There's no place like my 2nd home (Part 2).

There's no place like my 2nd home (Part 1).

There is a little section of the Southern Gulf Coast that is like another home to me. My heart yearns to return there every year, and when I do, I feel like I have returned to a piece of home. My family made the trip earlier this Spring, and it was delightful.

Flowers getting ready to bloom at the local zoo.

There was a lot of fog when we first arrived, but after it cleared away, we were left with a gorgeous sunset and beautiful surf.

Aahhhhhhh!

That's just a sampling. I'll share more later. Enjoy!

I'm being featured on I Heart Faces!

I couldn't believe it! I had to do a double-take! My photo (below) is being featured today on . . .

Hop on over to IHeartFaces.com to view this week's challenge: "Week 28 • I Heart My Country." Enter your own photos, and view the other participants' photos. There's so much talent in this vibrant community!

I took this photo several years ago on either the Pentwater Beach (Pentwater, MI), or the beach at Ludington State Park (Ludington, MI). The gulls were all lined up so perfectly, and although the day was overcast, the sky had a fun dull-blue hue. I love the red of the roof against the sky, too.

Our ducky friends

We were extremely surprised to look out our sliding patio door last week and see mallard ducks under our bird feeder! We live near some little water ways, but don't ever have ducks up near our apartment. They must have heard that we put out the good stuff. *smile* It was an overcast/rainy day, and I promise I didn't adjust the color of these pictures. The grass really looked that green. I actually had to burn the edges on a couple of these to tone it down.

It was all-too-sweet, because the male kept watch while the female ate. He was taking care of her! He was making sure she got them meal she needed to take care of their little ones. Not once did he eat. He just kept a watchful eye.

At one point, something caught both their attentions, and they stopped to check it out. I liked how their heads were cocked in the same direction. Aren't they pretty?

Can you see the rain droplets on his feathers?

Great Blue Heron

On a recent Gulf Coast vacation, we made a trip to Big Lagoon State Park, and encountered this Great Blue Heron on our walk to the observation tower. He must be quite use to people, because he wasn't all that startled by us. This was my first picture of him (above), from a good distance away. Then the second one (below), was actually quite close—closer than I thought he would let me get.

Then, he flew away. But, then I found him again (below). I was standing VERY close to him in this particular picture, snapping the picture with my left hand (not an easy feat with a chunky D90), and holding tightly to my squirming little 15-month-old in my right arm.

Grackle

What kind of name is "Grackle?" Poor bird! You see them all the time, and they make a slightly obnoxious sound, but why tag them with such a hideous name?

This guy was hanging around at the end of this dead tree in a park near where we use to live. I loved the way he was silhouetted against the evening sky, and I'm lucky to have captured him just the way I wanted to. He was backlit just enough to make him look completely black against the soft blue sky.

According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (my husband will be proud):

Common Grackles are blackbirds that look like they've been slightly stretched. They're taller and longer tailed than a typical blackbird, with a longer, more tapered bill and glossy-iridescent bodies. Grackles walk around lawns and fields on their long legs or gather in noisy groups high in trees, typically evergreens. They eat many crops (notably corn) and nearly anything else as well, including garbage. In flight their long tails trail behind them, sometimes folded down the middle into a shallow V shape.

Cardinal

Cardinal

(Cardinalis cardinalis)

Did you know that the Cardinal is the state bird for about seven states—including Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia? And that they're a type of finch? I love cardinals. I love when they are perched at the top of a tree on a clear day, and singing at the top of their lungs to the setting sun, whose rays are brightly displaying their bright, bright red feathers. I've always thought they sound a lot like a lazer gun. You know like you use to play as a kid? Pewwww . . . pew-pew-pew! They are indeed one of my favorite songbirds. There has been a pair of them frequenting our feeders, but the female has been a bit too elusive for me to capture. This studly male just sat there for a while belting out his favorite tune for quite a few minutes. I snapped 65-70 shots of him, but I think I liked this one the best. He was just showing off. :o) Don't you just love how red he is?

Sparrow in Winter

Although these sparrows are invasive, I couldn't resist taking a picture of this one as he posed for me in our Forsythia bushes. We just got about 2.5" of snow with this snow system that has swept the Southeastern US. I'll be getting out there today to snap some shots. I've been seeing a lot of birds landing in our Forsythia, and their not sticking around long enough for me to get some pics, because we're out of birdseed! Can you believe that? We have Junkos, Cardinals, Tufted Titmice, Crows, and Wrens flitting around in the beautiful white snow, and I can't get a good shot. Maybe today?