Sing!

It's been a crazy couple of weeks in my life...we had a bad scare with my new little great niece who was very ill. She's better now and breathing on her own...should get to go home again soon.

It seems that someone I care about has been in danger ever since August...a nephew in his 2nd tour of Iraq, my brother who had a stroke in September, my sister's trip to Peru (which went very well - she got to assist a dentist on the mission trip), my niece, who had trouble with her pregnancy that resulted in the early arrival of little Aubrey...friends who had accidents or surgeries...Mom, who is always a concern because she doesn't always take good care of herself. Sometimes it seems too much to deal with. What can I do about any of it anyway except to pray and worry?

I'm really, really glad that I do remember to pay attention to the beauty around me. I heard this sparrow singing on my walk to work recently...a reminder that no matter what craziness is going on in my life all is well with the world. This little bird was announcing to everyone that Spring is here. It reminded me that even with all the challenges, life is good.

Never mind the fog that covered the valley that early morning - sing! Sing for all the good things that abound. Sing for joy! God's grace is sufficient for the day. How is it that little birds are smarter than we are? I'm here, I'm happy, and I will sing!

Sapsucker Visit

This beautiful Red-breasted Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus ruber) landed on the tree I was leaning against just outside my apartment...It seemed to want me to move! I gave it a bit of space, and the bird rounded the tree and went right to the spot I'd been leaning against. Only then did I see the fresh holes drilled into the bark. It was fascinating to watch the bird feed - then my cell phone rang...
Since the call was from my 80 year old great aunt, I answered...the bird stayed! We talked, and I even went inside for my camera. The bird startled a bit when I returned, but did not fly away! So, phone in one hand and camera in the other, I started to take pictures...Still, the bird stayed. My aunt hung up after we had talked for about 15 minutes. I continued to watch the bird and take photos until dark - another 10 minutes or so.
It's the first time watching my sit spot was more interesting than watching the world from my sit spot! I am truly blessed.

Birds at the Seattle Aquarium

I believe that this is a Long-Billed Curlew (Numenius americanus), who was fun to watch as it poked it's long beak into the sand...as a tracker, I should know that the resulting holes -behind the bird, at the edge of the greenery - was feeding sign, but I would not immediately think of this bird. Many birds feed this way. Trackers have to be aware of the local species when looking at sign (and tracks).

This is a Golden Plover- Pacific, I believe (Pluvailis fulva). It was a quiet bird, hardly moving from this spot. I liked the bright yellow and black markings.

I took better photos of this Black Oystercatcher (Haemotopus bochmani), but this is the only one that shows his bright orange beak and his pink feet. What a mismatched bird! I'd love to have seen the tracks it would leave, but it seemed to favor the rocks. Those toes look like they would leave some awesome tracks!

A Pretty Bird Picture to Share

A recent hike in McCormick Park brought me the chance to take this photo...my duck ID is shakey, but I believe it's a Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus). I had another post in mind today, but did not bring the proper photo disk...Oh well, another day.

Big News! Saturday is the day I give my presentaion of my dog tracking project to the Tracking Intensive class! I believe it's a good one, and that my research is sound...and I'm scared to death of standing up in front of the class...Yet another thing I'm doing for the first time since the Residential Program.

Big Fish

For those of you who thought I don't know that a Bullfrog is an amphibian and not a reptile, give yourselves 30 points for noticing...Writers need editors, and mine was asleep at the keyboard.

My vacation adventures continued and I feel really lucky to have seen a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodius) catch a fish that was almost too big for it to swallow! I often see the big bird at McCormick Park and have taken many, many pictures of it. Some of them have even been good. I've watched it hunting and have missed the chance to get a pic of it diving after fish.

On Thursday afternoon, I was there with the camera when I noticed the critter was stalking it's prey. As I shot pics, it sank deeper into the water and slowly stretched out it's neck...and I missed the shot of the dive.

It came up with a fish - a big fish - and moved to shore. From the far bank, I took picture after picture as it tried to figure out how to eat the fish...I could see the fish flopping and watched the bird try to maneuver it into position...The bird paced the shoreline, shook the fish, used it's feet to try to turn it...The fish continued to flop.

Many pics later, and after I started to fear that the bird would choke on it's meal, it finally managed to swallow the fish. What a lucky time to be passing by with a camera!

I am trying to upload some pics, but there are "errors" so I'll try again later.

Silly Bird...

I found this beautiful Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) in the swampy area just behind the police station at McCormick Park in Duvall. I must have taken 50 pictures of it...40 of them so nearly alike - standing still, pearing into the soup for fish- that I could delete most of them and not miss anything interesting.

I got ready to shoot another picture every time the bird tensed. Still, I missed the dive! I did get a good one of shaking off the water, though. I love the "horns" in that one! What an undiginfied look for such a beautiful bird.