Friday, September 30, 2005

Another great day in Margaritaville!!!!! This morning, Peter, The Suze, and I puttered over to Pine Island. Pine Island is another wonderful example of rural Florida - the old Florida. We had a great time - lots of bird watching (Pelicans, Black Skimmers, Royal and Sandwich Terns, Little Blue Heron,etc.), geocaching, sightseeing, telephone poles, etc. Just tons of fun. Speaking of Pelicans: Very pretty red flowers - Susie thinks they may be lillies. Me and The Suze on St. Jude's trail. Home of the St. Jude's Trail Geocache: We had a very difficult time finding the trail head. We were expecting the usual brown sign. However, on our 3rd pass, we finally saw this: Pine Island has a very spiffy thing about painting telephone poles: Gecko!: Dragonfly: comment []5:22:26 PM

	Monday, May 03, 2004

The sun location was perfect this evening for some great shots of Red Necked Grebes in action! This guy is sure squawking about something! comment []9:02:02 PM

This red necked grebe definitely has one stretched out neck. comment []8:59:30 PM

	Sunday, May 02, 2004

Within the space of just a few days, scads of birds have returned. As I type, I can hear a ruby crowned kinglet right outside the window Just a few minutes ago, a cacophony of squawking and squeeking occured as two Sandhill Cranes flew over the house. Those cranes make the most unbelievable noises! This morning, a varied thrush was thrumming loudly (a varied thrush call sounds like a pitch pipe) as I was attempting to become one with the universe via zen meditation. The slate colored juncos have been here for several days as have my favorites loud mouths - the red neck grebes. The grebes are hilarious - they have loud loud insistant mating cries. And these guys start as soon as it gets light - which in a few weeks will be around 3:00 AM. It gets difficult to sleep with all that sex going on outside the window. And to top it off, when I looked out the window to spot the Sandhill Cranes - I was wondering if they had landed in our yard, I saw Micro Moose trying to turn one of our birdfeeders inside out. comment []9:22:39 PM

	Tuesday, June 10, 2003

Alix's vet school's wildlife clinic is taking care of Trumpeter Swan that was shot (by a hunter who mistook the swan for a duck - which is ridiculous). The swan needs to be fed via feeding tube which Alix has to thread down the swan's throat. Not a real popular move with the swan. comment []6:26:51 PM

Thanks to Bob Walp, a GCI co-founder and an absolute gem of a human being, I'm back on an Edward Tufte kick. Bob gave me Tufte's new work, a short but deadly little publication, The Cognitive Style of Power Point. I read it today and am still digesting it. I'll have quite a bit to say about it in the next few days However, after reading the paper, I knocked about on Tufte's superb Ask ET page. I stumbled across the most marvelous link to the animation of A Day in the Life of Air Traffic Over the Continental U.S. This is a must view - although even over a broadband connection it will take a few minutes to load. It is fascinating. Being an Alaskan, I get a particular kick out of watching the planes head off towards Alaska from Seattle, Salt Lake, and Minneapolis. comment []6:20:28 PM

	Friday, May 30, 2003

I crawled out of bed yesterday at the crack of dawn to go birding with the local Audubon club. Fortunately, it wasn't a long crawl - the club was birding at the Lagoon and the Inlet Mud Flats. Mere feet from our front door It was a totally perfect birding morning - sunny with superb light, absolutely still, and the tide was just going out. And boy, did we take advantage of the rare perfection. Lots of good birds: Dunlins Ruddy Turnstones. A Steph favorite - a very cool bird. Sanderlngs. These little guys were a bit confusing at first. We really thought they were Western Sandpipers. However, once we saw that they were they same size as the Dunlins, we realized that they were Sanderlings. Western Sandpipers are much smaller "Peeps" and their breasts are not nearly as white as the Sanderlings. See - it's this sort of minutia that we birders live for. Short Billed Dowitchers Hudsonian Godwits Savannah Sparrow. Their song is quite similar to a Red Winged Blackbird's. Just quieter. Lincoln's Sparrow. A very happy joyful song. Orange Crowned Warbler Common Snipe Lots of Bonaparte's and Herring Gulls The usual ducks It's clear (actually clarity is the problem) that I need new binoculers. My trusy Nikon's are now out of alignment and it will cost a few hundred dollars and a trip to the factory to get them realigned. At that price, it's probably better to just get a new pair of binocs. comment []7:16:51 AM

	Tuesday, May 20, 2003

So, I staggered out of bed at 5:00 AM and made it over to the Campbell Creek Science Center by 6:00 AM for the weekly Audubon bird walk. Not only was it way early but it was also way cold: 28 degrees. I dressed warmly, but I have to admit I was unprepared for winter. Not a wide variety of birds here yet - which is in a way, good. It provides an opportunity to tune up my ear before the onslaught. This morning's birds were all bird songs. I hardly needed my bird book and binoculars at all. Today's birds: American Dipper (Water Ouzel): one of my all time favorite birds. This guy was dipping in and out of the creek water - a total cutie. Plus we found his nest under the bridge - a big brown flying saucer clay looking thing. Varied Thrush Yellow Rumped Warbler (Myrtle Warbler to us old timers) Ruby Crowned Kinglet - these little guys have to be all lungs. Slate Colored Junco comment []8:42:43 PM

	Monday, May 19, 2003

I'm going to attempt to get out of bed at the crack of dawn tomorrow morning: 5:00 AM (actually at this time of year in Anchorage, 5:00 AM is two hours past the crack of dawn). I'm going on an Audubon morning bird walk at the Campbell Creek Science Center. What I want to know is why the birds insist on getting up so early. They certainly don't have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. comment []9:13:17 PM

© Copyright 2005 Stephanie A. Kesler. Last update: 9/30/2005; 7:02:13 PM.