Marching into Spring with the Super Moon!

Hey everyone!  I am so thrilled to be able to say that I have a new camera!  It feels so good to have a decent camera glued to my neck again! 

I went to the city forest for the first time with my camera (and dog) today to see what I could find to photograph.  On the walk in I saw LOTS of woodpeckers in one tree!  On the walk out (these walks are on the road walking to the city forest) I saw and heard lots of Redwing Black Birds and Lots of Robins were out and about worming.  According to my photos, there were a few Starlings out as well. I saw a woodpecker, but again no one really wanted to cooperate with a photo op today.  I got photos of a sparrow in a tree at Walmart.  As usual, my dog got photographed a lot.  Can't help it!  She's so pretty right now with her fluffy coat!

Even though none of my bird pictures were really worth posting, I am posting some only because these are my first few pictures with my new camera.

The best photographs taken today were of the Super Moon!  I got a late start of it, but I did get to it (having to walk all the way down to the waterfront- it was a long day so it felt like a long journey) I got in a clear area and was able to get some amazing moon photos!

With out further fuss, here is what I have from today's venture:

Here are some photos of one of the woodpeckers.  As you can see, I couldn't really get a good angle and the bird didn't want to cooperate with the photo shoot at meal time.

We were excited that the snow had melted enough for us to walk through the field and down the hill to the city forest instead of walking all the way down to the parking lot.

This is Rosie's swimming hole (when it is warm enough).  There is still about 90% ice on the pond so swimming isn't even possible yet even if she were a polar bear.  I was shocked (and kind of pleased) to see that the pond washed out the road in that spot.  The pond has been overflowing there for quite a while and everyone was blaming it on those "damn" beavers (ruining our road through their home!)  Well, the cause was nature, but it "weren't no beaver"! 

I took Rosie's picture by this sign because we love this trail.  Last summer this was the trail we usually started on.  It is on the right just after you enter the woods by the stone wall onto the West trail.  The trail is off the beaten (or groomed) path, but there are no leash restrictions in place for any of the natural trails.

Rosie really thought she was going to play with this tree... I mean stick.




I took a picture of her clean fluffy coat expecting it to be all muddy and dirty by day's end.  It actually didn't get too bad at all.



"Go find the bench!"  West Trail, this stone bench was made last year.  It is the only one I've seen out here that has a carved out seat. Very nice!.

The Red-wing Blackbird didn't want to cooperate for a photo either.  He was too busy singing to pose for me.

The Robins didn't mind a few photos while they digged for worms and other tasty tidbits in the wet soil.

There was a tree full of Starlings

...and finally, the SUPER MOON!  The moon was at its closest point to the earth this evening.  At sunset we were to look at the horizon to the east for the oversized moon to rise.  It was pretty dark when I finally got to a place to take a photo of it, but these pictures really turned out super.

Great day, I just wish we had more time to walk in the woods, but I have been so exhausted lately I just couldn't leave early like we did last summer.  Bumped into a friend at the Walmart bus stop so this evening I was treated to Authentic Indian food!  He cooked it!  He gave me a bag to go with beans, peas and rice and pita bread (more like American flour tortillas but a tad thicker).  I don't know if he was being nice, but it really wasn't as spicey as I expected it might.

And this little swallow was in one of the small pines that were planted next to Walmart.  Looks like the same one that screamed at us from the Lupine around the corner where we cut across to get to Kitteridge road.