..."oh, oh... pick me! Pick me!"

In my head, that is what this Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum) was saying. Seemed like every time I looked up from my desk this morning, and again this afternoon, there he/she was. Naturally, Big Daddy was sitting right beside my desk, eager to please with some through-the-window close ups. So, there ya go - the fates decreed that it would be a thrasher kind of day.

I woke up this morning, after a 10 hour sleep feeling like a NEW woman - as predicted, the fatigue was gone and I was back to normal. Yay. It is a predictable cycle, which doesn't make it any less unpleasant. However, it's done until the next time I overdo. To celebrate, I took a nice leisurely stroll along one of my favorite wooded trails today. It was chilly, but nice. And, after a day of total inactivity, it was good to stretch my legs and breath some fresh air.

I decided to join my county bird club - big step since I don't always do well in groups with only being able to hear on one side. However, this group seems to do a lot of nature walks which is very appealing. In fact, they are doing one this Saturday morning from 8:30 to 11:30 with a couple of Audubon naturalists as guides - how cool is that? And, it is being done at Kittatinny Valley State park which is literally a 5 minute drive. This is the time of year when many migrant birds come through NJ (some staying for the summer and others continuing north) so it will be very interesting to have someone who can point out the different species either by sight or sound.

I am going to go out and have a look at my chickadee nest box and see if there are any eggs yet - after first making sure mom isn't in the box. Usually both parents are out foraging in the late afternoon, making it a good time to check the box. Haven't taken a peek since last week.

Thanks to all who've stopped by in the last few days - and forgive me for not being as quick with comments! Now that I am back to 100%, I'll be a better commenter!!

Happy Tuesday.

Breaking Chickadee news: I startled mom on the nest (exactly what I hoped NOT to do,) but when she left for a moment, I was able to see that she'd laid what looked like 6 or 7 eggs.l They are about the size of my pinkie finger pad - or at least so they looked with my little mechanics mirror quickly held in the nest.