Living among the duckweed

September 16, 2015 / Rebecca / 2 Comments

Some of the flora and fauna living around the duckweed at Reelfoot National Wildlife Refuge

“It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty; the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living.” ~David Attenborough

Juvenile Northern Cardinal

September 1, 2015 / Rebecca / 5 Comments

“So curiosity, I think, is a really important aspect of staying young and youthful.” ~Goldie Hawn

Waiting to be fed

August 20, 2015August 22, 2015 / Rebecca / 3 Comments

A mother cardinal built her nest right up against one of the windows of our back porch. One morning, I was able to get a few pictures of the hungry baby birds waiting for the Mom to return with breakfast. The quality of the last picture isn’t good, but I really like the expression on the baby bird’s faces as they wait for her to return (and keep an eye on me).

“I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning.” ~J. B. Priestley

Sitting on a cattail

August 6, 2015 / Rebecca / 4 Comments

Recently, while driving down a road near the Mississippi River levee, I spotted this bird sitting among the cattails.

“A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn no other way.” ~Mark Twain

Mourning Dove

July 8, 2015 / Rebecca / 2 Comments

“We must combine the toughness of the serpent and the softness of the dove, a tough mind and a tender heart.” ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

Preening and Sunning

July 7, 2015 / Rebecca / 4 Comments

One day while I was sitting outside enjoying some beautiful weather, I noticed this cardinal as she carefully preened her feathers and then very meticulously fluffed and spread out her wing and tail feathers to soak up the sun. She sat so long with her feathers opened out that at first I thought she must be hurt. But it turned out that like me, she was just taking advantage of a lovely sunny day.

“Sometimes, in a summer morning, having taken my accustomed bath, I sat in my sunny doorway from sunrise till noon, rapt in reverie.” ~Henry David Thoreau

Fleeting beauty

June 17, 2015 / Rebecca / 3 Comments

While walking around the boardwalk at Reelfoot Lake State Park, this little warbler darted in and landed on the hand railing about two feet from where I was standing. It gave me a good scolding, and before I could get my camera poised to take a picture, it quickly took off to the shelter of a nearby tree. I waited around a while in the sweltering heat and humidity, watching it briskly hopping about from tree to tree, hoping to get a good photo. Disappointingly, I only ended up with a distant shot of its back before it eventually faded into the faraway trees and was gone. Still, I felt lucky to have seen this beautiful little bird and to have enjoyed its cheerful song that was called out so clearly to another warbler concealed in the woods nearby.