The Tufted Titmouse shamelessly workin’ the pole at Big Daddy’s.
The Mississippi Kite was way off course in a nature park near Indianapolis. Many of our fellow birders flocked in to see it, careful not to disturb.
The “Chipping Sparrow” is one of the smallest sparrows. A friendly little bird that will help themselves to your black sunflower seeds and seedcakes for dessert.
The Sandhill Crane a large marsh bird who’s got the moves.
Christopher J Ananias
Saragun Springs 
Lovely pictures that brightened up a rainy morning.
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Thanks so much! Glad they brought some sunshine. CJA
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CJA
These really are great. The Mississippi (the longest word I can spell with confidence) Kite is a stunner. His visage (word of the day, visage) suggests competence, so maybe he has moved north on purpose.
Leila
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Hi Leila
Thanks, glad you like them! Love the word for the day! Yes the M. Kite did seem to know what it was doing. There were two that day, one was circling or maybe a tree branch lower.
We were talking, thinking we were alone, and turned around and this birder was almost glowering at us. Like we had gotten too close. Then he took us on an unsolicited walk through the park, smoking and never ceased talking. My friend hates cigarettes. lol.
CJA
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I smoke, but never in parks–that’s like lighting up in a school!
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CJA
Walt Whitman loved birds (“the spotted hawk swoops by and accuses me”) as did Edgar Allan Poe (“nevermore”).
Birds are perfect for Saragun Springs because of the Springs thing/s about poetry.
Birds are the original poets. They have wings and they can sing. They can fly and they make beautiful music, almost but not quite the same thing.
Your photos are so VIVID! Colorful, full of movement. Wow, do they capture the creature (its essence) while also letting that creature remain perfectly free (as they should be) which is the perfect paradox!
It takes a great eye to make pictures like these, as well as a ton of patience and EFFORT. A person who can make pictures like these is not spending too much time at home wasting their life on computer games.
Making pictures like these also takes a great act of the imagination – imagining that this is worth it. This is worth it for the act of doing this itself, AND for the beautiful visual results as well.
Great work! The best of life is the things we do for free but these pictures are also professional quality (and beyond), BIG TIME.
DWB
PS
I have to confess that I did used to smoke (marijuana) in parks and forest preserves until I quit smoking it (now I just take the homemade edibles ahead of time. My edibles are created with exactly two ingredients – weed and olive oil. Very few people can stand to take them except me).
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Hi DWB!
Glad you like the photos!
Great description of the birds. I never heard it put in such an elegant way!
Yes it is tempting to sit inside on the computer or watch TV, but there is still a natural world out there.
I’m not too much of a saint either, especially back in my youth. We set a smoke grenade off in preserve and the cloud got so big and thick–we ran!
Your combo of weed and olive oil does sound like a particular taste, but beneficial for the joints. Excuse the pun, lol.
Thanks for your comments!
CJA
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I have always feared being one of those useless smokers who carelessly toss their butts into the grass. Weed tokers do not do that, not since the invention of “the shop class pipe” all the guys had at my HS.
Leila
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Lol. I hear that, weed tokers are fairly conscious of their smoke. I know I was. Smoke it down to the roach and roll it up again. Pipes really are the way–all kinds of benefits.
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By the way CJA, great captions too! Wonderful job of characterization…
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Thanks Dale! It was fun trying to write those–from now on when I submit pictures–I’ll add captions.
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FOR ANY ALCOHOLICS out there right now who can’t stop drinking no matter what you do, I recommend one large magic mushroom microdose, one large dose of edible marijuana, and three prescription Gabapentin pills consumed simultaneously. Take daily in place of the bottle and continue until you can leave the bottle behind. Repeat as needed.
A Higher Power is also recommended. In fact, start with this first! (Proceed to the psilocybin THC gaba’ cocktail if necessary. It will shock you what a good substitute it is plus very little, to no, hangover/s and little, to no, losing control!).
(Focus on microdoses of the psilocybin, NOT hero doses at this point.)
Dr. D
PS
Don’t beat yourself up about it. If you’re reading this there’s a good chance you’re some kind of writer or artist and we are genetically prone to these kinds of things.
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Wonderful photos. We’re bird-watchers and at one time had six (!) pileated woodpeckers on our deck … which they subsequently drilled giant holes in. But it was a sight to behold.
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Thanks David! Wow that is amazing! Two, maybe three are the most we have seen at once. Six would be almost scary! Especially, if they were going to town, or the woodshed, on your deck.
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