Uhhhh...more burdz...Mkay?

The American Redstart says "Yea...more burdz!"

So kids...as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted by a little too much rain and water in places where rain and water shouldn't be (I can hear you saying "On his brain?," not funny!)...May 13th...Magee Marsh...a good day to be a birder and a birder with a camera!

Hard to believe, butt I actually caught a few of them feathery funsters from the front! Every once in a while strange things happen with my camera that are out of my control...other than remembering to focus of course.

Okay, shut up Dave, let's see some burdies!

Speaking of American Redstarts!
If you scream real loud, they'll turn around for you.
Sometimes it scares the other birders near by, so be careful...
unless you can run faster than them...

It's a lady burd butt.
Actually it's a Black-throated Blue butt, but it is a lady burd.

Speaking of blue(great segue, eh?)
It's a Blue-headed Vireo.
Blue is a color that I know.
Knock off the color blind jokes.

We discovered why they are called "Common" Nighthawks.
There were three roosting in one tree and two in another!

Golden slumbers filled their eyes...

I don't think golden slumbers filled their nether regions...

Guess who?

The Catbird says "Meow."

This is a Prothonotary Warbly thing.
I ran out of jokes.

This is a Tree Swallow.
Still nothing funny here...

"If YOU flew this far you'd smell a little gamey too!"

"P-U!"
The poor Warbling Vireo can smell it from down here too!

"Put Your Wing DOWN Already!"
Not to mention the Yellow Warbly!
Sorry, I didn't mean to mention it...
Won't happen again.
(Yeah, right...)

Be careful when standing under a Yellow-billed Cuckoo.
They eat LARGE bugs, if you get my meaning...

AND NOW...Another not so exciting adventure of...
BURDING WITH LOOPY!

If you're out birding and you get bored, look for a Gray-cheeked Thrush.
They always fall for gags!
Watch this..

"Hey! Your shoes untied!"

See! They ALWAYS look and they don't even WEAR shoes!

They do have a bad temper though!
Make sure you have enough room to run away.

Okay kids, class is over. You can go play now...

Hide and Seek!

Wilson's Warblers don't hide very well...

I was going to title this "May 13th," but I thought you may have had enough of those blog titles for a while. At least until next week if I don't come up with anything clever.

Have I ever mentioned how much I like birds...and birding...and photography? Well, I like the IDEA of photography. The actual process sometimes pi$$es me off(can I say that here?) I'm sure you understand. Let's take a closer look at birding...

You see the bird...you stalk it quietly...you trip over a stick and whack your head on a low branch. The bird flies away.

You see the bird...you aim you bins or camera towards the tree...you can't find the bird. It flew away. You photograph the branch anyway.

You see the bird...he's posing wonderfully...a friend sees you and screams out your name. The bird flies away, again.

You see the bird...you get it in your sites...you take a wonderful photo. You wake up and realize it was a dream.

Yeah...I saw it...from behind and below!
Figured it out yet?
I'll tell you later...

The Yellowy-rumples were all hiding from me on this day!

Blackpoll Warblys think if they hide their eyes, you won't be able to see them.
Some warblys aren't too bright...other than the colors...

No it's not a snake in the grass!
It's an American Goldfinch in the grass!

We had a lot of Canada Warblys that day...all hiding of course.

Oh my. White eye ring.
Connecticut Warbly!
One day I will see one without the crowd around and be able to get a real in focusy kind of pic! Or not.

The other butter butt.
Magnolia Warbly, trying so hard to blend in.

It's a good day when you see a Mourning Warbly as well as the Connecticut!

This Songster is giving me that squinty look.
I think he disapproves of my bloggity blog.

And Now!!!...
Another pointless feature because I'm running out of clever ideas to post at the end of my seemingly endless posts...

Today:
Harassing a messy Chestnutty-sided Warblything.

Hey You! You look like you just woke up! Fix them feathery feathers!
These warblys...no pride anymore...

"Nag, nag nag! I was up all night flying here and the first thing,
you and your stoopid flash are disturbing my bug eating extravaganza!"
Touchy, aren't we?

"There! Is that better? Geez...like You know anything about looking neat..."

Glad that's over, aren't you?

A New Birder!

Jett the Birder...nice hat too!

A new birder has been made. The Doodles nephew, Jett, has been transformed. For his fourth birthday she found him the ultimate birders accessory, a khaki vest. As we all know, one cannot bird properly without the proper amount of pockets to stuff all of the proper gear you need to bird properly. He now has the proper pockets and a proper pair of small binoculars.

BT3's "Young Birder's Guide to Birds of the Eastern United States" may be the ideal gift for his next birthday...or maybe I can get the Doodles to give up her copy...

To test out his new attire we went to North Chagrin Reservation, home to friendly Wood Ducks and Jetts favorite bird, the Great Blue Heron. After packing the whole family up(well, we didn't actually pack them up...) we finally made it to the park. Jett's bins just weren't exciting enough and he decided he wanted to help me shoot ducks. Luckily my monopod goes low enough for a four year old!

I think my camera was as big as Jett. I helped him hold it up right.
Once he heard the sound of the shutter going off, he wouldn't let go.
Twenty two shots later...

I'm so proud of him...Wood Ducks from Behind!
He managed to get three shots with the ducks actually in the frame before the camera started to aim higher and higher...

You always gotta check out your work!

Those ducklings are as cute as Jett.

And now...another fine episode of:

"A Bird Possessed"

"ARGH...WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?!"

"ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!"
"GET OUT OF MY MARSH!"

*use your imagination here.

This is where the pea soup spewed forth from the fiery bill of this fierce-some Red-winged Blackbird from Heck.

(I felt I should spare you from the extreme graphic nature of this true life event.)

Stayed Tuned for more exciting tales from...

BIRDS FROM BEHIND!...
mwahaha!

A Bounty of Booties...otherwise known as May 22nd...

Let's start with an American Redstart...
...or a Yellowstart as we're actually starting off with a female Redstart.
How's that for starting off on the odd foot?

And now, the continuing saga of THE BIGGEST WEEK IN AMERICAN BIRDING!(say that with a deep voice and an echo)...

So there we were on the boardwalk with all of our birdin' buddies...and buddies that aren't birders...and buddies that aren't actually our buddies, butt what the heck, if you're on the boardwalk you can be a buddy too!...I think I just lost track of what I was going to say...nutz...well...just look at the pictures and have a nice time...

*If you're bored already, skip to the end for a special new feature presentation! Though I can't imagine how you could possibly be bored, my writing is so, so, imaginative...yeah, that's it, imaginative...or not.

That same Redstart giving me the same look you are right now.
I can see you, you know that don't you?

Annie O posted a similar shot of a Chestnut-sided Warbly in my name on that Faceplacespacebook thing...
This Bay-breasted booty is for you!

This is what the other side of that warbly looks like,
just in case you were wondering...

My typical view of a Blackburnian WarblyThing.
Terrible, eh?

This would have been such a nice photo of a Canada Warbly, then he had to go and swing his head...Canadians...sheesh..
Hey look! He's got bling courtesy of Julie and Mark!

I think I'm gonna start a new blog...
"Birds Upside Down"
...featuring this Chestnut-sided Warbly.

I give up.
It's a Flycatcher.
So there.

Go catch some flies...you, you...uh...Flycatcher thing you!

I gave up on Magnolia Warblys for this year.

Why do they call it an "Olive-sided Flycatcher"?
I shall call it a "White-rumped Flycatcher."
Silly ornotholologisters...

The Doodles lifer Philadelphia Vireo!
Woo-hoo!

A Prothonotary Warbly trying check out its own butt.
Odd little birds...

"Hey! Look at me! I'm a woodpecker"
(Warbly humor doesn't always translate well...)

My favorite Trumpeter Swan, "3A0."
She's going to be seven years old this year!

A little blank-faced Warbling Vireo booty.
Even their butts are nondescript.
So sad.

Butt when a Warbling Vireo warbles, it's a delightful thing!

Right about now, I would imagine you have the same blank stare as this Yellow WarblyThing.

AND NOW, THE MOMENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR...
The further adventures of:
"LIFE WITH THE TURTLES!"

today's episode..."Barry White you're not"...

Checking out the new lady in the pond...

"Hey baby...how about you and me heading over to my private log?"

"I'll take that as a NO..."

Stay tuned for more fun and wackiness!!