Birds...yep, birds...and stuff...and some birds too...

This Yellow-billed Cuckoo was the high point of my wander through the woods.

After my meander through the marsh, I took a wander through the woods of Ottawa NWR and this is some of what I spied with my blurry eye...

We shall call this "Empidonax Flycatcher"...because it sounds professional
and besides, I don't know which it is...

This I know, it's a Ruby-throated Hummingbird with a itchy head.
I was watching a butterfly flutter by when my eye landed on this gem.

A fledgling Song Sparrow...or is it a Grasshopper Sparrow...no, probably a Song Sparrow...or maybe not...

Immature male Common Whitetail dragonfly.
You could tell it was immature male by the fart sounds and giggles it made as I walked past...

This Clouded Sulphur was playing in the mud of the newly refurbished wildflower garden behind the Ottawa visitors center.

Common Buckeye, this is the butterfly, not the candy treat...just in case you couldn't tell.

A Pearl Crescent butterfly just chillin.
This is a great time to look for butterflies and dragonflies here.
Especially since it's so hard to find the birdies...

This Spicebush Swallowtail has lived through a few attacks to his swallowy tail.

And here's a lesson on how to tell the difference between a Great Egret and a Snowy Egret.
The Great Egrets are always closer to you...
You didn't think I would actually have anything educational to say, did you?

To make an effort to be more educational (who knows, maybe someone out there will help our fight to save some of our endangered habitats) I would like you to visit The BirdLife Community website.

There is always something to learn about our fellow bird lovers from the states as well as the rest of the world. Try it, you'll like it!

ShoreButts...

A very rare Greater Yellow'LEG"...not really...

A nice quiet Sunday morning at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge...very quiet. The shorebird migration has started and the temperatures were close to 90 once again. I didn't make it very far into the refuge...at all. I walked the ponds near the entrance, which are always good and the woodlands behind the visitors center. But it still took me three hours, what a slow poke...

I'll start with the birds I spotted in the ponds, in the next post I'll share the birds and bugs of the woodland areas.

With an attitude like that, no wonder he's a Solitary Sandpiper.

Oopsie, that's not a bird!
If you kiss a Green Frog on the lips, he'll turn into....
nothing, this is real life.
Don't you know you're not supposed to kiss frogs in the refuge!

I think the Solitary Sandpiper was mocking that Greater Yellowlegs...

You know it's hot when you see a Great Egret and a Great Blue Heron in a dead tree with their bills hanging open.

...And the high point of the ponds...a juvenile Black-crowned Night-Heron!
I almost drove past him on my way in. When I stopped and got my camera, he decided to be shy and fly away...kids...

History and hother hilarious hijinks...

The Rutherford B. Hayes home.

Where was I, oh yeah...the history weekend. After a visit at Fort Meigs and the War of 1812, we got back into the "WABAC Machine" and moved up to the American Civil War era with a visit to the home of President Rutherford B. Hayes.

The home started out as a home built by his uncle, Sardis Birchard so they would have a place to stay in the summer and keep his uncle company. As time went on and the family grew, so did the home. After Rutherfords death in 1893, his son Webb, had a library built to house his fathers library and memorabilia. This became the first presidential library in the country.

They have a number of ever changing exhibits in the museum and library of great interest to history buffs. The home is currently undergoing an extensive restoration and it is a wonderful place to visit to see the work and the details that are forthcoming.

The current exhibit features the crazy madcap game of Croquet. Wee.

The Doodles likes croquet and she will kick your butt.

You thought he was gone...sorry!
Bobb was on a mission to locate his long lost second cousin thrice removed, Bobbette.
Beware of the Bobbs!

Here we have a pair of very irate Chipmunks.
It seems that there is a "No Chipmunk" policy at the Hayes home.
Have you seen what terrible things an angry chipmunk can do?

Next Week:
Back to Birding!*

*That ought to keep Kimmay happy!