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New Bird? and Broken Marina

One afternoon this week was warm and sunny so I took an hour out of my busy schedule and ran over to Cedar Hill State Park. Wow, the water level was super high, and you can see the damage that last week's snowstorm did to the marina. I imagine several boats were damaged.

I saw quite of few birds, including this song sparrow:

I spent quite a bit of time looking a the gulls that were sitting on the breakwater. There were hundreds of ring-billed gulls, two double-crested cormornats, and one gull that looked different than all the others. It was noticably larger, had a black or mostly black bill, and a soft buffy mottled coloring, with the tail pretty much the same color. I looked hard in my bird book but the only bird that looked like that lives way north in Canada, so I doubt that was the correct ID. Herring gulls are in this area, so I guess it must be one of those, even if the photo didn't really look like that.

My backyard was a bird heaven today--lots of birds and for the first time we've had a large flock of yellow-rumped warblers. Usually I just see the odd one or two in the tree but today they were swarming the feeders and especially the suet. Stocking up to head north, I guess. Gary also put up a birdhouse for me today. I bought it at our church's Christmas bazaar, and I have no idea if any bird will like it.

A Little Bit More about the Opera

By popular demand (yeah, right), I'm going to say a bit more about the opera.

If you read my family blog, you'll have seen my post and photos about going to the opera last Sunday, Valentine's Day. This outing was pay-back: After making Gary go to a U2 concert with me, he said I had to go to an opera with him. The tickets were actually a Christmas gift from Andrew and Laura--I guess Andrew was in cahoots with Gary to make me go.

I did my homework ahead of time to make sure I got the most out of the outing. I read the Wikipedia page about Cosi Fan Tutte, and we listened to an audio explanation about it from the Opera House's website.

So here are my observations:

• The building was impressive, worth seeing even if you don't go to an opera.
• Most of the patrons were older than me.
• Most of the patrons were dressed better than me, even though I actually bought a new dress for the occasion and wore heels. I had the wrong coat, dontcha know? I left my mink at home.
• The seats weren't that great. I didn't mind being up high, but we were on the leg of the U shaped seating, so we had to lean over the wall to see the stage, and couldn't see left stage at all. I'm very glad I brought my bird-watching binoculars!
  
• I was surprised that the costumes were not from the period like I was expecting. Instead, the costumes were maybe 1930s style. Nice costumes, but not what I was expecting.
• I really don't like high, high sopranos. These are obviously talented women, but those high notes make me shutter.
• I really do enjoy musical theater, which is really what opera is, but not having it in the language of the common people prevents easy understanding. Continuing with that thought, I guess we can thank John Wycliffe and his successors for the Bible in the vernacular. :-)
• I guess I was a bit surprised at how "ungodly" the actual message of the opera was. Its big idea was "reason and balance wins out in all things, including relationships. Don't expect too much goodness from your spouse/intended, because they won't have it, just like you won't. Be reasonable, and don't expect too much." Somehow, I thought that something written 250 years ago would have been less cynical. Silly me.

All in all, it was a very nice outing, but I'm not likely to go again. Unless Gary forces me to :-)

Is This a Coyote?

My photos are not very good, but if I'm not mistaken, this is the reason the birds all disappeared for a few minutes!

New Bird!

OK, it wasn't a fancy or rare bird, and it wasn't the flock of robins in the above photo, but today was the first time I've identified a White-throated sparrow in my backyard. That brings my life list up to 212.

I got too disorganized to participate fully, but I did manage to send in one list to the Great Backyard Bird count today. I cheated just a little by including species I saw both yesterday and today instead of submitting two lists--I hope that doesn't skew the statistics for all of the scientific world of ornithology!

Ruby-Crowened Kinglet

I have pretty much been neglecting this blog of late, in favor of my other one.



There is a Ruby-Crowned Kinglet that I see in my backyard a couple times a week. Today I actually saw the ruby crown! It is just a small strip of red on the very top of its head and often is hidden. They are tiny birds, and I've never seen more than one at a time.

I continue to have lots of birds in my backyard. Some weekends I've seen over 20 species. Lately the flocks of robins and Cedar Waxwings have been stopping by.

Birdstack announced a beta test of a new feature to upload photos to their site. I think I'm going to try to upload the best photo I have for each species. It will take me a few days--too tedious to do all at once. It will be a good excuse to go look at my Ethiopia bird photos again.

Acts of Service: the Dishwasher

I know he loves me because he empties the dishwasher any time I ask.

Today he did it without me asking.

I am loved.

Robins

For the last 3-4 days there have been swarms of robins hanging around. In the back yard they seem to be looking for worms, but in the front yard they are eating hackberry seeds.

Useful or Used?

Once upon a time there was a very clever man. He knew lots of things about lots of things and he could do lots of things and fix lots of things. This man liked to help his friends and family when they had broken things or were stranded with some emergency. He gave his services for free or at least for cheap. He became well known among his friends and family as a man who could be a very helpful problem solver. Very useful. Yes, very useful, indeed.

Then one day he began to notice that no one every talked to him except when they had a problem. He noticed they never called to chat or asked how he was. They never suggested he join them for dinner and a movie. The man began to wonder if his usefulness was the only reason people liked him. He wondered if anyone liked him because he was kind, or nice, or just because they should. He began to wonder if they liked him only because he fixed things for cheap or rescued people from emergencies.

So then he had to decide: was he being useful or was he being used?

The End.

Double-Crested Cormorant

OK, it is a horrible photo, but it is proof that I saw this bird at Joe Pool Lake today. It was sitting on a line of tires that they use as a breakwater near the harbor. (It is the one on the right, in case it is so bad that you can't tell the gull from the cormorant!) I got Gary to go to the park with me after after finishing the plumbing project at Rachel's house and after the Cowboys' humiliating loss. It was the first day of nice warm and sunny weather we've had in some time.

Reconciliation

Today I got an email from a friend who is my age saying her daughter had phoned and is seeking reconciliation after several silent and absent years. This is an answer to prayer and it made my friend so happy. I'm asking God for complete healing of their relationship.

An Afternoon at the Zoo

It has been many years since we visited the zoo here in Dallas. Today "the girls" went to the zoo while "the boys" went to the Cotton Bowl. The weather was cool but sunny which turned out to be quite pleasant.

Baby loved the animals, especially the birds. I'm training her to be a bird-watcher, you know. She helps me put out the bird seed and gets quite a kick out of it.

If you have a strong stomach, you can view this video we took in the Wilds of Africa Lowland Gorilla exhibit. It points out the difference between Gorillas and Humans:

Christmas Birds

I'm too tired to write much tonight--it has been a big day what with opening all those presents and being married for 34 years and all.

We got an unusual snow storm on Christmas Eve which made driving to church interesting for me and terrifying for our Caribbean guests. The snow stuck around for part of today and that meant the birds could see the seeds I put out for them and they seemed to be hungry today! I saw 12 species without even going outside, and another one when I took a short walk around the neighborhood.

I broke my trusty little camera the last minutes we were at my mom's in MI, so I was disappointed to miss some shots the last few days. It served me well for 5 years. Lucky me, I got a new one under the Christmas tree! It was the same kind I had before, which is good, because I liked that brand/kind/size (Casio Exilim). I'm anxious to try it out on my backyard birds, because the quality is lots better than the old one.

Winter Solstice 2009

I participated in Birdstack's Winter Solstice 2009 Bird observation today. I wore my binoculars around my neck as I walked to work and someone asked me about them. I mentioned what I was doing and they wanted to know if the Christmas Bird count had become now the Winter Solstice Bird count. I told them that that is a different thing altogether, and perhaps the person was making a comment about modern society's current fad to remove all the religious terminology from everyday vocabulary items.

Anyway, I did see a few birds today and made my list. I wish I could have used yesterday's list, because there were even more birds in my backyard yesterday.

I like birding in the winter--I can see the birds because the leaves have fallen off the trees.

Another Birding Post

We just got back from a short three days in Michigan to visit my mom and other family. It was COLD! My mom has turned into a little bit of a birder in her old age, and she faithfully refills her feeders. While there we saw American Goldfinches, Mourning Doves, House Sparrows, a Northern Cardinal, and some others. We also visited my Aunt and Uncle, and they had even more at their feeders: Downey Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Dark-eyed Juncos. I took a walk in the park and saw a Belted Kingfisher up in the tree above Fish Creek.

Today seemed like a good birding day in my backyard. The leaves are off the trees, so I can see the birds easier. I recored 10 species in just a few minutes, including a House Wren and Ruby-Crowned Kinglet. I hope the birds are that cooperative tomorrow, since it is time for the Birdstack Winter Solstice count:



Baby Isabella talks about "bird food" and watches the birds with me--that is a lot of fun. I got a nice bird book from my sister for Christmas. I'm sad to report that I lost the nice "How to Identify Birds" book that I just received from my father-in-law--I left it on the plane--so sad! I really wanted to finish reading it.

And another bad thing happened on this trip--my camera (which I received exactly 5 years go) got wrecked as we were leaving. I must have leaned against the rental car while brushing the snow off and cracked the display. Oh, well, I was wanting a new camera anyway!! :-)

Candy Cane Wreath

I got the pine branches for free at Home Depot, the trimmings off of someone's Christmas tree. I attached them around a wire coat hanger with green florist wire, then added a bow and candy canes.

High Chair Makeover

I've been doing all sorts of things to get ready for our granddaughter coming to spend Christmas with us. The latest was to dig out the old wooden high chair and give it a make over.

As for the chair, I cleaned it carefully, washed the fabric retainer belt, and put wood cover up oil on the blemishes. The tray was more of a challenge. It took two coats of stripper to remove the rest of the old finish, then Gary sanded it with three levels of sandpaper, then I oiled it with mineral oil as you would a wooden cutting board.


It doesn't look perfect, but it isn't too bad, and of course, baby looks cute as ever in it.

And Then There Was One

Often there was a pair of Inca Doves that came to feed with the larger group of mourning doves each morning at my house. The last few days there has just been one Inca Dove--that makes me sad.

This morning the rest of the leaves fell off the trees in our back yard and suddenly I can see the birds a lot better. Today there were lots--cardinals, tufted titmice, three kinds of doves (the above two plus white-winged doves), a warbler and a Carolina wren all in the back yard within a few minutes of each other.

What Is Wrong With This Picture?

You guessed it--papayas do not grow where it snows. That, and papayas should not grow in my compost pile. And don't forget that it isn't supposed to snow here either. Another sign of global warming??

This poor blog isn't getting much action these days. I'm mostly posting at my Family News site, and I guess Facebook took some of my blogging steam away too.

Yet Another Way to Cut the Cheesecake

Yesterday I baked two cheesecakes for the Thanksgiving dinner at church. This was my first time to try pumpkin cheesecake. It was pretty good, but the gingersnaps I used for the crust were kind of strong and almost bitter.

For years I've been trying to perfect my cheesecake attempts, including how to cut them cleanly. It isn't easy, and today I tried a new method using thin florist wire.

I set the cheesecake on a pedestal made from a bowl. This enable me to pull the wire completely downward to cut thru the crust.

Don't worry--I washed the pliers first.

Disappearing Diving Duck

Well, I think it was a duck, but I'm not even sure of that. Twice this month I've seen a water bird sitting alone in the middle of a small pond, mottled brown in color, smaller than a mallard and quite shy. Both times this bird has dived straight down. I patiently wait and wait and wait and wait, and the bird never reappears! Logically that can only mean that it dove down, swam to the rushes and then resurfaced where I could not see it.

Anybody have an idea what bird that might be?

I need a bird-identifying buddy!

Buckeye Butterfly

Another beautiful butterfly held still long enough for me to photograph it while I was out for a lovely walk at the state park this afternoon.

I also saw a nice assortment of birds, including a new one for my life list, a buff-bellied pipit.

We've been enjoying exceedingly wonderful weather this past week. Tonight a cold front came through with heavy rain just as I had to drive to the airport to pick up Gary, but we arrived home safely.

Confusing Fall Warbler

I sure wish I had some more know-how on bird identification. I'm not up to taking an ornithology class or anything quite like that, but I wish I knew what to look for when you can't hold a bird in your hand for detailed study.

Today I had to drive Rachel to another field trip, this time a dairy farm in Plano, so I passed the time at a nearby city park. It was a crummy park by all accounts, but there was a small wooded creek off to the side. I pushed my way thru the honeysuckle that was taking over, and was able to do a bit of bird watching.

I saw a yellow-rumped warbler. There was also a strange duck all my himself (maybe herself) who dived straight down and I never did see it come up! I have no idea where it went or what kind it was! There was also a sparrow with very clear gray and rust strips across its head, and a lightly streaked buff-colored bib, and a notched tail. Maybe Savannah sparrow?

Now that my patio door has been replaced, and now that the leaves are falling off the trees, I'm hoping to start seeing a few more birds in the back yard. On the other hand, the wooded lot behind our house is now starting to be developed, so I'm afraid the beep, beep of heavy machienery is going to scare all the wildlife away. :-(

Foxes

This afternoon and evening there were three (!) foxes hanging around our deck and back yard. No wonder I can't get any birds to come to my feeders--the foxes (and squirrels) are eating up all the food! The photos aren't that good because it was nearly dark, but these guys were only 10-15 feet away at times!

What's Your Marital Status?

I joined a thingy online today (http://www.travellerspoint.com/) and I had to laugh when I got to the question in the Profile about marital status. There was a drop-down list with these choices:

• (blank)
• Single
• De Facto
• Partnered
• Engaged
• Married
• Divorced
• Desperate

I thought it was pretty funny, but on the other hand, it does say something about life these days.

Speaking of getting married, we are looking forward to a wedding this weekend. I wanted to give the bride a piece of my mother-in-law's lovely pottery, but I didn't know which piece, so I sent this photo to the bride and asked her which one she liked.
Ain't technology great??

Today's Nature Walk

After lunch at church I talked Gary into going to Joe Pool Lake with me for a while. The weather was lovely--especially after so much rain. The birds at the lake:

• Eastern Bluebird
• American Crow
• American Coot
• Mallard
• Red-winged Blackbirds
• a rust and buff colored bird I couldn't identify
• two other birds I heard but couldn't identify

Plus mourning and Inca doves in the back yard.


I did get a couple of nice butterfly photos, and there are still some wildflowers, but I wasn't able to identify this one--6 foot stems!

U2 Concert

I know it is hard to believe, but Gary and I attended a U2 concert last evening. It was the first and only rock concert I'd ever attended, unless you count the Amy Grant concert that was held after a Rangers' game many years ago. I'm not an absolute huge fan of this band, but I do like a few of their songs, and it was nice to hear them in person.

Or more to the point, I've had a new experience. :-)

The major reason I talked Gary into this outing was so that he could see the new Cowboys' stadium. It is huge! You can see my short online album about the stadium. The food prices were high, there was a beer cooler every 40 feet, and the toilet I used sprayed water everywhere. Other than that, the place was impressive.

My observations about the concert:

• The opening act, MUSE, was terrible.
• If you want to hear a concert, don't go to a football stadium. The acoustics aren't that great.
• If you want to hear the music, buy a CD. Apparently concerts are more about having an experience, and less about hearing music.
• The multimedia, and especially the light show, was dazzling.
• Rock concerts are a great place for people-watching. My analysis of the demographics: lots of 30 year olds, a good number of parents with their teenagers, a few families with their younger children, a few pregnant women, and 8 people with gray hair, including one of the band members.
• Dress code: women--lots of tight jeans, lots of cleavage, a few little black dresses, and lots of high-heeled boots. Men: jeans, sweaters, nice shoes. I was expecting more people in grubby jeans, tee-shirts and athletic shoes.
• I was disappointed not to see the stadium's famed HUGE screen in action, but I guess that is because the band has its own elaborate spaceship stage.

Speaking of the band's screen, it was very interesting from a technology point of view. It was shaped like a loop that went over the band. It was made up of many small hexagonal shaped panels that either fit tightly together to make a solid screen, or separated (each piece being connected to an expando lattice structure that either held the pieces tight together or slightly apart. This photo shows them when apart:

The multimedia and light show was impressive. And it makes you wonder how they move all that equipment and structure from one place to another. They must employ a massive crew to do the logistics. Here is a collage of photos showing some of the light show.

I guess I should end this lengthy post with two more photos:
I was there:

And here's a horrible photo of the band:

Fall Creatures

Lots of interesting creatures in the back yard, even if the birds are few.

Internet Bird Collection

Since it is open to amateurs, I signed up at the Internet Bird Collection. I've uploaded one video (and it seems like the sound didn't work), and two photos:

African masked weaver (14 second video)
Hemprich's Hornbill
Hamerkop

Not that my photos are all that great, but still, it is fun to contribute.

Birds of the Fall Equinox

Mr. Ringer has organized the equinox bird lists up on Birdstack--go take a look (click the banner above). And join us for the next event in December.

I had the flu last week--no, it wasn't bird flu, but it might have been swine flu. I felt lousy all week, but did manage to go to the Ft. Worth Botanic Gardens on Friday, though I tried not to get too close to anyone. The weather was PERFECT, and here's the few birds I saw during the day:

Around the place:

• crows--lots
• grackels
• hawks, but I couldn't tell which kind
• rock doves--a million

At the Botanic Gardens:

• robins--two
• yellow-bellied sapsucker--one
• superb starlings--yes, they have a pair living INSIDE the greenhouse!

At Cedar Hill State Park

• some ducks
• kildeer--3
• great white egret--3
• peeps--a pair of fast moving ones on the beach

I also saw a possibly new bird, but I really needed some help with the identification to know for sure. It was a small, thirsty blond sparrow playing in the fountain at the gardens.

Cards Update

I think it has been a while since I posted any of my greeting card photos. I've done a few new ones lately and added them to my online web album here.

Being Tourists in Ethiopia

I'm home from work this week, sick with the flu. I have enough energy to do about one thing per day, so today I organized and posted a few more of my Ethiopia photos. I think you'll have to agree that we saw some beautiful places while being tourist for three days. Click here to see the entire album.

(The best way to view the album is in Slideshow mode, using the F11 key to get to full screen. Press F11 again to get out of full screen.)