Gray catbird

Wednesday
This morning it was my turn to get my eyes looked at, but fortunately just for a regular check up! There had been some routine deterioration, requiring a new prescription, but more significantly, there had also been progression in cataracts, which he had told me two years ago were developing, but at that point nothing to bother about yet. However, this time, he said to make sure I see him next year, so I guess it’s getting more imminent! This time I also picked out prescription sunglasses, so the poor credit card took a hit today!
After a bit of lunch, and a chat with my brother and sister in law, we enjoyed a great birding walk at Gilmore Ponds MetroPark, a Butler County Park on the west side of town. It was a lovely sunny warm afternoon, and I made a new sighting, of a Gray catbird, as shown in my blip, and also an Eastern Phoebe (see extra), which I believe I have photographed once before, but it’s not one I see regularly. There was also quite a large and noisy rookery of cormorants and egrets, with a few Great blue herons thrown in too! It’s been a couple of years since we’d been, and in the meantime they have put in a paved multi purpose trail, which apparently some of the serious birders who’ve been going there for some time don’t like - they preferred the more natural grassy trails, which just took walkers, and are afraid cyclists are going to go too fast and scare birds off. But it’s not a long trail, so I wouldn’t expect it to be a problem.