Some days just turn out amazing!

This past week was filled with a lot of birding in NW Louisiana but yesterday, Saturday, May 16th turned out to be one of those days you remember for a very long time. It started out with my friend Dot asking if I wanted to go out on Cross Lake in a neighbors boat to Buzzard Island and do some birding. How can I turn that down?  I had never been on a boat birding so of course I said yes!

Dots neighbors, Henry and Rosemary have a party boat and are real nice people. They know so much about Cross Lake and I loved hearing about the going ons about it. 

Henry even let me take over the controls for a while!

Dot is such an amazing lady, so full of life and adventure. I love that she's taken to calling me sugar bear!

There's some incredible homes along the shore.....

But I love seeing the variety of piers on the lake. 

After spending the morning on the lake Dot took me to a home on the other side of the lake where the owners put out a ton of hummingbird feeders. You would have to see it in person to believe your eyes and the numbers of birds feeding in their garden. It gave me the opportunity to get some practice in taking their pictures. The only species that are in the area now are Ruby Throat hummingbirds. 

Afterwards we were heading home and I slammed on my brakes and pulled off the road to take a picture of a Red Headed Woodpecker. This is my first redhead and I love woodpeckers so even though it's a horrible shot from a distance, I can now say I've seen one!

When I got back home to my friends Sarah and Nathan home, where Motel Miguel is parked they asked if I wanted to go with them to the Alexandria zoo. I said yes even though it's two hours away and I had not had my nap, so I slept most of the way down. 

It did not rain on us down there but it was very hot and humid. Baby Nova loved running around the pathways and looking at the animals. 

She played with her daddy Nathan....

And her mommy Sarah....

That she got so tired and was ready to go home!

We left the zoo and headed back north because it was so humid that even the firefighters couldn't do much other than hang out.....

On the way home they wanted to stop in the city of....

Don't ask me how that is pronounced but it's beautiful here. 

She showed me where the Steel Magnolias home was. 

And some of the other beautiful homes in the area.  

After having some dinner here on our way home up highway 1 we pulled off into the Lock and Dam5 to see if we could spot any birds and wouldn't you know it I saw my first kingfisher out in the wild. It was a Belted Kingfisher. 

We were all tired by the time we got home and this is how my day ended!