Sunday I made my trek down to the Refuge to see what had changed. Well, quite a bit, as a matter of fact! The first thing that happened was that I saw a road runner. The very first one I have ever seen. You don't know how long I have been waiting to see one in the wild. Unfortunately, it wasn't possible to get a picture of this bird, but it really made my day.

More areas are being flooded, and there are definitely more birds - especially ducks and geese at this time. I drove out to the lagoon, and walked out on the boardwalk. There was a cormorant...

All around the boardwalk in the water, were fish. I don't know what they were, but they congregated together, with their mouths in an "O" and almost looked like they were kissing. I tried to get a picture of them like that, but it didn't come out. However I did get a pretty good picture of one of them...

I noticed a new bird out in the water, who was diving and coming up about ten feet away. I knew loons did that, but this wasn't a loon. Then I noticed four of them, all over the lagoon, as well as a group of ducks which were hanging out together. Later I found out that the diving birds were Western Grebes...

Back in Matilda, I drove along the road admiring the landscape and the color. I came upon three artists, set up with their easels, painting the glorious gold aspens. I drove quietly by trying not to kick up any dust. Just down the road from them I came to a pond with lots and lots of Canada geese and various types of ducks - it was a beautiful picture...

The aspens are magnificent right now. I had to stop and just drink in the color...

Continuing on I noticed a movement off to my right, so I stopped and got out to see what it was. It was a deer, possibly a young elk, having his lunch and every once in a while lifting his head to make sure all was safe. I keep taking pictures, but most of them were the rump of the animal, but I was able to capture one, far away, of him with his head lifted...

I was approaching the area where last week I saw so many Sand Hill cranes. I had not seen a one on my trip around the refuge. But then I saw some along with snow geese, and a huge number of black ducks or geese...someone told me they may be scaups, - new to me!

As I was watching them I saw a coyote slinking away from the water...

Moving to a different vantage point, I parked up and walked up to what is called the Flight Deck, which was perfect for viewing the entire area. There were Sand Hill cranes, snow geese, various types of ducks and other waterfowl. And walking right up close to them, was the coyote, who was creating quite a frenzy among the birds, some of whom took off, flew around, and then came to rest at another point. The coyote gave up, and walked off into the wooded area, out of the sun and out of view. But I felt sure that he would be back!

Next week I am going to come to the Refuge later than 3:00PM, because the birds start coming in for the night, from wherever they have been during the day. This is such a fascinating place, and I am meeting all kinds of people, just to talk to and share what we have seen, and such. I am going to see if they can use any volunteers for the Festival of the Cranes coming up mid-November.

On a different note, I have been working on my William project (my Civil War uncle), henceforth called The William Project. For the past two days, I have been tracking and recording his movements. I want to make a "map" of the marches and battles he participated in. Today, I should be finished with that, and then go on to identifying place names, people, and words and phrases he used. As I told Phil yesterday, I think my work is going to take me two years or more to complete. This doesn't include the time I have already spent. I am thoroughly enjoying this project and I feel like I know him intimately.

I am reading FOUR SPIRITS, by Sena Jeter Naslund. It is about Birmingham, Alabama, during the Civil Rights movement, and includes the time when the church was bombed and four little girls were killed. They are the Four Spirits. The characters are black and white, and on both sides of the segregation issues. It is very well written focusing on six or seven main characters. Yesterday, while I was working on William, I heard the name Fred Shuttlesworth mentioned on NPR, and that he had died. I looked up from what I was doing and said to myself, "I know that name." And sure enough, he is one of the main black ministers of Birmingham, during the Civil Rights era. I had thought he was long dead. But I looked him up on Google, and there was his name and obituary. He died the 5th of October. He was considered the Black Moses of Birmingham. There are no coincidences.

Siobhan and Kat got me hooked on MAD MEN. I finally finished up all four years of shows this past Saturday. Thirteen episodes a year! I don't need a TV - I can stream most of the shows I like to watch, after they are shown on TV. I also can stream NPR shows, and Netflix movies. Life is good!

A hui hou,
I love you all,
Sally