Birds and such.

I promise I didn't forget I had a blog...I've just been busy writing other things. Important things. Like lesson plans. And exams.

I've been doing a lot of reading, too.  Mentally translating a 197 page pdf about the science fair into English.

Rainy season is in full swing.  Most days it doesn't rain until the afternoon.  But when it rains, it pours, and it doesn't stop.  I understand the water cycle, don't get me wrong, but it still puzzles me how MUCH, how HARD, and how LONG it will pour.  Sometimes it is 5 hours of non-ceasing rain.  It just amazes me that the clouds don't run out of rain! 

All this rain means that I had to take my hammock down.  I really miss it, but I'm not going to lie in it with the rain.  

What I most love about the rainy season is, well, it's a toss about between waiting for the bus on the mornings when last night's rain hasn't stopped and drying my clothes on the line.  Something that's even cooler is my water. (pun intended)

At least I have my paisley boots to get me through...

Something I do really enjoy about the rainy season is the parrots.  Yes, real, live parrots.  And lots of them!  I already knew I had a great yard in the house that I rent, and have greatly enjoyed my monkey watching.  Within the past week, I traced the new squawking sound down to one specific tree in the yard.  It took me a while to find it, because the bird was lime green and camouflaged itself with the tree, but once I spotted the parrot I was amazed!  I kind of just stood in the yard staring up at the tree for a good 5 minutes, and the harder I concentrated, the more parrots I found!  After a while they started to fly away, and I realized that there were at least a dozen of them hiding in that tree!  Now every day around 5 pm they come back.  And I listen, and stare.  

one of my parrot friends

Also, in the past month or so I found a new favorite bird.  It's just so beautiful, brown and teal- just like my bird tattoo and the birds painted on my wall at home--except this is the real life version.  The tail feathers are very unique.  It took me a while to get a picture of this bird because I first spotted it while relaxing in my hammock and I never had my camera in my hammock.  This bird is super fast, which made it even more challenging to snap a photo.  Finally I got a few though:

love how the tail feathers fluff out at the end

As I appear to be on a role with the bird theme here, I may as well continue.  My friend and I saw this beauty while waiting for the bus on Thursday morning.  Neither one of us had seen this fellow before.  The strange thing about this bird was that he was just hanging out perched on the grass.  He was flitting around the grass like a hummingbird.  

Speaking of hummingbirds, I just have to post this picture I got of one of the hummingbirds I saw at my house.  They are not as much as a rarity, but I like this picture, so I'll share.  Took this right from my porch.

I think I need to get myself a bird book and a pair of binoculars...

In other news, I'll be in the USA in 21 days...three weeks! Yay, it's finally getting close.