A new toy

After taping my camera together since the last time it was broken, I really thought I could get by with it.  It still took photos. The camera was just ugly.  Then, the last straw:  The shutter button fell off.  I tried to repair it with rubber cement, but the mojo was gone.

So goodbye Dear Sony, who got me through 2 NRBNF, and 2 trips to New Jersey, countless bird walks around here, and some good years with the girls.

But I shall not mourn.  Because I got a new one.

A Nikon P500.  This is a point and shoot camera that thinks its a DSLR.

I still have to figure out all the settings, the bells, the whistles.  But I'm very happy with it.
36x zoom. Crazy macro.  It's just overwhelming.
Here are some preliminary shots:
(We haven't had any sun for about 2 weeks, so the light has been BLAH.)



The beginning of a serviceberry



Blue Jay (from about 30 feet away)



Peek-a-boo carpenter bee on the mailbox



Jake, my favorite Starbucks barista



The girls at the end of the driveway (they were about 100 feet away)



Kermit



Spring-Beauties



Garter snake, I think....he didn't want to be photographed



Honey bee on grape hyacinth



And a Prothonotary Warbler, singing his bright yellow butt off at Lake Isabella.
SWEET SWEET SWEET SWEET!!!

Thank goodness someone is teaching the girls how to be ladies:

Nellie is more interested in holding down the Princess couch. My bank account of affection is wearing a bit thin, because every one wants me to pay attention to them simultaneously. I say hi to Nellie, Hooper pushes in. I am reading to Lorelei, Isabelle wants help with the computer. I am petting one of the cats, someone either spills something or needs a band-aid or the phone rings. I always said that a house full of kids and animals would be the happiest place for me. But it makes me tired, nonetheless. And I have been known to be cranky from time to time.

This pic reminds me of how small and harmless Nellie looked when she was a puppy. Oh, that sweet face. The best dog in the world.

Look what I found in the fountain this morning...a real frog, sitting on my fake water lily. You know, Laura made fun of me when I got that fake plant. Humph. I can't get any respect.

Our young downies make me smile daily. The only way I can tell the young ones from the adults is the young males have red a bit farther up on their head than the grown-ups. This one is so tame that I can stand right by the window and take pics when she is at the suet feeder, which is right outside.
When I first started making Zick dough, I worried that it would go rancid in warm weather, but it turns out that I didn't have to worry. It's gone so fast, it doesn't have time to melt hardly.

I have an early morning program, but I have been oh-so-bad about visiting all the blogs I love. So I will prop my eyes open with toothpicks and go read.

I have had my first and second "Harry Potter" themed programs, both at the Cincinnati Museum Center. I have always loved Union Terminal and the three museums inside. I thought of Pam while driving up to it today, due to the history of it all. The building was originally built in 1933 as the Union Terminal train station, and was renovated in the late 1980's and turned into museums. There's the Cincinnati History Museum, the Museum of Natural History and Science, and the Children's Museum. I remember thinking back when they started that no one would want to go there. I have been known to be wrong. Occasionally. Rarely. Okay, it like hardly ever happens.
Anyway, I enjoyed getting in the building through the loading docks, and seeing the "backstage" scenes. The programs are all about owls. and I have a feeling that I will be thoroughly tired of the owls before this is all over. I have 2 programs on Thursday, 3 programs on Friday, and 2 programs on Saturday. All about Harry Potter. And all about owls.


Finally got a nice picture of one of our male goldfinches on the sunflowers. And this time, he is not showing his who-ha.

Plant milkweed for Monarchs, and I get milkweed bugs.
They are pretty though, aren't they?


While sitting on the swing in the back yard, I was stunned to see Isabelle tripping all over herself trying to get to me from the other side of the yard.
She had found a frog in my "pond".

I am assuming it is a young bullfrog. When I saw the spots, I thought maybe it was a leopard frog, but I don't think so now. Another point for Susan Gets Native's yard.
If you build it, they will come!

I love my sunflowers. The sky was a perfect backdrop for them today.

I have been trying to get a nice picture of both of the girls, happy and not fighting or grimacing at the camera. And tonight I got one.

Yep, they're cute. And they're mine.
Look at Miss Beanpole Isabelle. From her height at 3 years, we estimate that she will be 6 feet tall. We have a hard time finding pants for her. She has a 4T waist and 6T legs.
Lorelei, I think, is destined to be of average height, maybe 5 foot 5 in. She's all torso and short legs. My girls. So beautiful.
But for all that cuteness, they can suck the life outta ya.

A worry of mine:
I have another strange bug bite on my hip. I have had these before (a week before my nasty kidney infection) I don't know if the two are related, but the last time I had one of these bites, I spent two days on the couch with muscle and joint pain, like I had pulled every muscle in my body. I think it's time to call the doctor. In my Internet research, the closest thing I have been able to find is Lyme disease. But I am getting these bites in my sleep, under my clothes. That made me think they were spider bites, but I have yet to find any spiders in our bed. And Geoff is not getting bitten by anything. And he's sweeter than me!

It's so random, it's scary. (And Happy June First!)

While going through some of my Flickr photos, I noticed a few pics I hadn't posted.
Back to my bird trip at the beginning of the month:
This is Mona Rutger, a wildlife rehabber who has helped countless animals, along with her husband Bill, in Castilia, Ohio for the past 15 years. And she was also name Animal Planet's Hero of the year for 2006.
I waited for a quiet moment, then stepped up to introduce myself. What a nice woman. Unbelievably knowledgeable, passionate. Nobody does it like Mona.

This is Baby, a four-year-old bald eagle in training for education programs at "Back to the Wild". Blinded in one eye after being hit by a train, she is doing quite well. A very well-behaved bird, considering she just started training. And watching little Mona (who is all of 5 feet tall) handle this huge eagle....it made me want to go lift weights and quit whining about how heavy our red-tails are.

Back to the Wild not only rehabs raptors, but other critters, too.
This is a flying squirrel who is a permanent resident there.
Did you know that, at least in Ohio, flying squirrels outnumber red and gray squirrels combined?
I would wet myself happily if I ever got to see one in the wild.

This belongs in BOTB's "Big Giant Things" file.
This giant waiter stands beside a BP station on the Marblehead peninsula. Whatever he used to be carrying is lost to the annals of time.

And to the present:
A cedar waxwing:

And he was LOOKING at me!
Are they not just about the most regal bird ever?
And so polite. They SHARE food with each other. Such nice manners.

Blog update for Kathi:
It's actually working ( I see that some of you have already discovered it)
Go to KatDoc's World and show her some of that Blogging support!

The weekend cometh...and I am so ready to bird-party.
"Throw your hands in the air...like you just don't care..."

Update on my womanly woes...
The medication prescribed has finally worked. As in, my cycle has been kick-started again.
And boy, is it PISSED.


Yep. I'm proud of that one.
Admit it. You have missed my sketches.

In closing, a little song from Kermit:



"Have you been half asleep
and have you heard voices?
I've heard them calling my name.
Is this the sweet sound that calls the young sailors?
The voice might be one and the same.
I've heard it too many times to ignore it.
It's something that I'm supposed to be.
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection,
the lovers, the dreamers and me.
La, la la, La, la la la, La Laa, la la, La, La la laaaaaaa"

I take requests

This video is basically just an audio of our mystery frog. He has been calling from around our fountain, but instead of down behind the fountain, I hear the sound from above the fountain, in the climbing plant...I can't remember the name of it.
I researched frog calls, and it seems that we have a Cope's gray treefrog! The call matches that more than the regular ol' gray treefrog. Since I have been focusing on birds for the past few years, my knowledge of amphibians and other critters is a little sparse. But that's one of the great things about blogging (other than meeting cool people)...it forces me to learn about something so I can do a post about it.

I heard him calling, so I took the laptop outside and sat on the porch. I played the recording of his species, and he answered!

Click To Play

Tomorrow is Lorelei's last day of school, and in direct result, my last day of "Tuesday-Thursday" freedom. So I will make this kids-free, program-free day count. Maybe East Fork Lake, (I actually typed "Eat Fork Lek") or the CNC.
I had a request from our dear Pam to get video of Lorelei saying "bewd".
It's pretty cute.

Click To Play

I haven't seen him, but I hope to get at least a glimpse, and if I'm lucky, a picture. They are so cute. But getting a look at him will be interesting...gray tree frogs can be gray, green, or almost black. How am I supposed to see a green or gray frog in green/yellow foliage????

(Photo by Jim Harding)

Battle of the Birds

Let me get these out of the way so we can get to the gravy:

Armleder Park is hosting some seriously big ass tadpoles.
They're like brown plums with tails.

Remember the mallard nest in one of my recent posts?
I think this is a sign that things ended badly.
(Excuse my dangling lens cap)

I am not well-versed in post hatching egg shells. Was this a predator's work?
The female mallard was nowhere near...I am hoping that she was off teaching a swimming class with her new offspring.
Calling the Science Chimp!


Okay, enough of that.
Now to the exciting stuff...
This morning, I was watching the tree swallows go back and forth over the yard.
And soon, the male purple martin joined in, and they both ganged up and kept him from entering the gourd. (These birds REALLY like gourds!)
I watched for as long as I could, but I felt tortured.
So I went outside and took down the gourd, which was hanging from the purple martin house. I then placed it on a shepherd's hook at the far end of the yard (in the place my bluebird house was) and stepped back to watch.
The TRES then began to guard both the gourd AND the house.
I decided to give up, apologized to all three birds, put the gourd back up, put up the original blue bird house and went back in.
An hour later, I looked outside, and saw this:

The purple martin was sitting on the house!
And the TRES were flying around in confusion.
I held my breath...could I have my cake and eat it, too?
The TRES then flew to the BB house, looking like they were admitting defeat.
I don't want to jinx anything, but if things go well, I could feasibly have both purple martins and TRES.

I stood there, transfixed, as the PUMA did his croaking calls.
You can click here to listen to the two different vocalizations that martins make.
I will try to be up early tomorrow morning to listen for his Dawn Song.
Things are going to get interesting again.
Update: I forgot to mention that our first hummingbird showed up today. I saw him/her from the back for about 1.5 seconds, and didn't get a picture. Maybe tomorrow.


Cute Isabelle thing:
Isabelle makes up bird names. Today, she was using this empty paper towel tube as a scope, and she said she saw a "Picture-taking Mommy bird", a "TV watching Lorelei bird", and a "Computer working Daddy bird". I just think that's cute.

I'm so full of myself right now, I have ME coming out of my ears

I couldn't wait to post tonight. I took some of the most awesome pictures ever today.

I am not thrilled when I see brown-headed cowbirds at the feeders, but they are native, so they have a place here.
And even though I always think of the nest parasitism they engage in, I have to admit they have a subtle beauty. Well, at least the males do. The females are boring.

Glossy black under chocolate brown.

I think we have a winner in the tree swallow Nest Olympics:

I watched the male swoop and drive off every other swallow except for this one. I looked closer, and the other one is less irridescent, so it must be a female, for him to let her sit so close.

This is a bird to make a person a BIRDER.
Look at that clean white. That glossy black/blue. I so love these guys.

Nellie finally saw them today. She has known something is up for a few days, but today, when she actually laid eyes on them, she ran for the back door, tail down and eyes half closed. Sissy.

I had to get the girls out of the house today. They have been on Spring Break (They are in preschool, for chrissakes. What do they have to take a break from???) and the blue skies and flowers were beckoning.

The Cincinnati Nature Center, in its best season. There are daffodils as far as the eye can see.

And the rest of the ground is covered with pert little Celedine. I know nothing of this flower other than it is a member of the buttercup family.

The critters are waking up...Dang, this was a huge bullfrog. I showed the girls how his throat was making the water vibrate under his chin.

The squirrels were up to their butts in foraging for vittles.


A pic I am very proud of:

This chickadee was just flying out of a cavity in a dead tree. I saw him or her fly in, so I waited until I saw the little face peek out. There's something in his/her beak...food? Sawdust? Anyone wanna guess?

Then, after doing the Susan/Snoopy dance for getting such a cool picture, I saw this duck:

Ohmigod! A female wood duck!
So, would I be lucky enough to see the male?

Oh, Hell YEAH. I have seen these before, but have never gotten so close. I was extremely pleased with myself.

And now, a mystery butterfly/moth:

There were a few of these precious little guys flying at the edge of the trail. I looked at a zillion butterfly sites, but I can't find this one. I will be very embarrassed if it is a really common, boring butterfly. Anyone know what it is?

The magnolias are showing off their feminine blooms...there was a solid wall of magnolias in full bloom at the entrance to the center.



And I got the girls to hug and pose under one of them.
Sweet flowers, vibrating frogs, tiny butterflies, lovey-dovey tree swallows, and secretive wood ducks.
A good day.

We got everything BUT birds today (Warning...bad language ahead...and it's my blog and I'll cuss if I want to)

Word of the Day:

autochthonous \aw-TOK-thuh-nuhs\, adjective:
1. Aboriginal; indigenous; native.
2. Formed or originating in the place where found

Today, the girls and I drove over to the lovely rolling hills of Indiana to pick up my Mom's dog, Bailey. Mom is heading up to Columbus tomorrow for a hearing regarding my father's estate. Get this...it's a classic case of "Let's go after the poor widow".
My Dad did some work for a company up in Youngstown, Ohio a year before he died. All of you who knew my Dad also knew his work ethic.
"Get it done right".
Well, Dad had to go up there and fix all kinds of stuff that the company kept breaking (they were messing with the machinery and effing it up) When Dad died, Mom got a letter stating that the company was going to SUE MY DAD for work undone.
My Mom, while trying to mourn my father, has had to deal with these evil numb-nuts and their attorneys. Hopefully, this hearing will resolve it...it's been going on for 2 years.
Other people have been messing with my Mom, too. The man who bought my Dad's company before Dad died has abandoned it and owes Mom lots of money, has let her health insurance lapse twice (she had to go get new insurance because of the asshole) and is an all-around dickhead. And there's nothing I can do to help her. I want, very much, to find these pricks and beat the everlovin' shit out of them.

To wash the dirt from your minds, let's look at some flowers:



Mom's violas...did you know that they are actually perennials? I didn't know that.

If Mary can take pictures of bees, so can I, by gum!
This photo makes me think of that song...
"Let me tell you 'bout the birds and the bees,
The flowers and the trees..."
If you click on the picture, you can also see a tiny black ant in the upper left corner. I didn't see it until I uploaded.

Everyone is starting to wake up from their long winter's nap. This woolly bear was brought to my attention by Isabelle and Lorelei. If you click on this one, you can see one of Isabelle's blond hairs on his back!

We went down to the Oxbow after picking up Bailey. I knew that the water would be high, but I didn't expect this on the road!
If you click on this one, you can see my reflection in his eyes.
Don't get any ideas, big guy. I have my own prince to kiss at home!