Return to Green Lake

Because the winter weather has been so dreary, my standards for "willing to go outside" keep dropping, all the way from "must be sunny and clear" down to "well, it's not raining yet."

So this morning when I looked outside and saw nothing but clouds, most of them of a gray hue, I just shrugged, tossed Truman in the Wienermobile, and headed out.

I decided to revisit Green Lake Park, not so much for the birds, but for the exercise.  I need to improve my comfortable walking distance, and at just about three miles, the loop around the lake is perfect practice.

The birds were there, too!  The very first ones I saw as we entered the park were the not-so-common Common Redpolls in the birches.  I thought, "Great.  It's gray, there's very little light for good photos, and they're way up high again."  Then lo and behold, a few of them dropped down to the lower branches right at the same time when the sky lightened a bit -- hurrah!  Decent photos!

A little farther along we had a lovely view of an eagle:

Truman refused to walk most of the way.  I think he did about a quarter-mile.  Here he is ignoring the coots:

The cormorants took over the swimming dock:

There were still wigeons about, though not so many as on our previous visit:

We found a dry bench about two-thirds of the way around, and had a nice rest.  Well, I had a nice rest -- I doubt Truman needed it, since he wasn't doing any exercise to speak of.

A lovely outing, though someday I hope the sunshine returns!