T Stands for Going on an Owl Hunt

       Hi everyone. Happy new week to you. And here's a big hello to everyone who stops by for T this week over at   Bleubeard's and Elizabeth's blog .

     Thanks for all your teapot comments. I'd forgotten about electric teapots. I used to have one when I taught school  because I had a good place behind my desk to keep it. It was always tasty to have a cup of tea (or 2) during the day. The kids used it too, so by the time I retired, although it still worked, the teapot had definitely seen better days. 

    So what's up with me? As some of you have already read, in the  early part of last week my husband ended up in the hospital for a night with a herniated disc in his back. Even though he was more or less recuperating all week (and he still is as it could take 4 to 6 weeks to completely heal), by the end of the week his pain was getting a little bit under control and with physical therapy, he was getting a little more mobile. We had some nicer weather by the end of the week too, and I needed to get out of the house, so I kept my walking plans. One of those days my friend Deb and I headed down to the shore and went on a Snowy Owl hunt.

   We were very optimistic because when we left on our mini-roadtrip  we had both seen bald eagles. I saw one soaring along the roadside while driving to her house, and she saw one near her house. In fact, when we were out we saw 2 other bald eagles. But sadly, I never was able to get any photos of  eagles.

   However, the Northern Harrier that is commonly seen at Salisbury State Beach Reservation (where we went) in Massachusetts was having quite the hunting day, and we spotted her several times. Most of my photos aren't that great, but a few aren't too bad. It's not that easy to get photos of birds in flight.

This one is a little fuzzy but I still  like it.

   For those of you who are bigger bird watchers than me, you probably already know that harriers hunt by flying low over the ground. And if you don't know that, it's an interesting way to hunt. That's what she was doing in those above photos. Later on, when we left, she was sitting not too far off the roadside and had collected a lot of human admirers.

   I took these photos on a 400x lens and then did a bit of cropping. Everyone was being respectful of the bird and giving her her space.

   Besides the excitement of seeing the harrior, we also took a 3 mile/4.8 km walk, watched the seals, and saw a few other birds.  But no snowy owls. 😞

   Still, it was a beautiful day to be outside, and it recharged me to go  home and deal with my patient. (I don't want to sound like it's miserable at home, because it's not. But between my husband getting sick of resting and between his sore back,  at times it's a bit challenging.😇😈) Here's a few other wildlife photos I took that day that  I like.

 a ring billed gull (older juvenile I believe) and below, some crows

some either fluffed-up or well fed mallards

and some seals lounging on some rocks and a sand bar

   After a fun morning out, we stopped for lunch on our drive home, and that's where my T day drink is from. We stopped at Seacoast Soups in Hampton, New Hampshire, and here's my bowl of chicken noodle soup as well as the Diet Coke I picked up to drink. I also had a piece of their homemade cornbread, but it didn't make the photo. You can see Deb's in the background though. 

   That's it for me this week. I hope everyone has a wonderful T day and week ahead.