Sunset Snack

I know I said we were going to Montezuma today ... and we did. But my favorite photo of the day was the cardinal in my vegetable  garden eating the ripe sunflower seeds off the plant. It was an interesting evening in the pool bird watching. Besides the cardinal ,there was also a song sparrow in and out eating the seeds and  the  female hummingbird ( who apparently likes Thai basil flowers!). But the fun birds of the evening were the two blue gray gnatcatchers bugging in the ash tree. That one is in extras because I overexposed the bird -wasn't paying enough attention and exposed more for the background. It is not the main photo also because it is cropped , and cropped , and cropped again . I was standing on the wrong side of the pool for that one. And once out of the pool two nighthawks went over, and a juvenile bald eagle. The camera was on the deck, and I was watering the garden . never , ever  go anywhere without the binoculars and the camera.But do I listen????
The other extras are from Montezuma, a common gallinule and and unidentified possibly female wood duck. there were a lot of male eclipse wood ducks around so maybe that is what this one is. But I am not banking on it. I am getting better with ducks but not the eclipse plumages. Anyway the cattails are taking over up there and we missed the shorebirds .Perhaps next year.