Birding Weekend in Mid-week

Each year I devote one weekend to what I refer to as my "bird my brains out" weekend.  I make a two-day intensive trip to Chincoteague NWR, birding at multiple points on the way down and back.  Since it is migration season for all kinds of birds, my goal is to find a minimum of 100 species (unless it rains, in which case I have to be glad if I get 80 or 90 species).  This year because of scheduling demands, I ended up taking two days in the middle of the week for the trip instead of a weekend.  I tallied 110 species, some heard and identified, some seen.  Many of the birds are too small and too fast and too hidden by leaves to photograph, but some of the larger ones are more cooperative.

I knew I was in for an interesting couple of days when I spotted this little yellow "gas hawk" early in the trip.  There must have been a special show somewhere nearby, because there was also a little bi-plane that got away before I could stop the car and get out the camera.  Not a beautiful shot, but it was taken from the car window.

Chincoteague NWR is on Assateague Island in Virginia.  It's a barrier island and very much subject to storm damage.  Nor'easters are particularly hard on this island, and they had a wicked one this winter.  What do you do when a storm eats your beach?  You get out the heavy equipment and do what you can to put some of it back.

It's a losing battle. The next storm will just wash it away again. Your tax dollars at work, but it's necessary to preserve habitat for species that are rapidly losing places to stop in migration, and/or to call home,  species like the great blue heron, for example.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
And the great egret--

And the dainty snowy egret with her yellow slippers--

As I was cruising around the wildlife drive, a smoky mist began to creep over the marsh.  I couldn't decide if it were smoke or mist, and since I had a bit of a scare with fire in NC the previous week (see the previous blog entry), I began to look around.  I can't smell things worth beans, so I couldn't tell what it was.  I took a picture or two to try to capture it.

The salt sea air (less than a mile from this site) masked any real "flavor" in the mist.  Finally I decided it was just ground fog, but it certainly had me going for a bit.  Near sunset the ground mist started rising to meet the clouds.

In Ocean City on the way home, I got behind this truck.  Guess what he was delivering!

As I said earlier, it was a rather strange trip.  As I got closer to home, scooting along Rt. 50 at 55 or 60 miles an hour, I suddenly had to come to a screeching halt.  Traffic in front of me was completely stopped for about 3/4 mile.  I could see ambulances and police lights in the distance.  (The land there is flat and in farm crops.)  There was no way to turn around or turn off, so there we sat for almost an hour in the 85 degree sun.  What we were waiting on were two of these "gas hawks".

Two medical evacuation helicopters came in, one at a time, and hauled away accident victims.  When I finally was able to drive past the scene, I was amazed that anyone survived to be hauled out to a critical care hospital.  The car was on its back in a field, and big chunks of it were widely scattered.  It made me glad I had stopped a couple of miles back to buy fresh fruit and vegetables.  Otherwise, I might have been closer to the scene than that!

A good trip, but a rather strange one.  I was happy to get home in one piece!

A Merry Chase

On a recent trip to NC to visit family and friends, I got to meet a grand-nephew of whom I had only seen pictures, since he lives in Wisconsin. His name is Chase, and he's active and good-natured and very bright. He's also just a bit shy, and his way of showing affection (to those except his mother) is to bump fists with you.  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
He's fond of cars of all sizes and will occupy himself a long time playing with one.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
We celebrated his second birthday while I was there. He did a fine job of both eating and wearing the cake!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
After cake it was time for presents.  Cousin Brandon and Megan gave him a Tonka police car that made very satisfactory noises when you pushed the buttons on the back.  If it hasn't been subjected to a "batteryectomy" by the adults in the household by now, I would be greatly surprised, but he loves it.

It kept him occupied for hours, and it went everywhere with him--presumably even to bed!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I really enjoyed the chance to get to know him and to see the rest of the family, too. 

Birthday Party for a Princess

Princess Elizabeth celebrated four years of living recently, and Auntie Em was underfoot taking pictures, as usual.

Ava and Jake were more than willing to help celebrate!

Cousin Emily and her mom and dad also contributed to the festivities.

Of course there were lots of presents, and that always causes excitement.

Some gifts required immediate attention!

Jake, however, was contented to play with the balloons.

And Emily just kept a watchful eye on things to be sure they didn't get out of hand.

Back at Granny and Pop's house, other activities kept them amused.  Jake, we think, may be a budding Beethoven!

For more pictures of the weekend go to:  http://picasaweb.google.com/ejoyce2

Reasons to Rejoice!

Suddenly Spring seems about ready to pop out and warm us up.  The last of the 80+ inches of snow we had over the winter has melted, thanks to the four inches of rain we had between Friday and Monday evening (now the whole earth is squishy).  Today I spotted blooming crocuses, and the trees are showing large buds.  Hurray for Spring!  Our snowfall this winter exceeded our previous record by over 18 inches.  Enough already!

Our snow came mostly as three storms of 20 inches or greater, one near Christmas and the other two in February.  These pictures are from the first February storm.  The first one is the deck around 5 a.m., with the snow lit by the yellow bulb in the outdoor light.

Then comes the morning light and one can see what is happening.  The dip, by the way, is the result of the heated birdbath.

The birds don't know what to make of this amount of snow, and I had to wade through hip-deep snow to clear the feeders.  I managed to clear a spot on the deck for seed for the ground birds.

The the power went out, the birdbath froze, and we had a miserable 38 hours until the power came back. With the help of neighbors, I got shoveled out, and when I heard there was another storm coming, I escaped to NC.  Eight days later I returned to streets that were passable, a driveway one end of which was accessible, and the sight of a neighbor's house with a serious boo-boo.  The house was damaged in a major storm several years ago and had been under a tarp since that time.  No one lived there, thank goodness.

 

See why I'm so ready for spring?

Out of the Cold (Mostly)

Mary, a former co-worker who now lives in Florida, invited me for a visit.  Who could resist a visit with a dear friend in a place that isn't NEARLY so cold as Maryland has been lately?  So I just got back from a wonderful week in The Villages and St. Petersburg. 

We did lots of things that were fun--two plays, "Avatar" in 3-D (wonderful technology but 45 minutes too long), dinner with friends, a visit with a cousin in St. Petersburg, walks on the Gulf beaches near St. Pete.  We managed to pack a lot into one week and still had time to visit and just relax. 

Mary knows I love birding, and she always manages to find interesting places to indulge my hobby.  This time we explored Payne's Prairie State Park.  It's north of The Villages and Ocala.  The day we visited the wind was howling.  We managed to see some things but will probably go back another time when the weather is better.  My favorite picture from there is of a great egret.

One evening we were near a small lake near sunset and got out to look around.  There were a number of white ibis there.  The sun was at a very low angle, and it made this white ibis look a sort of orangey red.

Normally they look like this:

The light can do strange things.  The pair above were at a city park in Leesburg on a windy but beautiful day with lots of bright sunlight.  What a difference the time of day makes!  That park in Leesburg is a favorite of mine.  The marsh birds just wander around, practically underfoot!   We have American coots here in winter, but it was nice to see them.

Common moorhens come this way in warmer weather, but not in large numbers and not very convenient to find.  These were so close, and they didn't seem to mind our presence at all.

I like the reflection of the moorhen in this shot.

Purple gallinules, on the other hand, are as scarce as hen's teeth in this area, and there were a nice number of them wandering around close at hand. 

Anhingas are easy to find in Florida, but they are sometimes hard to photograph.  Here is one all stretched out to dry his wings, and below that is one that must have been dry already, because he was resting and observing his world from the top of a tree.  The neck coloration is easier to see on Mr. Treetop.

Egrets, both snowy and great, fished and preened and showed off their lacy feathers.  First the snowy, then the great egret.

When we were at St. Petersburg, we had lunch and shopped a bit at The Pier.  Outside the shop area there was a little stand that sold pelican food.  Apparently the brown pelicans have been mooching food from tourists in that same spot for years.  They just come to the stand and look hungry and the gullible tourists buy food for them.  They got no food from me, but I took a couple of pictures anyway.  There were three of them hanging around, but I thought this one was a bit more photogenic.

Today it has been snowing in Maryland--about six inches of it all told.  I'm ready to go back to Florida!

Photography Woes--and a bit of fun

At least once each winter (and more often if I get a chance), I go over to the coast of Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia and do a bit of birding to pick up winter species for my annual bird list.  Friday and Saturday of this past week I made a start of it, although I didn't have time to go all the way to Virginia.  It was a good trip.  The weather was surprisingly warm and didn't require thermals for survival.  I found 70 species over the two days, which I consider acceptable but not outstanding.  The best avian find was the common eider at Ocean City.

The problem with mixing birding and photography is that I don't have the camera gear to get good bird pictures, nor do I have the number of arms necessary to field binoculars, a telescope, and a big-lensed camera.  Still, I take the camera I do have and hope.  But the birds are skittish and often too far away.  As soon as I got close enough to this American kestrel and his mouse lunch so I could get a better shot, away he flew!

Then there are the natural barriers.  There was a lot of cold water between me and this handsome bufflehead pair.  Rats!

There are also the shy ones, such as this red-tailed hawk.  (I think he was annoyed at me for interrupting his hunting routine.)

The ones that you can get close enough to are often not ones you WANT to be close and personal.  This pair and their friends made such a ruckus that I never even got out of the car to see the birds I really wanted to see, because these dudes kept trying to attack the car.

So I've decided the best bet is to forget the birds and focus on larger targets!  On a large floating dock where the Assawoman Bay cuts out to the Atlantic at the Ocean City (MD) inlet, three harbor seals rested.  They didn't seem to mind my taking their pictures.  I suppose that's because there was a cold, wet barrier between us.  Here are two of the three.  The third one kept just far enough behind a pole so as not to be very easy to photograph.

I really liked the second of the seals.  He posed very nicely for me--just made my day!

Christmas 2009

T'was the night before Christmas, and all through the Haber household little folks were dressed to encourage the arrival of Santa and company. When you have four little ones aged six and under to enjoy the proceedings, it is very entertaining. Elizabeth and Ava donned special headgear for the occasion.

Even Jake got into the act, although the antlers didn't stay put for long.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, and every person gathered around the tree had a stocking.

Little Emily was snuggling with her mom and didn't quite know what to make of all the fuss, but she had a good time anyway.

Ben gets his share of snuggle time with Emily, too.

Ben and Robin took time to check out a new book.

Elizabeth and Ava made Christmas cards for everyone.

Emily observed all the doings from the security of her little bouncy chair.

I'm not sure what they were listening to, but it must have been funny!

Len and Jake did a bit of father/son bonding.

Jen and Len enjoyed a peaceful moment together.

When all was said and done, it was a wonderful, blessed Christmas, full of family and love and good times (and good food, too). The wandering deer at the end of the day gave an added sense of peace.  For other pictures from the holiday, see: http://picasaweb.google.com/edj.photos/2009Christmas#