Saturday, February 13, 2010

Love

My favorite, besides the Doodles, the Velvet-purple Coronet.

Love is comfort
Love is understanding
Love is friendship
Love is laughter
Love is tears
Love is life with the Doodles
Happy Valentines Day!

Thank you and Happy Valentines Day to all of our great friends
and visitors to this sometimes silly blog!

Frog Heaven

Me and the Doodles with Kathy and Tim Krynak, "Frog Finders Extraordinaire!"

On Friday night we went to the Rocky River Nature Center to see Tim's program on the frogs of Reserva Las Gralarias in Ecuador. Tim is a naturalist for the Cleveland Metroparks and the president of the Las Gralarias Foundation. The amount of time and dedication Kathy and Tim give is amazing!

They visit Ecuador a few times a year to do research and surveys of the many frogs and other wildlife that inhabit this endangered area. One of the frogs they've discovered on the property was featured in National Geographic. In addition to working with a number of universities and research groups, they spend time with the local children in the Mindo valley, teaching them about the wildlife that surrounds them.

They have another trip planned this June and our friends Joanne and Terry Gorges will be traveling with them to discover the wonders of this great place! There are still a few opening left for this trip and I would HIGHLY recommend contacting Tim and arranging a place with their tour.


Some of Tim's excellent photography is featured on their display board.

The frogs in my neighborhood aren't as exciting as Ecuador's...butt...

This Leopard Frog in our pond liked the fountain...maybe a little too much...

Just waiting for a bug...
The Doodles, Jane Lyons, founder of Las Gralarias, and me ruining the photo as usual.

Our buddies, Terry and Joanne, ready for Ecuador!

Oh yeah, you can see a few of the over 1500 birds while you're looking for frogs!
Masked Trogon by the way...

This Pale-mandibled Aracari would like to meet you!

This photo was taken along one of the trails at Las Gralarias. That Puma has caught a breakfast of Deer.
Visit the Las Gralarias site for more of the wonders of this endangered area and while you're there, maybe help them out a little!
Thanks!

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Great Backyard Bird Count!

In honor of the upcoming Olympics...
Downhill skiing with a Dark-eyed Junco.

This coming weekend we have the 13th annual Great Backyard Bird Count! This is a real easy project for everyone to get involved with...you don't have to leave home or EVEN GO OUTSIDE INTO THE COLD! With the amount of snow that has fallen this week, this will be a good excuse for you to stay home and bird from your windows.

We have feeders set up in the front and the back of our humble little abode, so we have to run back and forth to see who's visiting all the feeders. We get almost as much exercise running inside as we would out in the field! This is going to be a fun and easy day...not to mention hot cocoa and jammies!

You never know what will pop in for a visit!
We had an Albino House Sparrow, at least for a little while.
Bob, the Cooper's Hawk thought it tasted like white chocolate...
The Dark-eyed Junco says "How cold is it?!"
Can you say "poopsicle?"

A surprised Northern Cardinal.
Surprised there ain't no seed here! "Get busy Loopy!"

A Northern Flicker from a couple of years back.
They nested in a HUGE Oak tree in our yard...until the tree went bye-bye...so sad.

This is an American Tree Sparrow. Are there Canadian Tree Sparrows?

This is what happens to a White-throated Sparrow when you are standing on your tip-toes in your slippers in the kitchen window,
trying to focus over the top of the screen, leaning over the sink and the rug slides out from underneath you and you bang your lens against the window. And the other side of the camera wacks your nose and you say a bad word...oops.

This IS NOT a bird. DO NOT count these.
Also, don't count Chipmunks, especially if their name is Bob...
Thank you for your help.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

SUPER BOWL SUNDAY!!!

"Who dat?!"

Yeah, right...Did you really think I would blog about a football game?

I am thoroughly enjoying going through my old warbler files and looking at how a series of shots works out. There are so many with just a part of the bird at the end of the series as they get sick of me and my camera and take off to find a little more solitude.

I highly recommend going through your old photos, in addition to being nostalgic (especially with all of this snow!), you may find a few photos you missed along the way!


I found this set of pics taken at Ottawa NWR of this Yellow-rumped Warbler soaking up the sun and preening.
Who's a pretty bird?

She finally noticed me hiding amongst the trees...

And she doesn't care...back to the task at hand!