Watch teh birdie
Love it when icanhascheezburger posts a lolbird. Here’s today’s funny:
Author Archives: Amy
Skywatch Friday: The Pinery
On April 29th, on our way from Chicagoland to Niagara Falls, we stopped at The Pinery Provincial Park in Ontario. It was a huge and beautiful park and I was so sorry we did not have time to explore. We kept our visit very short but were able to walk the .8 km Pine Trail before hitting the highway once more.
The trail lived up to its name. Beautiful tall pine trees reached up to the bright blue sky.
Not all trees were green yet, though. It probably won’t be too long now though, I imagine, before these are also full of leaves soaking in the sun.
The last part of the trail was flooded. We walked around the water and headed back to the car. The refreshing walk was a welcome break between many hours of highway driving.
Be sure to visit Skywatch Friday to see the other stories of the sky submitted for this week.
Posted in Skywatch Friday, Travel
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Two new yard birds!
Our yard list grows to 17 with the addition of Common Grackle and White-crowned Sparrow last week.
Posted in Yard Birds
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Scene-stealing gulls at Niagara Falls
Gulls were plentiful at Niagara Falls. I saw both Herring and Ring-billed. I’m no gull hero so I certainly could have missed other species.
This Ring-billed Gull drew a small crowd of photographers as it posed in front of the Falls on the Canadian side.
I couldn’t resist a shot, myself. I suppose I ‘should have’ gotten the Falls in the shot too, but I was only thinking about this one-legged beauty.
Gulls lined the rocky walls of the Niagara River. Part of the state park on the American side was closed off for breeding gulls.
These high-adrenaline gulls actually bathed in the Niagara River, not too far from the falls. Now that’s some fresh water!
Posted in North America, Travel
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New additions to life list
Yesterday I added a few birds to my life list, including these three easy-peasy spring migrants all caught within a few minutes of each other in my parent’s back yard last week.
Why can’t I remember seeing Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Eastern Towhees or Baltimore Orioles when I was growing up here? I certainly haven’t seen them in the last 10 years – our visits home were always in the winter so I missed these guys.
Posted in Life List
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Not birding at Niagara Falls
It was a whirlwind trip: less than 80 hours and over 1300 miles. The goal: see Niagara Falls. No time for birding. Yeah, right!
The falls were extremely impressive. Here are the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side.
And here are the American Falls, with a Maid of the Mist boat in the foreground.
Walking along the river on the Canadian side, we soaked in the views. I soaked in a few Canadian birds, too, so I was always running behind. And then this was the view I had of my family for most of the day.
The birds weren’t rare, but that’s okay. I love them all, from the little House Sparrow sitting on a lamp…
… to the female Red-winged Blackbird pausing to drink out of a discarded bottle cap.
I bet this Canadian-American Robin hardly ever gets a second look from passers-by as he forages for worms, with the roaring Falls behind him.
Cormorants were everywhere, posing on rocks by the Falls…
… flying overhead in flocks…
… and dipping in the water.
Posted in North America, Travel
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Ah-ten-shun!
On April 27th we visited Volo Bog with both my parents and my husband’s parents. We had a nice walk around the boardwalk under threatening skies. Remarkably, it didn’t rain during our stroll.
The dark, heavy clouds looming overhead were enough to bring down even the most cheery person – or bird. I noticed this Tree Swallow sitting on one of the Bluebird boxes looking kind of slouchy. I think it noticed I was taking its photo, because it corrected its posture immediately!
Posted in Funny, Illinois
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I’m back!
I survived the road trip to Niagara Falls and two weeks of sightseeing & hanging out with the in-laws. They’re flying back to the Netherlands tonight and I’ll be back to regular posting here very soon. I didn’t get in too much birding in the last weeks but we did manage to get a couple of new yard birds and even a few lifers. Stay tuned!
Weird bird food art
I came across this strange bird food art when looking through Flickr the other day.
Heron Day Bento 1 by Sakurako Kitsa, Creative Commons on Flickr
Heron Day Bento 3 by Sakurako Kitsa, Creative Commons on Flickr
I searched and found a lot more images and sculptures of birds made from food. Check these out:
Food Sculpture by Brian O’Donovan, Creative Commons on Flickr
wise owl bento by gamene, Creative Commons on Flickr
Food sculpture by Ms. President, Creative Commons on Flickr
goose bento 1 by Sakurako Kitsa, Creative Commons on Flickr
goose closeup by Sakurako Kitsa, Creative Commons on Flickr
Buffet birds by Shannon Henry, Creative Commons on Flickr
Turkey Food Sculpture by Brian O’Donovan, Creative Commons on Flickr
Chocolate Owl Sculpture by emilywjones, Creative Commons on Flickr
Food sculptures by Anna’s Photos, Creative Commons on Flickr
Food Sculpture by Brian O’Donovan, Creative Commons on Flickr
Food display for the Asian Night by wallygrom, Creative Commons on Flickr
twin geese bento by gamene, Creative Commons on Flickr
Have you ever made a food sculpture that featured birds?
Brick-headed Birds & Birders
I stumbled upon these great bird-themed Lego projects posted on Flickr a while back. Several were posted to The Mocingbird — A LEGO aviary group. Looks like some of them are from Legoland and some are individual endeavors. I think they’re all pretty neat.
bird watcher by Kalinago English, Creative Commons on Flickr
Flamingos by Loozrboy, Creative Commons on Flickr
Lego Land Dirty Birds by TwisterMc, Creative Commons on Flickr
Vulture, Legoland by bixentro, Creative Commons on Flickr
Legoland Florida 17 by NathanF, Creative Commons on Flickr
Legoland Florida 20 by NathanF, Creative Commons on Flickr
Slangen en vogels by kriskeller, Creative Commons on Flickr
LEGO Birds by taygete05, Creative Commons on Flickr
LEGO store diorama: Ducks by ksablan, Creative Commons on Flickr
Bird tree by Bill Ward’s Brickpile, Creative Commons on Flickr
LEGO store diorama: Yellow birds by ksablan, Creative Commons on Flickr
Decemebr 3rd: Cute bird by hober, Creative Commons on Flickr
Here are a few more (I’m not embedding them because they are not available to share via Creative Commons):
Lego bird hide!
Lego falconer
Lego Bald Eagle head
A Lego Twitcher
Lego Great Tit
Lego owl family
Lego woodpecker
Lego Mallard
Lego ibis
Lego Cockatoo
Have you ever made a birder or bird out of Legos?
