Whine, whine, whine! Bob wants his own binos now...what will be next?Never go birding in the winter with a Chipmunk. All they do is complain..."I could be hibernatin', all warm and cozy in my den with my nuts!" In truth he's not hibernating, he's free loading off me and the Doodles.
We left home for the weekend to visit our BirdMobile buddies, Hugh and Judy and some of our friends from Black Swamp and Ottawa NWR. I decided it wouldn't be a wise thing to leave the Bob at home alone, think of the film "Home Alone" and you may get an idea of what could happen. Being the kind fellow that I am, I shoved him in my coat pocket and off we went!
Our first birding stop, and his last, was Ottawa NWR. They opened the hidden areas for a driving tour and we thought we may see something unusual...like a dark headed Herring Gull or a Canada Goose, you know, something REALLY thrilling! Anyway, we never drove through in the winter, so what the heck...
Good eye Bob! His only spot before he took a nap was this American Tree Sparrow in the road.
You know it's cold when the Bald Eagles take a break from nest building to cuddle together!
And cue the Canada Goose fly by...You can't visit Ottawa without the Canadians or the Bald Eagles giving a fly by.
Judy got sick of Bob and decided to get out of the car and scout ahead.
HI! That's me and my face is frozen...I think Bob is making a face from the dashboard.Speaking of 'face!" I have a Face Book page now...no more free time!
A Northern Mockingbird, mocking me from behind!
This is what Ottawa looks like when it's frozen. Ignore the sign, no ducks...
Oh, but there WERE hundreds of Trumpeter Swans! Judy and I have hundreds of photos of them also.
"Ewwww, my paws are cold!" He spent most of the time over the heater vents. By the way, I know Bob is really a Ground Squirrel, but HE doesn't know that! Please, if you see him out birding with us, keep it hush-hush. Thanks!
Hi Dave,
ReplyDeleteWow man, I still have cramps in the stomach, I laugh so much reading this post!!! So I guess Bob was not that successful in birding but you were... Gorgeous to see so many species but it looks like very cold in your area... Here we are facing a very strange winter, without snow and quite warm indeed. Except that we again got this huge storm last night with wind about 130km/h!!
Chris: I'm sorry about your stomach! I hope there isn't any wind damage to your home.
ReplyDeleteHi DAve,
ReplyDeleteNo no damage to the house, they are quite robust over here ;-)
Hahaha! Bob is so cute.....love that photo of him with his binocs...then warming his paws. What's he going to do this spring during migration. I hope he doesn't fall off the boardwalk!
ReplyDeleteChris I'm glad to hear your home is still in one piece! I'll need to find your building plans!
ReplyDeleteHi Kelly, Bob will be tied to my tripod...