Just A Little Walk 1

While I was on a walk last week, I stopped by the pond to see how my friend, the swan was doing. She is still hanging around and still alone. I spotted a Great Blue Heron standing in the middle of the pond on a small patch of grass.

The swan was sitting on the nest. I'm sure by now that there will be no babies, but I suppose it's a comfortable resting place

I got to the boardwalk, and at the very start of it, I saw a shadow moving. It turned out to be a little rabbit

I thought I had scared it off, but it decided to stick around until I left

The sky was blue and reflected off the water

There were swallows perched in several trees

The other swan family is still at the boardwalk, but now only one baby has survived

I heard the frantic cries of a bird overhead, and spotted a young swallow. It's parents were in another tree nearby and letting him squawk.

As I was walking, the sky began to look a little (?) threatening. It had rained on the drive up to the boardwalk, so I took these clouds seriously

Continues here: Just A Little Walk 2

Shoreline Walk 3

Yesterday, Debs at The Lehner's in France was kind of enough to award Sandpiper's Place with the Special Scribe Award. I'm really honored that you chose to give this award to me. Thank you from my heart, Debs.
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Continuing with the walk, Parts one and two are here:

Shoreline Walk 1
Shoreline Walk 2
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The little Killdeer who was guarding the beginning of the path finally moved on
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Walking along, there were occasional openings that offered views of the marsh
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Off in the distance I could see a Great Egret in one of the little inlets
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I unintentionally scared off this mallard
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I managed to get a quick glimpse of this Yellow Warbler and he flew right after I clicked my camera
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These wild roses have a wonderful fragrance
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I continued walking
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When I came to an opening, I spotted this rabbit

He started to take off

But, I guess he liked the grasses and clovers a little too much, so he didn't leave entirely

He posed for me

I knew he wanted me to take one more picture, so I did. ;-) But, then I had to leave to go home.

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I didn't get to visit blogs yesterday afternoon, as I had hoped, so I'll try to catch up some today. Have a great day!

Shoreline Walk 2

A special thank you to Lisa at Ramblings of a Villa Girl and Singing Bear at Tiz Yer Tiz for awarding me the Arte y Pico Award. I'm very honored that these two wonderful people have given this award to me. Many thanks!

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Here is Skywatch Friday's: Blaze of Glory

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Continuing with our walk, Part One is here: Shoreline Walk 1

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I continued along and saw this Rock Pigeon

When he stood by a Mourning Dove, it was easy to see how much bigger it is

There was a large puddle in the parking lot after the rain, and the seagulls were using it as their swimming hole

This youngster was having a ball splashing about

This gull stood at the side just looking around

As I moved on, I spotted this small Cottontail scrunched down in the grasses. I got very close to him and he just sat there. I didn't want to scare him, so I continued on my way.

At the next pond, I saw this Snowy Egret.

This one posed nicely for me, but didn't perform a ballet

A Killdeer walked along the edge. Noisy little birds

As the Killdeer moved out of sight, I turned my attention back toward the Egret. I liked the reflections in this picture.

I zoomed in and then was distracted once again...

As a Glossy Ibis flew overhead

And then he landed

I moved on, and at the beginning of the next trail, I saw this Killdeer

He let me get a bit closer than that other one had...

Continues here: Shoreline Walk 3

Shoreline Walk 1

Here is Skywatch Friday's: Blaze of Glory

Thank you everybody for stopping by and leaving your nice comments. I wish I could reply to each one!

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I would also like to thank those who stopped by my new "occasional" TWISI blog and made the opening week a happy one. The blog shows another side of me and I hope it will be fun and different. I don't have a lot of time these days that I can call my own, so it won't be a daily blog.

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If I am able, I would like to get out early on Saturday morning, provided the weather cooperates, so I'm posting this early.

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Recently, after dropping Mom off at home, I headed toward the shore. It began to rain really hard once on the road, but after stopping for lunch, the rain had stopped. The weather held out until I was through walking and only started again on the way home, so I did have a pretty nice walk. Upon arrival at the park, I was greeted by Red-Winged Blackbirds and Swallows dipping and diving overhead. The smell of salt air and marshlands was strong with the recent rain and high humidity, but there was a breeze and the air felt good.
. I spotted three Glossy Ibises, but I was only able to get this one picture, as this one came in for a landing

At one of the ponds, there were a number of terns diving for the water.

They would hit the water momentarily with a splash, and then reach high for the sky again
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Willets flew overhead and circled about, crying out with their high pitched and incessant "pill-will-willet-pill-will-willet" sounds

And little Killdeer were making their presence known with their loud, squeaking "k'dee, k'dee" voices

More terns flew above with their squealing cries

And soon I was distracted by an Egret.

This Great Egret allowed me to get fairly close - at least by Connecticut's measure, which usually isn't close at all compared to some places. :)

He danced around and proudly showed off his beautiful wings

But, then it time to get down to the business of finding his meal

Every now and then his head would dart forward and he would bring up an imaginary fish

All too soon he lifted his wings

And took flight
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Continues here: Shoreline Walk 2