Our Vacations, Thy Creations, and Our Relations- Part 6

I'm all for traditions. One tradition we have when we visit Oregon, even if we don't do anything else except chill, is going to a nature trail near where my parents live. The first time Jeremy and I went, we saw turkeys in the trees and a green heron, which was exciting as I had never seen one before (that I knew of). Since then, it's been tradition to look for green herons there and we see them every time.

Last year I took all the kids out to the nature trail. Some of them had more fun than others. This year Jeremy, Nichole, my brother, and I went. 

We saw several green herons, of course. We also got a new to us bird. I hadn't even heard of this bird before- wrentit. They have the fluffiness of a bushtit and a tail like a wren.

I really do love getting out in nature and enjoying God's creations.

There was one point where Nichole and I had to head back for something we dropped and we saw a turtle walking along the path like us. It was so fun to see. By the time we came across it again, it had turned around and was headed through the bushes back toward the water. Heh heh.

We saw plenty of turtles and we even saw a muskrat who decided to get out of the water.

I love morning birding (and nature watching in general). I also love celebrating. We celebrated Drop a Rock Day and Eat Beans Day on July 3.

I'll share more of our wonderful vacation later.

Hugs and Squirrels and Ducks

January 21 is National Hug Day.  It's also Squirrel Appreciation Day.  There was hugging going on in our home today.  I didn't get pictures.  There was also squirrel appreciating as kids were watching Slappy the Squirrel on Animaniacs.  I didn't get pictures.
This evening, Jeremy and Jr. went to Salem Pond to see some birds- especially different kinds of ducks.  They got pictures.
We identified some new for us species and Jeremy and Jr. saw a bald eagle and a muskrat.

 

 Redhead and Canvasback

 Lesser Scaups and Ruddy Duck