A Walk in Crestwood Village

A Waste of a Perfectly Good Mask

I didn't have any enthusiasm for birding today but late in the afternoon restlessness got the best of me, so Shari and I took a walk through the internment camp from our house up to the retention pond on Stonybrook and back. You can find a surprising amount of birds in this little village. We had two Tom turkeys, an adult displaying to an immature male, as if to say, "This is my village, buddy, clear off," and over at the pond on Stonybrook we were surprised to see 5 hen Hooded Mergansers. That pond has been empty of waterfowl the last few times we passed by, not even a Mallard has deigned to swim on it.

My email in box fills up with rare bird alerts or with alerts of birds I "need" for the year. I don't go running for them. There are few places I'm willing to go and whatever is there is there.

Mostly, I want to get the steps in; it's good for your heart, good for your blood sugar, and, eventually, the endorphins do kick in--at least until you read the headlines when you get back home.

19 species

Hooded Merganser  5    

Wild Turkey  2

Mourning Dove  4

Turkey Vulture  3

Red-tailed Hawk  1

Blue Jay  1    heard

American Crow  1

Fish Crow  3

Carolina Chickadee  2    heard

Tufted Titmouse  1    heard

Northern Mockingbird  2

Eastern Bluebird  1

American Robin  3

House Finch  5

Song Sparrow  6

Brown-headed Cowbird  2

Common Grackle  3

Pine Warbler  2  heard

Northern Cardinal  4  heard