Well hello there and happy weekend to you! I hope you are staying safe and doing well on this, the first day of August. Are you making time to get outside and safely enjoy the summer? You may have noticed that I have been away for a few weeks; I was off on a road trip to Colorado, traveling safely with my husband, dog and two cats.
I have so much new material from my trip, including some great videos, photos and fun information that I am anxious to share! But, one thing at a time. I will start first with the puzzler.
You may remember we had been looking at plants, especially some invasive plants that are quietly taking over my yard. But I am going to switch tracks here. Puzzler #218 is an interesting bird that we saw while we were kayaking on a lake near Ouray, Colorado.
This bird was hopping along the rocks on shore, looking for insects in the water. When alarmed, it would retreat to the nearby trees and though it has a bright yellow head and chest, would hide well enough that we had a hard time finding it until it headed back to the water.
Here are some photos:
This bird is not found where I live in North Carolina, nor is it found anywhere on the east coast of North America or in the southern states. Instead you can find it in the middle states, west from Wisconsin and Illionois to Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and then up north into Canada.
If you want to guess I’d love to hear from you! You can use the comment box below to give your guess. Or, if you want, you could share some interesting or exciting wildlife encounter that you’ve had recently. I would love to hear from you! Check back next weekend to learn the identity of this bird.
Have a great weekend! I hope you make time to get outside and enjoy the nature in your neck of the woods.
Welcome back!! I woke up this morning thinking about you and wondering when you would return….and here you are👍🏻👏🏻
Colorado is one of my favorite states. Did a lot of camping there back in the day. Seeing you in a kayak brought tears to my eyes. Used to LOVE that sport
as I LOVE to float and be on water. Another activity that has had to be shelved due to age and physicality. So don’t mind me as I live vicariously😎
This puzzler was a tough one but my guess is the yellow-headed blackbird.
Arden, thank you for your comment. It means a lot to know someone out there reads my posts and notices an absence. I can appreciate why Colorado is one of your favorite states! There is so much beauty there. If I didn’t want to get back to enjoy my garden and comforts of home, we could have found new places to explore and things go do for months. Our country has amazing places to offer— especially now given that traveling by airplane right now seems unnecessarily risky… I hope that you are having a good weekend. Thanks again for taking the time to write; you have made my day!
And yes! Your guess on the puzzler is correct !