Friday evening around the path

After arriving, it didn't take too long for me to notice all the wildlife in the back yard and send Jack to get my binocs for me.  A pair of cardinals wanting attention, a song sparrow or two, and a groundhog(!) all were hanging out in the back yard.  Once I had them, I was quickly talked into taking the path around, so off I went!  :-)

The first bird of note was this white-breasted nuthatch, a first for me.  So pretty!  Later there were a pair of them by a feeder, they were pretty shy and snuck up on the feeder slowly.  A quick raid and they were on their way!

At the pond there were a bunch of swallows flying around showing off, being way too fast.  There were 2 kinds and one was quite a bit larger, so maybe those were purple martins?  The others had a light-ish looking underside.  Yep, that's all I got.  :-)  Couldn't get pictures, couldn't even get a decent look at the binocs.  This is clearly too advanced a bird for me, but I'll keep trying anyway!

There were also several doves around, hanging out in the trees with the robins.  Not a lot of sparrows, and the ones I saw were mostly song sparrows.  Weird how many house sparrows I see in the city, and I think I only saw maybe 5 here including all the times I went out.

At the pond this turtle was showing off its apparently recent trim job.  What is up with this guy?  I have never seen a turtle so..... overgrown, and yet so....... precisely groomed.  We called him Einstein Turtle.

It was really a nice start to the weekend.  :-)