Plan B for this summer

The rain continued to pour down this morning as I was assigned to rove.  I must say that unlike yesterday afternoon, there weren�t any people on Swamp Island Drive this morning in the rain.  We�ve had enough rain in the last two days that I was reluctant to drive down any of the sandy unpaved roads.  There were deep puddles everywhere. 

You can tell by these two pictures of a turkey vulture just how dark and overcast it was.  This bird was trying to dry off its feathers, but wasn�t having much success.  I figured my rove time would be pretty much a flop as far as seeing any wildlife at all, but I was wrong.

As I made my way around the loop and back to where I had started, a bunch of little birds flew across the road.  One stuck around, so I lowered the passenger�s window and got my camera into my hands.  Low and behold, it was a brown-headed nuthatch sitting on the branch of a dead tree.  If you look carefully, you can see an old woodpecker hole to the left of the nuthatch.  I noticed this hole early on in my time here, and wondered if a chickadee or titmouse might use it to nest in once spring arrived.

I never expected a brown-headed nuthatch might use it.  They are usually so high up in the pine trees.  As I sat there, this little bird hopped in and out of the hole and was giving me a vocal thrashing for not moving on. 

I know the pics are a little dark, but that�s the best I can do under low light circumstances.  I have to use a shutter setting of 1/1000 of a second to be able to hold the camera still enough to get a shot.  I have tremors in my hands, and holding the camera still is a real challenge.  That means I generally need sunny days in order to use the telephoto lens.  It made my day to make this discovery!  I moved on quickly, and won�t bother this bird very often, as I don�t want it to abandon the nest.

The rain stopped for a bit, and I noticed a short shrub beginning to bloom.  I haven�t figured out what it is yet, but I sure was wishing I had Jack�s macro lens to capture the raindrops on the blossoms.

The candy roots are also beginning to bloom.  The color of the flower is determined by the acidity of the soil, I believe.  These blooms look like they�ll be yellow, while I�ve found others that are orange.  The orange ones were next to those sundews that I posted on a previous post.

Since I turned down the opportunity to volunteer at the National Elk Refuge in Wyoming for the summer because they were looking for someone to work four days a week in the visitors center, I did send out my resume and letter of interest to another refuge.  That was plan B for the summer.  I will have a phone interview for this position this coming week.  It is at Tamarac NWR in northwest Minnesota.  Quite a change from the mountains, but I do love the northern woods and haven�t been there in seven years.  It�s the land of lakes and loons.  I miss hearing the eerie call of the loons.

I�ll let you know how that goes.  If I get the position, I�ll fill in the pluses of this location.  If I don�t get it, I�m just going to be a bum for the summer.  One way or the other, I�m going to enjoy myself.

                                                                              THE END!!

Thanks for stopping by� talk to you later,  Judy