Friday, March 4, 2011

THE BIGGEST WEEK IN AMERICAN BIRDING...and good food too...

"Are you lookin' at me? You must be lookin' at me, 'cause I don't see anyone else here!"
This is the Robert Deniro of Magnolia Warblys...beware of him!

WARBLY TIME IS NEAR!!
Yep, May is coming soon and I don't want to talk about snow anymore...or shovels...or snow blowers...or two hour drives to work. You can't make me. So there. ha.

And do you know what May brings kiddies? Well let me tell you...The Biggest Week in American Birding right here at Magee Marsh along the great Lake Erie! Oh my...if you haven't seen the wonders of migration along our shores you have missed out on a wondrous time in birdville!

You want warblys? You got 'em by the dozens! We get a Kirtland's Warblything every year. Last year Kenn Kaufman arranged for three. You want Vireos? We got them too! How about Summer and Scarlet Tanagers? Yep. Nighthawks? Yep. Snakes, dragonflies or butterflies? Yep, we got it all! Oh yeah, Good food? Oh my, yes!

Our good friends at Blackberry Corners, Brenda and Jim have the BEST pies around, not to mention burgers and the Doodles favorite grilled cheese and onion samiches! Oops, I supposed to be talking about birds...but those pies...oh...my...goodness.

Anyway...BWIAB will have guided tours of the areas, great talks with speakers from around the world, special identification programs and so much more! Register quick! You'll thank me when you see those Warbly things!

*If you ever noticed red highlighted, bold italic names or words in my blog, click on them as they are links to more information!

Speaking of food...We had a lovely dinner with Hugh, Judy, Delores and Kimm and Kenn Kaufman of the Black Swamp Bird Observatory(BWIAB sponsors) at the Eagle's Nest restaurant. BEST CHOCOLATE MALTS in the area!
We even let Bobb out the house for this!


Did I mention the Black-capped Chickadees?

Or how about a Canada Warbly for my northern buddies?

You can never have too many Black-and-White buttz!

And then we have these Cape May Warblys doing their best "Bald Eagle" pose.
"I'm so majestic!"

Great Crested Flycatchers like to watch dragonflies too.

Red-eyed Vireos don't get enough sleep...must be all the warblys to look at!

The Scarlet Tanager says, "Fiddle-dee-dee..."

Beware of the White-crowned Sparrow if you're a politician trying to screw up the planet!
He'll sh*t on your head!

Speaking of which...
RAMBLING RANT, part two...
A while back I had a post about the wind turbines that were proposed for our area. Well it seems that three have been approved, three hundred foot slice and dicers...in a major migration zone! The folks in the area have been told by the politicians and the wind power people that the birds will be fine and the energy will pay for the towers and help the county.

As I understand things, and I'm not the brightest bulb, these have to run for close to ten years before they break even. And speaking of breaking...they need to be replaced about that time too.

Now don't get me wrong, I love the idea of wind power. It will be an efficient and clean way to produce power soon and IF in the right areas, they won't cause major bird deaths. But RESEARCH should still be done BEFORE they are installed. "Got elections coming up, gotta look good for the constituents, like I'm doing something for them"...for a change.

Here's one more video of what could happen, caution please, this is very graphic.

*Remember my last rant about Senator Rob Portman. I received another reply from him. Apparently I don't understand that saving the environment is bad for business...moron. We'll all be rich...with no air to breath...oh well.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Spring is on the wa...nevermind...

This Red-winged Blackbird arrived on February 19th.
That's the earliest date in our garden for him!


Hi. You can call me "Mr. Negative." I find it really difficult to post anything when the world is going to hell in a hand-basket (to put it nicely.) My Fatbirder rating went from about 215 to 312, oops...I better keep up with the posting!

Anyway...here's some of the birds that have been as confused as me about whether spring is nigh in our gardens. Looking through these pics, I would see snow, then no snow, then snow...then LOTS of snow...the past few weeks have been a little crazy...weather wise.

I am in desperate need for WARBLYS!!! Stay tuned...


Can you tell I just finished clearing the driveway...for the second time?!
This was during Fridays "little snow event"...

Guess who didn't make it to work?

Believe it or not, this was taken after midnight in the dark.
It's amazing how many species we get here with a freeway, train tracks and a storage facility in our backyard!


"How's a Blue Jay supposed to eat with all you House Sparrows flitting about?!"

The ever present Dark-eyed Juncos, always playing in the snow...

You've heard of "Groundhog's Day"?
We have "Chipmunk's Day" here...spring is on the way!
Oh no...that means Bobb will be back!

The Doodles spotted this Eastern Towhee tonight!
It's been awhile since we've seen him.


The House Finches wait ever so patiently for the feeders to clear out so they can have a turn.

The Red-bellied Woodpecker was cleaning up the suet...
and pecking the brains out of the Starlings!


Yep, I feed the stoopid squirrels too.
As you can tell I tripped in the snow...and over the feeder and broke the warning sign...
Graceful.


The White-throated Sparrows love those evergreens!
A great little get-away to eat seed in private.


This is a new White-throated Sparrow in the garden.
He was much whiter than the normal gang.
By the way, this shot was taken on the day the snow melted, before the big storm came...again...


Speaking of butts...
Rambling Rant...part one...
So, trying to be the good citizen and wanting my voice heard...I send a letter to Senator Rob Portman of Ohio. This letter was very clear on my feelings of support of the EPA and what it does for us and my extreme dislike for mountain top coal mining. Apparently, Senator Portman, being a good Republican and listening closely to his corporate sponsors, got a little confused about what exactly I said.

The following is copied directly from the response he, or someone working for him, sent to me:

"I share your concern that the federal government, including the EPA, has been headed in the wrong direction on energy policy. I was concerned with the recent retroactive veto of an existing permit for the West Virginia mine mentioned in your letter. This kind of regulatory overstep has characterized the current EPA and is part of what prompted me to recently introduce the Jobs Creation Act of 2011(S. 12) which would, among other things, institute a one-year regulatory freeze for the EPA, with an exception for cases impacting health or safety.
"

So, Rob, what you're saying is, pollution and destruction of our one and ONLY planet is good, as long as there are a few temporary jobs, big profits for "clean coal" and a little cash in your campaign fund...great.
Thanks...a lot.