A Different Kind of Mystery

I had a beautiful little sparrow foraging in my yard and I am not positive who it might be.  I was leaning toward it being a female white-crowned sparrow, given its size and head markings, but the streaky breast isn't right for an adult and it was far too early in the season for an immature to be scratching around for goodies. 

I've been consulting all the bird books and online identification guides I can get my hand on and have still not come to a definitive identification. I have considered the possibility that a swamp sparrow strayed a little from the wetlands and landed in my yard to snack for a few days.  
 

I have also considered that it may be a Lincoln's sparrow on its way north to nest. But I can't absolutely convince myself one way or another. The Sibley bird guide does say that they're closely related, so perhaps my inability to decide isn't without cause. 

Any birding experts or enthusiasts out there that can help me pin a name on this little cutie? It's a small bird - I'd say in the 5-6 inch range. 
 

Ducking and Diving

Usually, when I try to catch a picture of a bufflehead duck, I get a ripple of waves. 

Or maybe a disappearing rump as it dives into the lake. (I do love the spray of water droplets, though.)

I got really lucky with this pair, though. They were swimming and diving close to shore and that gave me a chance to focus a little faster than I usually do. 

They are such quick, active ducks that they're almost always underwater by the time I zero in on them. 

Piper was a perfect little sweetheart, sitting patiently while I watched them dipping and diving, as I snapped picture after picture. 

They were a delightful couple and I hope they weren't just passing through. It would be nice to see tiny bufflehead ducklings bobbing along with them. 

There weren't very many good pictures, even after all that, but I was quite happy to get a few passable ones. :)

Breeding Bunny Burrow

There will soon be baby bunnies racing around the neighborhood. 

Piper and I encountered this sweet cottontail gathering dry grasses to line her nest. 

Piper wasn't the only one entranced by her efforts. We watched for a long time and Madame Cottontail finally hopped off into the underbrush to burrow in for the baby bunny birth. 

More Morel Mushroom Madness

The morel mystery had quite a few sharp eyed readers. Nice hunting!

Also, I mentioned a morel print I had made a few years ago and mushroom lovers seemed to want to see it, so I pulled it out and took a picture. 

I apologize that it's not a perfectly squared up picture. I tried to photograph it from straight on, but didn't manage to get it quite right. Anyway, it gives you a pretty good idea. I wanted to have the morels just a little bit hidden the same way they are in the wild, so they're tucked into the leaf duff, grass and twigs. It was a fun and challenging carve. :)

Feeling Fuzzy

Piper takes particular interest in furry friends. She goes on point for rabbits and squirrels and would love to follow them on a merry chase. I walk along beside her as she carefully stalks them, step by cautious step. 

Every now and then, they'll stay still long enough for me to snap a photo before they duck for cover or perch high enough in a tree to foil a curious canine. 

The rabbit looked particularly fuzzy, since it's shedding its winter coat and putting on sleeker wear for the warmer months ahead. Piper also sniffed out a couple of bunny nests lined with shed fur to keep the little buns warm. 

This black squirrel plowed through a spider's web on its dash for safety and got sticky silk and pine needles stuck to its head along the way. The pine needle just above its eye looks like an angry squirrel eyebrow. 

I thought we might have had enough feathers, flowers and fungus for a few days, so it seemed appropriate to give fur a turn. :)

A Minor Mother's Day Mystery - Mapped

Here's the clue from yesterday, if you missed it - or so you don't have to toggle back and forth to check for the mystery's subject(s). 

The subject in question at the moment is close to the middle of the picture. Not quite perfectly centered (there had to be a little photographic balance, after all). And there is more than one, but the others will be frustratingly elusive from this angle. 

Every year, our family would spend Mother's Day weekend wandering around out in the woods looking for treasure. It was a search to rival any Easter egg hunt and we children had as good a chance to make great discoveries as our parents, since our eyes were lower to the ground and provided an excellent vantage point. 

This is the one you should be able to spot in the mystery picture. I tried to get another picture at the same angle, so you can look for shape and shadow. It's the one that put me on alert. 

Once a little lower to the ground (children's eye level) in an effort to gather the first specimen, its friends were easier to locate. 

My brother and I harvested nearly two gallons of black morels in our afternoon of hunting, but a lot of crawling along on hands and knees through brambles was required to accomplish the feat. 

However, there's nothing quite like a pan of fresh morel mushrooms fried in butter for hors d'oeuvres as a reward for the effort. Yum!

I have made morel mushrooms the subject of one of my block prints, and it was fun to try to keep some of the mystery of the hunt in the final image. If anyone's interested, I can post a picture of it. :) 

A Minor Mother's Day Mystery

This little mystery is especially for BetsyLee (which, in itself, might be a dead giveaway). 

As always, you can click on the image to enlarge it. I left it as big as I possibly could. 

This is on my family's property and reminds me of the group outings we would always take on Mother's Day. The reveal will come tomorrow. :)

Happy Mother's Day!