Despite the threat of rain this morning, we headed out to Fabyan Forest Preserve in Geneva anyway, but not before stopping at Jamba Juice to try their new coladas first (they were ok, but not worth the normal price of $4.25 (I had a coupon so they were only $2 each)).
Apparently there was some type of run/walk for cancer at the preserve, so it was a little crowded, but it didn’t stop us from seeing some real cool birds. We even saw an owl! Make that two! We’ve been lamenting for over a year how we never see any owls in the wild so when I spotted a Great Horned Owl way up in a tree we were thrilled. My biggest zoom lens was no match to the distance, and the fact that the sun was behind him, so this was the best I could capture.
As we were scanning the tree-tops for more owls, an Asian man with the biggest zoom lens I’ve ever seen (seriously, it had to be over 1000mm), approached us and pointed out another owl nearby. This one was smaller and brown, which based on my research was likely an Eastern Screech-Owl. He was too far away to photograph, but I used my binoculars to get a look at him.
We also saw several birds we haven’t seen before, including a Barn Swallow, what might have been a Baltimore Oriole (but it moved too much to tell for sure), and a cute Yellow Warbler. Unfortunately I was only able to capture photos of the first one.
After our birding adventure we scoped out some garage sales but didn’t buy anything. Going to garage sales always sounds good in theory but I end up getting burnt out on them super quick. They almost never have anything I’m interested in.
For lunch we stopped at Red Robin because we were both craving a burger. I can’t get enough of the Banzai burger and their spicy ketchup is awesome. Honestly, I think it’s just Frank’s RedHot Sweet Chili sauce mixed with regular ketchup. I hope so, because then I can whip it up at home!
We stopped at the library to grab a couple of movies and then the tailor to pick up my jean shorts. When I was going through all my jeans awhile back I put aside two pairs that fit fine in the waist but were just too short. I dropped them off at the tailor on Monday and asked if she could make them into shorts for me. I’ve wanted jean shorts for awhile but it’s so hard to find any that fit me and I do not like the short cut-offs where it feels like my butt cheeks are on display. I’m happy to say the shorts came out perfectly. They fall just below my knee so I can either wear them that way or cuff them twice so they are right above my knee. Having these shorts will make it much easier to choose outfits in the summer since everything goes with jeans but not everything goes with black shorts (my summer staple for several years).
All in all it was a fantastic day!