My Top 10 Favorite Gifts For Bird Lovers

Let's face it. I'm addicted to birds and to the things that bring them closer to my yard while expanding my knowledge and enjoyment of them. I decided to share with you what I love the most of what's out there for backyard and more serious bird lovers.

Number 10: Allied Precision Industries Bird Bath De-icer
Of all the bird bath de-icers out there, this one takes it. Low profile, long cord, works like a charm. Keeps my larger than bird bath mini-ponds open all winter. I even keep my pumps on all winter. I love this!

Number 9: Aspects Quick-Clean Seed Tubes
These tube feeders are the best. Made to last, attractive and tough, the birds really like these. They also have Niger Seed Tubes. Cover them with a cage and you can keep big birds out if you prefer. Aspects makes these for Wild Birds Unlimited also, and that's the best place for finding cages to fit. I LOVE these feeders.
Number 8: Opposable Chums - Guts & Glory at the World Series of Birding.
Wondering how far birding can actually go? Watch this fantastic movie. What are you waiting for?
Tell Jason I sent you.

Number 7: Eco-Tough Seed Tray Feeders
I love that these feeders are made of recycled milk jugs. Each one uses like 28+. That's a lot of plastic kept out of the landfills. While I think the seed trays are fantastic - I don't care for the design of the hopper feeders. Too much seed falls on the ground. I know that's the intent, but I don't like it. But the trays are super. I have three - so far.

Number 6: Great Bird Films - Watching Warblers
Michael Male and Judy Fieth have made some extraordinary bird films. I have two and watch them over and over. Check out these - you won't be sorry. Several great titles to choose from.

Number 5: Birdorable!
A delightful assortment of goods with great bird art. T-shirts, mugs, bags. You name it, you can find it, with a wonderful Birdorable Bird of your choice. They do custom birds too!
Number 4: WBU APS Hardware System
Absolutely, positively the best pole system on the market. Sturdy, attractive, customizable. I like to say it's a great system for women - they can change it up whenever the mood strikes. But Hey Guys - you'll like it to. If anyone thinks there is a better system out there I wanna hear about it.

Number 3: Wingscapes BirdCam 2.0
I love my Wingscapes BirdCam. I have the first edition model, so no flash, but I'm sure this one is amazing. Great product, great customer service. Did I say I love this?


Number 2: The Sibley Guide To Birds
I have a lot of field guides. This is the best of the best as far as I'm concerned. Yes, it's big. Yes it's heavy. But take it to the field anyway. You won't be sorry. Sure, I know, there is an iPhone App too and I have it. But nothing can replace this book. Get it.

Number 1: Bird Watchers Digest
There are many great bird related magazines out there, but I've subscribed to this one since the early 1980's. It is still my favorite. If you don't subscribe, you should. Lots of great articles, book reviews, Q & A's. Fun stuff. A great gift! (or get it for yourself)

(I have not received products, services, or payment of any kind from these companies for this plug. I just love this stuff, please them I sent you!)

There's Always Hope, Isn't There?

This picture of me was taken about 1986 in Eagar, Arizona. I had 3 children about then. My lovely horse Babe, was a good swimmer, we had fun in the summer.
This pic below is me, today. Yuck. The truth hurts. I know, I know, why on Thanksgiving? I don't know. Just time I guess. We had a lovely dinner, different than usual which I'll tell you about in another post. And I didn't overeat. But I have been, obviously.

Seeing this photo makes me cringe, for sure, showing it to the world even worse. I've been successful in the past at losing weight and getting in shape. Something lights the spark and I just do it. But I can't seem to keep it. Seems like it's all or nothing. Somehow I've got to find a balance. A spark that can burn for a long time, not just a flash in the pan. I know all the tricks, tried nearly everything, but in the end, moderation and exercise work the best for me, if I can stick with it. I'm 50 now. Somehow, some way, I've got to make this happen forever.

This photo below was taken in 1996 I think. After bearing 7 children, before I had my eighth. I was busy building and training a string of packgoats for outfitting. I was hiking all the time, I loved it.
I have compassion on folks who struggle with addictions such as alcohol, smoking, etc. You can quit, but it's a struggle. With food, you can't quit. But the struggle is still there.

One thing I know.

I'm not giving up.

I'm gonna win this battle.

Wanna share yours?

All Kinds of One Kind of Goose

Lake Loveland is a great place for winter geese.
Lots of sizes and shapes.
Of Canada Goose.
I believe these are Lesser and Richardson's. There were also lots of the larger Common on the lawn farther away.
Anyone think some of these are Cackling Geese?

Sure Don't Have To Worry About Me Being On Food Network

Or, The Messy Kitchen, Spinach & A Bread Fiasco.

We're expecting a big storm here (well, maybe not here, but it'll bring very cold temps) within the next 24 hours so I thought I'd better go pick all my spinach in my hoop houses. Pretty isn't it? This is going into my Spinach Cannelloni, um, I mean my Spinach Lasagna.
(Somehow I bought no boil flat noodles to boil for the cannelloni, Brilliant)How may people I wonder show the state of their kitchen when they're in the middle of several cooking projects?
It's going well despite the "incidents".
I broke a piece off my food processor while grating Parmesan cheese. Don't worry I have a spare, and didn't leave any parts in the cheese.
Hey! Look at this, Spinach Cannelloni. Headed for the fridge, I'll cook it tomorrow.
No Hey! An Italian Bread Fiasco. The loaf in the back looks better. I hope.
Yep, the loaf in the back looks great, and the deformed loaf we hacked into, buttered and ate for lunch!What's left of my test pan of Cherry Squares. Do I really need to make another one?
(not this time)
Mouth watering, isn't it. They did turn out quite good, actually.
Lauren we saved you some.
Now I must go finish the Pumpkin Cream Pies.
..How does it look?

Great Fun Birding in Loveland

Wow, what a day we had Saturday on our first "Birding The Big Thompson" River Walk.

Twenty-eight people attended and that was without ten people that canceled!
My sister Lauren Burke, and friends Sarah Burbank (who provided all the photos below, thanks Sarah!),
Kathleen Dowd and Denise Bretting came along and helped a ton. My goal on these walks is to really make sure everyone sees the bird. Without these gals it wouldn't have happened.

Line of cars parked at the trail head
November can be a quiet month for birding, but we had some nice winter species. Here we're all looking at a hidden Juncos and an American Tree Sparrow.
I think I was expounding on the differences between the Red-shafted, Yellow-shafted and intergrades of Northern Flickers here. We did see a lovely intergrade on the walk. A bird with mostly Red-shafted characteristics, but that had faint, but observable red markings on the back of his head.Here's the mob before we left on the walk.
I was amazed at the turnout and I'm pretty sure everyone was from Loveland. Lots of folks were new to birding, several had been watching for awhile and a few were darn good at it. The group really seemed to have fun and the feedback I've gotten back so far has been positive. Some folks would like to see me limit group size and I understand that, but for now I'm not going to. We'll see where this leads. I love bringing folks from the community together and sharing our love of birds.
Believe it or not I did not take any pictures! But if you'd like to see a few, a Loveland Connection photographer was there and took a few. One of their reporters called me also and you can read the story here.

Here is our bird list for the day:
Northern Flicker
American Crow
Ring-billed Gull
Canada Goose
Mallard
European Starling
White-breasted Nuthatch
Black-capped Chickadee
Lesser Scaup
Redhead Duck
Belted Kingfisher
Brown Creeper
American Robin
Cooper's Hawk
American Goldfinch
American Tree Sparrow
Dark-eyed Juncos - Pink-sided and Oregon
American Kestrel
Townsend's Solitaire
American Wigeon
Great Blue Heron

I've Never Grown OR Eaten Kale Before. Help.

This is it:

Baby Kale. Now what? It's so beautiful, but I don't have any idea how to prepare or eat it. Guess I need to hit the books. Or Google.

This is Freckles Romaine Lettuce I just picked from my garden. Yeppers, today, November 19th, 2010. I DO know how to prepare and eat this. Thanks anyway.

One of my little hoop houses that could.

Hiding delectable secrets. More Freckles.

Lovely, lovely spinach - saved for a special Thanksgiving dish.
No, I won't tell you which one yet.

Baby Brocolli still growing, perfect carrots, green onions and some kind of cool
Buttercrunch Lettuce. Yes. I know how to eat these too.

But has anyone ever cooked and eaten young broccoli leaves?

Freshly harvested.
It's NOVEMBER.
I admit, one of those carrots may not be defined as perfect.

And now, this mornings SKY:

1st In A Series Tomorrow: Birding The Big Thompson

( I am NOT referring to BT3!)
I hope you can join me!

Be Careful - And Lonely - Out There

I went up to Red Mountain open space yesterday and spent 5 hours hiking the trails. It was a gorgeous day, little wind and mostly sunny. I felt exceptionally fortunate to have the place to myself and saw no one during those 5 hours. That kind of solitude is refreshing.

Saddening though were the “Closed – no public access” signs. It seems to me “officials” are afraid we’re going to hurt ourselves if we walk off trail. I know, I know – much of it is in the name of habitat protection, but come on, there is so much open space out there, enough for people AND animals to share. But I think as a “public” people are much less smart than they used to be – or maybe much less respectful – most likely both.
I must admit those signs stirred a desire in me to walk past them, (but I didn't) why does that happen? It seems when we’re told not to do something – we must do it – just to prove that we’re independent and can’t be told what to do. Just look at the driving that goes on here in Loveland, and you’ll see that.
WARNING: Rant Ahead

And that brings me to community. We’re starving for it. Our American Independence has destroyed a solid, healthy way of life. We live in neighborhoods full of people we don’t know, spend our evenings shut up in our house being brainwashed by the media, making us even more suspicious of our neighbors.

And we wonder why we’re lonely.

It's Back To The Birds

Ok, so I realize back in September I tried to simplify things by combining my two blogs.

I didn't like it much. It seemed like the instant I did that, all sorts of things came to mind that weren't about birds that I wanted to write about.

So I have been. And you'll find them at my other blog Aslan's Own.

But from now on it's Birds All The Way here.
I hope you continue to enjoy the path.