Sunday, August 23, 2009

It's not really about the birds all the time...

On a bird walk at the Cincinnati Nature Center this weekend, it was less about the birds and more about plants and things underfoot.

I am so thankful for Nina. Not just because she is a sweet, wonderful person, but also for her brain, chock-a-bock full of nature info. She was able to point out new plants for me:
Dogbane
Dogbane

Agrimony
Agrimony...I will always remember the name of this plant, because it rhymes with "alimony" and I started calling it the "Give it all away plant".

I found a nice big skull in the underbrush, so we puzzled away at who the previous owner might have been.
Teeth marks on skull
It even had teeth marks from mice just trying to get their RDA of calcium.

must have braaaaainssss
(Brain case)
"Must....have...braaaaaiinnnnsss........."

At the end of the walk, Kathi squirreled it away and weaseled the answer out of one of the naturalists, I guess. It was a raccoon.

Ultimately, as you have read on this blog and others, it's really about the people you bird with:
Nina
Nina

Mary Ann Kathi pointing
Kathi (pointing out the yellow-throated vireo that I barely saw) and waaayyy in the back is Mary Ann, of Facebook fame. Mary Ann doesn't have a blog, the poor dope.

(I feel that half of my life is on the blog and the other, juicier half is on Facebook. If you aren't on Facebook, go try it.)
Mid-to-late summer isn't the best time to go bag a lot of birds, but who cares? A morning spent with the Cincinnati members of the Flock and a poor dope without a blog (but she's fun and nice, anyway!) is an excellent time to catch up, laugh until we fall down and scare off what few birds there are to see.

4 comments:

Beth said...

it's all about the friends. Birds, schmirds.

Beth

Dave Dorsey said...

Looks like a fun time with friends to me. :)

dguzman said...

I'd go birding with you dopes anytime.

Dawn Fine said...

Aww...Im WIth @dguzman...i will go with u all too..
and susan..try twitter...just try,