The Longest Twitch, Feeling Warm and Fuzzy..

We heard about a White-faced Ibis wandering about at Metzger Marsh, 

butt our luck with chasing rarities has never worked out too well.

We saw an suv from Texas parked along the road and the driver was waving madly as we drove up.

She spotted the Ibis!

Sometimes things just work out...

This is The Doodles ad for the new Kia Soul , the buggy for burders...

Of course, just as I put on a 2X converter, our little friend decides it's time to go.

Gosh, it sure would be nice to have a Canon 500mm lens...anyone from Canon out there?

 Metzger Marsh is our 32nd stop on the Lake Erie Birding Trail. It's only a few minutes west of Magee and Ottawa NWR right along Lake Erie's shore. This place is great for viewing ducks in the early spring and fall as they migrate through. There are a number of pull offs along the road in to stop and scan for shorebirds and waterfowl...and those cute little warblyz!

Speaking of warblyz...that looks like a Wilson's hiding in the grass...hmmm...

 Wait! Now he's in the tree!

There he is!

@#^&! Hold Still!

 In the meantime...there's a Common Moor...uh Gallinule...

Don't you hate when they keep changing names?

 When I titled this "Warm and Fuzzy," I really meant it was very warm out in the full sun of the afternoon, and that stoopid Wilson's was fuzzy!
Honest I was focused, that burd was blurry.
An unknown fact about warblrz, that can make themselves appear blurry.
That explains a lot, doesn't it?
Another burd lesson from the Loopyone.

Hot L Baltimore Oriole.

(No one will get that joke but me...)

I am being tormented by this Wilson's Warbly!

Argh!

The Doodles likes to laugh at me when I run around like a crazy(duh!) person.

Jeez!

Anyway...there's a path along the dike between the lake and the marsh.

Lots of good birds can be seen through here...and bugs...

Oh, give me a break!

Stoopid Chipmunk.

Keep laughing and you're gonna walk home!

Almost got you that time!

Oh look...being easily distracted, I noticed these Ruddy Turnstones preening after a rough morning of stone turning.

Ooo...there's that @%%#*! Wilson's again!

Great. The Bloody...oops...Ruddy Turnstones heard me yell and took off.

Sorry!

Really?

Are you going to do this all day?

Rrrrrrrrrrr...

Fine.

I'll take pics of the cute little Yellow Warbly collecting grass for her nest.

Ha!

Caught you while you weren't looking!

The ole fake out...

And there's my cute little Yellow buddy again.

She's laughing at me too.

Here's Willie giving me the raspberries!

One day, Wilson, one day!

I give up...

The Ones That Got Away...again...

Formerly nicely framed Downy Woodpecker.

*Due to the recent holiday weekend, your bloggity host was unable to take new photos, so...
Just to make myself feel better about some of the crappy photos I've posted, here's a few that are even crappier...can I say "crappy" on the world wide web? I guess I just did...so there.

Baltimore Orioles know right when you press the shutter release...

Sometimes they just try to tip-toe away from you, like this not so sneaky Common Moorhen.
Hey, stoopid! I can see you!

This Green Heron kept trying to dodge me behind this tree. He won, I gave up...

Warblies are famous for their zoomy talents.
Prothonotarys are especially good at this.

Oh, I almost had a great butt shot of this Red-eyed Vireo.
And how can you tell if this is a Red-eyed Vireo?
Look at the previous shot of course...silly people...

Then there are times when they SHOULD have gotten away.
This White-throated Sparrow still scares me...

I like Midland Painted Turtles...they don't get away very often...

*By the way...don't forget about signing the PETITION on the upper right of my blog.

For those of you that have , thank you from everyone at Black Swamp!

How to pick up women...

Always show them your best side...

I was thinking about all the young folks out there struggling to figure out the meaning of life...or more precisely, the meaning of the fairer sex. Youngsters always seem to have difficulties with dating, so here you go, the answers to the deepest questions of life.

Good luck.

A nice little peck on the cheek is always appreciated.

As you can see, women are NOT impressed with fighting.

Make sure you wave politely when you see an attractive prospect.

You can always impress them with a great singing voice...sort of...

Practice smiling.

Always speak to them nicely.

Or maybe just a quiet time together.

Women always love the bling, nothing like a nice gold chain...

Special hint to my nephew, drag racing doesn't work...

Show off your flashy outfit.

Show them your impressive new home...it will be theirs eventually...

Just be careful what you're getting into!

...Missed it by that much!

I think this is my favorite Warbler...it's a Chestnut-sided if you couldn't tell...

It was one of the first warblers we spotted on our first visit to Magee and it left a definite impression on me.

I was stumped this weekend. I couldn't think of anything to post...we hadn't been birding...nothing in the gardens...no clever thoughts in my tiny bean...UNTIL TODAY!

I was thinking about International Crappy Photo Day and the sheer volume of crappy photos I have. Then I went into a deep funk about all of the great birds me and the Doodles have seen and that I screwed up getting clear photos of. All of the "Just Missed" pics...so here you go...a few of the many thousands of photos I should delete, but can't...because they might come in handy on a bad blog day!

This Canada Warbler just wouldn't sit still that day. It must be a Canadian thing...

I should have made this a guessing game for you!
You're right! A Downy Woodpecker being a rocket.

This is an easy one. Please note how focused the stick is.

That House Sparrow got in the way of my 'stick portrait', very artsy, eh?

This would be a hard one, so I'll tell you that it's a Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

Spotted Sandpipers DO NOT like being photographed!

Last, but not least (nuts, I should have put a Least Sandpiper here!) a Common Moorhen.

Actually, I'm not sure if he's flying away or running away...either way...he didn't like me.