I had this rather large visitor to my birdbath/dripper this evening, though she didn't sit on the available perch (a good thing, I suppose). She wiped that little birdbath clean too - but ,at well over 45 kg. (100 lbs.), she would probably require a lot more water than your average Yellow-rumped Warbler or Western Tanager . . .
(Actually, this post's title isn't entirely correct. Skunks and Brown-headed Cowbirds are not welcome here.)
While looking around for something the other day I happened to find my video camera (which I haven't used in a couple of years, I think) and decided that, since it will be part of my summer job (if I get it), it could be fun to create a "RoxyCast".
After some experimentation with other options for creating the video, the display size is a little larger than I'd originally posted but the quality is far better (file size is a little over 13 megs - ouch - if you have a slow connection). In the original version it was hard to tell that there was a Bald Eagle in the tree (in order the clips are: Roxy, a Horned Lark, the Bald Eagle, a Red-tailed Hawk, and a Utah Prairie Dog). Another lesson I've learned is it is really hard to hold the camera steady with the zoom at full magnification - and that problem is really magnified when a certain black & white passenger won't sit still while I'm trying to shoot from inside the cab of the truck. Only the last clip of the prairie dog was shot using a tripod (of course I knew the necessity of a camera support from shooting stills all these years). Then there was the problem of the sound of either constant panting and/or lapping up water - that's one reason why I dubbed in music instead of you hearing actual sounds of nature.
This shot is a panoramic of the Grand Staircase I stitched together from separate images - another experiment. I've done it before and have learned a few things about shooting this kind of stuff since the last time but, to be honest, the software I used doesn't do a perfect job. I shot the sequence from the north end of the Kaibab Plateau looking to the north up the Grand Staircase. The Grand Canyon is about 30 miles behind me and from where I was standing I could see over 250 million years of Earth's history in the rocks.
The first set of cliffs are the Vermilion Cliffs (210-230 Million Years Ago) , then the White Cliffs(210-180 mya), Gray Cliffs (~140-100 mya), and finally the Pink Cliffs (60--40 MYA and includes Bryce!). Click here for a version that points out each of the "steps" in the Staircase. There is a first step, the Chocolate Cliffs (240 mya), but they are not visible from this vantage point. This "staircase" climbs over 5,000 feet in a just over 30 miles!
After a week in Florida followed almost immediately thereafter by a trip down to Death Valley National Park to assist with their Astronomy Week, it is nice to be back home sleeping in my own bed again. Except for the nasty cold I caught on the Florida trip. Death Valley was kind of cool though I had little time to explore since I was there to work. This picture was taken maybe 10 or 15 miles north of Furnace Creek while I was returning from Scotty's Castle where I'd gone to help with the solar telescope. It is a desolate, yet interesting, place that I had only passed through once many years ago and needs to be on the list for a return trip.
They've had some rain and in some areas these - Desert Gold - were blooming rather profusely. In addition there were some purple flowers called Phacelia but, by the time I found them, the wind was blowing hard and I couldn't get any photos. Birds were few and far between though I saw some Say's Phoebes, lots of Common Ravens, a flock of Mallards flying around, House Sparrows, and European Starlings. I saw a male goldfinch perched on a Desert Gold, too, but couldn't settle on a species as I zipped by at 60 miles per hour. Hope spring comes here soon (he says knowing there's another foot of snow coming in the next 36 hours or so).
I have certainly been bad about posting anything here except the quizzes this month. I have spent a lot of time writing both at work and at home and that may be why I haven't had anything creative to talk about here. I spent last week in Florida visiting with old friends/family and four days working at the Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival. It was, as usual, a great time though the weather wasn't the best so I didn't much photography in while I was there. The hardest part of that trip was leaving Roxy behind with a sitter. My field workshops weren't as well attended as last year but my 3 Image Editing classes were. I took the photo of the Roseate Spoonbill on the morning of my first field class which began with a driving rain.
I was supposed to leave yesterday to assist with an astronomy festival at Death Valley National Park. I'd hit rain and snow on my way home from the airport Sunday afternoon and what I had encountered was the beginning of the "Blizzard of '08". By the time my truck was loaded and ready to roll we got word that Utah 12, the main east-west route just outside the park was being closed. So much for that; we'll try again today though as of 5:30 this morning the road had been closed again. My schedule at Death Valley is packed with things to do but I hope to get little time for some photography there, too.
In my travels around Utah for shopping and such this month I have added 6 species to my year list for the state, most of them raptors: Cooper's Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Rough-legged Hawk, American Kestrel, Prairie Falcon, and White-breasted Nuthatch. It's a pretty weak start to the year but, hopefully, I will be able to find more time for such endeavors (and blog entries) in February.
Following a trip to town the other day for provisions I came home with an even dirtier truck than it had been. Having snowed the day before, a lot of yuck was all over the side of it since the roads were wet and there was a lot of spray. I don't know what all goes into the mix that the Utah D.O.T. throws down behind the plows, but included in the mix is a healthy dose of sodium chloride. The following morning I noticed that the road grime had taken on a rather strange appearance, but thought nothing more about it at the time. Later in the day it was pointed out to me that, apparently, certain members of the local population of Even-toed Ungulates had gotten to my truck. This ranger had previously witnessed the behavior and it seems the Mule Deer know where there are good sources of salt they can add to their diet - road grime on vehicles. Still waiting for them to come back and finish the job, though - they missed some spots!
"Care for a free car wash, sir?"
. . . those days off. Didn't even pick up my camera this week. Blew most of yesterday on a shopping excursion to Cedar City, then the rest of the day plus most of today installing foam insulation board completely around the base of my trailer. Hopefully it will help keep some of the cold air from getting inside and maybe save a little money on heating expenses.
One nice aspect of the trip to Cedar was seeing 6 Bald Eagles and 3 Golden Eagle along the way. Seems like every time I drive on U.S. 89 these days I see lots of eagles - last week I saw 12 Balds in two days on a couple of short shopping trips. I have been told that the Bald Eagles that winter here are from British Columbia and feed mostly on carrion, though lakes with open water (none are close to here) can be a source for a meal of fresh waterfowl.
Tomorrow is the Bryce Canyon Christmas Bird Count and I guess it goes without saying that I will be participating in that endeavor. This will be my first ever CBC outside of the Daytona area, first in the snow, and the first where it is unlikely that I'll be counting hoards of gulls. It won't be the first where I'll have to dress in layers to keep warm - seems like every previous CBC I've done has been cold and windy or cold and rainy. The snow will be the big change. Hopefully we'll find some good stuff - maybe Rough-legged Hawks, Ferruginous Hawks, or maybe even Bohemian Waxwings. I'll let you know if I see something really good.
The photo is of the Tiptoe Tree at Sunrise Point taken from the backlit side. It's one of the shots I have from the morning last week when everything was covered in hoarfrost.
It has been another interesting week without much time to get out to do anything and today, the middle of my work week, brought out first major snow of the season. The plows won't be getting out until the morning, so I ended up parking a short distance away from my trailer and trudge through about 4 or 5 inches of snow to make it home since my truck couldn't get up the hill. Earlier in the week I hit my goal of having 3,000 images in the gallery on my website (3,002 to be precise) by the end of the month. I hope to be a little more efficient with that task and keep the number growing - there's plenty of space on the server so I may as well use it, right?
Once the website goal was achieved I decided to tackle putting a "store" on the site also and made a lot of progress in that regard. While prints of my images could already be ordered through the gallery I decided it would be cool to offer sets of notecards via the web plus DVD's and screensavers, too. There's still a lot of setup to do though I have been making some progress and I plan to stay focused on that for the near term. I also felt I could use it to improve the process for clients to register for my workshops and will be integrating that in the store as well.
It that wasn't enough I've had a couple of people suggest I do a book and have been tossing around some ideas about that, working on concepts and the bes way to attack the project, mainly - as if I have nothing else to do with my time . . .
The photo above isn't exactly a striking, jaw dropping photo but is kind of interesting when you know the story. The subject is the west side of Red Canyon about 15 miles drive from Bryce. The red rock on the right is Claron Formation limestone - the same stuff that makes Bryce Canyon so beautiful. Mixed in with the trees on the left is a lot of dark rock: basalt - the kind of rock that comes from volcanoes. The Sevier Fault runs right down the edge of the two formations and separates the Paunsaugunt Plateau from Long Valley. The Claron limestones are on the order of 40-60 million years old; the basalt less than 25 million years. The red rock was once covered by the younger lava but water running off the plateau has eroded it away and left the older red rock in the canyon exposed (a large wash runs right through the canyon; a portion is visible at lower left). And with time more water created the hoodoos, arches, and other formations found in Red Canyon. This geology stuff is really kind of fun.
I've been really bad about posting much but it just seems like there hasn't been much to write about or, when I do have an idea, it just never comes together for some reason. This past week has been something of an adventure at times or I have a day like last Monday when it was all shot to hell because it was time for the periodic shopping trip to the "big" city (Cedar City is 85 miles away and the nearest "major" shopping). I did take a trip out on Tuesday (my other day off) to Willis Creek Canyon and got a few new shots of it - and Roxy enjoyed romping in the creek while we hiked in to the canyon's narrows.
The last week has been an adventure in other ways, too. A friend ordered a print from me and it took several days of purging ink cartridges before I got my printer working correctly - guess I need to use it more (somebody else want to buy something!!!!
Then it has been miserably cold the past few days (it is 17 and falling as I write) and the first one caught me by surprise. You see, living in a trailer where your water supply hose is exposed to the elements means that one has to be extra careful when temps hit the teens. I thought things would be fine if I left the water running at a trickle but I was wrong: it froze. Thankfully nothing was damaged by the freeze and now the procedure is to disconnect the hose every night - at least until things warm up a little - and hook it all back up in the morning.
When I haven't been playing with the water or beating on my printer I've been prepping and uploading images to the gallery on my website. I am really far behind on that, too; most of the recent additions have been landscapes and a bunch of long overdue Prairie Dog pictures for you rodent lovers out there (the local Utah Prairie Dogs are, by the way, down for the season and hibernating - haven't seen one for about 3 weeks). I'm working on plant stuff now and then will probably attack the birds next because I'm way, way behind on them, too.
Speaking of birds, it was 2 weeks ago when I saw my first Bald Eagle in the area and now I'm up to four. It seems like I see more raptors than anything (sparrows a close second); on the way back from Willis I spotted a Kestrel sitting atop a fence post devouring some small morsel (think it was a grasshopper). And every time I leave the park I see harriers soaring around in different locations; saw two yesterday on my way to turkey dinner (as well as the fourth eagle: a 3 year old standing in a large, open field - okay, cow pasture - and hanging out with the ravens).
Oh well, enough rambling for now. It is getting late and I need to go disconnect the water. Try to stay warm!
I thought I would revisit the dinosaur tracks (officially the "20-Mile Wash Dinosaur Track Site") because, well, they are really quite fascinating. At left is a GoogleEarth (tm) satellite image of the location with an arrow pointing to the spot where I made the images. The whole outcrop of Entrada Sandstone is about 400 or 500 meters long and some 50 meters or so high. As I mentioned in the previous post, the footprints are from 3-toed Theropods, which were meat-eating, bipedal reptiles; the Entrada dates to about 160 million years ago in the mid to late Jurassic. The darker gray area where the prints are found is the Escalante Member, which is the uppermost layer, of the Entrada Sandstone.
This track had some water poured on it to make it somewhat more visible. I understand that the mark at the back of the print (left side of the image) is where the animal's tail dragged in the sand as it was walking. Things would be even more interesting if we knew what species made these tracks - I have done some searching but haven't had any luck finding an answer to that question.
Finally, here's a shot of a series of footprints. They are kind of hard to see but I can tell you that this creature had a pretty long stride and must have been large. Next time I'll have to remember to get some pics with something to use as a reference so you can see the relative size of them. Also note the tracks that are perpendicular to the set running vertically in the frame - I've read that there are over 1,000 prints at this one site!
Well I was hoping it wouldn't come to this but since the twits at my ISP can't seem to ship a modem in less than 5 days in this modern era (let alone the time it will actually take to get from them to me) I am going to skip the quiz this week (I'm typing this now from a motel parking lot). Last week's answer is Hooded Warbler.
If I'm lucky I'll have a modem Wednesday and I can get back to business as usual.
Now that I have had a chance to vent about that, my anger at the ISP is at least tempered by the fact that I was offered the winter position here at Bryce that I had applied for - and that makes me very happy!
I had hoped to get in some quality time for photography (or is it time for quality photography?) but it was not to be this week. Yesterday I had to go to the big city to get more of that special dietary dog food for you know who and that pretty much killed the day. One cool thing was I stopped by the Duck Creek Visitor Center (Dixie National Forest) to chat up some folks over there who I'd learned were big birders. Charlie and Linda are volunteers there (and had been at Bryce previously), he took me back to their RV and I got to see their feeder setup - along with a female Evening Grosbeak - a life bird for me. I so wish the park would allow us to put up feeders; they also had oodles of hummers coming around. I also saw a big ol' Yellow-bellied Marmot sunning on a rock right next to where the RV's were parked. Yes, I will be going back.
Plans for today changed when the fan motor for the heater in my trailer arrived yesterday. I had to cast aside any plans for going to Inspiration Point to shoot the sunrise since laundry chores would need to happen in the a.m so that I could devote the afternoon to working on the heater (this morning's low was 44 - the 30's won't be far away). Midday found me taking you-know-who over to Tropic Reservoir for her swim before I settled in with screwdrivers, wire cutters, and other assorted tools. I picked the right time to go because shortly after we arrived - in fact, while Roxy was just coming back with the ball the first time - I saw the first Peregrine Falcon. That's right, I said "first". There would three in all in a span of about 15 minutes - two of them making mock attacks on each other with short dives and some very impressive aerial maneuvers. I'm still shaking my head over a 3'fer of PEFA's.
And I did get the heater working - even with the fact that this trailer was designed and engineered by complete morons*.
*(The heater manufacturer designed the heater a bit weird, I think, but it still would have been relatively easy to service had the trailer manufacturer spent an extra 2 or 3 freakin' $ on a plug so I wouldn't have had to cut the electrical connections and put that all back together again. Maybe that also gives them a way to hose people later on with high labor charges as well as pinch a few pennies in the manufacturing process. Twits.)
I haven't been posting much primarily because there hasn't been much photography or exploring going on of late. Things have been a bit topsy-turvy with one major change taking place in my life: As of last Friday I am no longer a volunteer here in the park. Not to worry, I'm still here, it is just that I am now a Park Ranger - they're paying me for my work! While it is only a temporary position (as a replacement for another ranger who left for a job with the BLM), it is a great opportunity that also brings with it more working hours and added responsibilities. And I get to wear the "Ranger Hat" (my uniforms should arrive today; maybe we'll post a pic sometime in the future of me all decked out).
One of my new tasks is leading "Rim Walks" on some afternoons where I take park visitors on a hike along the Rim Trail (from Sunset Point to Sunrise Point) and talk about the park's geology as well as the flora and fauna. Friday will be my first two 1/2-hour "Geology Talks" (which I am cramming for now - I'm a bird guy not a rock guy!) and I am also reworking my program "Beautiful Nature" for an additional evening program to add to my repertoire. Once I am finished with all of that I will probably move on to putting together an evening program about the Moon (astronomy being a side interest of mine).
Things should begin to settle down a little next week and I'll be able to once again start squeezing in some shooting on my days off. One can hope anyway.
Yesterday was Field Trip Day for the Interpretation staff here at Bryce and we went on a paddling adventure on Lake Powell. Thanks to a last minute change in one staff member's plans I ended up being the only one solo in a kayak and boy were my arms tired when we were finished. The total trip was something like 5 miles paddling and a couple of miles walking and it was, thankfully, not too hot for that area (95 degrees instead of 105).
Antelope Canyon is certainly the world's most famous and most photographed slot canyon and we paddled into the area where the waters that carve it flow into Lake Powell (or, formerly, the Colorado River). It was at this point where we stopped for lunch and a hike deeper into the gorge (though not all the way to the famous portion of the canyon). As you can see, the canyon walls are quite imposing and this wasn't even one of the narrow portions. Still, it was a lot of fun and seeing some of the patterns in the sandstone walls sculpted by flowing water was good stuff. And we ended the day eating Mexican food at a restaurant in Kanab, UT - nothing wrong with that!
It has been an interesting week which started off with the best attended bird walks since we began them a few weeks ago. On Sunday I discovered a seep near the Bryce Canyon Lodge that is a bird magnet and that will become a regular stop on the tour, I think. Then I come home for lunch that day to a sick Roxie who ended up taking a trip to the vet on Monday. I know she has a few fans out there and the good news is that she is all right; the meds did the trick. Tuesday was a regular day off and a day when I would try to get in a little shooting but, with here down-and-out, I didn't even pick up the camera, deciding to just hang around the "house" for the most part though at one point I ventured out for a bit and made an interesting discovery (see below).
Wednesday I rolled out early to do something I had not done since arriving in April (shame on me!): go out and shoot at sunrise. The image above is from Bryce Point overlooking the amphitheater, stretching from Inspiration Point at the upper left almost to Sunset Point at the upper right. The image at right is from the trail leading to Bryce Point from the parking area and was taken about 45 minutes after sunrise. What I find cool about it is that the white hoodoo and the pine tree are being lit by sunlight reflected from the white rock above them. Something about it gives the it an interesting glow. I'll be looking for more stuff like this in the future.
Back at the trailer after shooting the hoodoos the male Williamson's Sapsucker posed on a Ponderosa for a moment - and that is about all he'll give you, very skittish, this one. Though there has not been any chances for photos I have now seen both male and female Black-headed Grosbeaks in the campground now, will need to update my list but it should be approaching 80 species for the park (plus 5 miles outside). Which brings me next to the interesting discovery I made Tuesday: I found a Burrowing Owl not far from the park's north boundary. I knew it wasn't on the checklist for Bryce birds and mentioned it to the folks in Resources who were a bit wide-eyed. There's still some research going on but it appears that my sighting may be a first for the Paunsangunt Plateau (the uplift from which Bryce Canyon is carved). We'll find out, I guess
I found this site via Pharyngula but decided this quiz looked to be more fun than getting a movie-style rating on my blog:
Of course I look at the 3 answers I missed and bang my head against the wall since I knew them. Duh.
How well will you do . . . ?
I don't get a lot of comments but spam is (and probably always will be) a problem and having to moderate comments is a pain. For now I have decided - after fussing with coding - to implement something called "reCaptcha". To post a comment you'll have to type in the coded words (you've probably seen this somewhere before) and then the comment will immediately post. I'll kill it if the spammers manage to get through and go back to moderating. What I really want to do is get it working for my "Email Kevin" form on the main website because I think that is where most of the spam comes from - I must get at least 50 a day and, while I oppose capital punishment, I could almost be convinced to change my mind when it comes to spammers.
Life around here consists of "work" and exploration. Other than a Robin and a Pygmy Nuthatch I have yet to really get much bird photography done. Hopefully soon.
Utah Prairie Dogs are another matter however - this one doing a great job of playing cat and mouse with me on Thursday. It was in a dog town in the Dixie National Forest that I'd discovered last week (I've since located a couple more) where a few of the burrows actually have entries in the middle of the forest service road. Obviously not used to big white trucks, it would pop up to have a look and then dive back down at the sound of the shutter. Damn camera is noisy. Anyway, though I didn't see any tattoos, this prairie dog was sporting the latest in ear fashions . . .
As I may have mentioned in a previous entry, my workdays so far have involved time at the Visitor Center and time roaming the park and hiking the trails. The past couple of days have been less strenuous hikes than I'd been doing and, because I have been asked about possibly leading some bird walks in the future, I have been doing a bit of birding. Friday I walked along the Rim Trail near the lodge and totaled 16 species, not a great total compared to what I might get in a similar time frame in Florida, but good for here considering the avian population in the park is still pretty much limited to the permanent residents (or so I'm told). At one point I stopped to chat with one of the park's visitors (sporting my "National Park Service Volunteer shirt and hat, people ask me questions) who was wearing a bright red sweater which, during the course of our conversation, attracted a brief look from a passing Black-chinned Hummingbird. Other birds I saw along the rim were American Robin, Clark's Nutcracker, Common raven, Cooper's Hawk, Dark-eyed Junco, Mountain Chickadee, Pygmy Nuthatch, Say's Phoebe, Steller's Jay, Townsend's Solitaire, Turkey Vulture, Violet-green Swallow, Western Bluebird, White-breasted Nuthatch, and White-throated Swift.
Today I went down to visit the extreme southern end of the park - this image is from the Rainbow Point overlook. From the overlook there is a 1-mile loop trail that leads to a Bristlecone Pine Forest. The pines in the park are relative youngsters - even though the oldest are about 1,600 years old, some in the Sierra Nevada are over 3,000.
The trail there wasn't as productive for birds as the Rim Trail with a total of only 9 species in a couple of hours (it would be more but I can't say for certain if those woodpeckers were Downy or Hairy). Clark's Nutcracker, Common Raven, Dark-eyed Junco, Mountain Chickadee, White-breasted Nuthatch, and White-throated Swift were carryovers from yesterday. Northern Flicker wasn't on yesterday's walk but I have a pair hanging around the campground. The new species were Red-breasted Nuthatch and Yellow-rumped (Audubon's) Warbler (at least 3 singing males).
Today's walk included a somewhat humorous moment involving Red-breasted Nuthatches. I had encountered the first one shortly after starting the hike and got great looks at that bird from very close range. Near the end of the hike I was passing through a pretty dense stand of fir trees and heard what I thought was a nuthatch calling but wasn't sure which nuthatch. I reached for my Palm and opened up my handy-dandy copy of Handheld Birds and after looking up the nuthatches began playing back their calls. One complaint I have about the software is the audio volume isn't the best but I can hear it fine of I have the unit within a foot or so of my ear. I first played the Pygmy then the White-breasted and neither were a match. But when I played the Red-breasted - which was difficult for me to hear - I got responses from all directions. There was no doubt which species had been calling after that!
Sorry to bore you with another picture of my truck in snow but, what can I say. Three inches was the "official" total for last night, most of that had melted off by noon - but it is snowing again tonight. It should start tapering off later with the front moving by Tuesday morning; from Wednesday on there should be lots of sun. Maybe I'll be able to find a bird or two to photograph then if I'm lucky.
At lunch I popped over to Inspiration Point to grab this shot looking east. Bryce Point is toward the upper right corner; left of center about 1/4 of the way down from the top is a long formation called The Alligator. I guess it has a similar profile if you use your imagination, tail to the left and head to the right.
I was thinking last night that International Migratory Bird Day is coming up on May 12 and wondered if the park had anything planned for that day. Turns out they don't (I think it is something that is celebrated more at wildlife refuges) so I proposed doing a "Ranger Talk" with my program "Wings on the Wind" - and they like the idea! That will be fun. Now if only some of the migrants would actually show up here before then and pose (not that I would blame them for staying away with the weather we've been having - I learned over the weekend that last Thursday Bryce was the coldest spot in the nation).
It's almost hard to believe . . .
But this is the truck and trailer in Bryce's Sunset Campground surrounded by Ponderosa Pines, wildlife, and great scenery. The campground won't open until the first of May so it is only me and the campground hosts (who have already arrived), but we are also separated from the main part of the campground.
As part of my training I spent some time at Inspiration Point yesterday afternoon listening in on a "Ranger Talk" about the geology of Bryce. I had spent the morning working in the Visitor Center before spending the afternoon first at the talk and, then, visiting several overlooks to get familiarized with the park. Though I think Sunset Point is probably a little bit closer to the campground, this incredible view is less than a mile from "home".
Less than 1/2 mile away is the nearest colony of Utah Prairie Dogs. They are just beginning to stir after a long winter tucked away in their burrows, in a few weeks this year's young should start showing themselves, too (this one looks awfully plump - a pregnant female maybe?).
Now if it would only start to act like Spring (though today would actually be chilly but pleasant if it weren't for the 30 mile/hour wind).
Roxie and I made the move into Bryce Canyon this morning, the trailer is parked at Sunset Campground, the satellite internet system is up and running (you can see me on a map here - I'm #4607 - and with GoogleEarth you can see where we are located in a satellite image), and tomorrow I begin training as a Volunteer Interpretive Ranger.
I ventured into the canyon for the first time ever this afternoon with a hike down Queen's Garden Trail from Sunrise Point. Getting there was easy; getting back up was a different story altogether. There was a lot of huffing and puffing going on. I really need to spend less time with this computer and more time walking at this altitude (the hasty lunch of crackers and cheese probably didn't do much for my stamina, either). I'm glad I didn't take my full photo backpack and tripod along.
Today we'll be getting settled in at the campground in Bryce Canyon, home for the next several months. On Sunday morning I started the day with a trip to Tropic Reservoir to see what sort of ducks (or other water birds) I might find. It is a short drive from the park and may be a place to visit from time to time as the summer passes. Mallards were the most abundant species; Cinnamon Teal were also present along with Canada Geese, a raft of 23 Eared Grebes, and 10 Lesser Scaup. While the scaup were a bit of a surprise, even more so was the lone female Red-breasted Merganser (at one point swimming with the grebes) and 3 Common Loons. In the case of the loons the Handheld Birds software for my PDA said they shouldn't be here (but Yellow-billed Loon was okay???) so I shot a picture of one of them (from very far away) that is at least good enough for documentation purposes.
Most of the rest of the day was spent out of the wind and waiting for either rain (or snow) to appear. There was a break in the clouds shortly before sunset which prompted me to drive into the park to see if it would light up the hoodoos. That never happened though I did encounter some relatively tame Pronghorn close to the road and got the shot above in the day's fading light.
In the strange behavior department there were 3 bucks hanging out together and a pair of does came walking toward them. The buck's first reaction was to take off and I was thinking maybe they weren't too sure about what was coming in their direction (do Pronghorn have bad eyes?). As the does drew closer the bucks seemed to settle down and they began to mingle. Then, all of a sudden, one of bucks starts to chase one of the does and it looked more like it was out anger than wooing. He chased her all over the meadow for the longest time before it came to an end and the does wandered away while the 3 bucks went back to grazing.
The little side trip to the Denver area is now behind us. It was great getting a chance to get together with family, some of whom I have not seen for a long time. There were 4 generations present this past weekend with a 5th "in the oven".
My 4-legged friend have I escaped the snow (maybe only temporary, however) and are now in Utah where the plan is to spend the next several days at Capitol Reef National Park. After that we'll be planting ourselves at Bryce Canyon National Park where I will be volunteering 4 days each week (and shooting the rest, naturally) until the end of September. Surrounded by incredible scenery and several different types of habitat, the opportunities here should be boundless. I'm pretty excited about the prospects with over 75 bird species I've never seen and over 200 total. Not to mention the mammals, reptiles, insects, and wildflowers. And with less time spent on the road, we can work on some other important projects (well, in truth, Roxie either watches or sleeps while I do all the work).
Speaking of birds, on Interstate 70 just west of the CO/UT border is a warning sign (yellow diamond) that says "EAGLES ON ROAD". I noticed it when I was through here last October and just assumed that it referred to Golden Eagles since I wouldn't normally look for Bald Eagles out in the desert. At least not before today anyway. We had spent the night in Grand Junction, Colorado and about 20 miles into Utah spotted a Bald Eagle soaring just north of the highway. Cannot imagine what it was looking for in that location (high desert), but then it wasn't terribly far from where the Colorado River turns south toward Arizona and it may be certainly possible that it fishes there (though I suppose rabbits or other furry creatures of the desert might also be in the diet).
Friday turned into a no photography day since I ended up getting the AC fixed in my truck (finally!). It gave chance to learn some new software for managing and editing my images since the little company that made the software I really like was swallowed up by the other behemoth (Adobe). I could plug along with what I have but if I decide to purchase Canon's newest camera I will have to make the change anyway.
For almost as long as I have been "into" birds I have subscribed to the listserv FLBirds to keep abreast of which birds were being seen and where in Florida. For most of that time Noel W. from Jacksonville has posted links to his website Badbirdz during the Spring and Fall where he would post radar images which show flights of birds leaving Cuba (Spring) and heading north or leaving Florida heading south (Fall). Recently Noel decided to join the Blogosphere and I've added a link to his site on my blogroll. His latest is from last night (Friday) and the radar image will be available for 4 days. It's all cool stuff and he has some entries that discuss the weather & wind and how it affects bird movement. Check it out!
Have you ever heard of the North Pacific Gyre? It is a giant mass of garbage -mostly plastic - the as big or, according to some reports, bigger than the state of Texas floating out in the Pacific. Seabirds, including albatrosses and fulmars, and some marine life see this stuff and mistake it for food - killing themselves and/or their offspring (I think I might have written about this before but a search of the blog turns up zilch). This creates a small problem for me: I have a weakness for (soft drinks, soda, pop or whatever you happen to call it in your local vernacular). I go through a 2-liter bottle about every 5 days and have recycled for years. But for the last couple of months I have not been in an RV park that has recycling for bottles. I refuse to just toss this stuff in the trash knowing what I know, but the bag full of bottles is starting to get a little unwieldy. I may have to switch to cans; most places at least have a spot for them. But that opens up another can of worms because they come in cardboard which comes from trees and the box ends up in a landfill. I could (I know Sandy, should ) start drinking more water, I suppose. But I'll go there kicking and screaming. I should ask at the park office to see if maybe the county has a recycling center.
The 2007 edition of the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival was, by all measures, successful for me personally and, I believe, for the organizers as well. I had a great time, met a lot of new people, and look forward to next year's edition (January 23-27, 2008). Thanks to Laurilee, Neta, Barbara, and all the volunteers who make it happen. A special thank you to my friend Reinier's daughter, Stephanie, who kindly watches my booth when I am off at a presentation, workshop, or seminar and always seems to sell more of my stuff than I do. I wish I could have attended more of the keynotes, but with Roxie cooped up in the trailer for most of the day, I have to get home and miss them.
Those who know me know that I am something of a techno geek and, while I always come away from the festival with something new - a book, t-shirt, or hat usually. This year it was impossible for me to pass up buying a piece of software for my Palm called Handheld Birds. The feature that I find extremely cool is the fact that you can pick a region (state or province), month, and/or type of habitat and the database will give a list of the birds you can expect to find. The only downside is that, at least with the Palm model I have (Zire 72), it is difficult to read outdoors in bright light - and I can't seem to find a way to adjust the screen contrast. Still, it has so much information - including songs and calls - that I think it will get lots of use.
The day after the festival ended I moved back up to New Smyrna Beach for another chance to visit some friends and take care of the stuff uncovered in my check-up at the dentist's office last week. Too much fun. I also decided that I would use a little bit of the down time to begin a much needed expansion of the searchable database on my website. As usual, one thing led to another and I decided that the software I was using wasn't exactly what I really needed/wanted. So what would have been a major project has now developed into a daunting project since it will require not only preparing new images, but also moving the old ones over to the new software. I have a long way to go and getting it up and running involved much less hair pulling than I had anticipated (I'm sure due partly to the fact I had to buy this software while the other was freeware). It will take several months to get all the images together and over the next few weeks I'll have to figure out the extra features that made this package attractive to me. My (rather ambitious) goal is to have 1,000 images uploaded by the end of February. Check it out . . .
Last Thursday, just as I was heading out to teach an Image Editing class, I received a phone call that I had been anticipating for several weeks. In mid December I had applied for a volunteer position at Bryce Canyon National Park. The call was an offer for the position (I accepted, needless to say), which means I will be spending the entire summer in beautiful Southern Utah (I guess this is the point where I say "Woot!"). I have even been using my new Handheld Birds to learn about which species I should be on the lookout for while I am there.
No, I didn't go out for a "Big Day" and found 104 species of birds in 24 hours. That is the number of Junk Comments ("spam") I received from 11 p.m. Monday to 11 p.m. Tuesday here at the blog. It seems that nearly all of them (about 90%) originated from someone who thought I might be able to understand anything beyond the opening words "Buon giorno!".
It wouldn't bother me so much but I have to set the "junk" filter high to keep from having my email inbox fill up with this drivel. The downside is that it requires me to check daily because the filter will occasionally decide a legitimate comment - not that I get that many - is "junk".
Not that there is even the slightest chance that you will actually read this whoever you may be but if, by some strange quirk of fate, I decide I might be interested in viewing Italian porn sites, I am certain that I can find them on my own. Google can probably hook me right up. And I certainly don't need 700 reminders per week in a language that I do not understand (or the previous version - an incredibly pitiful attempt at English) to point me there. So either do something productive to help the planet and/or its inhabitants with your technical skills or F.O.A.D.
Roxie and I are currently in Denver for my niece's son's wedding and right now I am looking at the snow falling at a ridiculous rate. Rox doesn't look too happy about the weather either, as you can see.I have seen a few birds around but I expect the Robins and Red-winged Blackbirds are probably wishing they hadn't arrived quite so early. House Sparrows and House Finches have been visiting some feeders that are up here at the park; a pair of Common Ravens were even observed picking at the "waste" that had fallen at the base of the feeders. This weather was supposed to move out this morning and I would be on my way to Utah tomorrow but now I am not so certain . . .