People photos from the Midwest Birding Symposium

I'm going to spare you my excuses for not updating my blog more.

So September brought the Midwest Birding Symposium in Lakeside, Ohio.  My arm got twisted (Thanks, Jeff!) and I am so glad I gave in.  Not only was it a birding event, it was full of faces I wanted to see, people I love to spend time with, and lots of new and wonderful people to meet.
There are a bazillion photos to share....here are about, oh, forty of them.


First, Palito:
Palito got to meet lots of new people and see new places...

The Black Swamp Bird Observatory!!!



Ottawaa National Wildlife Refuge!!!



He got to meet (and be blown on by) the President of the ABA!


And Liz!!



Palito doesn't like cole slaw.  He's an owl.


The Birder's Gang Sign:


He got to meet Kim Kaufman!  He was so nervous.....


And Barb!




And beer!


And Gentleman Jack!



Here, Corey taunts him with a knife.



And now the people:
Okay, I was totally innocent this time.  I was INNOCENTLY taking photos of Lynne and Kathi, and what happens?  Up goes the FINGER.
And look at the hairy eyeball she is giving me too!





Okay, funny story.  Al Batt told a hilarious story the last night of the symposium, and here's a short synopsis:
When he was a teenager,  he and a friend let some Muscovy ducks loose in their high school.  They put tags on the wings of FOUR ducks:  Duck #1, Duck #2, Duck #3 and Duck #5.  And the next day, the school was in an uproar because they "couldn't find the last duck".
Well, we found Duck #4!




The Rain Crows!





Ann Oliver's KICK ASS shoes:


Bacon!!!!  Yes, he's a people!


I went birding with the guys, and it was so great....
(Corey Finger, Christopher Ciccone and Greg Miller....yeah, THAT Greg Miller!)


Corey liked the back of my car.


Here's Kathi being all volunteery at her post at the information/registration booth:





Ah, the boat ride on Thursday night.  Lynne and Ruthie had JUST gotten there as the boat was leaving.
It was a fun, albeit rocky trip.  And it was GREAT to finally meet Ruthie...we actually got her to Ohio!


Oh, and here's a random bird photo:



Do yourself a favor and mark your calendars for the next Midwest Birding Symposium....
In 2013!

A sort of okay day of birding...

We have an unusual bird at RAPTOR....a species that we have only seen and treated 5 times in the past 30 years. While the Saturday volunteers were cleaning, I squeezed in and got a photo:


A Long-eared Owl.
Yes, he looks like a great-horned owl. But he's only half the size. Very cute. And seems to have some head trauma with resulting vision problems. Everyone keep those fingers crossed.
(He's supposed to have ear tufts, but he wasn't interested in showing them to me.)

Now. My day today.
I heard that the Oxbow had a bald eagle nest on some adjacent private property. I wanted to see if I could get a peek (without trespassing!).
I wandered back to an overlook and stopped.
I saw a large dark bird across the lake...hmm. Too mottled to be a vulture. Maybe a juvie bald eagle?
And damn tootin', it was.


And a very large flock (100 + ) of unknown gulls were swirling about. And about 30 crows.

This was very cool. I love eagles and don't get to seem them very often.
It got better. Another juvenile eagle joined the first one.


This is nice. Two eagles at once? I've never seen two at once.



To explain the suckiness of my photos, this is how far away I was:

See that faaaarrrrr shore? The eagles were past that in another lake. I need to start saving my pennies and got a really LONG lens and a new camera.



I scanned with my binoculars in time to see a third juvenile join the first two.

Holy Mackerel. Three. Freakin'. Eagles.
I then scanned the whole shore, and counted at least SEVEN juveniles. SEVEN.

At this point, I was talking to myself....
"Holy s**t. Seven. Seven? Oh, wow.....wait. Oh. OH. OH!!!! Adults!!!!"
Three adults were flying in. That made ten.
TEN. BALD. EAGLES.

Oh, and a pair of Northern Pintails landed in the lake in front of me.

Huh. Cool.


Let's look at the eagles some more.


Here's two of the adults:


I can hear Dave rolling his eyes all the way from Alaska. Baldies are like trash birds up there.
But ten bald eagles in southeastern Indiana....that's just spectacular.
Never did see the nest.
:)

On a totally unrelated note....Kenn Kaufman Friended me on Facebook. Maybe he just is looking for Friends because he's new to Facebook. But you all know that there will be no living with me now. I'm Kenn Kaufman's Friend.
: )