Back to birding..

I have a renewed appreciation for those of you who manage to successfully capture those tiny little warblers with your camera's lens!! Quick Draw McGraw ..I'm not. I've never seen birds move so fast and disappear so quickly. Attempting to get a decent picture of any warbler certainly put a dent in my Friday morning patience so to help myself regain my calm... I took some pictures of all the color that was blooming around me.. the Tickseed Sunflowers were everywhere..stunning little bits of color and light..extremely radiant, I think, when seen in the open fields....
so pretty against all those shades of "calming" green..ahhh...see it's working...

As I walked along the mowed path near the nature center a tiny movement caught my eye. OMgosh, a warbler that wasn't hanging out at the top of the trees!! I recognized this little bird right away, even though I haven't seen a Nashville Warbler since one visited me outside my study window in December of '08! If it had been sitting still I don't think I would have seen him at all... he blended so well into the yellow-greens of this bush...

That grayish head and that white eye ring looked so familiar..and he certainly was busy.. eating whatever insects these little warblers eat..

and when he finally decided to take a break...he chose to do so with his back to me, but hey, I was just thankful I wasn't having to break my neck to see him.

I was happy that I snapped this shot of him as it showed his underparts pattern.. the yellow from the throat to the breast and then the white belly and then the yellow under his tail. It just confirmed to me that I was correct and he was a Nashville. What a thrill .. to see another Nashville...hopefully this little guy will make his way to his winter residence safely..I certainly don't want to see him feeding outside MY window during the snowy and cold month of December!
I'll end this post on a who am I ...question. I saw this bird for 4 seconds..if that..I managed one picture of it and it was gone..I've looked through my Warbler book photos and.. maybe.. I might have a guess.. but I know I have lots of blogger bird experts out there who will lend me a hand on this one!!

a tough question to answer...

Only two showed up in this litter..when usually 9 or more are seen....but our breeder will likely try again later this year. This gives us more time to wrestle with all the pros and cons..but time is running out and we have to make that big decision to get on the "I want a new Brittany Spaniel list" or not. His Brittanys go fast...he has had this lineage going since the mid 60s and he only breeds every 7 years.
...oh, they are just too darn cute at 3 weeks of age...I'm already smitten with this guy... but 16 years is a long time..and now that we are retired there is travel to think about..a chance to just up and go..whenever..you know?? I don't have a puppy sitter..and I hate to kennel.

thoughts like.. how could we live without an orange and white critter watching our every move...that nose waiting at the door as you open it..bringing the leash and every toy in the toy box, saying play with me...walk me...creep into our conversations..but thoughts of puppy life and puppy training....time out from birding??? Sigh, I just don't know...
Gee, what do you think...our first Brittany lived to be 16, her nephew, just turned 12..neither dog ever had a sick day in their life..but oh my, what a commitment!!! what do ya think...?

Finally!!

They're back!! I have had the best time, the last few days, finding warblers that I missed in the Spring...oh, they were there but Tina wasn't that fast at finding them with her binoculars way back then. I would see them, with my eyes, waaay up there in the tops of those trees but then finding that same branch through a pair of binoculars was a skill I still had to practice..and of course, one must do all of the above in a few seconds as these guys flit and flitter so fast that I more or less missed seeing them in all their spring colors ..but persistence has paid off during their return visit. My first sighting Thursday, however, was in stunning black and white..A small little Black-in-White Warbler...first, looking right at me and then posing for a profile shot! How nice! Our weather has been very nice..cool cool mornings with highs in the low 80s. Perfect for enjoying the quick glimpses we are getting of these visiting birds.

Light and Color ..

Such wonderful and iridescent colors nature shares with us...when those Hummingbirds turn into the sunlight preparing to..
fly to the feeder and show off their gorgeous ruby red throats..
all the while the female sits close by waiting her turn to sip that sweet nectar...

I'll be back....

While visiting Wisconsin at the end of July we took a few hours one afternoon and visited the Horicon Marsh located southwest of Fond du Lac. This marsh is huge!!!.. 32,000 acres in size, the largest freshwater cattail marsh in the whole USA. It provides a habitat for endangered species and is a critical rest stop for thousands of migrating ducks and geese. Needless to say with only two hours we didn't get to tread many of the hundreds of trails around this marsh. What we did get to see was beautiful..the board walk was a welcome site after tramping around aircraft all day...so quiet and peaceful...

We saw two white pelicans..who seemed inseparable...floating by..giving me plenty of time to snap their picture. What a nice walk . We slowly made our way back to the car...and as we were leaving...

along came "that" bird... you know the one!! HEY, look at this guy...ohhh, I've never seen one like this before..stop the car.. let me out!! Tina, rushing up the side of the road..camera in hand.....click click click...
I walk a little faster and so does he.....I'm now power walking and so is he...
Click click click!! Stop and turn around...pleaseeee.


Nope, I'm not making any progress.. as I move closer he waddles farther away...click click..gosh how many pictures have I taken of his behind??
I never did get a great shot of this bird but I'm guessing he is a Yellow-headed blackbird. I felt like I followed him a quarter of a mile along the side of the road. I think he was playing me....

and that's alright.. I took it as a future challenge.. and as Arnold would say, "I'll be back" and then I will get a photo of this bird in all his colorful glory.... ;-0 okay, he did get the best of me. bird/ 1 tina/ 0 next year.. buddy, next yr..

Lucky me!!

I'm so lucky... I was a winner on Shelley's give away of Northern Mich. Experience. I can't believe it...I never win anything. What a nice surprise upon returning home to find a package from Shelley!! Yippee!
This mouse pad is dust and stain resistant with a non-slip backing .....and is the perfect size for my little computer desk!! I just love Shelley's butterfly picture. Her photos are always so detailed and colorful. In fact, I just ordered a mug from her Nature Store website.... to match my new mouse pad! Thanks again Shelley! I love it!!

Baraboo..

Stunning isn't he?? This is an African Grey-crowned Crane. One of the 15 species one will see if you visit..the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin..

This is a 225 acre preserve and the only place in the world one can view all 15 species of cranes.
We spent a few hours here during our trip to Wisconsin.
The Grey-crowned crane below is showing off his stuff...notice the clipped feathers on his left wing..obviously to keep him from flying the coop...but oh, what a coop it is! Acres and acres of marshs, woodlands, wildflowers, etc..to keep these birds protected and happy!

This young man was really playing the crowd the day we were there..he knew he was being watched and gave us all quite a dance and a grand show of his beautiful plumage!!

In another area of the preserve we saw the Sarus Crane..This is the tallest of all flying birds, 6 FEET TALL, and is usually seen in South East Asia and some times in India.

This pair of Sarus Cranes was being kept in a smaller confine..and as you all know taking pictures through a wire fence can be tricky with the light and the patterns of the fence showing up on their plumage!! It's the new white checker board look!! :(

I am only featuring a few of the cranes we saw. Of course, they were ALL very nice and sharp looking creatures! Such height and such color!! I learned some amazing facts about cranes and even remember seeing the snippets on the news about the ultralights that were helping the Whooping cranes migrate from Fl. The Whooping Crane is the tallest bird in North America and of course, is so named for its whooping sound. They live to be 22-24 yrs old!! One can also visit the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in Wis. to witness the return of the cranes in March.
All of the returning Whooping cranes are now offspring of the ones who were lead here by the ultralights between 2001 and 2005... Pretty cool story.. pilots and their airplanes helping birds!!

It was fun and educational to see all the cranes at ICF in Baraboo, but I still love seeing birds in the wild..away from all the wire, fences and crowds of people staring...so late the next day as we were returning from the airshow in Oshkosh, we happened to come across these Sandhill Cranes feeding in a front yard along the road....
The lighting wasn't in my favor for seeing all those neat colors or facial details..but knowing their wings weren't clipped and they could come and go as they pleased was satisfying enough.
...and a little new knowledge for this Pennsylvanian...Parsnip..does what??? Aren't they the "other" carrot-type veggie we used to pull out of the ground and eat? lol!! Thank goodness we read this before we went off trail....didn't want to walk on that wild side!!