The Songbird Festival is over!

I had one last tour to lead for the Songbird Festival this morning.  Each of the tours for the festival are scheduled for 4.5 hours.  That's a long time if things aren't going well.  :)  The tour today was right on, and we had fantastic views of both endangered species within 2 hours!  The remainder of the tour was just gravy!  Some of the folks had come to the festival for three years without seeing the black-capped vireo, so I guess you can say everyone was thrilled.  My only regret is that I didn't notice until well into the tour that one of the participants was truly a beginning birder.  I wish I was aware of that earlier so I could have spent more time with her.

This afternoon, I went to pick up Emma from the kennel.  She had a bath and her nails trimmed, so when she saw me her sharp nails really left a gash on my leg.  She sure smelled good, but of course, once we got home she immediatley rubbed her neck and chest in the dirt to get rid of all the prettiness!  :(

We spent the evening outside even though the temps were close to 90.  I think she's glad to be home.  She's now collapsed on the dashboard and snoozing away.

While we were outside, I, of course, had to take a few more pics of the painted bunting...

I'll be leaving in a few days, and I'm thinking it will be quite a while before I see this colorful bird again.

I also couldn't pass up this male Northern cardinal.

When I got back to headquarters after the tour, Deborah told me to take the rest of the day off.  Ha Ha!  I told her that I also planned to take the next few days off.  My work here is about done.  I have one last tour left on Thursday morning, and that's it.  The rest of the time, I will be getting things organized to get back on the road.

Thanks for stopping by....talk to you later,  Judy