It's been a Pelican kind of day...

Today we went down to Goose Pond...it was a rainy, foggy day...but managed to get some photos of Pelicans and Whooping Cranes!  First I will show you this little video.  My little camera is very hard to hold steady when zoomed in.

Be sure and watch to the end...I think it is only about 35 seconds long.  Again, I apologize for the quality.

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 Along with the Pelicans, we saw 3 Whooping Cranes!

They were spread out, so not such a great pic, but wanted to show that there were three.


It was wonderful to get to see them, even if it was misting rain the entire time.  My little camera seems to be okay...but it sure got sprinkled on.

I forgot these

When they come in for a landing, we always say 'Parachute!  Check!"  To see better photos of them coming in for a landing, check out this post.

Heading out....

Again, it happened...just all of a sudden they decided to leave.  It was if they were waiting at a stop light the the bell rang to let them go.  They ALL took off.
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A bit more decluttering today.  And I got Lorelei's quilt top layered with the backing and pin basted.  I ordered two or three different threads to see which one I like best.  I ordered it over a week ago.  They did not have one so they had to wait to send the order.  (They did call to see what I wanted to do...ship what they have, and do a second shipment, or wait and ship all together.)

Only a couple more from Goose Pond

This is fairly big hawk.  Not a great shot.

Then there was this little guy...he flew along down in this drainage ditch...almost as if he did not want to be seen.  We wondered did it fear the bigger hawks.  It was maybe half the size of the first hawk.

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I have been trying to stay busy and have started the process of trying to declutter once again.  I cannot believe how much stuff I have gotten rid of and we don't even miss it.

We did something today that I wonder if we will regret.  We actually got rid of our encyclopedias.  I first was going to store them in a tote in our basement.  But the more I thought about it, the more I thought how outdated they were.  And I knew that someday it would fall to our daughter's shoulders to carry them back up those stairs and get rid of them.  So out they went.

When I saw how heavy they were, I was glad I had not taken them down those basement steps.  It was bad enough going down the two steps from our back porch.  Anyway, I just wondered how many of you still have encyclopedias in your home still?  Do you think I was crazy for getting rid of them.

Other than that, it is odds and ends.  I keep giving up a few physical books along...a lot of them I had read and probably would never read again.  I decided to set more puzzles free and let them go find other homes...and some purses are free to go hang from some other woman's shoulders. 

And besides all that is finding other homes, there are the electronic boxes that are finding their way to the garbage.  I figure after a year or two, depending on what it is, I won't be needing them.

Expand to see better!

We made a trip down to Goose Pond yesterday.  Hoping to see pelicans, we were disappointed in that we didn't.  However, if you expand the photos, you can see we saw plenty of snow geese. and white fronted geese, along with Canadian Geese.  All too far away to get good photos.  But I have to show some of the pics.

Before we left we had a few  fly over us, but none of the snow geese.

And look below!

There were a few hundred sandhill cranes.

This is all I am going to share right now...it is already photo overload at both my blogs.

It was the first time we have been out in quite a while and sure enjoyed seeing all the birds.

From Goose Pond

It has been such beautiful weather the past couple of days, we decided to get up and go for a little drive this morn. Actually had a longer drive in mind, but did not make it as far as I planned. But we did make it down to the Goose Pond area south of Linton, Indiana.
First, we saw Great Egrets....this one circled over us several times. He was not the only one there, but he was the only one close enough to get a shot.
After it flew away, I walked to the water's edge and there sat this big fellow. I tried to get closer but he hopped out into deeper water.

Now take a look below...
I am almost 100% sure these are Black-necked stilts. When I looked here at All About Birds, we are not even in their migration range. I couldn't remember what their name was but thought I had seen them somewhere else in blogland...actually I knew just where I had seen them.

If you want to see some really GOOD photos, check here at Montanagirl's post. Her photos are always super.
We also saw lots of blue herons, but none close enough to photograph....but did not see much else. I was in hopes of seeing an eagle, but nothing was in the air except for the herons and egrets moving from one area to another, and some red-winged blackbirds.

We both threw our lines in the water here, and at another strip pit or two we passed on the way home, but did neither of us got a single hit. I take that back, I did have a little bluegill--and I do mean little. I could see it trying to get my lure and it wasn't a whole lot bigger than the lure...so it doesn't really count. At one of the places, I did see a bass that was at least 18 inches long, but he was not interested in any lure I threw out.

From today

Today Bubbie came home from the vet...he had to go in yesterday to have the pin taken out of his leg. He was still too groggy to come home yesterday evening, so I went and got him first thing this morning. He was just soooo happy to get home.

This morn Roger and a buddy of his that retired at the same time decided to go get breakfast...and after they ate, Roger took him to show him a few of our favorite fishing holes.
They didn't get home till after lunch, and soon as his buddy left, we headed to this place south of Linton, Indiana called Goose Pond. It is a Fish and Wild Life Area. It was a big area, but we really didn't see much. We saw a few mallards, some geese, and these birds....I hope Mary or Leedra or someone can tell me what they are. I am too tired to look them up. These two photos are cropped sections of the same photo.
From this area we went to the Greene-Sullivan State Forrest. I must say that while we were a little disappointed in Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife Area, the Greene-Sullivan State Forrest was very nice surprise. It is an old, old strip pit area. and lots and lots of strip pits, and a couple or three reservoirs that we seen. Excellent places to go fishing.

We actually fished a little bit at two or three of them...but apparently we were there at the wrong time of day or something. I caught one little bluegill, and Roger only got a couple or three hits. I can't wait to go back when it gets a little bit warmer.

I need to post this and see about getting settled in for bed. It feels so good to be home...even though I love going to places like that, I am always glad to be back in my own home in my own chair.

Update: Thanks go out to Deb of Notes from the Cloud Messenger for telling me that these are American coots.