Early this morning–around 4:45 a.m.–I saw a shooting star.  And this afternoon–around 4:00 p.m.–I saw a Swallow-tailed Kite soaring overhead.  There’s something about spotting these two lovely things in the sky that fills me with joy.

To Westminster Woods to see Gram.  We saw a couple of Tricolored Herons:

Tricolored Herons

Earlier in the day, I had spotted a Red-headed Woodpecker alighting on a wood utility pole in front of Bolles, as well as three Tree Swallows sitting on electrical line running alongside the Julington Creek Bridge.

To Wesminster Woods to see Gram.  At the lake she saw a Great Blue Heron and an Anhinga, both on the wing.  Here’s the Great Blue Heron before it took flight:

Great Blue Heron

To Westminster Woods to see Gram.  There were three juvenile Tricolored Herons in the tree growing in the lake.  Here are two:

Tricolored Herons (juveniles)

And here’s a knot of three Tricolored Herons, where it looks like one of the juveniles has an adult in its beak:

Tricolored Herons

To Westminster Woods to see Gram.  The first bird we saw–almost immediately after leaving her building–was a Wood Stork.  It was standing at the edge of the lake, stirring up silt with one foot in hopes of scaring up a meal.

While we were on the observation deck,  two Green Herons were hanging out on the log in the lake.  What struck me about this pose was that both of them were dropping their left wings at the same time.  We didn’t see them fish, but we did see both of them bend to the water to drink water.

Green Herons

On the other side of the observation deck we spotted this Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

To Wesminster Woods to see Gram.  We took a spin by the lake, where I spotted four Tricolored Herons–two adults and two juveniles–in the tree that grows in the lake.

Here’s one of the adults leaving an unhappy juvenile behind in the tree . . .

Adult Tricolored Heron and Juvenile

And landing on a nearby log:

Tricolored Heron (Anhinga in foreground)

And here’s a Green Heron checking out a turtle on the same log:

Green Heron with Turtle

To Westminster Woods to see Gram.  I saw two Green Herons on the log in front of the observation deck.  Here’s one:

Green Heron

To Westminster Woods to see Gram, who had a bridge game.  Outside, I saw a number of Eastern Bluebirds:

Eastern Bluebird

To Westminster Woods to see Gram.  At the lake we watched this Green Heron nab a fish:

Green Heron

A pair of Downy Woodpeckers in our back yard this afternoon:

Downy Woodpecker (male)

Downy Woodpecker (female)

Here’s a link to activity at the bubbler this morning:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoGriw-CZZc

Finally, early morning as I was taking a walk in the next neighborhood over, I heard a strange honking noise.  I followed the sound, and found a peacock atop somebody’s roof!  The homeowner came out, shirtless and a mug of coffee in his hand, and explained that the peacock had shown up a couple of weeks ago.  He said that it wasn’t usually so vocal.  He also said it liked to roost about twenty feet up in an oak tree next to his house.