants. I was impressed.

After that, Lee took me to the Noisy Water winery outdoor gathering place, where we sat under trees and drank wine and ate charcuterie. I also listened to birds. Of course. They had a petting zoo, so I went over and said hi to the goats and other residents.

This one licked my hand clean. Yes I washed it.

But wait, you ask. Did you see any interesting mammals? Of course I did. Many elk, of which I just share a few, and a herd of wild horses serenely grazing next to a parking lot. Apparently that’s common. That was the last fun wild animal I was looking for, so yay. No bears. That’s fine.

This was a fun whirlwind trip. I’m glad we are coming back in September so I can do non-real estate activities.

I want to look at more flowers like this Rocky Mountain zinnia

I have no idea if Lee intends to buy a property. I understand why. Texas is getting more scary to us as time goes on. But we love our ranch and don’t want to go away from our family there. A summer getaway would be ok.

It’s a wild life!

Today I did my best to fulfill Lee’s goal of looking at every neighborhood in and around Ruidoso, New Mexico that might contain a residence that fulfills his dream of a summer getaway in a cool Mountain climate. Of course, it was hot today, but ten degrees cooler than home.

Since we aren’t remotely thinking of relocating, the beautiful horse properties and mountain estates we saw were just eye candy. We looked at the other end of the scale, too, such as numerous creatively updated 60s and 70s mobile homes. Mostly we looked at small cabin-like houses.

As Lee evaluated property, I took every opportunity to spot wildlife and look for birds. In fact, between listening at the hotel and looking in trees, I got five new life birds! One was a favorite, the Acorn Woodpecker. Here’s the list. I wish I’d seen that Lazuli Bunting!

My eagle eyes were on the lookout for others, such as these beauties. Poor Lee had to stop and back up.

I was excited to see deer a few times early in the travels. They have Mule Deer here, which are larger than white-tails and have large, expressive ears.

As it got later in the afternoon, I started seeing even larger deer. But, no, I figured out all for myself that they were elk. The first ones I saw here resting in the shade, and none have antlers right now, so they did look like deer.

I did get some plants, too. I’ll share them later. I should tell you our eating adventures. I had to stop with the driving and looking occasionally, because my eyes got tired. So we had an early lunch at a great place called Casitas. There was healthy food and much charm. Probably not to Lee’s taste, but I loved my fancy avocado toast and my dulce de leche latte. Mmm.

After a few more hours of going up and down mountains, being saddened at flood damage, and being jarred by potholes I requested my treat of the day, which was to visit Noisy Water Winery and cash in on my wine club membership perks. Wow, the club members’ lounge was nice, quiet, and beautiful.

I tried four different wines, one that just launched (2022 Demi goddess), one older white that had aged SO well, and the members’ exclusive, which was a rich dessert wine. Oh, and a red varietal I’d never tried, I liked it liked more than I expected. I did come home with three bottles of white wine. As I am the only wine drinker in our household, it will last a while.

The final place we stopped was a park we visited years ago with Anita. It was not great for birding, since a huge motorcycle group went back and forth while we were there. But I enjoyed the scenery and Lee even said my hair looked good. Wow!

Whew. So much mountain beauty, wildlife, and interesting homes. I’ll sleep well tonight.

Not to worry

What’s something you used to worry about but don’t anymore?

Oh, there’s a whole bunch of crap I don’t worry about anymore. That gives me a lot more mental space for living in the moment, discovering beauty, and sending out positive energy, which is sorely needed right now.

One thing I no longer worry about is what other people think about me. That’s a hard one for a reformed people pleaser! (And it is so easy to slip back into those patterns under stress.) I am pretty sure anyone who is thinking random negative stuff about me is not worried about what I think of them! So, let them!

I’d rather remind myself that I don’t know what’s going on in other people’s lives, so it’s better to assume they’re doing their best. Mental illness can make good intentions hard to see, but they’re usually there. Yes, even my least favorite political figures think they’re doing good. I do occasionally worry about them. Some worry is justified!

After another intense but interesting work day, and some rest and relaxation in the pool and with my animal buddies, I’m ready for some travel! See you tomorrow in another time zone!

Here’s a tip

If you had to give one life-changing tip, what would it be?

Just one? Do not confuse hormones or sympathy for love. Let’s just say I’ve made that kind of mistake so many times that I have no intention of starting any new love relationships.

On a more cheerful note, it wasn’t quite as hot this morning, and I figured out I can sit in the shadow of my bird hut to hang out with nature. My spirits were lifted by getting to see a Yellow-bellied Cuckoo in the closest tree.

It never faced me, but I got to see its eye!

I also got to watch three Gulf Fritillaries enjoying the passion vine and sorrel vines. It was rather enchanting.

I’ve really needed more nature time lately. I’m trying to figure out what I want to do for the years I have left. I really want to stop volunteering to do things to try to make others happy, and I don’t want to spend my time on things I don’t enjoy, just because I “should.” If I cut back on obligations and let myself just relax more, my mental state could improve.

Looks like the green heron is a hummingbird on the fence wire.

If my mental state improved, I’d start exercising again and keep feeling better. That would lead me to choose activities I enjoy, not obligations. A happy cycle.

A thing I enjoy is taking pictures of dogs making funny faces.

More on this later. I’m thinking hard but also allowing ideas to come to me when I’m relaxed.