Motel Miguel: Why did I wait so long?

Here I am at 4 in the morning making an entry into my blog because I woke up early again and just can't stop thinking of why did I wait so long to do what I'm doing. Twice this week I had car problems and comparing them to the wonderful things that I have done here in Shreveport since Monday they are minute and really don't matter.

I arrived at my friends Sarah and Nathan's home in Keithville, LA and was greeted so warmly by them along with their one year old daughter, their Greatdane named Thor and their mixed breed named Beauty.

Baby Nova loves water and Thor loves her and is always looking out for her.

Sarah showed me around Downtown Shreveport and there's so much beautiful artwork all over this city. This giant rooster is just out in an empty lot!

Old beautiful homes are being restored.

And I even think I had my first celebrity sighting. Isn't that Crazy Eyes from Orange Is The New Black driving this truck?!!!!!

I have also gone with my friend Dot to do some birding. She is such and inspiration to me after going out with her a couple of times. She is so full of positive energy and her enthusiasm just oozes from every bit of her body that one can't keep from being infected by it. Dot loves birding and has taken me to several places already and then she took me back to enjoy lunch on her little piece of paradise she calls home on Cross Lake.

Dot took me to the end of her dock and we just sat there enjoying the view. She knew she wanted to live here the rest of her life and bought her condo over twenty years ago. It is such a serene and peaceful place. We watched turtles sunning themselves on logs.....

We saw the baby Herons in their nest waiting patiently for the adults to bring them food.....

She showed me a nest where a female Bluebird is sitting on a clutch of eggs....

And she has taken me birding to see some absolutely beautiful birds that I would never have known about without her help. These are only a few examples.....

An Indigo Bunting

Cedar Waxwings were enjoying berries....

The Dragon flies are so beautiful.....

On our second outing she took me to the Yates Tract watersheds and I got to see several species for the very first time.

First summer White Ibis have the pied look with brown mixed in the white.....

The very secretive little Sora is hard to photograph because they hide in the underbrush as soon as they hear anything coming. I was fortunate to see where this one had landed and walked up very slowly and was able to get several shots of it.

We saw several Dickcissels.

She then took me to the Red River national wildlife refuge because she wanted me to see an Anhinga but we had no luck in finding them. What I did get to see was my very first American Alligator out in the wild.

As well as one of the, if not the most beautiful bunting we have in North America, the Painted Bunting. I not only saw the beautiful female but also the stunning male.