Friday, November 30, 2007

In the right place at the right time...four times.

Oh, what a day I had. OMG.
First, at home, I caught these pictures:


Nellie the dentist

Hooper in mid-yawn, and Nellie getting all up in his grill. I'd love to hear what CuteOverload would do with this one. Jeez, Hooper...you need to brush more.

And a blue jay BANZAI !

Blue Jay Banzai !
I knew this blue jay was about to take a leap into space, so I waited with my finger on the shutter button.


Later, Lorelei and I went out to Indian Creek Wildlife Area, a very nice, usually birdy place.
We walked and walked, but the only birds we saw were blue jays and cardinals. I was rather disgruntled, because I could have stayed home for that.
Just as we were getting into the car, I heard a rattling call overhead.
I turned and saw this:






A flock of about 75-100 sandhill cranes, heading southwest, right over our heads. Not a lifer for me, but definitely a lifer for Lorelei (I have decided to keep the girls' life lists for them until they are old enough to do it themselves.) But what a nice view of them...I saw two sandhills up at Ottawa NWR years ago, but that was a poor look through sad binoculars in the rain.

And THEN....
It is Isabelle's turn to have a sleepover at my Mom's, so we headed over there after school
Mom lives in a very rural area, and my attempts to call in owls at our house haven't been successful, so I gave it a try at Mom's. She has seen screech owls there before, so I played a screech owl call out into the darkness behind her house. In about 10 seconds, I heard a response from the back of the property. I ran in and got Mom and she got to hear it too.

I went back out and tried again....and this time, a screech owl swooped into the faint light near the house and I nearly wet myself.
Now, THAT'S a life bird. I have released them for RAPTOR, and I work with them on a daily basis, but this was my first real, countable wild screech owl.
WHOOT!

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Fantastic sightings, Susan. That video was fantastic. And, calling in owls -- wow!

NatureWoman said...

Congratulations Susan!! Woo Hoo for you!!!!! Are you going to do a video for us on how you call in owls?

Mary C said...

Hi Susan - isn't that a wonderful experience to watch those beautiful and graceful birds in flight? I hope you and your girls get the opportunity to visit one of the wildlife refuges (like Bosque del Apache) to watch thousands of these birds flying out of the fields in the mornings and watching them fly back to the fields at night. It is so cool.

entoto said...

What a fantastic day. On what did you call the owls in?

Mary said...

Knowing you, I'll bet your heart flipped. WOO-HOO!

Video is cool - you are cool.

dguzman said...

Awesome! did you do this with a birdjam or what? I should really try it in the little woods across the road from me. I'd probably almost wet myself too if I actually called in a little owlie. Wow. You rock, man.

Julie Zickefoose said...

Oh, Susan,

I've been at the Platte River and Bosque del Apache, and your video just raises the hair on the back of my neck, it's so beautiful. That is one huge honkin' flock of cranes!! My favorite part is Lorelei's sweet voice. Amazing capture, girl!