Additional Benefits

I bird everyday.  In fact I would be the first to admit I'm probably addicted to birding. But besides the enjoyment of  watching, identifying, and photographing birds, there are some additional benefits that are of importance.  Easily reconized is the health benefit of getting outdoors daily and getting some exercise.  In the process of birding I normally walk several miles, and it is in the great outdoors with lots of fresh air, and at very safe social distances.  Often my quest for birds is diverted by additional wildlife sightings, which brings me great joy.  Below are three examples of mammals I noticed while looking back on the first half of this month.

Here is a Black-tailed Deer (Odocoileus hermionus) I saw on Friday morning, June 12th. It was on the Rickreall Creek Trail right in the City of Dallas. It seemed little concerned with my presence.

 

While looking for birds here in the Dallas Retirement Village on June 7th, I noticed this Eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) busy looking for extra sunflower seeds.

This was a suprise find on June 1st while looking for Wood Ducks in the Monroe City Park, a Northern River Otter (Lutra canadensis).  Notice it has a crawdad in its mouth.