2 ticks, and some turtles

Thursday before leaving for class, these two mourning doves were relaxing on the edging of the landscaping by my feeders.

Mourning Dove Pair

There were also a few others, as usual, hanging around the feeders. I'm glad that there are so many because the house finches that visit the feeders seem to empty my feeders on the ground, while only eating the sunflower seeds. So the doves clean the ground up.

Mourning Dove

So while I was sitting in chem class going over our "practice test", I couldn't help but think about how short my songbird list was for the year. So after class, I was hoping to pick up a few species of songbirds in the DuBois area before going home to pack for my weekend trip to Pymatuning State Park. I had planned on starting at the Reservoir, and then going to the Laborde branch to check the flood plane and shrub scrub. When I got to the reservoir, it was empty. I figured that I would check the Anderson Creek end, where nothing turned up other than these Midland painted turtles.

2 Midland Painted Turtles

Midland Painted Turtle

Midland Painted Turtle with American Bullfrog

I was on my way to my second destination when I saw a Gray Squirrel run across the road on Anderson Creek Road, so I pulled over to shoot some photos. When I crept up behind the guard rail, I heard movement in the leaves. No squirrel, White-throated Sparrow.

White-throated Sparrow

Then a truck drove by and honked the horn. Which kind of annoyed me, but it flushed up a female Ruby-crowned kinglet, an other new tick for the year. So, thanks buddy!

Ruby-crowned kinglet

Female

 So while I was walking back to the jeep, I looked down and saw a female mallard decoy on nest.

I saw a few Red-winged Blackbirds at the reservoir causeway wetland. I had snapped a photo of a female at the wetlands on Platt Road earlier, and thought that I would get a few photos of the males and upload photos of both sexes.

Red-winged Blackbird female

Red-winged Blackbird, male

Red-winged Blackbird, male

Red-winged Blackbird, male

While I was shooting the blackbirds, it started to rain and I was running out of time to pack for the weekend ahead, so I ditched my songbird search at Laborde branch, and saved the plan for a nicer day.