August 5

I slept in this morning again, like I do about 50% of mornings so far this semester. :) Today was a beautiful day with sunny skies and a high right around 60 degrees, so this afternoon I decided to go for a walk. I took along my bird book, my binoculars, and my camera, hoping to see new birds and catch some nice photos. I saw one new bird, brown quail. I flushed a covey of about a dozen birds when I was walking on this dirt path along the edge of a field. I explored a couple of paths off the main paved bike path that I usually walk/run on. I saw a decent variety of birds and was able to get some photos through my binoculars of several species, including crimson rosellas and red-browed finches. Usually when I take a picture of a bird through my binoculars, I try to hold my binoculars against a tree or some other support to steady them. Somehow I managed to get some decent pictures of the red-browed finches today even though I hand-held my binoculars. My arm got tired, but it was worth it for the pictures I got. I'll include a few bird pictures in today's update. :)

After I got done with my walk I came back and changed to go for a run. One of the tendons in my thigh was sore again for the first couple of minutes of my run, as it has been for the last two times I've gone running. After a couple of minutes, though, it had loosened up and the rest of my run was fine. Overall the run felt great. It was a little warmer than the past couple days when I ran, it was the perfect temperature for shorts and a t-shirt. Only eight days until the City to Surf race in Sydney!