It is almost April and it really is beginning to feel like Spring might come after all. I put the dog’s warm winter coat into storage and he will get groomed on Tuesday. It is getting warmer and the sun is up longer. The daffodils are peeking up out of the ground and the grass is turning green.
BOIDS
Not much has been going on and I didn’t want to spam you with pretty bird pictures. So I am trying to change things up to keep the material fresh.
So I took my phone with me to feed the birds when the turkeys were around. You can really hear the birdsong on the audio track of the movie.
We are seeing more and more of the robins.
The goldfinch is starting to turn yellow.
The grackles are back.
The mockingbird is also frequenting the bird feeders.
The crows are around as well.
The Coopers hawk is keeping an eye on things.
The eagles are back on the point. One even landed in our yard to check it out.
I was looking out over the bay toward Shackford Point to see if there were eagles roosting and I noticed that there were some merganser ducks on the water. So Benji and I decided to walk down to the shore to try to get better pictures.
Of course Benji was a big help when taking pictures. At least he enjoyed the walk.
This is a rabbit hole to climb down. There are three species of merganser ducks and right now all three could be present on the bay. The more common of the three are the common merganser and the hooded merganser. The red breasted merganser doesn’t hang around here but might be passing through. I am pretty sure I have pictures of both the common merganser and the hooded merganser.
So Wink and I took Benji on a shoreline walk to get some more pictures.
I have not gotten good pictures of the mergansers. The autofocus seems to have trouble with the waves. I will need to take a tripod out with me to try to get better pictures.
Hooded 
Hooded 
Male and Female Common 
Common 
Female Common 
Female Common 
Male Common 
Coomon
I think I saw an osprey but don’t have a picture to prove it. I did take a picture of the nesting site and will monitor it to see if they are building a new nest.
Mammals
Fun with Food
Mini BYOB 
Tortalini Soup
There seems to be a cookie monster hidden in our ranks. He seems to have a take no prisoners attitude.
In order to confuse the cookie monster, we tried the old Jedi mind trick.
Andrew observed that the sign was not so much a warning as it was a prophecy. Well, he was right as the cookie jar is empty again. We will have to try something else in the future.
Fun with Benji
I was feeling blue the other day.
Well the blue didn’t last. Don’t know whether to be happy or disappointed.
As you can tell, not much is going on here.
We are getting out a little bit but we are still observing the COVID protocols. We are carrying out from restaurants but not eating in yet. I shop for our food, which is a pleasant change. Life is not anywhere near normal yet. It looks like we will be dealing with COVID fall out for awhile.
Stay safe, Stay Healthy.
Mark, Wink and Meg
Nice to see that smile on Winkie’s face!
I can’t get over those eagles.
Blue becomes you as long as it’s only temporary!!