Saturday, December 19, 2009

Lost and Found...

I remember taking this photo at Sandy Ridge, butt I could never find it..until now!

This is the beginning of the "Lost and Found" photos. I guess the crashing hard drive has its good points. It has forced me to go through all of my files and photos. It brought back some good memories of birding with the Doodles and our buddies. And also the nightmare of trying to identify all of the shorebirds...argh! I may post the shorebird photos unlabeled, because they all look alike and I can't remember anything more than an hour or so ago...

This is the beginning of the "Lost and Found" phot....wait a second...I just typed that...I guess my hard drive has a few bugs too...

We saw this Black Phoebe on our San Diego, California trip two years ago.
I found a whole days worth of pics that I never titled, it's just like Christmas!

Blue Gray Gnatcatchers (pronounced 'GA-natcatcher!) are one of those little birds that hate to be photographed, at least in focus.
Too much sugar or something...

Oh yeah, another good butt shot! This Hooded Merganser was in the San Diego,CA area also.

That's my brother Phil on the left, choking in the smoke of the fire at the BirdMobile.
The Doodles actually built that fire all by herself! (with a little help from the Loop! Shhh!)


This is my first view of a Limpkin. The wrong end of course...
There where a few shots from Florida last January that I somehow overlooked.


I have two folders from Sandy Ridge that I missed somehow.
There are an amazing number of Red-headed Woodpeckers residing there.
We had a visit from Kelly the Peanut a couple of weeks ago and made a trip out there to show her these gorgeous birds.

You would be as cranky looking as this Song Sparrow if you were out in a snow storm.
I remember this walk because the snow was up to the Doodles knees and she couldn't go any farther down the trail! Poor, poor Doodles...


Huh, a Western Gull, in focus and from the front. How did this picture get in here?

This shot of two Wilson's Snipes was taken on an evening while we were searching for a Ruff.
We were at Sandy Ridge five nights in a row looking for that rare bird and never found him.
Butt, we did see more than half a dozen Snipes and Soras and one crazy looking Virginia Rail zooming through the marsh!


I still have a number of files to go through and hopefully I'll find a few fantastic fannies to show!

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

And Now...the Final installment of "Life Butts This Year!"

This is my "Butt of the Year" photo.
The first chance we get to see a Whimbrel, and it flies away from me. The story of my life...sheesh...

Oh, lucky you! You won't have to look at any more of my crappy photos! At least until my next post...then who knows what evil images I shall assault you with...mwah-ha-ha!
Okay, so here's ONE nice one. Even the Loop gets lucky once in a while!
By the way, it's a Philadelphia Vireo...

I get so excited when I see a new bird! You can tell by the camera shake in all of these photos.
You may only have one chance to see and shoot (photographically speaking) these, so I tend to hurry.
I forgot again...it's a Dickcissel, or as the Doodles calls it, a "Dicksickle"...silly girl.

August was a good month at Ottawa NWR!
The Whimbrel, Dickcissel and this White-faced Ibis where all there, waiting to be seen!

This little Warbly thing was the high point of the year as any new Warbly thing would be!
This Kirtland's Warbler appeared during the great Midwest Birding Symposium.
It cleared out the meetings and the vendor hall faster than a dirty diaper!
That's what we found this year. All in all a good year for us, twelve new birds found in our patch here in Ohio. And we can't forget the five on our Florida expedition. I'm sure something will pop up close to home this winter...stay tuned!

Monday, December 14, 2009

Life Butts...part deux...

Now there's a butt to be proud of ...somewhere in there...

I'm still going through all my photo files...it's amazing how many were backed up, butt without any names to the birds. Now I have to get out the guides and stare at hundreds of photos of bird behinds and try to figure out who's rump is whose! After a while they all look the same. The shorebirds are giving me migraines...At the time I knew who was who, butt after so long, I forget. So, if anybody out there has no life (like me) feel free to stop by and name a few booty's.

Until then, here's a few more of the lifers we were lucky enough to spot this year!


Here's the other end, or at LEAST part of it.
So clever, eh? It's a Least Bittern at Magee Marsh in May.

Speaking of birds in May! That was a very good month as always. This is an Alder Flycatcher.
It helps to have someone with you that knows the calls! I wish I could remember who that was though...

Oh yeah, Golden-winged Warbler! A new warbler is the high light of the season. Chalk up another one for Magee Marsh.
If you haven't been there in May, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!!!
Check out the "Biggest Week In American Birding"!
That was a shameless plug to get myself a free t-shirt(hint-hint Kimmay!)
This Mountain Bluebird was spotted near Toledo Airport.
Henry, from Kirtland Bird Club, told me exactly what tree he would be in, jokingly I thought, but lo and behold, he was in that tree!
Go figure...
Only birders would cruise cemeteries looking for something out of place...like this White-winged Crossbill.
The mourners and other visitors must have thought we were looking to the heavens for answers...

This White-winged Scoter was pointed out to us by some great Amish birders at the Shreve Migration Sensation.
I have five more to share with you, so stay tuned...I'll get to it...honest...and maybe I'll post a few of the new photos I found hidden away in the deep dark nether regions of my hard drive from hell...can I say that?