Happy New Year

Well, I've been reviewing my photos from last summer for the worst of reasons:  I got a coupon for free prints on Snapfish.  It almost makes their incessant e-mails worthwhile.  So while I'm at it I thought I'd print a photo or two from my backpacking trip.  I really need to get on here a while and tell the whole tale.  It was a great trip.  But here are the photos. I just learned that today is National Bird Day. I added this little bird in its honor. I haven't worked on an ID yet but if you know what it is please let me know in the comments.

Stork Struck

I never finished telling stories about my trip to Spain so if you don't mind me boring you with tales about how I spent my summer vacation. . . . One of my favorite "finds" in Spain was that it is inhabited by storks.



I went a little stork crazy in fact. My husband sort of introduced me to birding in the first place and in fact I'm not much of a birder being too sluggish to awaken to view birds at dawn. Nonetheless he finally had to put limits on my request to stop and take more pictures of storks and their nests. I got quite a few anyway and here are a few of the best.



Storks are doing well in Spain, apparently profiting from ready access to food in dumps. I found census data which showed a low of 7005 pairs in 1974 to 33217 in 2004. I guess garbage is good for something! Incidentally, these are white storks, Ciconia ciconia.


I feel compelled to share my bad pun title for this photo--Four Storks and a Crane.


Submitting to I and the Bird blog carnival, hosted by Birding is Fun on January 6.

Spring Break 2008 Redux

Offshore oil well

Two years ago we took a spring vacation on the Gulf Coast. Given the recent events down south I have a different perspective on these photos that I found in my photo archives.


Brown pelicans in flight

Makes you sad, doesn't it?

Spring Birding

A series of storms came through today and yesterday and conditions were right to have grounded a lot of migrating birds, so I went out to the local nature preserve to see if I could get any pictures. The birds were there but I had a rough time getting any good shots. I'd love to blame the birds but I think it is the photographer's fault. I have shots of bird bellies, bird butts, blurred birds and absent birds that jumped out of the picture just as the shutter snapped.


Common Yellowthroat


Black-throated Green Warbler

Ravens

Arizona seemed full of ravens. It was great to watch them fly over the canyons and strut around in front of the cameras. They were especially visible in the Petrified Forest National Park where I am sure they were fed by tourists (although as in any park this is not allowed). I can see why the Native Americans were so fascinated with them and included them in so many of their legends. They are smart, beautiful and personable birds. They can be annoying too. On a separate trip we took to the North Cascades, we were warned by the rangers to guard our windshield wipers as the local ravens had taken to stealing them! Amusing unless it happens to you. Fortunately we escaped with our wipers intact.

Happy New Year

I haven't had much time for posting. Here is a shot of ravens flying over the Grand Canyon.

Late Christmas with the Turkeys

A late Christmas post to wish all of you who celebrate this holiday a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. In appreciation of today's post by Australian blogger "Snail" I am sharing an American turkey as her post appreciates the turkeys of Down Under. If you ate goose or turkey tonight, tofurkey or otherwise, I hope your dinner was good and the company cordial. As all good American Jews seem to do, we had Chinese food here in Sedona, Arizona. It was good too.


Turkey footprint. They have big feet.

Red-Crested Cardinal in action

PA311020
Originally uploaded by skron

After much ado, I've managed to post my first video. For more on this bird see the previous post.

Cardinal Grazing

A Red-Crested Cardinal (Paroaria coronata) grazing in a park in Waikiki. These birds are quite showy and relatively common. They were introduced to Hawaii, like nearly every other bird I saw, this species around 1930.



For some wonderful photos of a similar cardinal and an overall great bird blog, check out 10,000 Birds!

Talk about jet lag!

This little birdie is a Pacific Golden Plover (Pluvialis fulva). It is a handsome bird but more notable is its migration behavior. This plover probably flew to Hawaii from his summer nesting place in Alaska and may have made the 2000 mile trip in a single non-stop flight. Take that United! I had to fly to Hawaii via Los Angeles. The good news is this bird is no longer endangered and was not introduced to Hawaii by mankind. It got there on its own two wings.

Black-Crowned Night Heron

Seen fishing at hotel in Waikiki, Oahu, Hawaii.

Hmmm

I keep asking myself why I'm not posting more. Am I tired of blogging? Has it run its course? I'm also not taking all that many pictures. The season of random acts of violence has started in the 'hoods and the news tells of drive bys and one killing of a police officer. So I need to take pictures downtown in tourist zones, take a road trip or work on nature photos. So far nothing has sparked my fancy.
I know it will happen again soon. Truthfully, right now life is pretty occupied with family issues--taking kids to their various after school activities, my older boy graduates high school next week so last weekend was devoted to prom activities--I'm still in shock--making summer plans for the whole family and so on. I signed up for a modern dance class and have sent out 4 books on Bookmooch and released one "into the wild" on Bookcrossing as part of my attempt to clear out unwanted books from my house. So life is good just busy as ever.
I'm reaching my three year anniversary of posting on this blog so I'll have to do something on that day. Maybe some sort of retrospective. Hmmm.
Well the answer is I'm still a blogger. Just a little busy this season.

Gone Birding

Not really. Actually I'm working. But here are some backyard bird pictures.

Palm Warbler

For Wordless Wednesday. This little bird apparently is just passing through on its way north.

The birds are migrating through!

We seem to have a flock of Golden crowned kinglets flying through. I've seen them two separate days in different neighborhood locations. They are striking little birds. Quite hyper too so it was hard to photograph them.



I also saw a pair of Downy Woodpeckers. [Addendum 4/5--I've been told they are Yellow Bellied Sapsuckers by a friend from Flickr]. I hope they plan on nesting nearby.

I believe. . .

I believe that Nature gives the best gifts of all.
Today I saw a bald eagle fly overhead.



(Not the eagle. I think this is a red-tail hawk).

Shore Birds and Surf

The Pacific Northwest Coast in winter is an entirely different world. No traffic, no cars, no stores, no crises. Just wind, waves, water and birds.

Wordless Wednesday--Crow Story

Use your imagination for the words!

Bluest of Jays

I'm still processing August vacation photos. This fellow was posing for shots in Yosemite National Park. I love the detail you can see of the feathers (best viewed larger). Not exotic, but definitely a showy bird.

Back to Yosemite

I'm getting tired of New York pictures. So here are a few pictures of a family of grouse we saw in Yosemite. They were quite unimpressed by the people gaping at them. One even walked up to my son and pecked him on the leg. I didn't have my camera ready unfortunately.



I tried to identify which grouse it is and didn't succeed (I also didn't try that hard) and was dismayed to see many of the Google hits on grouse were hunting sites. It saddens me that a bird that in a national park is quite unafraid of humans would be hunted for sport in nearby private lands. What is the joy in putting a bullet in one of these, or any, animal?