Impossible Things before Breakfast

“Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast”
– Lewis Carroll

I dare anyone to do what we did this morning before breakfast and be in a bad mood. It's an impossible thing.

When just barely awake – and not quite functioning properly – Ed invited me out for a morning of birdwatching around Farm Dover. The day was perfect. Not too hot; not too cold. A gentle breeze; warm sun on our faces. Most of the trees have yet to leaf out, making birds easier to spot.

For every bird we saw, we heard dozens of others. Sitting still and quiet, we spotted one or more bluebirds, eastern towhees, brown thrashers, common yellowthroats, red-winged blackbirds, cardinals, wood thrushes, goldfinches, tufted titmouse, quail, doves, blue jays, turkey vultures, mockingbirds, robins, starlings, cowbirds, tree swallows, woodcock, and numerous litle brown sparrows and finches that wouldn't sit still long enough to identity.

I don't have a camera with a large enough lens to capture our sightings for you. But here's a sampling of what we saw.

Eastern towhee from http://fcmn.sharepoint.com/

Bluebird from http://www.dec.ny.gov

Common Yellowthroat from http://commons.wikimedia.org

Wood thrush from http://www.conservewildlifenj.org

The one bird I was able to photograph was a mama woodcock. We stumbled upon her nest last week while walking through our front field. She flushed from her nest and I was able to snap a photo of her spotted eggs.

From behind the front fence, I've been checking on her every day this week and I think she has gotten used to me looking for her. Today, I was able to get a bit closer and take a photo of her, happily tending to her eggs.  Look closely. Do you see her?

After our morning out and about the farm, we headed in for breakfast. We were both in good moods – impossible not to be.