One flu over..

The flu bug got me yesterday. It got me so bad that I wasn't able to join the traditional Sunday lunch with my kids and grandkids. With a heavy dose of cough syrup and cold medicine, I felt a little better Monday morning. Not that great, but well (and determined) enough to take on what Eaton Canyon had to offer on this bright, albeit cool, morning.

I don't know, but it seems like Hermit Thrushes had developed a certain kind of fondness for me. It was a Hermit Thrush that greeted me with a song as soon as I entered the grove behind the Nature Center. In the three hours that I spent at Eaton Canyon, Hermit Thrushes would always pop up, one of them eyeing me from almost arm's reach. It then flew at me, so close that I felt the wind from its wings only to land a few feet behind me continuing to give me a curious eye.

There is a place behind the Nature Center that I always refer to as the "Drip" because that's basically what it was..a faucet that was allowed to drip and form a small, shallow pool for birds to drink and bathe in. I spent most of the three hours just standing at "shooting" distance from there. My patience was rewarded by getting photographs of the shy and skulking (and quite uncommon) White-throated Sparrow and a lifer for me..Purple Finch!

White-throated Sparrow

Noonish and bird activity dropped somewhat. As I packed up my gear, I thought about what transpired the past three hours which seemed to fly by so quickly, and you know what? I felt a lot better... in more ways than one.