Eastern Phoebe

Wow! I'm almost caught up! Can you believe it?!

This post will be a little 'all over the place', since I neglected to write about, or chose to save until later, a few smaller events and outings that got 'weeded out' in favor of the bigger ones.

First of all there was the 'Hidden Oaks First annual mini-pot Gumbo Cook-off'!

Since a lot of people stayed for the long-weekend after the New Years celebrations, the park's owners thought of some fun activity to entertain everybody, and came up with a Gumbo cook-off.

Which was a good call because it was a chilly  day and some nice hot gumbo would be just what the doctor ordered!

 

We didn't enter but James was 'allowed' to stir one of the pots ....

People do take their gumbo serious here and everyone has their own secret family recipe.

We were a little puzzled by the mini-pots and were really bummed to learn, that these little pots are used solely in competitions, (yes, there is such a thing) and are for judging purposes only, so nobody but the jury gets to eat any Gumbo!
Oh well!
The winner at least got to take this trophy home ... and the honor, of course ...      

 

OK, like I said, this post is a little bit of everything, so next up are a few pictures of our new 'home' golf course, the Hammond Golf Center:

It's a small, 9 hole course, with 7 par-3's and 2 par 4's, has a driving range and putting area, and a ridiculously cheap family membership rate of $70 per month!

For us, on the other hand, it's FREE, because James bartered the fees (and some golf lessons by the golf-pro!) for some work that needs to be done around the place.

 

As you can see, the cart and tool shed needs some fixin'-up!

It's good that he likes to 'do something'  because I think this will keep him quite busy in his spare time this winter !

Other than golfing in Hammond, we also visited the town, which is actually rather cute and quaint, and has a cafe that serves strawberry beignets!

Also not too far from us are a couple of other small towns that are really nice. 

One of them is the pretty town of Mandeville, right on the North shore of Lake Pontchartrain, with beautiful tree-lined streets, and is a favorite get-away town for the jet-set of New Orleans ...

There's not really a town center but, especially in the weekends, people flock to the (expensive) restaurants and cafes on the lake-shore boulevard to people watch, (and been seen) and stroll alongside the lake.

  

The houses here are just gorgeous, and very expensive, and are all build high on pillars .... as we know now from experience, it DOES flood around here!

If you're really 'well-to-do', you have a lake-view house .....

 

That's Lake Pontchartrain, by the way, and if you look closely you'll see the Causeway there on the horizon, ... not a bad view, I have to admit .....

Now since I've had so many other things to write about, I've sorrily neglected my birds, so I'll make up for that right now!

I've taken a lot of bird-pictures since we arrived here, but I've noticed that the last couple of weeks there are less and less around. I guess Louisiana isn't south enough for some, and they must have continued on to the 'real' South America for the winter.
Anyhoo, of all the birds that fly around here, the most flashy ones are definitely the woodpeckers. This must be some sort of woodpecker haven (or heaven) because so far I've seen 4 different ones!
 

First up, above, a Red-bellied Woodpecker, and, below, a juvenile Red-headed Woodpecker on the left and an adult one on the right ...

       

The next one, although technically not a Woodpecker but a Sapsucker and a member of the same family, is the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker ...

He was just hammering away, so his head is a little blurry ...

And last but not least, the Pileated Woodpecker. This guy is huge, up to 18 inches!

What a beauty!

It's funny how birds can be rare in one area, and than somewhere else you come across a whole bunch of them!

 

I'd only seen one of these Cedar Waxwings before, (actually this summer, in South Dakota) and almost couldn't believe seeing this whole flock! Wow!

         

I always approach the Bayou behind our RV with caution, and as quiet as possible, and one morning I was rewarded by coming upon this beautiful bird. 

It's an Anhinga, or Snake Bird. How stunning!                               

It got the name Snakebird because it has a habit of swimming with just the head and neck showing, just like a Watersnake.
Since it lacks oil glands for water-proofing it's feathers, it has to dry it's wings after each dive/swim.

       

This is actually a female, the male are all black.

Although the big birds are of course very impressive and 'in your face', I am a sucker for the little guys, as in that cute Phoebe at the top of this post, or this little Carolina Wren ...

Or what about this next sweet little thing? Beats me why you'd want to name it a Brown Creeper, but someone did ...

 

Like I said, overall, the numbers are a little down at the moment, (and understandable, because it has been around freezing for the last couple of mornings) but  among the ones that DID hang around, are large flocks of Red Robins:

I caught a few taking a bath last Sunday, in the puddle next to the RV.

This one especially didn't take half measures, he really went for it, so funny!

Well, that about sums it up for the birds at this time. I've got a few shots of Cardinals and Jays, but they're not quite sharp enough to my liking, so I'll keep after them until they do.

Until than, here's a few shots of some of the Live Oak Trees here in the Park ...

These trees are just so awesome, I can't get enough of looking at (and taking pictures off) them!

In itself they're ginormous and beautiful of-course, but on top of that, they're overgrown with fuzzy small ferns and draped with long, flowing strands of Spanish Moss ....

 

Can you get it any more 'southern' ....?

Let me end with these three little guys, (I bet they're all from the same, this year's spring, litter) I saw soaking up some morning rays, after a really cold night last week.

Must be nice to call these beautiful trees home ...

Add to Anti-Banner