Where is your favorite local spot? A local brewery. A fishing hole or birding spot. A restaurant where you can sit at your corner table. Sitting trailside on a fallen log. Standing on a hilltop with no one else around. There is joy in visiting your spot time and time again. You see it change and at times it seems to remain the same. While some spots have been off limit for us to visit, due to safety protocols requiring us to maintain physical distancing, we are finding ways to visit and be safe and/or to support small and large businesses. There is hope for all our local spots to be as they once were … a time where we used to talk with our friend at elbow’s length whether at the bar, pond or restaurant table. Let’s stay vigilant so we as a world can be healthy sometime soon in 2021 and get to our local spots again and see each others smile!

My latest local spot was visited again, Agua Caliente Park. The usual great egret, pied-billed grebe and ring-necked duck were present, but I had a surprise visitor! This bird is a new one for my life list: a non-breeding, male hooded merganser. So, go visit or support your local spot and who knows what newness you will discover! Make it a great day!