Thursday, November 5, 2009

Hey, Guys! Where'd ya go?

The cable is re-attached and we're back in business! Stoopid Chipmunks...

Anyway, we took a break from closing down the BirdMobile for the winter, boo-hoo, and went for a woodsy walk at Ottawa NWR. The air was crisp and the breeze was breezy(very poetic, eh?) A nice autumn day to see our migrating bird buddies out and about.

The only problem? HEY GUYS! WHERE'D YA GO?! We walked, and we walked a little more, and then we walked some more, no birds, just the sound of the wind blowing through the trees and the falling leaves. I guess that's why they call it 'fall.'

As I was getting a little perturbed, not to mention upset, I decided to practice my 'stick' shots.
You know, you can never have too many pics of sticks. Some people go through my photos and think those we're accidents, or I missed the bird, but no, I shoot those on purpose. I like sticks...and leaves...and rocks.

The REAL problem arises when the Doodles gets angry!
As you can tell, when she doesn't see any birdies, she gets this possessed look about her and starts flapping and growling and running in circles! At that point, I tend to run and hide until the Exorcist thing subsides.
Hopefully a bird will appear soon...or Doodles has to find her own way home...

You've heard of Squirrel Cuckoos.
Well this is a very rare Northern Squirrel Pecker. Honest.
Can I say that?
Yes! At long last, the Doodles head spinning routine pays off and we found a flock of American Goldfinches! Yes, I know, that doesn't look like a flock...

This is what being under a Bald Eagle looks like!
It looks like he just ate as his crop is bulging. Lucky for me, he hasn't digested anything yet or I'd being calling for a clean up on aisle one!
I guarantee you'll see at least one Bald Eagle on every visit to Ottawa. We saw three on this trip.


This Black-capped Chickadee had a hungry look in his eye, so the Doodles didn't dawdle!

We won't be seeing these Ruby-crowned Kinglets much longer.
As it gets colder, they'll fly farther south, maybe to visit Peanut!

If you look closely, you can see the buttery butt of this Yellow-rumped Warbler.
The last of the warblers in our area, some will over winter here.

This was at the 'tail end' of our walk.
This is the end of a Northern Brown Snake you pick up.

As I was instructed, here's one of the little @#*%@ mongrels, I mean sweet little Chipmunks.
Please don't eat our cable again...

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

BEWARE!

Yeah, I can hear you now, "He's soooo cute!" Right. IF I've warned you once I've warned you a million times! YOU CAN'T TRUST A CHIPMUNK! They are the most evil thing, next to a Black-capped Chickadee of course.

I received an ultimatum from them, which I decided to ignore. Silly Me. They said if I don't post more Chipmunk photos, they would take 'drastic measures." Well, I should have listened.

I was looking out of our window and saw a gang of about 30 of these "cute" little beasties outside. I managed to get one shot before I was caught spying on them. I had no idea what they were up to and thought they were just planning a raid on the bird feeders as usual.

Then I saw the evil look on the ring leaders face...I was gonna be in deep doo-doo!

By standing on each others little shoulders, they managed to get up the utility pole and bite through our cable line!

And there it lay, no cable, no Internet. Just a gang of thug Chipmunks laughing and calling me names I can not repeat on my wholesome blog.
I called the cable company and they just laughed, it was an odd high pitched laugh, not unlike the possessed laugh from a mad Chipmunk.

BEWARE!!