I Have A Major Crush

We met in church. Me; divorced mother of 7 - he; divorced father of 3. I just knew I was destined to be a lonely single mother for the rest of my life. After all I thought - who in their right mind would marry a woman with seven children?
(He insists he wasn't in his right mind. But I didn't put anything in his drink. Honest.)

But he did marry me. And it's going on 15 years, getting better by the day. And my kids stuck to him like glue. And then we had another.. and hauled her all over the San Juan Mountains.He can rock out a church service I'm tellin' ya. I usually run the sound board, with admonishment to not lust after the worship leader. I can't help it.
He loves what he does and I love watching him.
He is mischievous too. Some smiles you can trust. Some you can't.
Has gorgeous daughters.
And fine lookin' sons.. (not bad father-in-law either)
Is good with the little ones. ("boat daddy! AGAIN!")
Can be one cool dude. (So hot! Yikes)
Still smiling after all these years and raising all these kids.
Has the skills and willingness to make all my dream projects come true.
(bigger pond next year??)
Was the best Scope Sherpa a gal ever had while in Costa Rica with Clay Taylor and Amy Hooper.
Obviously loves girls.
Loves the great outdoors.
Loves girls.
Looks absolutely killer in a gorgeous San Diego sunset.
Is an amazing provider. An' he can cook!
Loves daughters with pink hair.
Takes spiritual things seriously. Here he is baptizing Maggie.
Loves a good hike and a big sky.
Is some kind of Grandpa, who'll let his grand kids touch and play his guitars.
He does the best he can to keep the dogs happy too. Tough job, but someone has to do it.
He has a way with birds.. can you see it?
This is one of my favorite pictures. I look at it nearly every day.Just in case you didn't see him well enough in the first one.
Mmmmm. Yep. I like it.I love you, Al.

Get Out And Bird! And Make Friends. And Have Fun.

We had an amazing turnout for the January Birding the Big Thompson River Walk series I'm leading here in Loveland today.Fifty-seven people showed up in windy, blustery, cold conditions to see what birds we could drum up out of the brush. Not very many it turned out. Our species list this month was only about 15 - 10 or so fewer than last month.

We visited Morey Wildlife Reserve, with special permission from the city of Loveland to go completely around the pond and along the Big Thompson River. The birds apparently were a bit smarter than we were, as they kept low and quiet most of the morning.

Our species list:

Great Blue Heron

American Goldfinch

Song Sparrow

Black-capped Chickadee

House Finch

American Robin

Dark-eyed Junco - Oregon, Pink-sided and Slate-colored

Canada Goose

Cackling Goose

Black-billed Magpie

Red-tailed Hawk

Mallard

Common Goldeneye

and Mountain Chickadee.

A nice assortment of our winter residents. It was good to get out, even in the chilly conditions. About 14 of us visited the local Starbucks for a visit and warm up cup before we went about our day.

Join me next month for a visit to JayHawker Ponds on February 19 at 9:00 AM. These ponds are southeast of Taft Avenue and First Street.

While they may still be mostly frozen, it can be a nice little area to bird.

Parking needs special attention here. DO NOT park on the south side of First Street near the gas station and car wash. Well, that is, unless you have a fondness for parking tickets. Please DO park on the north side of first street in the parking lot by the ball fields. I'll be parking on the western edge of that area. Look for my gray Jeep Liberty. We'll gather there, then cross at the light and walk over to the ponds. Remember to look both ways.

As before, I am not limiting the number of folks who come - though we'll hopefully have radios next month so everyone can hear what's going on. Please DO send me a note at
zblueheron AT gmail DOT com if you ARE attending.

All in all, a nice day for a birding adventure!

A Happy Book Winner!

Here is Joan Skogen with her new book. She says she's thrilled. Next month we'll have another give away!

How To Watch A Bird - I And The Bird #142

Well now, I know that most of you probably know how to watch a bird. But lately I've seen more and more birders just walking by birds of all kinds.

Starlings, sparrows, pigeons, ducks. Ignored.

Robins, finches, doves. Ignored, waved off.

Wait! Super-duper, ultra cool rarity. Watch! Look! Listen! Tell others, hundreds of others, actually. Invasion of birders. Hopefully they'll behave.

Crows, geese, blackbirds, ignored. Gulls. *Sniff.* Ignored.

What is happening here in the birding world? Why are some birds worthy of watching and others not?

What makes a watchable bird, well, watchable? And if one finds a watchable bird, how does one actually go about watching it?

Well in my opinion a watchable bird is any bird actually worthy of being watched. Which, from a watchers point of view could be practically any bird. Chickens even. How many of you have spent time watching chickens? You should try it sometime really, it's quite refreshing.

Alright, here we are. A watchable bird! The first thing I do after initially spotting such a bird.. (well I supposed it's the second thing, since, actually, the first thing was spotting the bird)

..is to keep my eyes on this bird. I watch it. Seriously. I watch it with my eyes. (Write this down) Then, if I have the time, I bring my binoculars that have been hanging around my neck by a fancy strap up to my eyes and aim them at the bird. No kidding. Now I'm watching the bird THROUGH my binoculars, ever done this? It's remarkable! The bird looks ten times closer! And now, the serious watching begins.

*(I don't mean to imply, however, that watching birds without binoculars is not a serious endeavor, it is, but that is the subject of another post entirely.)

I focus my attention on the overall appearance of the bird. Hmm, this one looks big! What would such a big bird be doing in a tree? I usually try to decided what shape the bird is. Round, long, fat, skinny. I also extract clues from the birds behavior. What's it doing? Ewww. Sick. Oh well, nevermind. Another important factor that doesn't involve seeing is listening. Is the bird singing?

Then I begin to look at color pattern. Can I get somewhat of a feel for what this bird is by shape and color pattern? Now is the time, also, to look at the size. Is it little like a chickadee or big like an eagle or something in between? Keep looking at the bird!

So many people take a quick glance a the very cool watchable bird and then start looking at a field guide. DON'T DO THIS. Look at the bird the whole time it's there!

If the bird is cooperative and is still around, I'll then look at it's wings and head for specific field marks. Stripes, bars, crests and the like. I'll make a mental note of all these things. Sometimes I even say such things out loud. It helps me remember.

AACKK! It flew! My watchable bird example just left. Now what? Turn to your field gui.. nope. Not yet. Get out your note pad. Write down everything you remember about the bird. Do it immediately. I'll wait. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . Done? Ok, good.

NOW we can look at the field guide. If-you-look-at-the-bird-then-look-at-the-field-guide-without-writing-down-what-you-saw-before-you-know-it-your-eyes-will-begin-to-glaze-over-with-all-the-birds-that-look-almost-like-the-one-you-were-looking-at-and-you-won't-be-able-to-figure-out-what-it-was-because-you-have-forgotten-everything-about-it.

Then you'll probably think it's some amazing rarity, when in fact you just invented another species, but no one will believe you.

So I hope you figured out what kind of bird you were watching, and I hope this little guide, technical though it is, will help you in becoming a better watcher of watchable birds.


Blogs mentioned:

Count Your Chicken! We're Taking Over!

Blobbybirdman's Peregrinations

Listening Earth Blog

Greg Laden's Blog

Dream Falcon

Gardening With Binoculars

The Zen Birdfeeder

North Shore Nature

Radley Ice

Stokes Birding Blog

Bird Ecology Study Group

Coyote Mercury

Island Nature

Ben Cruachan-Natural History

The Birder's Report

Anybody Seen My Focus?

10,000 Birds

Birds O' The Morning

Wanderin' Weeta

Exciting Birding in Northern Costa Rica

Search And Serendipity

Ramblings

I love Januarys.

There is just something fresh about January.
Well, no surprise I'm again tacking the weight/food issue and I'm doing pretty well. I'm eating better foods. I've lost six pounds so far with only watching portion sizes. It's been to darn cold for much walking, but I'll be out there soon. I'm not stressing about it, but paying attention. It feels good, but for some reason, after spending a majority of my life caring for others - it is a hard thing to focus on caring for me. Don't get me wrong - I love being a wife and a mother. Love it.
My winter garden is doing fine. It has been a fun experiment. Fresh veggies in winter have been delicious.

Many of you know I have 8 children and 3 step children. Although a couple of the kids don't keep in touch, Facebook has actually improved my communication with most of the others, and that's been cool.My Dad moved into our little guest house last spring and things are going well. He'd doing well, adjusting and settling in. He joins us for dinner every night and I'm blessed to have him around.Our family has dwindled to three of us at home not including Dad. I'm OK with that. Some days I miss the hustle and bustle of having a passel of kids at home, and miss that I don't see some of them very often, but we are adjusting to the smallness. Every now and then one of us cooks a huge meal - reminiscent of large family dinners - and we laugh and ask "Who's coming for dinner?"
I think I've finally made the adjustment to semi-rural living. (Lauren & Becca DON'T LAUGH) It's working for us. I'm content, Al's content and Maggie loves the neighborhood. I have plenty of land that is not worked and I'm going to expand my garden this summer which I'm looking forward to. And of course continue to improve the habitat for birds.
So, the other day I stopped in this store, Avalon Aviary that moved to a more prominent location, to say hi and see what I could find for my parakeets. (I worked there for a couple of months in 2008 - not at the store, but at the Aviary, as one of the morning feeders. An intense, critical, early morning job of prepping and feeding the birds - parrots. It was a great experience and I learned a lot - but a bit repetitious for my personality.)

Anyhow. The owner Susanne was there and we started talking. Which resulted in a meeting. Which resulted in a job. Manager of The Rusty Blackbird, the wild bird feed and supplies department of Avalon Aviary Bird Store. It is an exciting opportunity and should be great fun too. The fun thing is I did not go into that store with any idea or expectation of a job.

I'll still be offering my free monthly bird walks here in Loveland and my classes with the City of Loveland this spring. We'll also be developing classes and other educational opportunities at The Rusty Blackbird. Stay tuned.

So, yeah. I like Januarys.

GullapalOOza!

You might have heard of the name by now - Gullapalooza. I'm not a hundred percent sure, but my guess would be that the name was coined by Ted Floyd, shown below using his great oratory skills in trying to inform and organize over 2oo birders before we head out.Here is a small portion of the crowd, with the Xcel Energy Valmont Plant in the background. Beyond that - nearly unknown birding territory. The event was sponsored by several organizations:
American Birding Association, Boulder Bird Club, Colorado Field Ornithologists, Nikon Sport OpticsDenver Field Ornithologists, American Birding Association, Xcel Energy, Boulder Bird Club, and Nikon Sport Optics.

And was led by an amazing bunch of world renowned Birding Leaders:

Bill Schmoker, Jeff Gordon, Bill Kaempfer, Dave Madonna, The Xcel Energy Guy, Nathan Pieplow, Joel Such, and Marcel Such of Lyons, CO, and Mike Freiberg.
One of the delightful birds found was an immature Black-crowned Night Heron.
Here is a portion of our group (there were about 8 groups) checking out a distant Tundra Swan, Red-breasted Mergansers and others.
I was being followed.
A lovely little winter surprise - Horned Grebe. He seemed to be just as interested in us as we were in him.
Ready, set, SCOPE!
We had stunning views of the mountains.
Oooh, and look, GULLS! SEA GULLS!
I snapped this shot on my way out. Ominous and cool looking.
It was a very fun experience, seeing all those birders together was a blast. Most people abode by the rules and stayed with their group.. but there is always a few who don't, which still surprises me. I saw some nice birds, got to be in an area mostly closed off to the public. Say hi to new and old friends. Meet Liz Gordon, which if the truth be told was nearly the only reason I went!

Well, that and seeing what kind of hat Ted Floyd would wear. I wasn't disappointed.