Bootilicious frogs, cute piles of dryer lint, flutterbys, peek a boo BO, and dragonfly porn

I had a great day. And I love it when I can say that and mean it.
I had a program at the Loveland Castle today, for a homeschool group.
I think that my toe is whole, but it's jammed all to Hell and back.
The audience today was fantastic, the birds were well-behaved...and since I had Lorelei, Geoff met us at the castle and watched her while I presented.

Oh. By the way, I forgot to add this picture on yesterday's post:

Yep, they are doing what you think they are doing.
I'd like to see a human male get into that position.
Or maybe I wouldn't.

Okay, on to the cuteness...
I am so glad that Mom decided to drop Isabelle off at RAPTOR today. She has never been there, and today was a good day to see the birds.

Because we have a baby screech owl.
Go ahead. Soak that in.
Dryer lint has never been cuter.


Isabelle took MOM shopping yesterday, and talked Mom into buying her a Bug Habitat, complete with bug vacuum. She caught some little sulphurs and we released them in the back yard:

I love this picture.
It's not every day you get so close to a butterfly that you can tell the color of its eyes.


And I love this too:
I heard our little tree frog tonight, and I decided that it was time to meet the neighbor.
I took a flashlight with me, thinking that I would be able to find him by his eyeshine. Nope.
I moved the light back and forth, but I didn't even know what color I was looking for. They come in brown, gray and green. And all of those colors are in our Euonymus bush.
He doesn't mind when we are out there...he just keeps on singing.
So I narrowed down the section I heard him in, and then I saw a glint of frog-skin:

Tree frog booty. In all its glory.

I so wanted to reach in and pick him up, but I want him to stay and enjoy his visit.
So I only got pictures of his bee-hind. Well, at least now I know what color he is, and maybe I can find him again when he is facing out.
Isn't he cute, anyway? I could just kiss him.
But you know, I have kissed lots and lots of frogs...and I have my prince.

Freakin' OW

My Mom offered to have Isabelle sleep over tonight, so we headed over. The girls and I went on a quick nature walk (Mom's place is like a nature preserve).
We found this...stuff...on a tree near the pond.
I don't know where to research on the Web to figure this out. Fungus? Flower? Parasite?

Moth with a snout
(I have to get to a library...thanks, Nina... and get some field guides)

I thwarted a pair of HOSP by removing their nesting material from one of Mom's bluebird boxes. I showed the picture to Mom, and said, "Take that, you little ba*****s". And Mom said, "Awww...". I told her to buck up and not feel bad for them. You can't ALLOW HOSP to nest if you find one. Period.

Hackberry Emperor

And now, two quizzes...not for prizes, because I don't have anything you would want:

Can you spot Isabelle?

What is this?

After leaving Mom's, I took Lorelei over to Lake Isabella.
The indigo bunting was there to greet us. I swear, where have they been for the past four years? I never saw ONE until this year, and now they are everywhere I go!

A cute white guy with dark tick marks

The Little Miami always has something floating in it. But since the drought is upon us, the water level is very very low. This bunch of wood has been mostly under water until today. I was able to get close enough to photograph it.
"Colonial"? A boat? Outhouse?

Laura suggested a good website to me a while back for wildflower ID's, but every flower I find seems to be absent from the list.
This is growing where the water usually is...vast, spreading swaths of it.

And then, it was back home again...

The momma robin is still sitting, but it's getting close.
"Can't you see that I am invisible?!?"

Here's where the OW comes in...
I was walking the perimeter of the yard while Geoff lounged in the grass and Lorelei was on the swing. Nellie has a favorite ball that she takes out every time we go in the back, and I was kicking it for her to fetch. Now, Nellie has a very annoying habit of standing directly in front of the ball when I kick it, but I can usually get it above her head so she has to run to fetch.
I was wearing my Mudd sandals.
*Go ahead and imagine scary, horror-movie, about-to-die music*
I kicked the ball, and as I was swinging my foot back, Nellie put her face right in front of my foot.
I ended up kicking Nellie straight in the head, full force (I can kick hard...I used to play soccer...but not in sandals).
I yelled "OW!" so loud, it echoed all the way down the neighborhood and back.

I saw stars. Really. Flashing spots in front of my eyes.
I limped into the house, cleaned off the blood (the impact took a layer of skin off my third toe) and put ice on it.
Considering how fast and large it swelled up, it's probably broken.
But I knew, from working for a podiatrist for 5 years, there's not much to do about a broken toe except for taping it. It's called the "Buddy system". You use the other toes as a splint and tape the injured toe to the others.
So I have a nicely wrapped purple sausage on my right foot. It HAD to be the right foot, didn't it?
And the kicker is (HA! Made a pun.) that tonight is a "Rodent Run" at RAPTOR that I said I would help with. For the uneducated, a Rodent Run is when some volunteers drive up to Kalamazoo, MI in a pickup truck to a lab/research facility and transport a whole truck bed full of mice and rats for our birds. (This facility also donates to zoos, etc.)
When the truck returns, we separate the critters into smaller bags and put them in the freezer.
When the call came in, I had to withdraw my help. I am staying home with my foot up, blogging.
And you missed out on pictures of freshly dead rodents! Sorry, guys.
One of the reasons it's cool to be married to Geoff:
We get samples from companies that he writes about for Entrepreneur, etc. We get big baskets of chocolate and wine at Christmas, and we also get stuff from Samuel Adams, which I may be diving into later:

We are keeping it for medicinal use. Promise.

Randomosity and a Coop lesson

A few babies are starting to learn the ropes, out on our feeders:
For the first time, I saw young downy woodpeckers following their parents to the suet and peanuts. The reason I noticed they were young was because they were begging and flapping.
Didn't get a photo.
But I did get one of a juvenile house finch, sampling the grapes:

(I know it's a juvenile by the extra bold streaking, different from the adult females)

Someone clear this up for me. This guy was at the feeders today, and while he has the "downy" coloring all over his body, his head has a whole lot of red on the top instead of the nape. It looks like a yellow-bellied sapsucker head on a downy body. Anyone want to chime in? The belly was all white, like a downy.

Here's something you don't see everyday.
One of our guppies born last year was a conjoined twin. I assume two eggs stuck together, and one developed and one didn't. This one was a male, and he had an eye and dorsal fin growing from his abdomen. Well, he died yesterday, and I took the opportunity to finally get a good picture of him. I guess the "twin" grew up into his belly so much that it inhibited digestion or respiration.
Rest in peace, little mutant.

And now, a study of Cooper's hawks:
Our darling Mary posted a picture of a hawk she wasn't sure of, and I made a vow to keep her from "giving up" on raptors. I know how she feels...when I first became a birder, sparrows and raptors were a mystery. They are all differing shades of brown, and my untrained eyes glazed over whenever I saw one. Now, the sparrows are still tough sometimes (as they are to many) but I think I have a fairly good grasp on birds of prey. I better, since I am teaching the next generation about them.
(And this is for anyone who reads my blog and wants to know more about IDs. Most of my regulars don't need this, but hey.)

I've posted these before, but I don't have any new ones yet this year.

As soon as you see a bird of prey, immediately look for three things:
1. Head
2. Tail
3. Belly
99% of the time, those three parts will tell you what you are looking at.
Sometimes, you only get a quick look at two of them: The head and tail, as the bird flies away from you. But a perched bird can show you all of them.
Cooper's hawk (and I am using this one because if you feed birds, you are also feeding Coops, and their population is on the rise):
1. Dark cap on head
2. Banded white/black or gray/black tail
3. Pale belly with orange horizontal streaking

Here you can see belly and head...

Here, head and tail...

Here, belly and head.

Accipiters (Coops, sharp-shinned, etc.) have a long, slim profile. Remember: Short wings, long tail. Form and function: Bird eaters have to be fast and maneuverable, so their wings are for speed instead of soaring, and their tails act as rudders to make fast turns.

Juvenile Coop...no dark cap yet, and brown, vertical streaking (but their tails are pretty much like an adults).
Since there are plenty of juveniles beginning their lives outside the nest right now, we all will be getting lots of opportunities to divine what we are looking at.
Everyone say it with me:
"Head, belly, tail. Head, belly, tail..."

I have a new passion and Geoff got his first book review

I went to East Fork Lake today, to do some birding.
I didn't even go near the lake. It was full of yahoos on jet skies.
Yes, I saw some field sparrows, blah blah blah. But what really captured me and got me excited was all the butterflies, moths and dragonflies.
So after all I saw, I decided to start listing the butterflies and so on that I see. There's a website for that, like eBird, right?
Some of the names I know, and others I don't. I have been searching the Web for ID's, but I never would have had the time to post tonight if I had continued. A butterfly/moth/dragonfly field guide is in my immediate future. I will welcome any identifications here. It's like being a beginning birder. I would also love if anyone has a good site that's easy to use.


Let's start with a dead spider, shall we?


I think this is the same type of spider I saw at RAPTOR the other day, a fisher. But this one was dead, so I was only a little creeped out.

Now, look at how cool this is!
(Yellow collared scape moth)
THAT'S a pretty bug. I love the feathery antennae.

Big dragonflies with bold black stripes and brown/green bodies.


Plathemis lydia

And a black and green one on a lily pad.

Fuzzy, brown.

Eewww...orange leaf mold?

A very pretty yellow/green little guy with eye spots on the wings and green eyes!

Poor ragged thing.

A cute bug on a daisy.

This red weed was attractive, and I didn't notice the little green baby grasshopper (?) until I was reviewing the photo.

White grass seends.

"Ribbbbb-itt."


Orange and brown wings, white belly and black eyes.

I know this one!
Eastern pond hawk...I approved when I found out the name. A 'raptor'-like dragonfly.

Eastern comma...or is it a question mark? How do you tell?

Fuzzy red balls.

Cute overload.

More cuteness. I mean, my goodness.
This is the family I photographed last week.

"De PLANE!"
***
And now, here's Geoff's first review of his book, from Publisher's Weekly:

C.C. Pyle's Amazing Foot Race: The True Story of the 1928 Coast-to-Coast Run Across America
Geoff Williams Rodale, $25.95 (336p) ISBN 978-1-59486-319-6

Pyle, a sports agent and promoter, came up with the idea of a footrace (mockingly known as “the Bunion Derby”) from Los Angeles to New York that promised $48,500 in cash, including $25,000 to the first-place winner. For a $125 entry fee, male participants got the chance for a nice payday while subjecting themselves to harsh weather, primitive housing and Pyle's ego and shady business practices. They also had to run 3,500 miles over 84 days (the equivalent of 40 miles a day) long before comfortable running shoes and sophisticated sports nutrition. Williams, a contributor to Entrepreneur magazine, has evocatively recreated a long-forgotten sports event, mixing colorful anecdotes from the race with vivid portraits of the runners. There's Brother John, a bearded zealot who raced in a sackcloth, and 20-year-old Andy Payne, a part-Cherokee Oklahoman who competed to pay off his family's farm and to win the attention of the girl he loved. What could have been one long injury report or a sappy piece of nostalgic nuttiness is a breezy, entertaining read that properly balances the runners' integrity with the comedy of errors that was Pyle's grand experiment and his life. Photos. (July)

Let it rain, down on meeeeee.....

We were promised some thunderstorms this afternoon...

...and when the wind picked up, the silver maple across the way started showing off its silver.

The girls were nervous and at one point everyone ran for the front door.
We got a few sprinkles, but it didn't amount to anything.
But we are supposed to get a good drenching sometime in the wee hours.
We could use a good rain. The ground is cracking in places, but you know the only thing really suffering? The grass.
All the native plants are fine, maybe just a bit limp around the edges. But the grass is suffering. Why? Because it is a greedy, non-native. If I can, I will go out tomorrow and get a picture of how nasty the grass looks next to my nice native plants.

This volunteer is a scarlet oak, I think.
A free plant!
We found it growing under a picnic table that had been forgotten in the honeysuckle forest (the table was left by the previous owners) and when I finally dug the table out, I sheared off the top of the oak even though I was trying to be careful.
I thought the poor thing was a goner, but over the last month, it has come back. Now that I can get to it, I am going to transplant it over to the prairie and as it grows, it will add another dimension, shade and habitat to the tall grasses and natives. We will have a nice mini-ecosystem, and if I can sweet-talk Geoff, we will also have a pond nearby. Man, we will have so many critters!

Someone tell me what this is.
It was on the spiraea. Isn't it a cute little thing?

Free plants get me all warm and fuzzy. These daisies were saved from the mower (thankfully they were starting to bloom the last time I mowed!) and they are also filling spaces between some of our pines.
Oh! Here you can see some of the grass getting crunchy. Around the trees, as they suck up the water they need, the grass is drying up. Oh, well. Like I have said before, I would be happy if all the grass died. Well, maybe leave a bit for the girls to do somersaults on.

"Dees are fo you, Mommy."

My project for the day:
While I work on Geoff about building a real pond, I thought I would do a tiny little water source in the back yard. This is my hummingbird/butterfly garden, in its second year. There's lobelia, bee balm, bleeding hearts (which seem to have disappeared) and a new wild strawberry and also a pink beard-tongue.
I got a plastic green bowl planter and dug a hole for it, put it in and surrounded it will old carpet (that was going to be thrown out at RAPTOR...and I thought, "Hmmm...I can use that!") for weed barrier. Tomorrow, I will surround it with rocks (we have lots of large rocks that we keep digging out of flower beds and around the house and we also have some smaller marble pieces in the front of the house I can borrow from) and cover up the carpet. I will put a big stone in the water as a perching area for birds and maybe find a tiny little water plant to sink in there.
Oh, and I need to mulch around the flowers.
(I also have a left-over bag of mulch!)
So this little improvement cost all of $10.

A day at Casa Kathi

Kathi (that lurking commenter we all know as KatDoc) invited the girls and me over for the day.
She has been over here with her dogs, and today she returned the hospitality.
The girls were so excited to go to her house when I told them all the neat nature stuff we would be seeing. Isabelle could hardly go to sleep last night, she was so jazzed.
And I am jealous of Kathi's yard.

I am jealous of her purple martins,

...and her multitude of gourds,

...and her horses (Check out those patterns, Julie!),

(Isabelle was scared yet fascinated by them)

...her resident kingbird,

...her new TRES chicks (our TRES eggs have disappeared from the gourd!),

...her juvenile bluebirds,

...her NEW clutch of bluebird eggs,

(The girls learned today from Kathi how to pop heads off plantains)

...and her sweet dogs (But Nellie is still number one dog around here...she came with us today, too),

...her really big pond, stocked with blue gill, catfish and carp,

...really, really BIG catfish (look at the LIPS on that thing!),

(Aphid thingies)

...her poison ivy ( Okay, not really jealous of that),

...and the girls and I had a freakin' great time.
Kathi's place reminded me of someone else's land, just on a smaller scale.
I also got a life bird today. I told Kathi that I wanted to see her meadowlark, and she pointed out the song as it came across the yard, and just as we were leaving, she showed me the little guy sitting on a power line across the road. Yay!
Thanks, Kathi, for the great day.
And the skinny on Kathi's blog is that she has one, but is going through growing pains. It's a new thing for her, but I think we can all help her, right?

Things I spotted today

I think we can all agree that Mary is hands-down, the Queen of 60 mph-0 mph, I-See-A-Bird, illegal U-turn, screeching tires kind of driving.
But I think I am the Balance-The-Camera-On-The-Steering Wheel, Take-Pictures-At-70 mph sort of girl.

(and BTW, Mary...I am not letting you "give up" on birds of prey. Nope. Ain't gonna do it.)


Some things I passed to and from a program today:

Carnival animals on the expressway!
I LOVE summer Catholic church festivals, though we never seem to make it to one. The last one I was at was when I was pregnant with Isabelle.
I love the rides, the games, the food....funnel cakes, hot dogs, cotton candy. Yummy.

Lebanon Correctional Institution. (NOT where my program was!)
I have never done a program for inmates. I wonder if anybody in there is a birder? Guess it would be hard to find birds behind bars.
Jail birds!
(I crack myself up.)
And THREE water towers? Are criminal types thirstier than other people?

I was happy to see a tiger swallow light onto our pear tree. Isabelle, our resident Bug Girl, was thrilled when I showed her the picture. (I was on my out the door and didn't have time to go back in and round her up)
We found a beautiful caterpillar on the dill last year, but I am really not sure what kind it was. I thought a swallowtail...I need a butterfly/caterpillar field guide. And a tree guide... and a wildflower guide...

And now, hold on to your shorts....

Aiiiiiiiiiii !
I was putting the GHO back in her mew, and as I put my hand on the door to lock it,
I. Saw. This. Thing.
When I am alone, I tend to swear. Like a sailor.
Today, basically I said, "Holy F***! What the Hell is THAT?????"
When I got home, Isabelle and I got on the Web (Ha! I did it again!) and researched.
As far as I can tell, this is a fishing spider.
They are found in woods near streams, and RAPTOR is right next to Mill Creek.
It was HUMONGOUS. Bigger around than a pop can. And unsettlingly hairy.
I will be watching where I put my hands at RAPTOR from now on. Jeez!

By researching this spider, I learned quite a bit about other spiders...
Like wolf spiders. They are called that because of their ability to run down their prey. Ack!
But they exhibit an unusual degree of parental care as far as spiders are concerned. They carry their egg sacks around until they hatch, then the spiderlings climb onto the mother's abdomen where they will ride along for about a month. That is very cool.
And wolf spiders mate for life! You wouldn't think that spiders would be so...I don't know...committed to each other.
But all this spider-image viewing is making the back of my neck tingle.

Too tired to type, too pooped to post, too wiped out to write, too blah to blog

I am too tired tonight to be long-winded.
I did three programs today: Two at a school on the west side of town, and then one later in the afternoon on the east side of town, with just enough time to drive between them.
Total miles today: 180.

So, before I go up and hang out with my husband, I leave you with these pictures from earlier in the week:

Remember me saying that our squirrels were amusing?
We are not amused anymore.
The reason this homemade feeder is up, is because the squirrels destroyed the real one.
(It's a milk jug and a chopstick)
These must be young squirrels, because they are small and stupid.

This one needs a caption.
Imagine what is going through the mockingbird's mind?

There's a lot going on in this picture.
I was on our couch, on the laptop minding my own business.
First, Queen jumped into my lap.
Then Nellie laid down on my feet.
Then Isabelle wanted to see what I was doing.
Then Lorelei wanted to just lay down.
Look at how relaxed Nellie is.
If we laid around like that, we would be made fun of.
"Night, everyone.

8 Weird and/or Random Things

Liza did this meme thing here, and I thought it would be a nice break to do something like this when nothing has happened.

So, eight random things about me? I think just about everything is random...

1. I don't really have a gag reflex.
When I was young, I had frequent tonsillitis and even though it was rarely Strep, I still had to endure countless throat cultures. So I learned to hold it, and for the most part, it went away. In high school, when such things would come up, I got a LOT of ribbing about it, if you can imagine. High school boys are dirty-minded goats sometimes.

2. I met Geoff on the Internet.
It was 1999, and I was coming off two really bad, damaging relationships that were back-to-back horror. One Saturday night, I was actually NOT going out, which was strange. I was on my computer in my lonely, quiet house, and I came across a Personal Ad website, and I thought, What the Hell. Let's write up something and see what happens. I never expected to get anything from it.
Well, I got 300 emails. ( Must have been the hoochy-coochy picture I put on my profile, all large breasts and long, tan legs...I had clothes on, you potty-brains.)
After a while, I started just deleting them, since quite a few were from married men who "just wanted to be friends". No thanks.
But one email caught my eye. It seemed honest and well-written. Geoff.
We went out a week after, and we have been inseparable ever since.

3. I can't run.
I used to be able to, but all the surgical procedures on my right foot have made it numb on one side, and the Achilles' tendon is weak and all I can manage is a slow lop. I think about it sometimes, when the girls and I are walking in the woods, "How would I be able to pick up the girls and run, if I had to?" Scary.

4. Like Liza, my favorite types of books are science fiction and fantasy. Sir Arthur C. Clarke is one of my favorites. The 2001 series blows my mind. Anne Rice is another one on my list of faves. I have read everything she has written, except for the Jesus book, her last so far. It was such a departure from what she usually does, I lost interest.

5. Some women experience changes in the hair on their heads when they have children, but for me, it was my eyelashes. They used to be long and curved. Now I have to layer on the mascara for them to even be noticeable.

6. My all-time favorite painting is "Girl with a Pearl Earring". Even before the book came out, I was fascinated by it. The gleam on the pearl, echoing the shine of her lips and eyes. There is so much more in that painting than meets the eye, and that's one thing that makes an interesting work. The girl is looking out as if she is reaching for something just beyond the frame.

7. I have been in two very serious car accidents in my life.
The first was when I was 5, during the blizzard of '78. My Mom, brother and I were coming up the hill to our house in a four-wheel drive Dodge Charger and Mom lost control and we ended up about 50 feet down a hill, and a tree saved our lives. Steve and I were okay, just some scratches, but Mom had to go to the hospital because the steering wheel ripped out of the dashboard and tore her knee open (she landed in the back seat, on me!).
The second was in 1993, while riding with someone from my phlebotomy class ( I am a certified phlebotomist, and quite the expert, if I do say so myself), to our internship at a local plasma center. She rear-ended a car on the Norwood Lateral going about 40 mph. that car hit the car in front of them, and that car hit the one in front of them, and so on.
I found out in the next few seconds after the crash, my "friend" had no driver's license and no car insurance. She wanted me to get into the driver's seat and take the rap. Bitch. I told her no, of course. All this while I was bent over with the wind knocked out of me and a bruise forming on my chest.
I spent the next month in a neck brace.

8. Right now, my toes are cold. I am wearing Mudd sandals and the basement is chilly.
*****
Jeez, that was hard.

Consider yourself tagged. Or not.

Someone slap me.

If I had had a better day at East Fork Lake, I would be slumped over in my chair with a silly grin on my face, and possibly some drool pooling on the keyboard.
It was paradise.

Along the prairie trail, there is a loop that takes you into cool, green trees.
The air smelled so good...sweet, soft and a little spicy.

What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.
Sir Walter Scott
(See. You CAN get a good education in Indiana.)

I have officially raised the bar on porn here in BlogWorld.
BUG Porn!
Anyone know what these horny flies are?
They were solid black except for a bright yellow spot on their backs.
I don't know which moment today was my favorite...
As I stepped into the woods, I heard a ruckus like two cats fighting up in the trees. I saw what I thought was a red-shouldered hawk chasing out a crow.
A few feet further, eggshells:

I've decided to think that this eggshell is just the remains of a healthy, hatched baby RS.

This is for Lynne, the world's only vulture-phile.
There should be a TV show (get it?) called "Meet the Stinky's".
I have seen field sparrows before, on my first guided bird walk, but only at a distance, and then they were little brown blurs.
But how's this for luck?

Oh, yeah.
In the words of Winona Ryder in "Heathers",
"Lick it up, baby. Lick. It. Up."

AND I got a picture of one eating a little green bug!
You have to look close.
Maybe this was my favorite moment...

A very bold, friendly yellow-breasted chat.
I was hearing lots of calls that I thought were cardinals, crows, frogs...
But it was him!

Click To Play

Wait. Maybe this was my favorite moment:

This is for Julie, and also for Nina.
I did a turtle rescue in the park:

If turtles hold beauty contests, I think box turtles would win.
The markings on their backs reminds me of bear claws.

This is one sexy turtle. A male, out looking for love, in all the wrong places (like the road).

"Thank you, ma'am."

No, this was my favorite moment:

I was sitting in some cool, shady moss when I felt something on my arm. I could hardly see it, but when it moved, I realized it was the itty-bittiest inch worm I have ever seen.
The creases in my skin must have looked like canyons.
Click on the picture to see him. He is so cute.

Another moment high on the list:

As far as I can tell, this is a spicebush swallowtail.
And I had to get video of this...
It was probing with its probiscus, and I noticed that it had some gravel dust stuck to it!

Click To Play

Okay, really, this was my bestest moment...
Baby. Wood. Ducks.
Let me say it again.
Baby. Wood. Ducks.

I need a minute.

Finally, the cherry on the sundae:

A mammoth snapping turtle, covered in duck weed and muck, heaving itself out of the water and onto a log.
Oh, my, goodness.

I take requests

This video is basically just an audio of our mystery frog. He has been calling from around our fountain, but instead of down behind the fountain, I hear the sound from above the fountain, in the climbing plant...I can't remember the name of it.
I researched frog calls, and it seems that we have a Cope's gray treefrog! The call matches that more than the regular ol' gray treefrog. Since I have been focusing on birds for the past few years, my knowledge of amphibians and other critters is a little sparse. But that's one of the great things about blogging (other than meeting cool people)...it forces me to learn about something so I can do a post about it.

I heard him calling, so I took the laptop outside and sat on the porch. I played the recording of his species, and he answered!

Click To Play

Tomorrow is Lorelei's last day of school, and in direct result, my last day of "Tuesday-Thursday" freedom. So I will make this kids-free, program-free day count. Maybe East Fork Lake, (I actually typed "Eat Fork Lek") or the CNC.
I had a request from our dear Pam to get video of Lorelei saying "bewd".
It's pretty cute.

Click To Play

I haven't seen him, but I hope to get at least a glimpse, and if I'm lucky, a picture. They are so cute. But getting a look at him will be interesting...gray tree frogs can be gray, green, or almost black. How am I supposed to see a green or gray frog in green/yellow foliage????

(Photo by Jim Harding)

Think, thank, thunk.

Lovely Liza Lee at The Egret's Nest has nominated me for a Thinking Blogger Award.
I recently commented on Mary's blog when she got nominated, that I am more of a "feeler" than a thinker. But one of my posts touched Liza and made her think, and I am so surprised and happy that I get to add this little thing to my header
(which Liza says should win the "Largest Header" award.)
I consider this blog my own version of Wahnbriefe, a form of ranting and self-mediated online therapy, but I have come across so many blogs written by people who get into my brain and change it for the better.
I love blog add-on thingies, and I never seem to win things often, so when I do, I display it. I have very stupid grade-school award and medal I ever received.
: )
KGMom Mumblings got this started at this post.

Five blogs that make me think?
Jeez....Just about every blog I read makes me think at least a little.

Ahem...
1. Look What Love has Done
Beth is a newly-single mom of five, ages 16 to 7. That alone gives her plenty of blog-fodder, but in spite of everything that Life throws at her, she is held up by faith and a wonderful sense of humor. Her brave soul is one that I am grateful to have found.
She is doing her best, and her best is pretty darn good!
She's already been nominated, and I don't see anywhere in the rules that says you can't double-dip someone, so there.

2. Nature Remains
I found Nina recently (well, SHE found ME) and I am so glad I have the opportunity to read her words. She is a librarian, lover of all things natural and shows such a passion for what is happening out her yard and Nature in general, she makes me see things anew. I don't "know" her like I "know" my online posse, The Flock, but I hope to learn more about her.

3. Nature Woman
First of all, how did she get such a great blog name? You'd think that particular blog address would have been snatched up long ago.
Pam is just fabulous. An intelligent, kind, fun spirit whose knowledge of history, flora and I don't know what else is a refreshing, informative journey. She has recently jumped whole-heartedly into birding, so that make her even more interesting. I love it when she rants, and she does it with style.
And I can't wait to meet her at Cape May!

4. Julie Zickefoose
Yeah, yeah, she's been named a Thinking Blogger probably about a million times, but who can argue with that? She is a repository of nature information and fun and passion. You can't say enough good stuff about Julie.

5. Trixie's View
Trixie is a transplanted Cincinnatian, plunked down way up in the frozen north, Alaska.
Her being a birder aside, she is also a mother who homeschools. Now, we all know what I think of "unschoolers", but I think homeschooling is a valid source of education for children if the parents work hard at it. And Trixie is doing a great job.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@
*******

Da Rulz:
Should you choose to participate, please make sure you pass this list of rules to the blogs you are tagging.

The participation rules are simple:
1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote.

Raging against the dying of the light

I enjoyed my family today. It's nice when that happens. (grin)
This morning, I stopped at RAPTOR to hand over a mouse I caught in the basement. We really need our red-tailed hawk to come back. Or the red-shouldered would be nice.
The mice are cute, but they really need to stay outside. Trixie and Powder have caught a few, and one walked right up to me a few nights ago. They are different from the ones we caught last year. I better go to Lowe's and get some stuff to plug up holes on the outside of the house.
I wanted to get photos of the owls at RAPTOR.

I thought this would be a throw-away, since he wasn't looking at me, but doesn't he look grand in that sunbeam?

This is what I wanted pictures of. (Red morph screech owl)
Owls are capable of silent flight, due to comb-like feathers on the leading edges of their wings. These combs are called fimbriae, or flutings. The fimbriae cut the air turbulence and allow the owl to fly silently. Another theory is that the fimbriae change the sound wave into a higher frequency that humans and most mammals cannot hear. Either way, owls are very good at sneaking up on prey animals who have excellent hearing.


Owls are beautiful, even if they aren't brightly colored like a male cardinal or indigo bunting.

Here are the fimbriae on the great horned owl. During education programs, if it is a quiet enough atmosphere, I ask the audience to be very quiet and listen to the owl's wings as I turn my hand back and forth to cause the owl to flap in order to maintain balance. The audience never hears the wings. Listen to a pigeon or dove or any other kind of bird when it takes off, and you will hear at least some sound. Owls are cool.

Geoff took the girls to Chuck E. Cheese's today, to celebrate the event of Lorelei finally being potty-trained. Halleluia!
After that, we all met up and went to see Shrek the Third.
It was hilarious, as I knew it would be.
As we were leaving the theater, I saw a kingbird hanging out near the pond between the theater and the interstate. I hear that this area is birdy and will be returning.



Yep. That's all we need to do.
Islam, peace, men/women/Judaism, (I don't know what the "I" stands for), yin/yang, and Christianity. Can't we all just get along?


Remember the Blasting for Hawks post?
Well, the nest closest to our house has chicks. I saw two, but as I got closer, one ducked down. This is a really bad photo, but the sun was going down and if I want a better one, I have to go back in the daytime.

Progress

Why did I take Nellie along today when the girls and I went to the CNC?
Why, oh why?
We don't walk her very much on a leash, and I have been working with her when we do, trying to accomplish the "Dog Whisperer" thing of her walking alongside or behind me.
She doesn't seem to get it. I have never claimed that she was smart.
The highlight of a visit to the CNC (at least for the girls) is feeding the fish and turtles.

Nellie may be part Labrador, but it must be a small part. She does not like water.
Every time the fish would jump for food, she would back up until she was practically sitting on me. Sissy.
(Remember, this is the dog who is scared of tree swallows.)

We consider the visit a success if we see Arnold, one of three snapping turtles who call the lake home.
Look closely at this picture...just under the small turtle's tail. See that face? That's Arnold.

What is this? I found a few here and there around the Krippendorf lodge. I searched Wildflower Information but can't find this color. Green is not a color of flower you come across much.

I consider a visit to the CNC a success if I find any cool birds. And today, I found life bird number 141. On the driveway out of the center, I saw what I thought was a stick or leaf. I am so glad I stopped:

As soon as I got close, I knew what it was. A red-eyed vireo.
It must have been stunned by another car or something, because I was able to pick it up.


I showed the girls (Nellie isn't allowed to get that close to birds...she is also part bird-dog) and got some pictures. I mean, how often do you get this close to a live vireo?

Ow.
Ow.
Ow!
Okay, okay! I get the picture, damn it!
He or she may have been a little dazed, but was still able to bite the hell out of me.
I put it over in the underbrush to recoup.

Then, we swung by the Red Barn to check the construction progress:

I am so glad that the color choice for the siding was red, the same color the barn had been. I had originally thought a deep green would be nice, but the red makes it look perfect. And everyone around here calls it "The Red Barn", anyway.
New doors and windows, too!
Dinner at McDonald's. Yuck. But Shrek toys in the Happy Meals go a long way with tired kids.
And I remembered the robin sitting on a nest the last time we were there, so I walked over to see the progress:

Five (?) new baby robins. At least they aren't House sparrows.

Geoff actually took some time tonight to go out with a friend to see a movie. This happens very, very rarely. Thank goodness. He needs to unplug and get out of the house more.
So the girls and I went out in the back and I savagely attacked some weeds while Lorelei "helped" pile all of the weeds around the sycamore.

I am so glad my camera is surgically fused to my body these days. Lorelei put her hands on her hips and said, "Whew! We are doing a BIG job!"

And Lorelei gets her first, unassisted bird find.
She got tired of moving clumps of weeds and went off to swing on a tree branch.
She later came running to tell me that she had found "a bewd nest". Hmmm. Okaaaay.
I expected her to show me the chickadee nest or something (which is now empty...they fledged today), but instead, she lead me to the tree she had been swinging on.


A robin nest! About four feet from the ground in one of our maples. The only reason I know it's robins is that I have noticed a pair hanging out there lately.
Yay! More babies to watch!

Blog news: Word has it that Kathi (katdoc) will be starting a new blog, after receiving her new computer next week. What a cool blog THAT will be! She's smart, a veterinarian, she's hilarious, and she's a birder. That, my friends, is a winning combination.

Girl power, Junior update

A good day.
I have come back to reality, doing my first program in almost 2 weeks, a great crowd of kids at an inner city Catholic school. It makes it so much more enjoyable and pleasant experience for me to talk with kids who have at least a small amount of respect for me and for the birds. And they learn so much more when they just sit and listen. Some schools I go to are like zoos, with no real stability in the kid's behavior.
Today, it was a group of 4th and 5th graders, very pleased to have me there. Nice.
A highlight, not just for the day, but for my education "career" in general:
A girl came up to me as I was packing up to leave, and she politely asked me if she could say something.
Girl: "You know, when I heard that someone was bringing raptors, I thought it was going to be a man talking to us. You know how girls are afraid of things like bugs and big scary animals? And boys aren't afraid of that stuff? I just thought it would be a man holding the birds."
Me: "Did I look scared?"
Girl: "No! You were COOL."
Me: "So, I guess girls and women can do anything they want to do, huh?"
Girl: (pause)..."Yeah. They CAN."
I think that may be the most perfect conversation I have ever had.

Finally was able to get a better look in the chickadee box, and there are four ready-to-fledge youngin's in there.
See the beak?
TRES egg" height="240" width="180">
I couldn't wait. I had to pull down the TRES gourd and count.
Four cold, perfect eggs. She will probably lay one or two more and then start to incubate.
I love how small they are. That egg is about the same diameter as my wedding ring.

Most folks in Cincinnati think Pete Rose needs to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
(The "4256" pertains to the record he broke in hits, previously held by Ty Cobb)

I found a mammoth slug out by the mews at RAPTOR today. It was as big as my thumb.
I understand that most slugs encountered in North America have been introduced and they can make your garden look like Swiss cheese. But I think they are beautiful.


They breathe through this hole in their mantle. I guess he was exhaling. Or belching.
I got this from Wikipedia:
"Some species use slime cords to lower themselves on to the ground, or suspend from them during copulation."
Ewwww...so they can make their own rappelling lines and sex swings?????

Sad news at RAPTOR...I was early getting the birds today, so I walked around, checking out the rehab birds to see if anyone new came in while I was gone.
The juvenile Cooper's hawk was laying on the ground in his mew, and had been dead for at least a few hours. He will be examined by our bird care director, to see if it can be ascertained what exactly happened. From what I hear from our more seasoned volunteers, Coop's are challenging to rehab. I wish we had one for education, but apparently they are for the most part too squirrelly to "man down". Coop's, sharp-shinned hawks...all too spazzy. Too bad. They would be fun.
Junior update: Junior will be "adopted" by a educational center in Illinois soon. One of their volunteers will drive down to pick him up. Cindy, if you are reading, I want to be there to say goodbye, okay? He and I did have that one magical night together, you know.



After my program today:
"I have fulfilled my duty as education prop. Please get the Hell out of my mew."

I've discovered the Meaning of Life

But before I divulge it, here are some photos.

In addition to the outdoor plants I got yesterday, I also got a streptocarpus (also called Cape Primrose). Just because it's purple. From what I have read, it takes an idiot to kill one.
On the right is a poinsettia that I have not killed. That is a first. I bought it this past Christmas, and usually they are dead by New Year's. But this one is actually growing.
I also caught Trixie in mid-meow.

Good grief. This male house finch has one serious eye problem. Looks like avian conjunctivitis strikes again. His other eye is healthy and he seems quite healthy otherwise (he was bathing and flying around just fine) but I hate to see it. As I have posted before, the best thing, according to the experts, is to not treat birds with conjunctivitis. Even though antibiotics may work, there is the worry that resistant strains may develop.

I put some plants in the ground this evening, finally. The prairie consists of an area 15 feet by 30 feet of grass, cosmos, bayberry, black-eyed Susans and a variety of weeds. I placed wood planks from the Red Barn about 5 feet from the grass and planted all of my native stuff in between the planks. The plan is to have multiple layers of different things that either bear seeds for the birds or flowers for the butterflies and bees.
It looks a lot better than what you can see here. I will be sure to post pictures when they are bigger.

Isabelle was suitably impressed.
And now, some more TRES porn!

Isabelle wanted to know what the TRES were doing
(the birds weren't exactly locking the door and keeping it on the down-low).
So I took a deep breath and told her that they were mating, and that's how they make eggs. I waited for her to ask for more detail, but she was satisfied with that answer. Thank goodness.

Female tree swallow: "Hey, don't point that THING at ME!"
***

Oh, yeah. I was going to explain the meaning of life.

Well, on the way back from Lake Erie, I was behind a beat-up station wagon driven by a true, red-blooded hippie. Along with various political stickers (Democrats) and earthy stickers (Tread Gently, that sort of thing) he also had this sticker:
( I didn't get a picture...was too busy reading street signs trying not to get lost)
"Life is too short.
Don't be a dick."
Now, can anyone argue with that?

My behind may be in southwest Ohio, but my mind and my heart are still in northern Ohio.

My last picture of Lake Erie...at East Harbor State Park.
I had to force myself to get back in the car. And once I was in there, I had to force myself to start it and drive away.
Sigh...

But I find happiness at home.

My clematis is going crazy. I planted it two years ago, I think, and this year it has taken over the recycled plant stand I put over it.

(The traditional plant trellis broke the first year, but I saved it. Glad I did.)
Now, the clematis can take over the trellis. After that, we may need to buy the house next door to accommodate the thing.
We went to Earthscapes today, to check out the native selection. It's THE place to go around here for native plants. They have everything from herbs to pre-dug trees to annuals to perennials to landscaping services. One-stop shopping.

To go shopping here, you need to dress as if you are gardening. It's muddy sometimes and there's a lot of walking involved.

And you get a wagon to cart everything around, and you also get a clipboard and order sheet to write down what you are buying and where you got the plant. (It helps the employees keep track of what's moving around) Maybe you have had similar experiences with nurseries, but I just love the place.
Usually, a small, fluffy dog named Sweetie greets us, but today she was in the house, so this was our greeter:

A Boston! I can't seem to get away from these little buggers.

She was very friendly, but a little strange. She mets us with a used napkin in her mouth, and after that was gone, she started carrying rocks in her mouth. And she would stare at a pole, like she was seeing something...but nothing was there.

I got prairie dock, false indigo and rosinweed.
Rosinweed can grow to 5 feet, attracts mostly long-tongued bees, butterflies and some wasps. The seeds are eaten by goldfinches. Herbivores are not fond of it.
Prairie dock has the same attributes (they are both in the Aster family) and prairie dock is nearly indestructible when it's mature.
False indigo blooms from now into June, and the flowers turn into seed pods up to 2 1/2 inches long that children used to use as rattles.
We don't have much shade around here, and the shade we have is all natural and not messed with. So I think this stuff will go near the prairie, and maybe the false indigo will join the hummingbird corner.

Oh, I love tree swallows. I forgave them for driving off the purple martin.
The female is busy dropping one egg a day, and I won't disturb her for a few days, and then do a nest check to count eggs. Tonight, I slowly walked toward the pole, talking softly and making my TRES twitter with my tongue (putting my tongue to the roof of my mouth and making a dome, then letting the air escape slowly out of the sides, and it sounds just like a TRES) and the female looked at me and turned her head like a dog, as if she was trying to figure out what I was saying. I just hope I wasn't cussing her out in Swallowese.

Click To Play
Nellie likes to lay on the landing of our stairs.
I heard a deep, long sigh, and I started looking around for her, and had to shoot video of her.
It sucks to be her, huh.

We like weird

Around here, we like weird.
The weirder, the better.

At my Mom's today, Lorelei wanted to get smooshy with the screen door.

Jeez.

Isabelle wanted to try it.
That's just strange-looking.

Oh, for goodness' sake.

Around here, we also like pretty.
The prettier, the better.
Mom's yard is brimming with prettiness.

Mom called this "Fiber Optic" grass. It's small, but interesting-looking.

Mom always gets a fushia, every year, without fail. Her hummingbirds appreciate them.

This basket is full of lavender and purple petunias, yellow/orange violas, and a bunch of stuff that I can't identify.
And behind it, my "Dad's" garage.
He spent more time in there than he did in the house.

Mom's peonies could win awards, they are so huge and perfect.

Oh, man. Now she's just showing off.
I never realized how dainty the inside of a hibiscus was. Look at those stamens! If I were a flower, I would be all over this bad boy.

Home, sweet home.

I got back home around 7 this evening, after a very long, misdirected drive. I ended up going back a different way that I came, so I spent a good amount of time in Fremont, Ohio. Ever heard of it? I didn't think so.
I'm in a sort of post-trip let down period, but I am sure that I will snap out of it.
On the home front, the baby chickadees are getting feathered out, and the horny tree swallows dropped one egg while I was gone.

Yesterday's sunset was so full of color, I felt like I could reach out the window and grab some.

Today, I took the auto tour at Ottawa NWR. I realized that I didn't have time to take the ferry to Kelley's Island, unless I wanted to be home, like, now.

Within its 9,000 acres the refuge has marshes, open water, wooded wetlands, coastal wetlands, shrub lands, grasslands, cropland and an estuary. In short, it's basically a huge bird magnet.

Stinker in flight.

A lot of the reserve looks like this.
This part of Ohio is as flat as a pancake, and before we started messing with it, the predecessor to Lake Erie extended from here to Fort Wayne, Indiana. It turned out to be great farmland, but as we all know, wetlands are precious beyond measure.

I sort of got tired of seeing great blue herons. I mean, they are like the pigeons in downtown Cincinnati!

All of the male red-winged blackbirds were sitting in the middle of his territory, barking at anyone who would listen.

Double-crested cormorants...the "Canada geese" of western Lake Erie. This guys have enjoyed a boom in population after the effects of DDT almost wiped them out (along with lots of other waterfowl and raptors). They are now so numerous, they are booting herons from nesting sites.

A lesser yellowlegs. Ever tried to ID sandpipers? It's like nailing Jell-O to a wall. Tricky and slippery. But a few good field guides help. And a sunroof you can stand up in, too.

Greater and lesser yellowlegs.
The greater was a lifer. I was a lot farther away than it looks.
Somewhere in here, I also saw a solitary, but I couldn't get a good picture of it. Another lifer.

A dunlin! Lifer!

A powwow of dunlins!

More of the reserve.
The auto tour winds its way through the reserve on dusty gravel roads, about 2 miles worth.
It's so diverse, it's possible to see just about anything. Warblers, ducks, geese, swans, sandpipers, swallows, herons, cranes...

...and BEAVERS!!!!!!!!
How about that? A wet beaver.
Go ahead and laugh. You know you want to.

Isn't he cute? He swam right towards my car, nibbling the water as he went.
(He wasn't carrying the stick...that was just sticking out of the water)



The cherry on top of my birding sundae:
A bald eagle nest. Right in the same tree that I got my life bald eagle last year.
And to add to this serendipitous event, Bill Thompson took this picture in April. The same place. The same TREE, for chrissakes. That, my friends, is the definition of kismet.

So, my trip list in no particular order:
Bald eagle
Red-tailed hawk
Turkey vultures
Black vultures
Canada geese
Mallards
Blue-winged teals
Great blue herons
Great egrets
Pied-billed grebes
American coots
Lesser yellowlegs
Greater yellowlegs*
Dunlins*
Solitary sandpipers*
Ruddy turnstones*
Killdeer
Red-winged blackbirds
Purple martins
Bank swallows
Tree swallows
Rough-winged swallows*
Barn swallows
Woodcocks*
Herring gulls
Ring-billed gulls
Bonaparte's gulls
Double-crested cormorants
Canada warbler*
Yellow warbler
Bay-breasted warbler*
Chestnut-sided warbler
Mourning warbler*
Black and white warblers
American redstarts
Black-throated blue warblers*
Black-throated green warblers
Wilson's warblers
Magnolia warblers
Common yellowthroats
Northern parulas
Lincoln's sparrows
White-throated sparrows
Song sparrows
Ruby-crowned kinglets
Baltimore oriole
Gray catbirds
Eastern kingbird
Veery*
Ovenbird*
Rose-breasted grosbeaks
Mourning doves
American robins
American crows
Common grackles
American goldfinches
European starlings (bleeeech!)


So, that's 56 different species, and 11 lifers.
Not bad for 2 days, eh?

Dial-ups, go get a pizza. This could take awhile.

Ahhhh...my favorite sign in the whole world:

Today was awesome. All together, I saw 44 species, of which 8 were lifers. I wasn't sure what I had seen before (eBird is a great tool...it remembers what you can't). I was a tiny bit disappointed when I counted that it was only 8 lifers, but I have another day tomorrow to make the list grow.

My best moment today: A woodcock.


Well, maybe it was when I saw a second one....

No...seeing the third one was the greatest.


Barn swallows (and every other kind of swallow) are very common up here.

Black and white warbler.
They remind me of nuthatches, the way they hang upside down, surfing the trees.

Bay-breasted warbler

Baltimore oriole
This one's for Geoff. It's one of his favorites.

Look closely...there's a female black-throated blue warbler right in the middle...

...and here's her spouse. Goofy thing wouldn't turn around!

Black-throated green warbler

Catbirds are another common bird here.
Meow!

The best shot I could get of this Wilson's warbler.

Veery, very cool.

This rube-crowned kinglet was about two feet away. He sat there preening and fussing. I left before he did! Weird for a kinglet!

I missed these last year...a ruddy turnstone!

Hmmm...a dead double-crested cormorant.

This one's for Mary: A stinker! (Otherwise known as a great blue heron...you see them around every corner here.)

Bad picture of a lifer...an ovenbird!!!!
I'm proud of this one. Along the trail, all you have to do is stop when you see a crowd and someone will point out the bird they are watching. But I found the ovenbird for everyone!



This kingbird stood guard at the entrance to the first leg of the trail.



Rose-breasted grosbeak, eating a little green worm.

And finally, a very bad shot of a chestnut-sided warbler.
Tomorrow, I hope to squeeze in the auto tour of Ottawa NWR and a boat ride over to Put-In-Bay.
Now, onto the HOT TUB!

Houston, Susan Gets Native has landed

I am here. I am so happy, I could spit.
The drive was long, but as I got closer to Port Clinton I started noticing the birdscape was changing. Starlings were replaced by red-winged blackbirds. Great blue herons replaced soaring vultures.
I knew I was close when, along the roadside, maybe 5 feet from the road, stood a great egret. Oh, Hell, YEAH.
Okay, I teared up a little. Well, maybe more than a little.

This picture is strictly for Geoff. The man has a very bizarre love affair with rest areas.

The town of Cygnet is about 20 miles from Port Clinton. Seeing this sign always makes me smile, because I know I have crossed into Lake Erie country.

How's that for a view? I have views of Lake Erie on two sides of my hotel room.
Somewhere beyond that horizon is Canada.

Here's the sunset over the lake, taken from the deck right under my room.

And here's the hot tub.
Can I get an "Amen"?
I have already tried it, and it's as wonderful as you can imagine.

Right now, I am sitting in my "balcony room" with the windows open, listening to the surf crashing below and the gulls riding the waves.
The wind is strong and chilly. Good weather for sleeping with the windows open, just a little.

I took this before I left today.
Look, guys!
Swallow PORN!!!
(At least he kissed her first.)

Whoot!

Jackpot!
I went out to do a quick round of Kelley's Nature Preserve before picking up last minute stuff for my trip.
Not very birdy, but I perked up considerably when I heard,
"Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you allllll?"
Hot damn. A barred owl.
I chased it down and fired off the shutter fast...the owl (A big one, maybe a female) knew I was there, of course, and was fairly far away. I swear it knew just how far my zoom could go.
Not great pics, but I will not complain:

See why they call them "Old Men of the Forest"?

Too fuzzy...

Damn you, random stick!
Oh well. Bad pictures of a "real" owl (aka not a RAPTOR owl) is better than none at all.

Other than a sinus headache, I don't think I could be in a better mood.
An owl, and tomorrow I leave for two whole days of birding, glorious birding.
Itinerary for tomorrow:
7:00 am-ish: Get up
8:00 am-10:00 am: Prepare girls for sleepovers
(Isabelle at the Swami's Yurt, Lorelei at my Mom's)
10:00 am-2:00 pm: Pack, give Lorelei over to my Mom and finalize anything that needs finalizing
2:00 pm-2:45 pm: Drive Isabelle to Swami's
3:00 pm-3:05: Yell YAHOO at the top of my lungs in my car as I begin the drive north
3:05 pm-7:00 pm-ish: Drive to Port Clinton, Ohio
7:00 pm-9:00 pm: Get pictures of sunset over Lake Erie, generally jump around and enjoy myself.

Smooshy, sweet piles of cuteness

You know, we never really have problems with squirrels. And we don't see them too much, except for Spring and Fall when their young emerge from the nests.
They are a form of amusement for us, though I know some people have a Hell of a time with them breaking into bird feeders and keeping dogs busy.
The only mammal who has raised my blood pressure is the raccoons who visit most nights. They have carried off very expensive peanut feeders and I have only found one so far, rusty and battered in the weeds.
This is as good as it gets with our squirrels:
The Squirrel Olympics!

"Look! No hands!"

Lorelei and I took a break from my trip planning to go to Symmes Park again.


Raccoon tracks

We enjoyed the splash-down of some Canada geese (they are freakin' everywhere, aren't they)...

...and admired the glossy purple of a mallard's head...

...and some sweet, sleeping parents?
Across the pond, I saw some movement...

Four baby ducks! And check out the colors: Two yellow, one brown and one brown/yellow!
Total mutts, but cute mutts, nonetheless. I can only assume that the pair of adults across the way were the parents, but why were they not over here with the young?

Those stubby wings...hard to imagine that someday soon, those little stubs will be able to hold that bird aloft. The largest one kept falling into the water and scrambling back out.

I couldn't help it. I had to hold one. And Lorelei was in transports of delight, being able to actually touch a real live baby duck. I was surprised how smooshy they were. I expected a firm ball of duckness, not mashed potatoes.
We put them back and wished them well. When I picked up Isabelle and told her what we found, she was rather insistent that Geoff take her to see them after supper. That's where they are right now, wallowing in the cuteness and baby duck fluff.

It really is, I swear

I am really late in posting tonight. I had to burn CD's full of pictures because the memory on my PC is bloated. And then the stupid thing froze, then an update updated. Jeez.

I realized just how lucky I was to live where I do. A beautiful day, two eager kids, and I could hardly decide which park to go to.
Armleder? Symmes? Lake Isabella?
The Nature Center?
The girls' favorite is the CNC, so that's where we went.

We always have to feed the turtles and fish. The visitor center has a dispenser of fish/turtle food for 25 cents a handful. We usually buy $2 worth.
The fish and turtles must have been full, and we were getting ready to take a nature walk when I noticed a mom with two little kids feeding the Canada geese (these are two geese who have lost their natural fear of humans and we have resorted to carrying a stick when we feed the fish and turtles to scare off the geese. I mean, these goofy birds get up on the dock with us!)
This woman had brought a bag of bread and was encouraging her kids to feed the two freeloaders.
I was going to refrain from saying anything. I swear.
But the woman engaged me in conversation as we passed.
I thought to myself, "Now's a good time to educate. You're a birder. You know you should tell her." May I mention that the woman was sitting FIVE feet from a sign that said NOT to feed the waterfowl?
So I said to her, "You know, you aren't supposed to feed the geese."
Her: "Oh. Really?"
Me: "Yes. These two especially. They are way too comfortable around people and they will get too close to you and they will bite."
Her: "So, do you work here?" (Said with a bit of a snide tone.) Cheeky bitch.
Me: "No. But I'm a birder and besides, there's a sign right there."
Then one of her kids kept on throwing bread!
Me: "And bread is REALLY unhealthy for birds."
Her: "Oh. Sorry."
And as we walked away, I heard her tell her kids to close the bags.
While I appreciate a mom trying to expose her kids to some "nature", I really wanted to punch her in the face for her attitude and lack of basic reading skills. What kind of message is she sending to her kids (one of which was definitely old enough to read) when she blatantly defies a sign prohibiting what she is doing?
Wench.

An unknown bug on an unknown flower.

And here's the reason I am going on a bird trip alone.
I spotted this bird sitting on a CHAIR in the back of the visitor center, and told the girls to freeze. They KNOW what it means to "Bird freeze!" And they ignored me.
This is a great crested flycatcher. I swear it is.
But the girls scared him off into the trees and ruined my chance of getting a good, identifying picture of him. But it's a great crested flycatcher.





I love people who advertise their interests:

And look! A pair of squirrels who can read!
(Apparently a lot better than the bread-throwing twit)

Mish Mash

I'm all better now.
Throwing up is the worst thing my stomach can do to me. I can remember every single time in my life that it's happened. I will spare you the list.
Let's look at some birds, shall we?

Uh oh. Another house finch with conjunctivitis.

I don't think this is my favorite orangy house finch. But isn't he pitiful looking?
Where's the red, man? I'm going to look up plants with lots of carotenoids.

The chickadee parents are super busy right now, feeding at least two wee mouths, and also getting enough food for themselves. Aren't you glad you aren't a bird? We can go stock up on food for 2 weeks if we want. Birds have to find it all day, every day. And they make time to sing. I think there's a lesson there.

We hit the dog park at Armleder today, and Isabelle found this little guy. Man, she is bug-crazy! She will pick up worms, pill bugs, centipedes, millipedes, beetles, anything that doesn't have a stinger. She draws the line at bees and wasps.

Nellie was plumb-tuckered out after the dog park.

Okay, a caption contest...I need captions for the following two pictures.
Have fun, guys!

UGG.

Nothing of interest happened to me today, unless you count the vomiting.
We were on our way to Swami's, a few minutes from our house, and I said to Geoff, "I feel like I am going to be sick."
He took me home, I laid down, got back up, got sick, then collapsed on the couch for the remainder of the day.

I was later able to take a quick nest inventory of the yard:
Wrens: All have fledged.
Chickadees: At least two bright yellow gapes seen in the nest box.
Tree Swallows vs. Purple Martins: Looks like the TRES have won the nest site. Damn.
Bluebirds: Haven't seen even ONE since winter.
Frogs: One very loud amphibian has been calling from the area around the fountain. I need to look up frog calls. Last year we had bull frogs.
I hope someone had a more exciting day than I did...

Bounty at the Oxbow

I had the day free today, so I headed out to the Oxbow.
I am so glad I did. I have never been there during spring migration (Why? I don't know.)
Let's do the ho-hum stuff first:

As I saw this fly in, I was hoping that it was a loon, seeing the pale chest.
But it was a juvenile double-crested cormorant. I've never seen a juvenile, but cormorants are a dime a dozen up at Lake Erie.

This was pretty cool. I saw what I thought was a water bug skimming along the water about 20 feet away. But I realized that it was moving way too fast to be a bug.
A snake! A Northern Water Snake, to be exact. Not venomous, but aggressive. Glad I didn't get close. If you click it to enlarge, you can see his tongue flicking!
Okay, onto the good stuff:
*(Note: I am 95% sure of these ID's. But if anyone has an opinion, I would love to hear it. I am weak in warblers, shorebirds, vireos...well, I'm weak in a lot of areas. But I rock at raptors!)

I'm calling this one a Northern waterthrush. But parts of it make me lean just a bit towards Louisiana. The habitat is wrong for a Louisiana, though. This was swampy, flat shoreline.

I'm called this one a Palm warbler, and though you can't see it well in the photo, he had a faint reddish cap.

With a better view, I could probably ID this one better. But all I got to see was his eye ring and a very faint yellow wash on his flanks. So I am saying Warbling vireo, but I like to hear if anyone thinks Solitary.
I heard way more birds than I saw today. The warbler family is a tough one to learn when it comes to songs.
Other birds seen today:
Robins
Mallards
Killdeer
Canada geese
Tree swallows
American coot
Some warbler smacking a caterpillar against a branch

6 Days until Magee Marsh!
I am especially jazzed about this year's trip, not just for the alone time, but also because my confidence as a birder is stronger now than in past years. The first year we went, I was new at birding, and Magee Marsh is an overwhelming place to go on a first bird-trip. I didn't know the landscape, or most of the birds I was seeing.
Last year, I was better at it, but still a little unsure.
Now, I am ready to rock it hard on the Boardwalk. I've heard that some birders never make it out of the parking lot, it's so birdy there.
Anyone who reads my blog and is planning to go up to Magee, let me know. Maybe we can meet up and stumble over some warblers together!

It's the Final Countdown...

...anyone remember that song?
I would love to live at the Cincinnati Nature Center.
Every turn leads to a new gasp of delight. It's great in every season.
Spring, though, is special.
I have created two little monsters in Isabelle and Lorelei. They expect me to take them somewhere cool every day.
So yesterday, I took them to the CNC.
I am meeting lots of the CNC staff, and that's nice, because the new RAPTOR property used to belong to the CNC, and we have a nice, friendly relationship with them. One of the CNC's trails leads right to the Red Barn.
I really need a wildflower field guide.
I Googled until I couldn't Google any more, looking for the names of these flowers.
I saw yellow ones:

...and some purple ones:

...and many, many white ones:







I would really like to learn more about botany...it makes you a better birder and all around smarter person.
And I don't like to brag...well, okay, I do...but we had an indigo bunting in the yard this morning!

When I come down every morning, I am in the habit of looking out our front window at the feeders. And this blue cutie was sampling the spilled seed.
That's yard bird #46, for those keeping score.
I am so proud of our property. Everywhere around us, there are street after street of manicured, perfect, boring lawns. And then there's us.
I watch birds as I leave our neighborhood, and everyone else has starlings and house sparrows. We have everybody other species in the area.
We have two things going for us...
1. We don't think like people. We think like birds.
2. The back of our house faces mature forest across the state route we live on.
Like I have said before, I am bad about answering comments.
Laura asked the other day what we had in the prairie besides grass.
Answer: Cosmos, black-eyed Susan's, a bayberry bush, blackberry brambles, and left over from last year (I didn't get them into the ground in time) Queen of the Prairie, swamp milkweed and a cup plant. And I want to add more this year.

This time next week, I will be settling into a hotel room in Port Clinton, Ohio. International Migratory Bird Day, my birding pilgrimage every year.
And I will be going alone. Now, I love my husband and sweet precious children, but two days of unfettered birding? With no whining from the back seat on the drive up? And no one to worry about but me? Me, set free to run amok in one of the top ten birding areas in the country?
Oh, yeah. Heaven on Earth.

I better stop going to Lake Isabella, or I will run out of birds to see at Magee Marsh next week.

I almost wet myself when I saw a brilliant blue blur fly past my car (I do my best birding from my car, it seems. Read-made bird blind.)
An indigo bunting! Now, it's not a life bird, but it was thrilling anyway. How can something be so blue?
My life indigo bunting was actually on top of Bill and Julie's birding tower last summer.
So this bird's for you, BT3 and Zick!

So the bunting wasn't a life bird. But this one was.
A Swainson's thrush. Hot damn.
All of the thrushes make my eyes cross, but when I saw the eye ring, yellow/brown/gray color and the lack of any reddish-brown on the back or wings, not to mention that we are in range for Swainson's, I knew I didn't have a wood, gray-cheeked or hermit.

White breasted nuthatches are just cool. That beautiful tuxedo they wear, and their ability to creep down a tree trunk. And look at his top foot....he has his pinky toe stuck out like he is at High Tea.

Ms. Genius here finally figured out how to get a good close-up of the wrenlets. But they are barely wrenlets anymore. They are filling up the nest box (remember, there are five in there!) and it looks like they are started early on the disapproval.
I can see the beginnings of that beautiful, saucy rust color on their heads and back.

I can't seem to get away from birds. (Not that I would want to) I spotted this robin on a nest in the McDonald's parking lot!

And they may be everywhere you turn, but they sure start out cute!
(Baby Canada)

It's all about BALANCE, people!

Lorelei and I stopped at our favorite pet store today (Jack's Aquarium and Pets) for dove and rat food (Why doesn't Kroger carry rat lab blocks? I mean, honestly.)
As we made our way back to the car, I almost stepped into a big pot of trouble...
Let's play "Spot the Goose":

See her?

The goofy thing was sitting on a nest on one of the parking lot "islands".
I led Lorelei up onto the island, because she has the unnerving habit of dashing in front of oncoming cars in parking lots.
And if I had taken one more step, we would have had a pissed off Mother Goose under foot.
So I grabbed Lorelei out of harm's way and put her in the car, and of course grabbed my camera and went back over to take a few photos.

On the way out of the parking lot, I saw another poorly chosen nest site.
Considering the population of Canada geese, it's probably extremely hard for them to find more "normal" nest sites, like beaver dams or elevated areas near water. How many lakes can you think of that don't allow fishing? People and nesting geese do not mix. We created a Mecca for this species (and for white-tailed deer, etc) and when they move in, we get pissed.
Along the same vein, we have introduced house sparrows and starlings to a continent that cannot remain balanced with their existence. For a good debate on HOSP, check out Julie's post about active HOSP management.
Something I like to incorporate into my educational programs is our role in animals' lives and well-being.
Take DDT, for example. We created it, sprayed it everywhere, and it took a few decades for us to realize that birds of prey, water birds and so on were dying off rapidly.
The reason: In a nutshell, DDT biomagnifies. It builds up in the food chain until it reaches the top of it (example: raptors and humans!) and in the case of birds, breakdown products are toxic to embryos and can disrupt calcium absorption, making the egg shells very soft. The female would lay the eggs, and when she went to incubate, her weight would crush the eggs.
(Did you know that the man who created DDT got a Noble Prize for it????)

Another bit of info I like to talk about is our lawns. I try very, very hard NOT to be preachy. Nobody wants to hear a sermon on how awful we are at managing nature.
People ask me what they can do to attract raptors to their yards.
My answer: Absolutely nothing. If the food is there, the birds will be there.
Instead, I show people things that they can do. Or more correctly, that what they don't do makes a huge difference.
Here at Williams Manor, we call it "judicious laziness".
What anal-retentive twit dictated that our yards had to be LAWNS?
What is a lawn? A grass farm.
And Nature not only abhors a vacuum, but also abhors a monoculture.
Why do you have to trim every corner down to the ground? Why not leave a few patches of tall grass? Or when you trim back the ever-so-invasive honeysuckle, why not start a brush pile?
Creating a brush pile is an inexpensive and easy way to provide critical shelter and cover for ground-nesting birds, reptiles and amphibians, chipmunks, rabbits, and other small mammals.

Why are people spraying their yards with pesticides? In a yard with native plants and a natural balance of beneficial insects, you don't need pesticides. If you have a healthy supply of insects, you will also have a healthy supply of insect-eating birds.

And why, in the sweet name of God, do people fertilize their grass? So that it grows thicker and faster, so you have to mow it more frequently, using more gasoline to chew through the thick carpet of unnatural green? Not to mention adding to the stinky fumes that hang around in the air and choke the trees.
Deep Breath....ahhh.
I feel better.
But seriously. This way of thinking and "managing" our yard has been so rewarding.
Aside from the 45 bird species we have seen in our yard, (5 of which were birds of prey), we have also seen:
Raccoons
Possums
Chipmunks
Squirrels
Field mice
Deer mice
Meadow voles
White-tailed deer
Little brown bats
Eastern cottontail rabbits
Midland brown snakes
Black rat snakes
Countless dragonfly species
And I don't know how many insects.
All this was seen on 0.75 acres.

I'm pretty well spent now.
But I am adding a nice cleansing picture:

"I feel YELLOW,
Oh, so YELLOW..."

Upcoming Appearances

DATE	TIME	LOCATION	PUBLIC
05-31-07	1:00 pm	Loveland Castle	No
06-12/26-07	9:30 am	St. Al’s Summer Camp	No
06-16-07	12 noon	Cincinnati Harley Store	Yes
06-19-07	6:45 pm	Pine Hill Park	No
06-23-07	1:00-4:00 pm	Burnet Woods Trailside Museum	Yes
07-19-07	10:00 am	Compass School Waterstone Blvd.	No
07-19-07	1:00 pm	Fort Thomas Rec. Dept	Yes
07-20-07	7:00-8:00 pm	Newport Branch Library	Yes
07-20-07	9:00 pm	Miamisburg Library	Yes
07-20-07	10:30-11:45 pm	Madiera Library	Yes
07-21-07	2:00 pm	Anderson Twshp. Library	Yes
07-25-07	6:30 pm	Fayetteville-Perry Library	Yes

Flycatcher? Pewee? Phoebe?

I need help.
Well, maybe that's not news.

Lake Isabella has been a pleasant surprise this Spring. I have been parking on the river side of the park and warblers and lots of other birdies are hanging from the trees.

Who was the first person to discover a blue-gray gnatcatcher? He or she must have had eyesight like a microscope. They are so tiny!

Okay. What the hell is this?
I have been pouring over my field guides, and I admit that this particular branch of the bird family tree is confusing to me. I felt better when I read in the Stokes guide that even "experts" have trouble with the empidonaxes and usually have to rely on song for ID.
Well, I didn't hear this one singing, so I am stumped.
At first, I thought Eastern Wood Pewee.
Then I thought maybe an Acadian Flycatcher.
Then I thought it kind of looked like a phoebe.
Each new picture I see, I change my mind.
Someone who knows what they are talking about has to help me.
Oh! I forgot to tell everyone that I got a life bird the other day on the way to a program.
An eastern kingbird! Whoot!
But I was too busy trying to find the group I was presenting to, to get a photo.

Geoff took the girls to the grocery store with him tonight (is he great or what?) so Nellie and I spent some time in the yard. It sure is nice to be able to walk through it without worrying that a snake or Jimmy Hoffa isn't going to jump up out of the grass.
This is the enlarged prairie. I would like to make it even larger, but I have to go slow and keep Geoff from freaking out about it. I personally would love it if all the grass died, so I could easily fill the yard with native plants.

The robins came out of the woodwork when the grass finally got chopped.
I love to watch them probing for worms in our nice, chemical-free lawn, because they won't be bringing mutated babies into the world.
Who wants to see baby robins with three heads and that glow in the dark?

The purple martin is still here. And the tree swallows have been checking out the bluebird house. No nest building from them yet, but I hope they stick around.
We won't have to worry about too many flying insects, will we?
And if we get the new bat house up, the mosquitoes will be taken care of too!

"I ate before you ate, tee"?
Tee? What does that mean?
"See" would have made more sense.
Either way, I love it when people get creative with the seven characters the BMV gives us.