Home and Back to Routine

We arrived back home to Elkton from our California trip on Wednesday. That afternoon and Thursday was pretty much a blur of unpacking, cleaning, and catching up with yard and house work.  Today began to feel more like a normal day, we started with a 6:30 AM bicycle ride with friends David and Joan who are both training for Cycle Oregon, then morning coffee with more friends at Tomaselli’s.  Jeanette had a doctor’s appointment, but I took Buster on his walk and my bird walk.  This is where the normal routine kicks in. Buster and I walked down to the city park and I checked on the Osprey nest, then we continued on out to the Elkton Community Educational Center to also check on the nesting Western Kingbirds and Bullock’s Orioles. On the way back we climbed down to the river to check out possibilities and spotted two Green Herons, one of which is shown in the above photo.  They are smaller than the more often seen Great Blue Herons and have a shorter neck and shorter legs.  They also don’t tolerate people as well and so it’s always a treat to get to see one and appreciate their beautiful coloring.  Ah yes, birding and routine, that has a good solid feel of normal.