For convenience’s sake, I use a smartphone to take my pictures, which means that their quality is not very good, and, since my phone is the most basic model, I have no ability whatsoever to take a close-up unless I can get within a few feet of my subject.  This makes nature photography pretty much impossible, particularly if my subject is a skittish deer or a bird perched at the very top of a tree.  Nonetheless, I do try to capture an image every now and then, when I just can’t help myself, like today, when I heard the spring peepers for the very first time.  They’re here somewhere, very loudly trying to find this spring’s hook-up:

Another loudmouth this time of year is the Red-winged Blackbird, which lords over the same wetland habitat along the Monocacy’s floodplain. I like listening to the Red-wings’ song, ranging from a harsh buzz to a liquidly trill, when they arrive in early March.  When I was a girl, I confused them with Orioles because of their flash of orange. Can you see the one singing at the top of the tree?

Yeah, I didn’t think so.

Although springtime distracted me today, I did manage to collect a few plastic bottles.  I’ve considered inventorying these by brand or type of drink (water, soda, juice), but, unless someone makes a special request, I’ve decided that this would be rather pointless.  So, for now, I just recycle them.