Wednesday, March 07, 2007


Word of the Day:

quotidian \kwoh-TID-ee-uhn\, adjective:
1. Occurring or returning daily; as, a quotidian fever.
2. Of an everyday character; ordinary; commonplace.


I wanted to start off with this:

horned grebes maybe
Someone please put me out of my misery and tell me these are horned grebes.
Field marks that I could see:
Red eyes
A few of them had brownish-red washes on their chests

Red winged blackbird
I love red-winged blackbirds. Their songs were one of many from my childhood soundtrack. My parents' property has a pond of questionable depth, due to muskrats digging through the retaining wall around it. Red-winged blackbirds were a quotidian sight.


Shila, one of the "Witches of Whipple", took these photos at the Owl Symposium a few weeks ago. And I must say that the pic she got of me is heaps better than the one Jim McCormac took last week. I only have one "good side" and Shila captured it for the most part.
Check out our glamorous owls!
02-2007 192 copy
Our gray-phase screech owl. She needs a name.
She is calm and sweet and touchable. I usually have to pull her from the nest box in the mew and she gets sawdust all over her, and she doesn't mind when I brush it off with my bare fingers. Let's think of a name!
02-2007 155 copy
Big Momma (or Sylvester...it's unclear as to his/her gender)
I call her "good girl" when I go in to get her, and she doesn't seem to mind, so to me, she's a she.
02-2007 134 copy

02-2007 129 copy


02-2007 115 copy
Our red-phase screech...I have finally found a cute name for him: Rufus.
He never smiles.

Thanks, Shila, for sending these. Our owls look like models!

9 comments:

Mary said...

Susan, the description of my meetings with you each day are quotidian. You experience more in a day with those beautiful owls than anyone would have in a lifetime or never, for that matter. Oh, how I'd love to lift my arm with an owl perched, and communicating with them in a small way with eye contact...

OK - I'm too dramatic, I know! Get the hook out on me!

But thanks for sharing your world. The photos are wonderful.

Anonymous said...

That Great Horned Owl would make such awesome photo framed! I love the colors that you captured and the background is perfect! Ok, looking into your grebe and will comment on flickr!

Lynne at Hasty Brook said...

I'm with Mary- thanks for sharing your raptors with us! I would just love to see and hear one of your presentations.
BTW- you look gorgeous in your pictures. Your love and respect for your birds is reflected in your face.

Dave Dorsey said...

I noticed that also Lynne. You can tell Susan is enjoying what she's doing and the birds also. I would love to see one of her presentations also, and I see a lot of them from other people up here.

Susan Gets Native said...

Awwww, shucks, guys....
Mary:
Volunteer for that raptor center and maybe you will get to hold a bird on your hand and experience the thrill! (And just think how much blogginess you could get out of it!)

Tom:
I am seriously thinking of getting these printed. Didn't Shila make them look great? Thanks about the grebe thing...I can't decide if it's a horned or not. If I was on the west coast, I would have said it was a western!

Lynne:
You are so sweet. I am buying you dinner at Cape May for that comment.

Dave:
That is a big compliment, coming from you, you GHOST handler, you!
I do love these birds.

John B. said...

"Quotidian" is one of my favorite Latinisms, though I do not have many opportunities to use it. Blogging is a good place for the word, especially the way you and I practice it.

The word "quot" can be prefixed to any measure of time to mean "as many as." Thus "quotannis" becomes "annually."

And I agree with the others that your quotidian posts are a joy to read.

NatureWoman said...

I love red-winged blackbirds, too - can't wait to hear their song again!
Ohhh, I love the owl photos - they're so awesome, and I love "watching" you with them. I can tell that you're really into your job, and that's soooo cool!

dguzman said...

1. suggested name for gray screech: Hermione.
2. that red-winged blackbird soundtrack--I've never heard the ones on my marsh say "okalee" like the Stokes' guide says they do--what do yours say?

Julie Zickefoose said...

I'm thinking horned grebes, too! Boy, Shila took some nice shots--and that's a really nice one of you. She's the best.