My New Friend

Meet my new friend... The Red Breasted Nuthatch. I've always had the White Breasted at my feeders but never the Red Breasted until this fall. I was so excited to see him a few weeks ago. Best I can tell I have about 3 of them visiting me. I was able to get outside this afternoon and get a few shots of him. I hope he stays around all winter.

We haven't had a very good fall weather wise. Cold and rainy! The nice days we've had have been few and far between. So consequently I haven't been able to get outside with my camera like I want to. In less than two weeks Craig and I are leaving on our long anticipated Eastern Caribbean cruise. I'm so looking forward to warm sunny weather and lots of photos of unusual birds on the islands that I've never seen before. Oh... I can hardly wait.

You gotta try this stuff

I just recently discovered "Yes to Carrots" products..... and I am hooked! I don't usually plug products on my blog but I had to pass this one along. Jordan used the shampoo at a friends house this past summer and came home raving about it. She looked it up online and encouraged me to order some for us. I wasn't in any hurry as I am used to buying my Suave at $1.49 a bottle. Yes to Carrots shampoo and conditioner is approximately $6.50 a bottle at Target. Well, we tried it last week and I think it will be hard for me to go back to Suave. If you want to treat yourself to something really awesome buy yourself a bottle of the shampoo and conditioner. The smell is wonderful and your hair will feel so soft.

They have many other products as well, including lotions, make-up, etc. Click here to view their website. I enjoyed the hair products so much that I just ordered some hand cream to try.

The Rivers Edge

You may remember this photo that I took and posted a few weeks ago from my visit to a local bird sanctuary. I also posted this photo on Facebook and a friend of mine from work (Yvonne) took the photo and did a drawing of it. I was pleasantly surprised to see the drawing this morning when I logged onto Facebook.

Yvonne is very talented. I wish I had some of her talent. She titled the drawing "The Rivers Edge".

Making the most of it....

Each time Jordan has a band competition I can't help but think.... "this is the last year". Craig and I not wanting to miss a moment of it.

The next 3 Saturday's are important MCBA (Michigan Competing Band Association) competitions, followed by state competition at Ford Field in Detroit on Nov. 7th.

Unfortunately, Craig and I will be missing the state finals this year because we will be on a cruise. We are thrilled to be going on a cruise but disappointed that the dates happened to coincide.

We are so looking forward to the next 3 weeks of competitions.

Bird Sanctuary Part 2

Following are additional photos from my visit to the Kellogg Bird Sanctuary last week.

Canadian Geese were very abundant.

Bald Eagle from their birds of prey exhibit. All of them had been injured birds that wouldn't be able to survive in the wild.

Mute Swans

I don't remember what kind of an owl this was.

Beautiful red tailed hawk.

This peacock was just wondering around the grounds like he owned the place. Beautiful bird!

Trumpeter Swans

Last Thursday I took a drive to the Kellogg Bird Sanctuary in Augusta north of Kalamazoo. I had never been there before and had wanted to visit it for sometime. At the welcome center a lady told me that there was a pair of trumpeter swans on the lake that had hatched 5 babies this summer. They were easy to spot. The babies are as big as the parents but not white yet. Their were other trumpeter swans there as well but this was the only family.

They were VERY entertaining to watch. The Momma and Daddy swan were very protective of their babies and didn't allow any of the other trumpeter swans to get near them.

They would do this very intimidating thing where they would aggressively chase the other swans. They would raise up and run on the water slapping the water with their webbed feet. You would be surprised how loud it was. And they would be honking away the whole time.

It was actually comical to watch.

The welcome center sells buckets of corn for the public to feed the birds so they were not really afraid of people. I was able to get some neat photos.

It was a very enjoyable visit and I'm sure I'll go again sometime. In addition to the swans there were many geese, ducks, and heron on the lake. There was also a section of caged birds of prey (owls and hawks) that was interesting to look at. More photos to follow of my visit in my next post.

New Side Bar Links

I'm in the process of reorganizing some of my side bar links and have added a new section of links to my favorite Nature Centers and Organizations. Enjoy!

New Look

I decided to play around with my blog background this morning. I found this great site with hundreds of free blogger backgrounds. If you are interested check it out.

Hot Bliggity Blog

Soup Supper 2009

For all our Eagle Lake Family and Friends.....