How can one person be so lucky?

This week has just been amazing. My friend Dot has taken me to some of the most beautiful locations here in Louisiana for birding and the birds I have seen have been incredible. 

She is so full of life and doesn't let anything slow her down. I have offered several times to help carry her camera and equipment and she refuses any help, tells me it helps to keep her in shape. She's such an inspiration to be around. She's just like my friend Paul back home who turned 88 this week and is still active in so many sports with his dogs. Love them both to pieces!

And if you haven't done this after birding in Louisiana you didn't bird enough!

She took me out to a rookery where there were tons of Cattle Egrets, Little Blue herons and Anhingas nesting. 

I even got to see Little Blue herons feeding their chicks. That was so exciting!

Lots of babies wait patiently for the parents to come back with food.....

The Anhingas were in full breeding plumage and protecting their nest sites. 

Dot likes to get some action shots of me while out birding!

It rained almost seven inches in a twenty four hour period last Sunday, the water is high everywhere and the lakes and ponds are beautiful with tons of life in them if you stop and look!

We went into a property where there was a small dock on a pond and on our way out we saw a young mother with her little boy. He was playing in the water while she kept a watchful eye on him. The scene reminded me of a time long gone with my own mother taking me out with her to the coral back in Mexico and me running around trying to catch chickens. Different setting and decades apart but memories for a lifetime!

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!

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. 

No picture can do these little guys justice...

Dot and I spent a good ten minutes trying to get closer to get better shots of them...

I love old barns and this one just fills my head with possible stories that maybe I will write down someday!

So I ask myself again...   Why did I wait so long to do this?