Digiscope Challenged, The Saga Continues, But Maybe There's Hope

Inspired by DawnFine's Blog post on making your own scope adapter, I headed off to Lowes this morning with scope & camera in hand. I bought this 2" coupler, threaded on one side, smooth on the other. On the smooth side I used weather stripping which I cut little pieces out of all the way around. On the threaded side I used electrical tape - which is the shiny stuff showing on the bottom.Here is my Canon A590 with the Canon adapter attached.Here you can kind of see the adapter pushed into the coupling and edged by the weatherstripping. It's tight.
Showing now is the coupling with adapter on the camera.
The shot below shows the rig mounted on the scope. It's quite snug so I don't have to hold it on.
Another view of attached rig to scope. Let's go try this baby.
I sallied over to Big Thompson Ponds where this juvenile Double-crested Cormorant mocked me. And this was the GOOD shot!
Out at Timnath Reservior I practiced on a sweet Black-bellied Plover. Hey at least it's focused.
Came home after that and got my camera instruction book out, (a moment of brilliance!) Set up on the porch to practice on hummingbirds.. I know this guy's not a hummer, but hey he showed up.
Ok, so out of 50 shots or so I think I'm finally beginning to get it.
I believe this one is a juvenile Broad-tailed. Hey it's bright AND focused!
I will not give up on digiscoping. I will learn how my camera works and I'll make Clay Taylor proud.. someday.

An' apparently "hey" is my word of the day.

Some Meanderings Through The Rockies

We live only an hour and a half from the top of the Rockies. It is a blessing I often take advantage of. Maggie and I drove up there after church on Sunday, since Al was out of town and it was going to be very hot in Loveland. Our first stop was Little Horseshoe Park. Any time we visit Rocky Mountain National Park and especially if were silly enough to go on a Sunday afternoon, we visit this little spot. It is a beautiful park surrounded by Ponderosa and houses a secret patch of Aspen that Maggie loves.

There were no birds in the aspen, but we ran into two little red squirrels chasing through the deep grass and zipping around the trees. We chuckled as the grass vibrated with their thrashings and were sure they were going to dash right through us at times! We followed them to the only ponderosa in the grove and I snapped shot of this one trying to be invisible.Maggie found this rock in the woods and had to go sit on it. I snuck behind a tree to catch this pic.

Another shot of the grove enticing us to enter.

A lovely trout in the stream.All the aspen were scored up to about 6-8 feet high. I'm assuming elk? Also the only young trees in the grove were 3-4 feet tall. I think the overpopulation of elk in the park eat them down every year.
And the sky..
It's a blessing to be able to take my children in the woods and have fun and enjoy nature together.

Our next stop was the extremely popular Rainbow Curve. No one is supposed to feed the critters, but everyone does anyway. This little Golden Mantled Squirrel looks like he's well prepared for the winter.Same for this little chipmunk.
Finding Gray Jays in the park can be really tough, and even here they would only make a few minute brief, fly through appearance.
The Clark's Nutcracker, however would get in your pocket if he could fit. Peanuts anyone? Such a lovely bird.
The sky was gray and threatening and beautiful. There was a rainbow and I heard a little boy say "I wonder if it's always there?".
The last stop of the day was higher up on Medicine Bow Curve. By now it was 46 degrees! Maggie decided to wait in the car while I wandered around in hopes of finding White-tailed Ptarmigan. I didn't. But the color on the tundra was beautiful and so were these flowers.

August Monthly Bird Walk Fun

Part of my job at Wild Birds Unlimited in Fort Collins, CO. is leading monthly bird walks.

I have not yet written a post about any, but today was particularly fun. Some of the folks who've joined us on our walks, keep coming back, (go figure!) and it's like I'm birding with friends! Shown below is Becca Reid, Jeanne Snyder, Kathleen Dowd, Ann Reichhardt, Carol Jans, Garret Hultgren (my co-worker), Walt Grochowski and Wayne Snyder. We had a great trip list:

Brewer's Sparrow
House Sparrow
Lark Sparrow - lots of juveniles.
(Becca Reid Photo)Spotted Towhee's everywhere and more juveniles than we could count! It was a great opportunity to study several kinds of juvenile birds.
(Juvenile Spotted Towhee, Becca Reid)
Broad-tailed Hummingbird's were everywhere.
(Becca Reid Photo)Lazuli Bunting stunning looks at an adult male and some female and young.
Says Phoebe
Western Kingbird
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Black-billed Magpie
Brown-headed Cowbird in with a family of towhees
Stellar's Jay
Chipping Sparrow
House Wren- we never did see this bird, but it charmed us with all it's singing.
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
Black-capped Chickadee
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Mourning Dove
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Pygmy Nuthatch - we basically had a Nuthatch Fest, with all 3 varieties singing and flitting about. Sweet.
Western Tanager
Yellow-breasted Chat
Swainson's Hawk
Lesser Goldfinch
House Finch
One calling Canyon Wren.
We also saw this lovely Rock Squirrel..
(Becca Reid Photo)

..And a nice mule deer.
(Becca Reid Photo)I think we were watching more juvy towhees and a female Broad-tailed Hummer here.

Thanks to Ann Reichhardt for this picture. Trying to get a group of birders to stand still and smile is like herding chickens! Two guys left to right not shown before are John Reichhardt, Robert Quist. I'm in front, left.

Garret, Wayne and I looking at a baby Mourning Dove.
(Ann R.Photo)

We made it to Horsetooth Falls which was more like a dribble, but hey there was water! That's Bryer Shepherd sitting third from right.I think everyone is enjoying the break at the falls it was cool and green and beautiful.Yours truly, enjoying everyone chatting. (Ann R. photo)

Cornmeal & Peanut Butter & Beef Fat & Kitchens

I've made my own suet cakes since the mid '80's. It's a messy, smelly process, but I love it when I'm done and have bags full of suet cakes that last me several months.
I finally was able to get an order of beef kidney fat from our local game processor. It was the good, hard fat from around the kidneys. 20 pounds of the good stuff.

The rendering process is the stinkiest part, here it is after melting with peanut butter added. Yum, yum.

I've got to plug this stuff that we sell at the Wild Birds Unlimited where I work. It's from Fresh Wave and called Super Gel. I pour this stuff out on a plate on suet making day. By the time I'm done boiling, pouring and waiting for the stuff to harden the kitchen smells great again and it's all natural.

Here I am stirring the 15lbs. of cornmeal into the fat soup. I made so much this time I had to separate it out to two pots.

Ready for cooling. After I mix the meal in I let it sit for an hour or two, depending on my schedule, before I pour it in the pans to harden.

Freshly filled pans. I tried using wax paper on the bottom to help pop it out when it cooled. It helped a ton in the metal pans, not so much in the glass. That's a lot of suet cakes!! My 3 mini dachshunds, Barbie, Winnie, and Reina are ever hopeful for a taste. (they got a tiny one)

Here we are mother, waiting nicely at the edge like we're supposed to. You've been cooking doggy soup all day, when do we get some? It smells most delicious.

The pans cool at room temperature in the kitchen over night. Here they are, ready to be cut.I usually score the edges just before I cut the cakes. Keeps them from breaking into odd pieces. Mostly.I reuse plastic grocery bags and get it all bagged up for the freezer. 75 suet cakes in all, that should last me awhile!Now for the fun part..PS. I'm pretty flexible with my suet recipe, but here are the base ingredients which you can experiment with:
10 lbs beef kidney fat
4 lbs crunchy peanut butter
5-10 lbs corn meal

Hit the sack!

This is a really fun and super useful thing to teach your dog. I use "Hit the sack" as my cue to go to your mat or bed or in this case a towel. I don't normally train 3 dogs at once, but Barbie (left) and Reina (right) have had a lot more work on this behavior than Winnie. This is only Winnies second time on "hit the sack". I have treats, clicker and camera in hand. It was tricky, but I clicked and hit the camera button with my right hand and fed treats with my left. Since it has been a long time since I've asked Barbie & Reina to "hit the sack" I did not start off using the verbal cue. I just clicked when they arrived on the mat, then said the cue, and fed them there. With Winnie, I used her name, tossed a treat on the mat and clicked when she got there. Of course if B & R were on their mats at that moment, they were tossed a treat too! This is quite a lot of distance to ask for in one chunk. If your dog doesn't have a clue, start with the mat right at your feet.
(For more fantastic clicker training info by my favorite trainer, Sue Ailsby, go here.)

Here is Winnie going for her named treat. Barbie's asking me if this was ok. It wasn't.

I clicked Winnie on her having all four feet on the mat.. you can see B & R are quite attentive and waiting for their treat too! During the session, if only one dog was in place I said "Yes - Barbie" or whoever it was and only they got the treat. Very motivating for the other dogs to get with it.

We're getting closer with Winnie. Barbie & Reina did get off their mats at times, but remembered their cue " Hit the sack" and got there quick when I gave it.Ooh, now we're closer. I don't always wait for the dog to lie down on the mat, but if they do that's great. A sit is acceptable too. The only thing I am looking for is all four feet on the mat. As you can see my mats (dishtowels!) need to be wider for my weiner doggys.

Ok, here is what I was shooting for! All on their mats, but again Barbie does not have her four feet on the mat, she didn't get treated on this go round. But can you see how hard Winnie is thinking about this? Reina is busy snuffling out her treat.