KatDoc's World

Birds and Things at the Zoo

2010-10-17T21:37:00.014-04:00

I attended a birthday party at the Cincinnati Zoo on Saturday. This has got to be the greatest idea for a birthday party ever! The food was good, the setting fabulous, and a zoo person brought around live animals for us to see and touch. It was lots of fun.

First up was this cute little Eastern Screech-owl, named Van Gogh because he only has one ear. Actually, he does have two ears; what we call "ears" are really only tufts of feathers. He is not a baby, he is a 3 year old adult. I never heard what happened to the feathers on the left side of his head. And no, we couldn't touch him.Next was a Dwarf Rex rabbit. A Rex has fur like a chinchilla - all soft, downy undercoat, no outer guard hairs. Very soft!Some people got the shivers when the next animal was brought out to us - this little American Alligator. Isn't he the cutest?I liked him so much I had to include this close-up of his "smile."Finally, what I considered to be the coolest of the four critters - this armadillo.It looked just like a pillbug, all curled up so tightly. I would have loved to have held it. Even better would have been for her to put it down, so I could watch it trundle around the room.

As the party was winding down, I took the opportunity to wander around the zoo a little. I saw these flamingos outside on one side of the building which houses the Treetops party roomand got these Impressionist-style photos of the koi in the pond on the other side of the building.

Since there was only an hour before closing time, I was limited in how far I could go. I decided to check out the bird house, and found these guys waiting for me in a cage outside.The sign said that Kookaburras are members of the kingfisher family. When I read that, I thought, "Of course - that big head and huge bill are typical of kingfishers. Why hadn't I noticed that before?"

Inside, we had a wide variety of birds, including:

Rhinoceros Hornbill

Pesquet's Parrot

Louisiana HeronHarlequin Duck

King Penquins getting a meal
(with a Marconi's in the background)

and Least Auklet.

Trust me, that's what this is. The thing was more flitty than a kinglet. It never sat still - not on land or water.

There were more birds in the bird house, plus many more outside as well, but I wanted to end with this Mystery Duck.
I know it is not one of our native wild species, but couldn't decide if it was an exotic or some sort of hybrid. A "helpful" zoo guest told me, "I'm a duck hunter; that's a Hooded Merganser." I answered, "I'm a birder, and I've never seen a merganser that looked like that."

Anybody got an idea what this might be?

Planning ahead

2010-10-14T13:27:00.007-04:00

I have an unused acre of land on the east side of my property. I call it my meadow. Once a year, before the rains of November, I have it bush hogged to keep it in check, but otherwise, I let it go wild. It probably makes the neighbors angry, to see this messy, unkempt field next to their carefully manicured, but woefully sterile, lawn. Hey, folks - we're in the country. Get over it.When I first moved in, I mowed this acre regularly, to keep up with the neighborhood standard. It was never used by anything or anyone, including me. Now, it is full of meadowlarks and butterflies, sparrows and all manner of wildflowers. This summer, I found myself frustrated when I was unable to get into the heart of the field, to examine a flower or chase a butterfly. Next year, things will be different.

Since the field was just bush hogged, and the day was bright, warm, and dry, I decided to carve some walking paths through my little meadow. One long, swooping, lazy "S" runs from top to bottom, and a second, twisting windy trail crosses the first at several points. I added a couple of extra accesses and a connecting spur, then seeded the meadow with some common milkweed, from pods I picked up this fall.I think I have the basis for a nice little nature trail.The dogs inspected my work and pronounced it satisfactory. To be specific, it rates "Two Sniffs" on their Smell-o-meter. Deer or rabbit poop would have given me more points, I think.I am already excited to see how this area developes next spring. I hope to be able to bring you updates as the seasons progress. All I have to do is keep my pathways mowed and let nature do the rest.

Taking a walk with Holly

2010-08-29T12:09:00.051-04:00

I feel like I have been neglecting Holly lately, in favor of the baby. Panda demands a lot of time, and of course, she is very cute and photogenic, but that is no excuse for ignoring the older, better behaved dog.

Actually, it started in the winter, during the terrible last part of Grace's life, when I wanted to savor every moment with her and took Holly for granted. She and I clung together for a while after we lost Grace, but when spring arrived, full of birding trips and a new puppy, my attention was divided between activities. Then came summer's heat, puppy training, and too many hours spent working. I was tired, too tired to devote any leftover spare time to my sweet, patient old girl.

Dogs, of course, are the most forgiving souls on the planet, always understanding, never blaming or accusing. Still, when those soulful brown eyes kept looking up at me every time I left the house, I began to feel guilty.

This week, I vowed to take Holly out for some one-on-one time with Mom. The enthusiasm she showed when she realized we were going out together nearly broke my heart. She pranced down the sidewalk and waited eagerly by the car door. Going for a ride is always fun for Holly, but this time the destination was more than just the post office and the IGA.

Crooked Run. My own little private sanctuary. Despite the fact that this nature preserve actually belongs to the Clermont County Parks Dept., I feel very possessive of this wooded spot on the Ohio River. There is a pleasant loop trail about a mile long, as well as some meandering paths that criss-cross the preserve. It is quiet and peaceful, and we rarely see another human soul. Holly knows it as well as I - it is our favorite morning walk. Come along with us.
We walk slowly, at the pace of a dog's nose. I have no particular agenda this morning, so am content to let Holly take her time, soaking in an incredible world of scent that I will never know.I find that this allows me the freedom to fiddle with the camera settings, trying to render the dappled sunlight and shades of green and brown into images that reflect what I am really seeing. When none of the factory presets work, I reach deep within myself for the courage to go to Manual mode, and discover I can take a picture, now and then.I'm carrying my binoculars, but hardly using them. Instead, I am hearing the birds rather than seeing them, identifying them almost without thinking about it. I'm not chasing or working these birds, not listing or counting them. Instead, I am breathing them in, absorbing their essence through my skin. I am birding by osmosis. Zen birding - I like it.

Neither am I using the leash draped around my neck. I carry it for form's sake, in case we meet another walker or a park official, but I really don't need it. Holly and I are tethered by something stronger than a nylon collar and a leather lead. We have a bond unbreakable, forged of love and understanding, tempered by time. She knows not to leave the trail or run off. She doesn't even chase the rabbit we flush from the edge of the path. I know I can trust her implicitly.

She wanders ahead, but always at a respectful distance. If I fall too far behind, she stops and looks back, checking for me and maintaining eye contact. When I don't move quickly enough to keep up with her, she turns and trots back, encouraging me to move along.If I do happen to lose sight of her, I'm not worried.
I know she will wait for me, and when I come around the bend, I will be greeted by this face.
As we near the end of the trail, Holly's slowing down. She's more likely to be found at my side or even trailing behind a few paces, and it strikes me that my high-energy Lab mix is nearly 12 years old. She doesn't quite have the stamina she had in the past.

She is willing to sit and waitwhile I snap pictures of wildflowersand seedpodsand fishermenand weird galls on leaves.She even lies down to restwhen I take forever getting my exposures right.Fortunately, she is still able to serve as my scout and my protector. She checks that the bridge over the pond's overflow is safe for me to cross, even though the water, which is usually level with the boardwalk, has dried to crust.Too soon, the walk was over. The heat and humidity were taking their toll on us both, and it was time to head home. It was only an hour walk, a brief time to spend with my old friend, but such a special time, and one that we both needed. Devote an hour of uncomplicated time to your dog today - you won't be sorry.

The one in which Panda gets spayed

2010-08-22T17:29:00.003-04:00

Momma has a strict rule at our house: "No babies." So last week, she told me it was time to "fix me," so I did not have babies. I did not think I needed to be fixed. I thought I was perfect, just the way I was. But after all, I am the baby of this house, and I do not want any other babies to come along and be more specialer than me, so I agreed to this "fixing" thing.
First, they put me in a cage at The Work. I am not usually in these metal cages. I usually have my own room at The Work, with my toys and bowls and things. This cage is different. I thought maybe I should worry, but somehow, I was so tired, I could not keep my eyes open, let alone worry about anything.
"Katie, I feel really funny. Please hold me close - this room is spinning."
They put a little stick in my arm and then I went from a little bit sleepy to all the way asleep, and after that, I do not remember much, but Momma and Katie took lots of pictures, and this is what they said was next.
They opened up my mouth. I have a really big mouth, and I am proud of it. Look how big my mouth is!
They put this tube in my mouth and all the way into my breathing tube. I did not feel the tube, and I do not remember it, but Momma says it is real, real important to have this tube in when you are asleep, especially if you have a smooshie face like me.
I do not think this is a very nice picture of me, and I do not like it that Momma put it in the blog.They scrubbed my tummy, to make it all clean. I have a bath every week, and I wash my hands and face every day myself, so I did not think I was very dirty, but they told me I had to be extra-special clean for the fixing.

They took me into the room with the bright lights and the table that moves up and down. I see this room every day, and I know that they take sleepy dogs and cats in here all the time and they are all OK, so I knew I would be, too.

They put me on my back on the special table, and underneath me was a blanket with warm water running through it that helped keep me warm. This is very important when you are very little, because being cold makes it harder to wake up later.
They put a thing around my ankle to give me Blood Pressure and tied my arms down so I would not roll around. Then Momma put on some really ugly clothes and covered me all up with a blue thing. You cannot even see me, but I am there, under the blue thing. Kate is checking to make sure I am still there.
Please do not laugh at Momma in her ugly clothes that do not match. She does not have any "fashion sense."OK, now we are all ready to go.
The next pictures might make some of you feel icky, but I think it is pretty neat to see what my insides look like. If some of you have girl dogs, you might like to see my insides, too, so you know what happened to your dogs during the fixing. It is OK - you can look.

Besides, I really like Momma's hands. Her hands are the best part of her. She can do lots of special things with her hands, like the fixing, so you should watch. (I will let Momma 'splain what she is doing.)

first incision, through the skin

second incision, abdominal wall

using a spay hook to find the uterus

exteriorizing uterus

tugging on uterus to exteriorize ovary

pointing out ovary

triple clamp technique

cut between clamps

ligating ovarian pedicle

double ligatures for safety

both ovaries ligated

pointing out cervix

ligating uterine body

complete ovariohysterectomy
(removal of ovaries and uterus)

closing abdominal layer

closing skin layer

surgery finished

Kate thought she would be funny with me while I was asleep. Momma says she hopes the doctors and nurses who do the fixing to people do not make fun of them when they are asleep.

The black clip on my tongue is to see that I have enough oxygen in my blood. It does not pinch or hurt. I am not sure what oxygen is, but I am glad that I had enough.

This picture is when I was starting to wake up, but I could not swallow yet. Momma says it is important to leave the breathing tube in smooshie faced dogs until they are able to swallow, so that they do not choke. I think I remember this part, but maybe I just dreamed it.
It is good to have a friend with you when you wake up from the fixing. I am glad that Momma thought to bring my pink pig that day, and that they gave it to me. It made waking up nicer.
But, it is even better to be held and carried around when you are so sleepy, like Amanda did for me. It felt so good, I went back to sleep on her shoulder.
And so, now I am home and everything is all right, really. Momma gives me a little pill in my dinner every night, which is supposed to help with the belly pain, even though I do not have any belly pain. I tell her I am a big dog, and strong and brave, but she just smiles and gives me the belly pain pill anyway.
The only bad part is Momma says "Cage rest and leash walk only" for at least a week, and I want to run and jump on things and play with Holly and torture the cats and she says "No." Do you know how long a week is? Because I do not and I think it must be a really long time.

Can I gross you out? version 2.0

2010-08-19T20:11:00.007-04:00

Same warning as before: Look away if you have a low tolerance for ick.

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Still with me? OK, then, take a look at this dirty, infected laceration on the neck of a 9 year old Pug. Any idea what caused it?After sedating Miss Pugg (name changed to comply with HYPPA laws) we began shaving the wound to inspect it more closely. This is the underside of the neck, but the line goes all the way around the sideand across the back, completely encircling the poor dog's neck.In the past, the culprit would have been a rubber band, applied maliciously or perhaps innocently. Today, we have a new foe:Yep, "Silly Bandz," a rubber band updated for the 2010's, but just as tight and constricting as the original version. The family's small boy thought it was a good idea to put this modern day torture device around the dog's neck. (And then, the family went on vacation, leaving the dog at home.)

This wound is at least a week old. The poor dog has had a rubber band around her neck for seven or more days. Do me a favor: Put a tight rubber band around your wrist for 15 minutes, and tell me how it feels. Now, imagine how this dog felt for the past 168 hours. It makes me disgusted.

We scrubbed the wound with an antiseptic solution, then flushed it with sterile saline.
In a perfect world, the dog would have been anesthetized for me to trim and debride the wound edges and suture it closed for primary healing. Unfortunately, the owner was unable (or unwilling) to make the financial commitment for appropriate therapy. Instead, I gave her antibiotics and pain meds, and I am hoping that Nature will help me out with good second intention healing.

Look at this brave old girl. Against all odds, she was gentle and sweet and cooperative throughout the whole treatment. Dog lovers out there, send up a prayer for Miss Pugg tonight.

Update, Aug. 25: Here's the wound 5 days later. Granulation tissue is filling in the defect and Miss Pugg is recovering nicely. Thank goodness for Mother Nature and second intention healing!

What's Your Diagnosis?

2010-08-04T19:36:00.011-04:00

My bimonthly JAVMA (Journal of the American Veterinary Association) has a regular feature called "What's Your Diagnosis?" (Or, as my sister always called it, "Exhibit Your Symptoms.") Each month, one or more X-ray pictures are printed, and the reader is given a brief synopsis of the case and invited to make a diagnosis. It always makes my day if I can guess it correctly.

Today, I present to you a real life "What's your diagnosis" from a case I saw this afternoon. Here's the history: An elderly woman fell last evening while carrying her 9 week old kitten. Both lady and kitten appeared to be unhurt at the time. Today, however, the kitty had a very swollen neck. Fearing the kitten's neck was broken, the son brought him in to my office at about 1:30pm.

The kitten was obviously distressed, breathing with increased effort, and his gums were cyanotic (bluish in color) indicating a lack of oxygen. He was walking OK, but seemed to tired easily. His neurological reflexes were normal, so I was reassured that his spine was not damaged.

However, his neck was very puffy, and this swelling extended along his back and chest, right down to the kitty equivalent of a waist.

Here's the lateral view X-ray. It's has been a while since we have done this; do you remember how to read an X-ray? Bones are white, air is black, and soft tissues (organs, blood, etc.) are shades of gray. The kitten is lying on his side. His head is on our left, his tail to our right.

[Click on any photo to enlarge.]

Here's a slightly closer view. What do you think?
Go ahead, take your time. I'll wait.

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Give up? That's OK, this is a toughie. It may comfort you to know that this is only the second time I have seen this problem, and the first time I have seen it caused by a fall.

Check out this labeled version of the first film. The skin is lifted away from the underlying tissues, and all those black spaces are collections of air under the skin. The technical term is subcutaneous emphysema. I have indicated several of the pockets of air with red *.
The kitten has a tracheal rupture. Every time he breathes in, some air goes into the lung, but some also escapes through the tear in the trachea and ends up under the skin. Because of the one-way valve effect, when he breathes out, the air is trapped there and slowly accumulates.

You can diagnose this on a physical exam, by the crackling, popping feeling you get when you run your finger tips over the skin and press in slightly.

Although this is a bad injury, believe it or not, mild cases of tracheal rupture can be treated with conservative medical management. However, let's look at that X-ray again.In this closer image, we are focusing our attention on the chest cavity. Anything about this picture bother anybody?

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Let's look at the labeled version. The kitten's heart should be in contact with his sternum (breastbone.) Instead, it is elevated, lifted up by an accumulation of air in the chest cavity. One lung is all black, filled with air, while the other is much smaller and gray in color. That lung has collapsed.
Not only does he have a ruptured trachea, he also has a pneumothorax. Now, his prognosis for survival has taken a big step backwards. If we were to attempt treatment, he would need a chest tube to evacuate the air, a tracheoscopy (using a small diameter endoscope to look down his trachea) to attempt to find the rupture, and a surgical specialist to try to find and repair the damage, if possible.

But wait! Kitty's story is not over. When the owner woke to find her kitten in distress, she tried to help him by crushing up a 200mg ibuprofen tablet and mixing an unknown quantity of the powder into some milk. As we all know from Toxicology Tuesday, Non-Steroidal AntiInflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen are deadly poisons for cats.

Now, we have a ruptured trachea, pneumothorax, and potential ibuprofen toxicity. Oh, and did I mention that the clients don't have any money? I suppose you can guess the final outcome of this case.

In my job, as in my life, I try to find the good in everything. This case was tragic and very sad, but I was able to turn it into a teaching opportunity for the hospital staff and you, my gentle readers.

Prairie Plants

2010-08-03T06:00:00.000-04:00

Back after a break with more prairie pictures from June's "Potholes and Prairies" birding festival, in Carrington, ND.

I didn't get to do as much botanizing as I would have like to on this trip. For one thing, I spent so much time looking out across the wide open spaces of the prairie that I sort of forgot about looking down, to see all the little wildflowers hidden in the thick grasses. For another, most of the time, I was weighed down with heavy rain gear and carrying binoculars and spotting scope. I didn't have enough hands to manage a camera, too. Still, I got a few precious shots to share with you.

Ball Cactus

This was my biggest surprise, cactus plants on the prairie.

Blanket Flower, Gaillardia

Prairie Rose

Prairie Smoke

I think the Prairie Smoke was my favorite.

I had to pull out all the stops and e-mail pics to the Science Chimp in order to get an ID on this one when I got back home. Trust Julie; even though she had not seen it before, she came up with a name for me:

Tufted Loosestrife

Milkvetch

The group consensus on this one was "some kind of vetch"

And finally, an unknown. Can anybody ID this little prairie flower from these two, admittedly poor quality, photos?

Let's see if I can gross you out

2010-07-30T18:54:00.010-04:00

[If you have a sensitive stomach,

you might want to skip today's post.]

A client brought in a new-found kitten today with a sore on its neck. I was excited before I even saw the patient, because a sore on the neck of a kitten in summer usually means one of my favorite summer time conditions: Cuterebra!

But, I am getting ahead of myself. Let's go back to the beginning and that moist, icky sore on the neck of an 8 week old kitten.

Is it an abscess? A bite wound? No, it's not.

Look closely at the hole. See the little white thing sticking out, with a dark ring in the center?Here, I'll point it out to you.

A close-up (Forgive the fuzzy focus - I was using the little point and shoot belonging to the office, not my Canon Rebel.)

What could it be?

It is a spiracle, the breathing apparatus of a warble, the larval form of the Cuterebra fly, which is a member of the botfly family. Similar botflies include the ox warble that causes "grubby back" in cattle, the stomach bot in horses, and the nasal bot of sheep.

Cuterebra primarily infest rabbits, although cats, and occasionally dogs, may be victims. The female fly lays its eggs on plants along paths frequented by rabbits. When the rabbit passes by, the eggs hatch instantly and the larvae crawl onto the host's fur. They enter the body through natural openings, (nose, mouth, anus, etc.) and migrate under the skin. They usually end up in the neck area, although I have found them on other body parts.

The larva cuts a breathing port through the host's skin and attaches its spiracles. These respiratory openings, it should be noted, are at the butt end of the grub, not the head end like you might expect. Not pertinent to treatment, just a fun factoid I like to share.

The developing organism sets up a strong inflammatory reaction in the rabbit or cat, leading to moist, painful wounds like we see here. A warble wound may resemble a standard cat bite abscess but for one thing: if you observe the opening carefully, you can see the movement of the larva at the breathing port.

That's where I come in. Rather than allowing the warble to finish its life cycle, enlarge its breathing port and drop to the ground to complete its metamorphosis to an adult fly, I swoop in to remove the little bugger. Just a small nick to enlarge the hole, and I can grasp the butt of the warble and slowly, carefully extract it.

(Please excuse the Band-Aid. A slip with a dental elevator earlier in the day gouged my thumb.)

TA-DAH! Victory!

Here's an even better shot, complete with a centimeter ruler for scale.

Astute readers will note that the warble itself sustained an injury during the extraction process. This is the first warble I have ruptured during removal, and luckily, it happened after that part of the larva was out of the kitten's body. If a warble is ruptured under the skin, it could set up an anaphylactoid reaction that might prove fatal. For that reason, warbles should not be casually squeezed out of the hole, but removed delicately.

After the minor surgery, we cleaned up the kitty's neck and gave her an antibiotic injection. The wound is not sutured, but allowed to close on its own. Once healed, in 7 to 10 days, she'll be as good as new.

Update, Aug. 2:

Three days after warble removal, look how much better the wound looks.Even the kitty is happy about the outcome.

Wordless Wednesday: The most photographed barn in North Dakota

2010-07-07T08:31:00.000-04:00

Get off the bus

2010-07-01T10:54:00.011-04:00

or "Herding cattle, North Dakota style"

One day, during my "big bus" tour of North Dakota's "Potholes and Prairies," we stopped for lunch at a semi-abandoned homestead. The house was unoccupied, but the barn, paddocks, and outbuildings were still in use. We stopped there nearly every day, both as a birding spot to see nesting Cliff Swallows and Say's Phoebes, and also because the Quonset hut at the back of the property provided nice cover for an outdoor potty, complete with a singing Warbling Vireo.

That day, we were supplied with a sack lunch instead of dining at a local cafe. When the bus stopped and people began to get out, a cranky woman said, "Are we going to eat OUTSIDE?" as if it were a nuclear waste dump. I replied, "I'm sure you can eat on the bus if you like, but I'm going to go out." "There's no place to sit," she grumbled, to which I replied, "I'm going to sit on the ground." "That doesn't look very comfortable," she snapped. Thinking that no place on earth could be more comfortable than the lap of God, I pushed passed her, vowing never to get old and grumpy.

I had spied a dry, grassy bank with a view of the open fields across the dirt road that to my eyes appeared better than any banquette at a 5 star restaurant. By then, I would have eaten outdoors if it had been pouring rain, just to make my point, but it was in fact, quite pleasant.

It was while I was eating and casually birding and communing with nature and just enjoying the sensation of being off the bus that I spied a white sedan in the ditch behind us. At first, I thought the driver might have had an accident, but then I noticed he was moving, slowly and deliberately, up and down the grassy embankment.Fascinated, I stood up and walked back toward the action, to see what was going on.

Out of the bushes popped a half a dozen Angus cattle, followed by the white car. The driver was rounding up loose cattle and herding them like a 21st century cowboy.
He apparently recruited the driver of the blue pick-up truck, an employee of the DNR who was tailing us that day, taking publicity photos, to assist, and the two vehicles pushed the cattle down the road and in through a gate in the fence back to their pasture.
When it was all over, the rancher got back in his car and drove off, with a minimum of fuss, as if this were an every day occurrence. By then, I had called several others over to watch the process, had taken about 50 or 60 photos, and had begun planning this blog post. And all because I got off the bus.

BTs Can Play with the Big Dogs!

2010-06-30T06:26:00.000-04:00

We interrupt the Potholes and Prairies posts for a Panda update.
Isn't she getting big? Almost 8 pounds and 4 months old.

Stalking her target.

Gotcha!

One cannot neglect the older child in favor of the baby, so here's my sweet Holly.

I haven't been able to add the video to this blog post. Maybe if you follow this link, you can see it on my FB page:

Watch the grass at the edge of the pond - Heeeee-re's PANDA!

Who said little short-faced dogs can't swim?

Birds from Potholes and Prairies

2010-06-27T19:00:00.001-04:00

Swainson's Hawk - taken through a fogged-up bus window, this photo does not do him justice.
Ferruginous Hawk - nearly as big as an eagle, and even more impressive when seen perched by the side of the road, on the right-of-way post, and showing all his field marks.
White Pelican. Not a life bird for me, but I still gasped every time I saw these guys. Big white birds impress southern Ohio birders - we don't see too many in our local patches.
Western Grebe - Lifer! Later, I also saw the Clark's Grebe, which looks very similar. My 1980 4th edition of Peterson's Field Guide, eastern version, shows the Clark's as a pale morph of the Western. By the time my third edition of Peterson's Western Birds was published, in 1990, the Western Grebe was split and Clark's Grebe was named as a separate species.
Say's Phoebe - another Lifer.

Common (formerly Wilson's) Snipe was not a life species, but this behavior was quite new for me. I'm used to snipes staying low on the ground, not T-ed up on fence posts. This must be a prairie thing, as we saw many birds doing this.Bobolinks. Lovely to see and to listen to, trouble to photograph. Here are my best efforts.
One of the fun things about North Dakota is how East meets West. This was really driven home to me by the overlap of two tyrant flycatcher species - the Eastern Kingbird, which lives and nests in my back yardand the very different Western Kingbird, a new species for me.
The Western Meadowlark looks nearly identical to the more familiar eastern species, but his song was quite different.
The ubiquitous Red-winged Blackbird was joined by the beautiful, but much less musical, Yellow-headed Blackbird, a very shy guy when it comes to having his picture taken.
All in all, I got 107 species of birds in four days, including the following 25 Life Birds:

Sharp-tailed Grouse
Red-necked Grebe
Western Grebe
Clark's Grebe
Swainson's Hawk
Ferruginous Hawk
Yellow Rail (heard only)
Piping Plover
American Avocet
Willet
Upland Sandpiper
Marbled Godwit
White-rumped Sandpiper
Wilson's Phalarope
Say's Phoebe
Western Kingbird
Loggerhead Shrike
Spague's Pipit
Clay-colored Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Baird's Sparrow
LeConte's Sparrow
Nelson's (Sharp-tailed) Sparrow
Chestnut-collared Longspur
Western Meadowlark

In addition, I saw my first USA Grey Partridge (my Lifer was in Scotland in 1999) and a Krider's hawk (not a separate species, but a pale morph of Red-tailed Hawk.)

I definitely recommend the Potholes and Prairies birding festival of North Dakota for both eastern and western birders. Look in your favorite field guide. This is where the range maps overlap, and everybody has a chance of seeing some life birds.

Prairie Animals and their Homes

2010-06-25T11:00:00.001-04:00

As well as 25 species of Life Birds, I also picked up four Life Mammals in North Dakota. The first was on our drive from the Minneapolis-St.Paul airport to Carrington, ND., when we stopped for a late lunch and a rest break at a Subway in West Fargo. (Not to be confused with that movie by a similar name.)

In a suburban yard, we saw this odd looking rabbit, and three weary travelers and eager naturalists in training whipped out their cameras for a photo op.
Later, on the prairie, we saw many of these White-tailed jackrabbits running across the fields or down the road, but I will never forget my first sight of one.

A Meadow Vole scurried out from under my feet in a field one day, too quick for a picture. Lifer!

My life Richardson's ground squirrels were too far away for a photo, but this Thirteen-lined ground squirrel obligingly posed for his portrait.While he wasn't a Life Mammal, this handsome 2 year old male black Lab was one of the friendliest dogs of the trip, and made me miss my two girls.For Susan, a Dead Mammal, this road-kill raccoon which marked the spot where I saw my first ever Loggerhead Shrike. You can't believe the grief I took from the other people on the bus when I took this picture. Only for you, Susan.

One mammal that got away was the badger, although I saw plenty of their burrows. These holes were big, but hidden in the grass. Stepping in one could severely twist your ankle, if not break it altogether.
Other animal homes were occupied, like this Swainson's Hawk on her nest.I also saw a Ferruginous Hawk nest, complete with two eaglets. Unfortunately, while they were visible in my scope, they were too far away for a photo.

These holes in the bank are the home of Bank Swallows.What do Cliff Swallows do without a cliff to nest on? Why, they build their jug-like nests of mud under the eaves of an old farmhouse, that's what.
Look at that detail. How can birds build something so fine with only their bills?

As well as keeping a Life List of all the birds I have seen, I also keep a Nest List - those birds I have seen on, or building, their nests. With the addition of both hawks, Red-necked Grebe, and American Coot, I have boosted my Nest List to 51 species.

Coming up: Birds of the prairie

Birding the Prairie

2010-06-22T09:49:00.005-04:00

4:30AM, Carrington, North Dakota.

"All aboard!"

Birding the prairie involves a lot of this:and this:and yet again, this:Whew! Wren made it, safe and sound.

"Save the scope," was the most often heard comment. I guess clothes and skin are cheaper to repair or replace.

Even trip leaders are not spared the ordeal of climbing over, under, or through barbed wire fences. Here, Julie and Paulette "open the gate" for Bill.Once across the fence line, you find yourself outstanding in your field,
birding away, joined by the occasional nosy neighbors.
Just remember, when the birding's done, you still have to cross that fence to get back home.Not all North Dakota birding involves hazardous fence crossings. Sometimes, you hike a half mile or so along a lake, buffeted by wind and rain.
Or, you simply stop your vehicle in the middle of the road, and enjoy the view.
Just watch out for "rush hour."
One of the funniest sights on the prairie are the street signs, a consequence of the 9-1-1 system. All the roads had to be named, so in a nod toward efficiency, we have a network of "streets" and "avenues."Shouldn't there be a delicatessen, a Chinese restaurant, or a bodega at 22nd St and 22nd Ave?

Some of the day's best birding was here, at the intersection of 44th St and 31st Ave.
And here it was at 42nd St and 32nd Ave. that I had two life-altering experiences. Not only did I see my first ever Clark's Grebe, but also it was here that I became "Prairie Woman."

Next up: Little homes on the prairie

The Great Plains

2010-06-20T08:50:00.015-04:00

You read about it in school, but until you have visited there, you cannot possible have any concept of the vast emptiness of the prairies of North Dakota. As far as you can see, there is nothing but grass and sky and water,broken only by barbed wire fencing beef cattle,and long, straight dirt roads that reach to the horizon.
Other than the native cottonwoods that line meandering creek beds, the only places where there are trees are where people have built houses. Even when the people and their buildings are gone, groves of trees and ancient lilac bushes mark the sites of forgotten homesteads.

Thursday, June 10, was my first full day of the Potholes and Prairies birding festival, and it didn't start out well. We left the Chieftain hotel before dawn, and as the sun rose, the skies remained gray and full of clouds, heavy with the pending rain. At our first stop, icy cold raindrops pelleted my face, blown sideways by the ever present wind. Not an auspice beginning.
Between my spectacles, my binoculars, and my spotting scope, every piece of glass I owned was wet. Getting back in the vehicle and drying off didn't help, as condensation promptly fogged over everything. I didn't even bother to open my camera bag till late morning.

By then, we were well on our way to double-digit Life Birds, having seen most of the "specialty birds" that were the focus of our day - Baird's, LeConte's, and Nelson's Sparrows, Chestnut-collared Longspur, and Sprague's Pipit, to name just a few.
Here we are at some lake (I never did learn its name) looking for Piping Plovers, one of the few misses we had on our excursion with Dr. Bob Anderson. I think I ended up with 78 species that day, and 16 Lifers. But, we worked for every bird, as you can see, and our 4pm planned return to comforts of our hotel rooms stretched to 5:30. Whew!! Over 12 hours of birding in wet, cold, windy weather. Don't believe it if someone tells you birding is for wimps.The next two days were slightly better, weather-wise, but the skies were still gray. Fortunately, into every trip, some sun must fall, and by Sunday, the weather took a 180 degree turn for the better. I was almost glad the first part of the trip was cloudy, since it made these vistas so much more dramatic.
Who said Zick always brings rain to a birding festival? She and BT3 led us on the best day, and helped me bag my last three Life Birds, including those elusive Piping Plovers.
"The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with weary feet,
Until it joins some larger way,
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say."
Frodo Baggins (JRR Tolkien)

Next post: Birding the Prairie

The one in which we break down

2010-05-31T10:23:00.005-04:00

After working a 6-day week, I was looking forward to a relaxing holiday weekend. Perhaps a visit to the winery, followed by some light gardening, and of course, traditional Memorial Day weekend food - burgers, macaroni salad, and frozen Margaritas.

I stopped at the grocery store after work, then picked up Panda, who had spent Saturday morning with her grandma. On the way home, I bought a flat of annual flowers, then filled the car with gas. Before I headed back to the country, I thought I might treat myself to a Frosty at Wendy's. While in the drive-thru line, I suddenly noticed clouds of steam rolling out from under the hood of the car.
That maroon red Saturn, the one with the hood up ... That's mine, dead in the Wendy's parking lot. It wasn't until after I saw the steam that the warning light on the control panel lit up. Yeah, I know the car's overheating. Thanks for the notice.

Although I was more than a little stressed about my car, I was freaking out about my puppy. She had already complained about the heat when we shopped for flowers, and I didn't think the car's a/c was functioning as well as it should be. (That makes sense now, after the fact.)
Sitting for a few minutes in a hot car, even with all the windows wide open, Panda was panting excessively. I was slightly hysterical. I remembered this little factoid:

"A closed car, even with the windows partially opened, reaches 102 degrees in 10 minutes at air temperatures of 85 degrees or more. The temperature will reach 120 degrees in 30 minutes."

After calling AAA and getting a 30-45 minute wait time for a tow, I walked up to the drive-thru window and asked the Wendy's employees for a cup of ice water. I found the only patch of shade in their parking lot, under a bush. It was enough for Panda, if not for me.
We sat together, drinking water and cooling off as best we could, while waiting for help. Panda, thankfully, stopped panting and actually went to sleep.Finally, the tow truck came, I got my purse, my groceries, my flowers, my binoculars, and my puppy stuff out of the car. Panda slept in the cab of the tow truck (with its very powerful air conditioning) all the way to the repair shop, where my car is spending the weekend. We got a ride home (Thanks, Mom!) and I'm now hoping that the car repairs aren't too extreme.

The take-home lessons: Never leave a dog alone in a car when it is this hot outside (mid to upper 80's) and always carry water and a pet bowl with you if you travel with your dogs. You never know when you might be stranded.

Panda in Action

2010-05-19T08:03:00.003-04:00

I tried to get some video of Panda running around the yard. She looks like a little rabbit. These short clips aren't the greatest, but they will have to do until I can make a better movie.

In them, you can hear my Purple Martins "chortling" in the background.

The second one is incredibly blurry, but you can get a sense of her speed and energy. (Please ignoring the peeing at the end.)

(I hope this works.)

How does one get more blog hits?

2010-05-16T07:27:00.011-04:00

Feature a Boston Terrier puppy!

Faithful readers will know that I have been waiting (im)patiently for 7 weeks for my new puppy, Panda. Yesterday, I finally got her. After a 4.5 hr trip east, I arrived at Indigo Hill to find that Jane was delayed in the mountains of West Virginia, when a short cut from PA went awry.

I filled in the time eating a lovely lunch, featuring Boston Terrier meatloaf (No, no! SHAPED like a BT, not MADE OF one!!) and a salad with homegrown lettuce, watching Zick garden, peeking in on baby Carolina wrens, and discussing Things We Believe In with Liam. (For the record, Bigfoot - Yes. Loch Ness monster - Yes. Ghosts - Yes. UFOs/aliens - We're not sure.)

I also supervised the play between Holly and Chet Baker, whose nose was a little bent out of shape that his buddy KatDoc actually had a dog of her own and did not need his constant attention.

But mostly, I sat under a tree, facing the driveway, pretending to bird when in fact I was listening for the sound of tires scrunching up the gravel drive.

Finally, finally, they arrived! Let the fun begin!

I know you're not here for words, you only want the pictures. Here you go!

Phoebe, Liam and Panda = love all around

Chet herding PandaPanda discovers Holly's tail

What a great toy!

Jane and Panda

Jane, Panda and ChetFor the record, I am not letting her chew my showstring Who, me? Chewing shoestrings?One very tired puppy

Buh-bye, for now

Magee Report, 2010

2010-05-14T22:10:00.001-04:00

A quick report from the field: Magee Marsh, Ottawa NWR and Metzger Marsh, May 11-13. The weather conspired against me during my 2 1/2 days of birding the "Warbler Capital of the World" and the Biggest Week in American Birding. It was cold, gray, wet, and rather miserable. Let's just say, I have had better trips here. However, a bad day at Magee is better than a good day just about anywhere else in the world, so I'm still satisfied.

I ended up with a Trip List of 99 species, 19 of them warblers. I missed the Kirtland's Warbler by 1.5 days, the Mourning Warbler, the Golden-winged Warbler, and the Black-billed Cuckoo by hours, the Canada Warbler by minutes, and numerous other birds that should have been easy for numerous other reasons.

I missed getting my life Orange-crowned Warbler twice. A guy on the board walk told me he was "90% sure" that the tiny, backlit bird way, way high in the tree tops was an Orange-crowned. My own personal rule for Life Birds requires that I see the bird well enough to be able to ID it again in the future. I couldn't do it, so I didn't count it. Two days later, I saw a small, drab warbler working the edge of the parking lot, and thought I had an Orange-crowned. I studied it carefully, looking for every possible field mark. I narrowed it down to two species, and talked to Kim Kaufman in the BSBO office to help me confirm or deny my ID. I thought I had it, but on further review, I have decided I didn't seen the undertail coverts well enough to determine their color, and the rest of the field markings and behavior have made me conclude I had a female Tennessee instead.

I did pad my trip list a bit by counting two birds seen only "in-hand" at the banding demonstration put on by Black Swamp Bird Observatory. The tent set up just outside the BSBO building was crowded with observers, and I only stayed a few minutes. I picked up photos of this Northern Waterthrush, held by Kim Kaufman
and this Black-capped Chickadee held by Mark Shieldcastle. I was trying to show its field marks, including the white frosting on the wings. Bill Thompson, III calls that mark a "hockey stick," and I can never see in the field. I prefer to use the smudgy edges of its bib, compared to the clean lines of a Carolina, but that photo was unusable.
I got a decent shot of a male Baltimore Oriole along the causeway at Metzger Marsh, but the female flew before I could bag her. I took very few pictures on this trip. It rained most of the time, and when it wasn't raining, the light was terrible.
My favorite photo was of these Barn Swallows, who were assessing the housing potential of the sign on the door at the Bird Center at Magee Marsh. This door opens and closes every couple of minutes all day long in spring, and I imagined the conversation went something like this:
male: "Honey? What about here? This looks like a good spot."
female: "No, I told you over and over again. There is too much traffic here."
male: (mutters under his breath)
female: "What? I heard that. What did you say?"
male: "I said, 'Yes, dear.'"
female: (flying off) "My mother was right about you."

My complete trip list:

Canada Goose
Trumpeter Swan
Wood Duck
Gadwall
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Bufflehead
Ruddy Duck
Ring-necked Pheasant
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Sora (HO=heard only)
Common Moorhen
American Coot
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Solitary Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Least Sandpiper
Dunlin
American Woodcock (doing his "sky dance")
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Black Tern
Forster's Tern
Mourning DOve
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Least Flycatcher
Eastern Phoebe (HO)
Eastern Kingbird
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark (HO)
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Bank Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
House Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Veery
Gray-cheeked Thrush
Wood Thrush (HO)
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
[warblers]
Tennessee (female)
Northern Parula
Yellow
Chestnut-sided
Magnolia
Cape May
Black-throated Blue
Yellow-rumped
Black-throated Green
Blackburnian
Palm (female)
Bay-breasted
Blackpoll (female)
Black-and-white
American Redstart
Prothonotary (pair at nest cavity)
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
[19 total warblers]
Eastern Towhee (HO)
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throaed Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak (3 M/2 F at one feeder)
Indigo Bunting
Bobolink (!)
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Yellow-headed Blackbird (female; 1st Ohio)
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Baltimore Oriole
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

total 99 species

I also saw lots of birders, including both old friends and new. I had a lot of fun meeting and birding with Alan Davies, a professional bird guide from Wales (they call birding "twitching" over there, you know) and hearing his stories. He and his wife took a year off work to travel and bird the world, in an attempt to break the record for the number of species seen in a calender year. The previous record was 3662; Alan and his wife, Ruth Miller, beat that on Oct. 31, 2008. Their final total was 4341! You can read about "The Biggest Twitch" here.

My 100th bird of the trip was a Life Bird, and it was well worth the two hour detour from NW Ohio to Columbia Station Reservation in Lorain County, just west of Cleveland. This was it, a Purple Gallinule, a tropical/subtropical bird that has no business being in northern Ohio. This one has been hanging around a Metropark for a couple of weeks, and it became my own personal "twitch" to chase down this vagrant.

Can you find the bird in this mess of spatterdock?
Well, I did, and it was great!

Those of you who read my blog for my (occasional) bird posts are going to be a bit disappointed. I get my new puppy tomorrow, a 10 week old female Boston Terrier named "Panda," and I predict the blog will be filled with puppy stories for quite a while. I'll try not to gush too much or grouse too often, and I'll try to mix up puppy tales with pottery and nature, too.

But, did you see birds?

2010-05-13T08:00:00.002-04:00

Right about now, I can hear my birding friends saying, "Enough, already, with the tram ride and the boat ride and even the river. Didn't you take any bird photos while you were in the New River Gorge area?"

Here you are - the best of my bird pictures from last week:
Don't laugh and say, "It's just a robin." Good birders look at all the birds, even the common backyard ones. Nascent photographers like me appreciate robins because they are big enough, close enough, and patient enough to allow one to fiddle with the camera settings. This is my first bird portrait after attending Wil's 2 hour photography class, in Manual mode. Imagine what I could accomplish if I took one of his weekend workshops!

Studies in black, white, and shades of gray:

Carolina Chickadee

White-breasted Nuthatch

You all know whose hand this is.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

For my friend Lynne of Hasty Brook:

Turkey Vulture

an elusive singer, hiding in the bushes at Meadows House

Carolina Wren

How to photograph a flitty little bird:

Focus on the lichen-covered nest and wait.Set your camera on "continuous" mode and keep shooting.

Sooner or later, you get lucky.Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

At a bird banding, don't blink

or you'll miss the moment of release.

Good-bye to spring birding in the New River valley.

See you next year!

I'm already making plans for New River, 2011. Dates are May 2-7. Will you Flock with us?

Birding by Butt, 2010

2010-05-10T19:06:00.002-04:00

Wednesday was the "Birding by Butt" day at Opossum Creek for the Elderhostel gang. (I will never get used to "Exploritas," a really stupid name change for this long-standing program, with a tradition that you are never too old to learn something new.) The schedule is pretty much the same as it is for the participants of the New River Birding and Nature Festival - breakfast and lunch by Wendy of Cathedral Cafe, casual bird and nature walks with Jim McCormac, and bird banding with Bill Hilton, Jr.

Because the early morning temperatures hovered around freezing, Bill didn't open his mist nets, but instead set feeder traps to catch some birds for his demo. He checked them before calling us out to see him work; any female bird with a brood patch was released immediately, so she could get back to her job of incubating or brooding her young.

The first bird Bill had was this chickadee, a Carolina, not a Black-capped, in case you weren't sure.After working through the ID and demonstrating the technique of bird banding, our little guy was ready to go.
The next bird was a White-breasted Nuthatch. We knew he was a male because of his dark black cap (the female's is lighter in color), and also because Bill had already told us he let the females go.
Bill turned him over to show us the rusty-brown undertail coverts. Why a bird who spends his life with his belly plastered up against a tree would have color markings where no one (presumably) would ever see them is one of the many mysteries of birds.
But, this guy had another surprise up his sleeve, so to speak. When Bill began examining him closely, he found the bird was already banded. I have been to a number of bird banding events, and I had not witnessed a recapture until now.

This is what banders live for - a chance to catch a banded bird and track his band number, to find out who banded the bird and when and where. It tells us a lot about bird migration, life span, and so on.

If you have attended one of Bill's banding demos, you may have noticed the anomaly in the picture below. The bird is banded on his right leg, and Bill always bands males on the left. Why? "Because females are always right," of course! Not all banders follow this protocol, giving us our first clue that this was not a bird Bill had banded.
In searching his Opossum Creek records, Bill learned that he had held this bird before, at the New River Festival in 2008. At that time, he discovered and reported the band and received this certificate, telling him that this bird was originally banded in 2005, right on Opossum Creek property, by the guy who used to give the demos for the festival.
This makes three times the bird was been caught and handled, in 2005, 2008, and 2010. Given that he was an adult bird in 2005, at least one year old, we know that he was hatched in 2004 (or earlier), is at least 6 years old, and lives at Opossum Creek. I think that's pretty neat! It also shows that the "stress" of being caught and handled must not have bothered him too much, or that he is a pretty forgiving character, since he keeps coming back for more.

Despite the cold, we were there for the birds, so off we went to find them. A pair of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers were working on their nest, as they do every year. I wonder if Geoff pays them to build where we can watch.
Scott Shalaway and fellow birders watching the gnatcatchers.
It may not look like Jim is birding, but his bat-like ears are at work, picking out bird song.

We did get a few birds on our morning walks, including Northern Parula (too high in the tree tops for a photo) and Ovenbird (too skulky for pics,) so I settled for plant photographs.

Blue violets. If you want a specific ID, see Jim's informative and educational post on identifying violets. If I had to guess, I'd say Common Blue Violet, but don't quote me.

Fern fiddle heads.

And this gorgeous wild orchid, Showy Orchis, Galearis spectabilis, growing in the ditch on the side of the gravel road, very nearly overlooked.

The only trouble with my morning at Opossum Creek Resort was that it had to come to an end.

River front property

2010-05-09T18:59:00.000-04:00

Back on the New River, riding a jet boat and NOT seeing any birds, I found myself photographing some fishing shacks, nestled comfortably between the railroad tracks and the river.

Privacy is guaranteed - no roads to attract annoying door-to-door salesmen or people passing out religious tracts. Since there is no electricity or running water, you won't be distracted by all the comforts of home. Nothing to do but fish and watch the river roll on by. (And, probably, drink a lot of beer.)

Can I interest you in one of these?How about a fixer-upper, a handyman's special? No extra charge for the rock crushing the front porch or the weeds growing on top of the caved-up roof.

I thought that's what you would say.

From mountain top to river valley

2010-05-02T11:25:00.002-04:00

Off the back patio, behind the lodge at Hawks Nest State Park, is a terrific view of the New River valley. The average guest might be content to stand and stare. The courageous take a tram ride to the bottom.

Here's one of the little four passenger tram cars.

[click to enlarge]

Please note the lack of handles on the door. The operator pulls back on the latch, then inserts a large allen wrench into the hole where a handle once resided in order to let passengers on and off. Not an auspice beginning.

Our park ranger assured us, "If it were dangerous, they'd make you sign a waiver."Oh, that is reassuring to someone with a fear of heights!

And here are the two sides of the station, where one boards a tram car and begins the descent.

"Mama!"

Safely at the bottom, here's the lower level station.

and the huge gears that run the operation.

At the dock, we are met by Cap'n Ricky and his jet boat, which has two speeds - "idle" and "go very fast!"
Not the best day for a boat ride, the weather was cool and gray and cloudy, but we made the best of it. First a quick run downstream, to the dam, where I added Great Blue Heron and Wood Duck to my trip list.

Then, back up river, first running parallel with the railroad track, and the ubiquitous Paulownia ("Princess trees"), an accidental import from China, if you believe the tales,

then under the train bridge, complete with coal train!

This is my "Rainman" shot.

Our destination? A view of the famous New River Gorge bridge, from underneath.

We had to negotiate a few rapids, but no one fell out. Cap'n Ricky takes every precaution, since he "can't swim a lick nor a stroke." Reassuring to have a boat captain who says, "If you hear me scream and see me jump out, grab a life preserver and follow me." He insists he has never had an accident, "because I've seen the paperwork involved." The only birds I saw on this end of the river were two Spotted Sandpipers.

Maybe that was because this is the captain's idea of a leisurely boat ride:
Next post: River front property - can I interest you in a holiday home?

Eulogy

2010-05-01T13:36:00.008-04:00

He has made the round trip flight from Ohio to Brazil and back at least twice. He may even have been born right here, on my little five acre piece of ground. Today, he died here, murdered in his bed by an alien interloper.

Who was he? An adult male Purple Martin, technically called ASY for "After Second Year," a bird who was hatched in 2008 or earlier, who flew south 5000 miles or more when he was only a few weeks old and who returned from South America the following spring as an SY (Second Year) bird. Who may or may not have found and defended a nesting cavity, who may have mated and could even have produced young in his adolescence. A bird who repeated that 10,000 mile migration to return to his home this year as a fully adult male, ready to take his place in my colony and pass those magnificent genes on to another generation of martins.

He won't be able to now. Caught unawares in his round-holed Super Gourd by a larger, heavier, and meaner bird, he didn't have a chance. His delicate bill, designed for swooping up insects in flight, and his aerodynamic body were no match for the dagger-like bill, stout body and aggressive attitude of a European starling.

Look away now if you don't want to see the carnage. I show it only to help others understand why I practice lethal control of starlings and house sparrows.

#####

#####

Addendum: I got the SOB that killed my martin. Look at these side by side comparisons, and tell me if you think the Purple Martin on the right ever had a chance against the starling on the left.

New River "Lite"

2010-05-01T08:46:00.015-04:00

Like most of us these days, I bird on a budget. Between arranging time off work and financial considerations, I can only make one major out-of-state birding trip a year, plus a few short local excursions in Ohio. When I decided to attend the "Potholes and Prairies" event in North Dakota in June, I knew that meant I wouldn't be able to do the New River Birding and Nature Festival this year.

The New River is a premier birding trip. Great food, wonderful people, and of course, fabulous birds and nature make central West Virginia a very special place to be in late April/early May. I was sorry to have to miss it in 2010, especially after the terrific time I had in '09.

Then, Mom asked me to accompany her on an Exploritas (formerly Elderhostel) trip to West Virginia. Originally, we were scheduled for a program last October, planned around Bridge Day, the local celebration of the New River Gorge Bridge. That trip was canceled due to lack of interest, but Mom suggested we sign up for the April trip instead. The bonus? It was about birds, and would be held at Hawks Nest State Park, in Ansted, in my favorite part of West Virgina.Staying any place in the mountains means steps. Lots and lots of steps. Sometimes, we had to go down the stairs in order to go up, or up the steps before going down.
The view from the back patio of the lodge at Hawks Nest.

When Mom got showed me the schedule, I realized that I knew everyone involved with the 3 day birding program - Dave and Lynn Pollard, Connie Toops, Jeff Gordon, Bill Hilton, Jr., and Wil Herschberger. "Wow!" I thought, "It's a mini-New River festival!" I jumped at the chance to go.

Lynn points out the Black-and-white Warbler's
squeaky wheel song.
"Wheezy-wheezy-wheezy"

Interested participants listen closely.
That's Mom, in the black jacket, third from the right.
Exploritas site coordinator, Joan, is in the rear.

I had never birded with Lynn before - she's a very good trip leader, and I had a fun morning. I take back every mean lawyer joke I ever told, Lynn!

"Announcements, announcements, announcements!" No matter what you call the event, it wouldn't be birding in the New River corridor without Dave directing traffic. "We will divide into four groups..."Dave Pollard organizing the boat and bird walk tour. At least he didn't say, "If you are coming from the south, from Oak Hill or Fayetteville, cross the bridge and take the first left onto the unmarked road ..."

Wil gave a great talk on using our cameras for the best bird and nature photos. While I will never get to his level, at least I am no longer afraid of the "Manual" mode on my camera.Wil Hershberger helped us understand what all those buttons and dials are for.

Connie Toops (green jacket) leading our 6:30am bird walk.
Those of you who have done a walk with Connie know she is one of the best all-round naturalists there is, and a terrific person to boot. That's Dr. Scott Shalaway in the orange coat, helping us look for the elusive Scarlet Tanager, which remained one of my "heard onlys" on this trip.

We had indoors talks and early morning bird walks, our own version of "Birding by Boat" with a jet boat tour of the river from the dam to the bridge, and of course, a "Birding by Butt" day at Opossum Creek Resort, featuring breakfast and lunch catered by Wendy of Cathedral Cafe, bird banding by Bill Hilton, Jr,. and nature walks guided by Jim McCormac. More on that in later posts. First, a couple of photos to prove to last year's New River Festival attendees that it doesn't ALWAYS rain here:

Pottery Magic!

2010-04-24T14:56:00.008-04:00

One of the (many) good things about being a regular at Scarborough Fair Pottery Studio are the days when you show up to find that Peggy has discovered a new project in "Clay Times" or another pottery magazine or web site. It may be something she has seen before or something she has never tried, but every time she is all excited about it. "Look," she exclaims, "look at this! We are all going to make ___ (fill in the blank.)" It is her enthusiasm which emboldened me to attempt this project - a conjoined chip and dip bowl assembly.

First, you throw two bowls of equal size and shape. The directions suggested 3 pounds of clay per bowl, but my first attempt, using 2.5 lbs per bowl, went dramatically wrong. For my second attempt, I scaled down. These bowls are made of 1.5 lbs of clay each.By the way, I find that a lot of pottery directions sound much more simple than they really are. That one line, "Throw two bowls of equal size and shape" assumes you are talented enough repeat your moves from one bowl to the next in order to make them equal. Mine were close - close enough that only a little judicious trimming was needed.

The demo article we were following did not suggest two different colors of clay. That was my idea. I thought the project needed more of a challenge!

After they dry to "soft" leather-hard stage, you are ready to begin assembling your bowls. I trimmed the bottoms as usual, then took about 1/4" off the rim of the brown bowl to make them the same height. (This was my "fudge-factor" adjustment. It was not in the original instructions.)

Any good construction project has to start with a little demolition, and this is where the new potter tends to cringe a bit. Those carefully crafted bowls - centered, balanced, well-formed - well, you have to cut them up!

I made marks on each bowl, approximately 1/3 of the diameter, then sliced through each bowl with a taut cut-off wire.
Eeek! The pretty bowls are now in pieces! Putting the smaller slices aside for the moment, I wet the cut edges of the two larger sections, stuck them together, then rolled a thin coil of clay to fill in the gaps and seal the seam.
First problem with two colors of clay - which color do you use for your coil? I chose brown, simply because it was out and accessible. It's a bitch to keep from smearing brown clay all over the white, in case you hadn't guessed. I didn't think about that.

Next you turn the conjoined bowl over (carefully, by sandwiching it between two pieces of wareboard) and inspect the underside.Another thin coil of clay seals the bottom and outside seams.Going back to the cut-out pieces, you join them the same way,using more coils of clay to fill in the gaps and seal the edges.
The brown clay is starting to over-run the white right about now. When I get it all together, I can lightly scrape the surface and remove most of this brown slip.
The bottom of the dip bowl. Some of the weight still needs to be trimmed off in order to make it fit for the next step.
The smaller dip bowl is placed into the larger joined bowls section, creating the optical illusion that the two bowls are overlapping.
You can see a bit of a bobble where the inner brown wall of the dip bowl just misses matching up with the curve of the larger brown chip bowl. My excuse? I had been at this for 1.5 hours and my sister was hovering over my shoulder, saying, "I'm hungry - when are we going to eat?" I wrapped the project in plastic wrap and let it rest for a couple of days, to help all the seams "cure," and took Lisa out for a belated birthday brunch.

A little scraping with a thin metal rib cleaned up most of the seams to leave as sharp and defined an edge as I could, then the bowl had to dry to a bone-dry state before it could be fired.

Now, a pause for prayer. Will all those seams stay stuck together, or will the whole thing crack, fall apart, or explode in the kiln?

* tick

* tock

* tick

* tock

TA-DA!

It made it! Now, to decide about glazing. Since any colored glaze will minimize the two-color clay effect, I have just about decided to go with a simple clear glaze.

I think I'll try this project again, but I'll use only one kind of clay next time!

Quick Post

2010-04-19T08:05:00.003-04:00

Some cute photos from last week:

Lucy, recovering from her spay operation:A mourning dove on her nest,

in a dogwood tree at my Mom's place.

BAM!

2010-04-16T20:48:00.001-04:00

Coming soon, the BAM! Festival. BAM, as in Bethel Art and Music, that is, the first of what planners hope will be an annual event, featuring a juried art show, music - 3 bands!, a quilt show, old tractors, antique cars, Harmony Hill wine and Scarborough Fair pottery. Here are some examples of the pieces I'll have for sale at our booth.

You want spoon rests? I'll have 'em. These five are a few of at least a dozen.

Same with pet food bowls - there should be a few choices.
A set of three small matching bowls, in green tea on brown clay.

And look - they stack!

Also made of brown clay and glazed in green tea - a new favorite of mine - is this vase

and this small pitcher,
which I am rather proud of.Look - a decent handle!
(There is hope for me yet.)

Going back to my roots, here is a pump dispenser, also of brown clay but this time glazed in my old friend, blue rutile.

This reminds me - I haven't been doing these lately. I need to make some more.

I hope to get a few of these small lidded crocks done, and then fill them with homemade soy candles. Time is running short, though, so maybe that will have to be put on hold.

textured kiwi on brown clay

textured turquoise on white clay

Two of these chili bowls will be available - - the one on the left is mine.
These are white clay, dipped in Morty's green and celery.

I must say, I'm very pleased with this piece, a potpourri burner. It came out very nice. I'll put it in the sale, but I think I'll put a high price on it.
Made of white clay, the top was stenciled and hand-painted with underglazes, then dipped in clear glaze. The bottom is dipped in Morty's green. I have only used one dip in the past - two gives a much deeper color.

The inspiration was this piece, from my collection. I think I did as good or better with my copy!

If you want a "Black Kat Pottery" original, please visit the Scarborough Fair vendor booth. (My shift is 2-5pm.) I think we'll be in front of the Grant Memorial Building at the corner of Plane and Main Streets (SR 125 and SR 133.) Worry not - if you would rather buy good stuff, real potters will also be there. I'll be the comic effect.

So, if you are in the area and looking for fun, food, music, wine, and last-minute Mother's Day gifts, be sure to visit Bethel, Ohio on Sat, May 8. We'll be there all day!

Confession

2010-04-12T20:46:00.004-04:00

Let me state at the outset, I am categorically opposed to dog clothes.

Having made that point abundantly clear, let me show you what I bought for Panda today:OK, but see, it was $6 off - originally $9.95, on sale for $3.95. What a deal, right? And, the heat might go off next winter, and my Boston Terrier might get cold. I want to be prepared. Doesn't this look nice and toasty?Besides, it was "As Seen on TV." How could I turn that down?Oh, God - I don't even HAVE this puppy yet, and I am already rationalizing buying her clothes. I've crossed over to the Dark Side.

Wait till you see the lilac and yellow bed I bought her. It was also on sale, $4.95, marked down from $14.95. I couldn't pass it up.

Spring Wildflowers, 2010

2010-04-11T20:19:00.012-04:00

Spring Beauty, Claytonia virginica.

Photo from 2009

My mother and I took a wildflower walk at the Cincinnati Nature Center this afternoon. It was a large group - 25 people or more - and when that many people get strung out along a woodland trail, the folks in the back often miss what the trip leader at the front is saying. So, yours truly took it upon herself to act as auxiliary leader, pointing out plants and distributing names and any interesting facts I knew. At first, I think my mom was a bit embarrassed when I took charge of the back half of the group, but she soon realized I couldn't help myself and resigned herself to admitting her offspring is, at least in part, a teacher.

One person asked me if I was on the staff at CNC. "No," I said, "I'm just an obnoxious know-it-all." Another gentleman asked me how I knew everything that I did, and I really didn't have an answer. After 20 plus springs of walking, studying, and learning, you just know. While I will never be a botanist, one of the things I do know is Ohio's spring wildflowers. Here are a few of the things we saw today:

Squirrel-corn, Dicentra canadensis, a relative of Bleeding Heart and the plant below.
Dutchman's breeches, Dicentra cucullaria. Photo from 2009

Dwarf Larkspur, Delphinium tricorne, also known as Spring Larkspur. Most were still in bud. This one, on a south-facing slope, was in bloom.

Wild Blue Phlox, Phlox divaricata,
also called Blue Phlox or Wood Phlox.

Virginia Bluebells, Mertensia virginica.

When photographing the bells,
it helps if someone turns them over.

There were plenty Wild Ginger plants, Asarum canadense, with their fuzzy buds just emerging, but this photo is from 2009, since I forgot to take any pictures of this year's crop. The deep reddish-brown flower lays on the ground, and is pollinated by beetles.

False Rue Anemone, Enemion biternatum. I always have a hard time remembering how to tell the difference between this and the plant below,
Rue Anemone, Anemonella thalictroides. Our leader gave me a good tip: In "true" Rue Anemone, there is usually one large and two or more smaller flowers clustered together, as in the photo above. False Rue Anemone only has a single flower.

Sessile Trilium, Trilium sessile, also called Toadshade Trilium was in full bloom. Yes, this apparently half-opened bud is as big as the flower gets. (Photo from 2009)

This Nodding, or Bent, Triliuim, Trilium flexipes, is barely in bud. This is the most confusing of Triliums, as it may have an upright or a dangling flower, and comes in white or red. All trilium species share one trait, however - they all have parts of three: three leaves, three sepals, three petals.

Yellow Trout-lily, Erythronium americanum. White trout-lily has already gone to seed. Missed it again! Bloodroot was gone, too.

One thing I was glad to find was Jack-in-the-pulpit, Arisaema triphyllum. It always makes me smile.

After missing this wildflower for the last three springs, I was even happier to see one of my favorite wildflowers,
Blue-eyed Mary, Collinsia verna. While most of the other wildflowers shown above are perennials, this is the only annual spring wildflower I know, sprouting in the fall and flowering in early spring. Isn't it a beauty?

The spring show lasts only a few more weeks. Get out and see the wildflowers before they're gone for another year.

First time at a dog show

2010-04-04T09:18:00.010-04:00

Last weekend, I went to my first dog show. While I have been to (and even participated in) obedience trials, and have watched the Westminster and other dog shows on TV, I have never seen a conformation show in person. When I heard there was to be a UKC show at the Clermont County Dog Training Club last weekend, I thought I'd drop in to see what it was about.

My first impression was one of sheer chaos and confusion. Dogs, dog crates, dog paraphernalia, and dog people, were everywhere. Without a map or a helpful person to guide me through, I was lost.
Slowly, I sorted it out. The center of the building was where the hopefuls had staked out their claim. Each small square was filled with dogs resting in crates, dogs on grooming tables, undergoing their final preparations, and dogs on leashes, awaiting their turn in the ring.
Everywhere, people were bustling around, too busy to chat.A few were catching up on some much-needed rest.

The rings were arranged around the perimeter of the large room, with spectators sitting in lawn chairs outside the fences, and the participants lined up at the gate, waiting to enter.

There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the activity, but if you knew the system, you could see that dogs were brought into the ring first by class (puppy dog, puppy bitch, novice dog, novice bitch, and so forth) and then winners of each class returned to compete against each other for winner of the breed. Each breed winner then came back to compete for Group Winner.

This Standard Poodle puppyand this veteran Chesapeake Bay Retriever
were each the only dog in their division. The Chessie moved on to represent his breed in the Gun Dog Group, while the Poodle was defeated by an adult dog.

While in the ring, each dog must be stacked
gaited (trotted along a prescribed path), and then examined by the judge, who checks for correct bite, good structure, and overall grooming and appearance.

A seasoned campaigner awaits his chance,licking his chops in anticipation.When he is judged, he turns it all on!

Because this was a UKC (United Kennel Club) show and not the more familiar AKC (American Kennel Club), there were some breeds I was not familiar with, and even the groups were different. Where the AKC has Working Dogs and Sporting Dogs. UKC has Guardian (Mastiffs, Dobermans, etc.) and Gun Dogs (retrievers, spaniels, and the like.) Here are the top dogs of each breed in the Gun Dog group.

You might be surprised to see the Standard Poodle here, but this breed was originally designed to be a water retriever, just like a Lab. ("Poodle" comes from the German "Pudle," meaning "to splash in the water." Did you know "French" Poodles were actually German? I didn't, either!) AKC classifies the Standard Poodle as a Non-sporting breed, perhaps reflecting its current usage as a companion dog instead of a hunting dog.

Although to the casual observer, it seems as though the dogs are being judged against each other, in truth, the judge considers each dog as an individual, comparing it to the breed standard of perfection. Each judge has his or her own interpretation of that standard, which is why a dog might win under one judge and be placed last by another, even on the same weekend.

Don't ask me what won - I got a little distracted and had a hard time keeping track of all the activity. I'll definitely be back; I'd like to learn a little more about this dog sport. Perhaps the next time, I'll bring a translator!

Sensational!

2010-03-28T15:22:00.017-04:00

After registering for the 10th annual "Shreve Migration Sensation" at 7:00am, I elected to start my birding day at a wildlife area with the humorous name of "Funk Bottoms." Here, off SR95, is an observation tower that overlooks nearly 2000 acres of flooded agricultural fields, filled with waterfowl of all sorts. The pools also harbored a busy population of muskrats, doing their spring cleaning and making repairs to their huts.From the platform, I had great looks though my spotting scope at Northern Pintails, Green-winged Teal, Northern Shovelers, Mallards, Canada Geese, a few Buffleheads, a pair of Hooded Mergansers, and more Ring-necked Ducks than you could shake a stick at. Here, too, I saw a leucistic Red-tailed Hawk, whose white wing patches had me scratching my head for a bit. I was lucky enough to see a single Sandhill Crane fly overhead. Of course, the wetlands was filled with hormonal male Red-winged Blackbirds (and only one female that I saw.) The only sparrows I was able to find were Song.

There were also quite a few Wood Ducks at Funk Bottoms, swimming, flying, calling with their funny squeaky whistles, and even one pair imitating Barn Swallows. Who needs a simple Wood Duck box, when you can nest here?
I know it's hard to see, but trust me, there is a Wood Duck drake balanced on the metal hook protruding from the barn, and his lady is resting in the small entry hole nearby. They seemed to be bonded to this site, and kept coming back to inspect it from all angles.
I even saw him perched casually on the wire to the right. A duck, perching on a wire - incredible!

On my way out of the drive, I was happy to find two of a flock of 20 or more Rusty Blackbirds, reported by a carload of birders who were kind enough to back up the lane and let us know about their discovery. Thanks! Ring-billed and Boneparte's Gulls, Eastern Towhee, Northern Cardinal, and the only House Sparrow of the day rounded out my list for the Bottoms.

Next, I stopped by Brown's Bog, but the icy boardwalk made me think twice about exploring this area. I'll have to return in warmer weather to see the pitcher plants and other specialty flora.
A brief stop at Shreve Lake yielded a Common Merganser, a Horned Grebe, my first Great Blue Heron of the day, and birder Su Snyder, who very sweetly shared her birds and her knowledge, but wouldn't let me take her picture. I'll get you another time, Su!

From Shreve Lake, I had planned to visit the Bald Eagle nest site, but somehow, I got a little, well - lost. Let's just say, one shouldn't bird and drive while trying to read a map. Something always suffers.

However, in my quest to find myself and the eagles, I did get some birds that I wouldn't have seen otherwise - a Killdeer, an American Goldfinch, molting into his summer garb, and a lovely pair of Eastern Bluebirds. I also saw this:
(Now you know who makes those plain Amish shirts, pants, and dresses.)

and this:

and this.Yes, people were stupid enough to drive through this flooded spot on County Rd. 1, despite the warning signs. I didn't think the water looked that high, but the current seemed quite strong. I elected to turn around and head back. I'm glad I did, since this little ovine family was only visible on my return trip back County Rd. 8.Doesn't that make you say "awwwww?"

After all the effort, and the cute overload, the Bald Eagle nest was a bit anti-climatic. From over a half-mile away, my look was limited to a tuft of white feathers sticking up from a pile of sticks. Not very satisfying. I have been spoiled by the close views I have had of our local eagle nest over the years. Instead of brooding, I turned my back on the eagle and my scope on yet another flooded field. I was rewarded with American Wigeon, my first Tree Swallows of the year, and a heard-only Northern Flicker.

This is always a good sign - other birders stopped along the road.This is Cemetery Rd., and it is here that I found American Coots, Redheads, and a Ruddy Duck.

Along the roads, other several birds were added to my list for the day - American Robin, Common Grackle, American Crow, Mourning Dove, Rock Pigeons, a Cooper's Hawk, and a Turkey Vulture on the ground that I first thought was a turkey, until I realized it was eating a carcass while trying to defend it from two aggressive crows.

I had intended to attack the Wright Marsh section of Killbuck Marsh Wildlife Area next, but after hiking back to a series of pools and levies, I noticed it was nearly lunch time. Over-ruled by my stomach, I abandoned the promise of more waterfowl, including rumored Tundra Swans, and drove back to the Shreve Elementary School, the hub of the day's events.

After lunch and a quick cruise through the Birders' Market, I settled in to hear this "rare bird," Jim McCormac, share his observations of the rare birds have recently appeared in Ohio, and his thoughts on which species might be next to show up in our state. (Fish Crow and Ash-throated Flycatcher were two of his top three, in case you were wondering.)
Before Jim's talk, I was able to see another Ohio rarity in person, this gorgeous Snowy Owl.

Isn't she lovely?

By now, it was 2:30pm. I had been birding since dawn and faced a 5 hour drive home, so I decided to call it quits. I missed a lot, it seems, and will have to return to Wayne County for more birding adventures, but even in the parking lot of a birding festival, photo ops happen.

In Amish country, bicycles are a common mode of transportation for birders
but I was more amused by the horse and buggy I found parked next to a row of cars and SUVs.
Did you ever want to peek inside an Amish buggy? I have, but after shooting one picture, I felt as though I was intruding and backed off.

Thank you, residents of Shreve, Friends of Killbuck Marsh, and the Greater Mohican Audubon Society, for inviting us to share your great outdoors. In the words of the Govern-ator, "Ah'll be bahk."

How to Choose?

2010-03-20T13:46:00.003-04:00

After mourning the loss of my beloved Grace for the last six weeks, I am entering the next phase of life for a Dog Mom - puppy fever. You know it when it hits you - the yearnings whenever you see a new puppy, the ache you feel when you hold one next to your heart, with its heavy warmth and its little snuffly baby noises, the urge to get back into obedience classes and learn something new - maybe I'll try clicker training this time. Trust me, puppy fever is a terrible disease to endure, and no one suffers more than a vet. Worse yet, there is no vaccination for this syndrome.

The only cure for puppy fever, and it is a temporary cure at best, is to get back into the game and start looking for your next dog. To that end, I am exchanging e-mails with Jane, she of Pups Will Travel, and yes, the breeder of the Famous Chet Baker, for help in finding a Boston Terrier puppy with my name on it.

These two little girls are not Jane's, but from a fellow BT breeder in Georgia. I think I'm in love, but with which one? All two week old Boston Terrier puppies are perfect.

How can a Dog Mom choose?

puppy 1

puppy 2

Who wants to toss in their 2 cents' worth?

Oh, the agony of a decision ...

Nature Report

2010-03-10T19:09:00.008-05:00

From time to time, my mother and I call each other with "the nature report." It might be a new bird seen out the window, an 8 point buck in the back yard, or some interesting or unusual animal behavior. When Mom called me this morning at 7:30am with her nature report, I thought she might have seen the first daffodil of spring. Imagine my surprise when she declared, "There's a frog in my toilet."

My first thought was, "It's too early for April Fool's, Mom." My second thought was, "Blog-worthyl!" After she told me Froggy was resisting her attempts to flush him away, I knew I had to drive over for a little capture-and-release action, and of course, photos. It's all about the frog, erm - "blog," right?

I showered, dressed, and hurried off to the rescue. As I drove to Mom's place, I wondered whether I was about to rescue the frog from the toilet or my mother from the frog.

By the time I got there, Mom had trapped her unwelcome guest in a clean butter tub, with holes punched in the top for ventilation. Mom's not cruel, after all. I was disappointed that I missed the chance to take his picture in situ, so to speak, but Mom said he was escaping the toilet and she didn't want free-range frog in her condo. I resisted the temptation to reenact the event by throwing the frog back in the toilet. I settled for a photo of him in his plastic prison.

I figured only a tree frog would be able to hang onto the porcelain during a full force flush, and I was right. Say "hello" to Mr. Gray Tree Frog. Check out the suction cups on his toes.

I only got this one shot, since he was determined to flee. I prepared to turn him loose. "You'll take him to your farm, right?" asked Mom, hopefully.

"Nope! He lives here, so I'll put him on the dogwood tree right outside your door, Mom."
I spent the next few minutes getting up close and personal photos of this cute little guy. I love his jewel-toned eye. See his ear, right behind the eye?

He really blends into the lichen-covered tree bark.

He's camo-frogged!

New Pottery Pieces

2010-03-04T07:40:00.010-05:00

It's been a little slow in the pottery studio lately - bad weather has kept me away from the wheel and my general laziness has interfered with glazing the finished pieces I had at home. The cycle is turning, however. With spring in the air, my enthusiasm has returned. I'm back in class and playing in clay again.

Here are some recently completed pots.

From a workshop on faceting, my first piece. Don't ask me what you do with it, I have no idea.

chun plum on white clay

Actually, it's my second piece. I ruined the first one. Faceting involves using a taut wire (a cheese slicer actually works well for this job) to slice pieces of clay off the sides of the newly-thrown pot. If you cut too deeply, as I did the first time, you cut right through the wet clay.

The next piece went better. Using a wire coil, like the spring from a click-type ballpoint pen, you move your hands from side to side as you slice, leaving these wavy lines.

blue rutile on white clay

I shaped this piece basically square, then rounded it out at the base. It is a decorative salsa bowl, I guess. (Any small pot you don't know what to do with automatically becomes a "salsa bowl.")

I don't know what this is, either. It started out to be a pump dispenser, but the opening is too big to hold the cork/pump unit. Oh well, I like the "beehive" look. Maybe I can use that technique again some time.

goldenrod shino on brown clay

A project I am working on. I want to make a series of these small lidded crocks and fill them with homemade soy candles.Then, when the candle burns up, you still have a small crock to use for ... whatever.

texture kiwi on brown clay

I decided to make an urn for Grace's ashes, and this was the first attempt. It is too small for a Rottweiler, but my cat Manny fits purr-fectly. I was very happy with the shape of this piece, and the lid fits great.

The glaze is a new one for me, Mayco's "Green Tea." It has a nice semigloss finish, leading to a great feel in the hand, and I like the little flecks left by the brown clay. It really makes the final piece look like stone.

Another attempt at a larger urn, this piece decided to be a vase instead. Still, I think I like it.

green tea on brown clay

Finally, the piece my friend Holly has been waiting to see. Several months ago, she asked me to make her a salad bowl. "Just about 10 inches in diameter and 3 inches high," she sweetly requested, little knowing what she was asking. I was sweating and cursing, doubting my ability to get a bowl that large that wouldn't crash and die.

The first bowl looked pretty good until it warped in the kiln during glaze firing. Grrr - back to the wheel and bowl number two. This one was actually better thrown than the first one, but I was terrified to glaze it.

Here it is, Holly. It survived the kiln and I think it looks pretty good. It is just 10" in diameter, but only 2 3/4" tall. Do you forgive me the missing 1/4"?

chun plum on brown clay

I have a new cat stamp to mark my pieces. I like it better than the old one. This upside down view shows you the stamp, and the foot ring. Even that isn't too bad.

click to enlarge for details

I'll get your package shipped out ASAP, Holly! I promise.

Great Backyard Bird Count 2010

2010-02-13T16:47:00.005-05:00

If you haven't heard already, this weekend is the Great Backyard Bird Count. It is a citizen scientist project that anyone can participate in. Simply watch the birds in your backyard for a few minutes, a few hours, or all weekend, and submit your list to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's web site at the link above. With luck, you might see birds like these:

American Tree Sparrow
Can you see the bicolored bill?

Song SparrowWhite-throated SparrowCompare the American Tree Sparrow (left)
with the White-throated Sparrow (right)

Eastern Towhee, male
See his red eye?

from left to right: White-throated Sparrow,
Carolina Wren, Eastern Towhee

Red-bellied Woodpecker, male
And you can even see his red belly!

Downy Woodpecker, male

male House Finch (left) eating safflower seeds
female Downy Woodpecker (right) on peanut feeder

All photos enlarge with a click.

There's still plenty of time - the Count runs through Monday, Feb. 15. Fill up your feeders and start counting birds!

the ultimate winter bird,
a male Northern Cardinal

Grace: April, 1999 - Feb., 2010

2010-02-03T06:59:00.008-05:00

She entered my life on a dark October night in 1999. Picked up by the Cincinnati police, found roaming the city without tags and dragging a broken chain from her worn collar, they left her with those of us working the overnight shift of the emergency veterinary hospital, to await pick-up by the Humane Society in the morning. She was suspicious of people and growled when we approached too closely. My first thought was, "Get her out of the building."

It was a slow night, and I found myself drawn to this lost soul, who had the look of a purebred Rottweiler, but the manners of a street urchin. We had recently retired our hospital blood donor, another Rott, and I thought she might make a suitable replacement, if we could break through her defenses. Food and quiet, undemanding companionship allowed her to relax and start the bonding process.

I estimated her to be about 6 months old. Since blood donors have to be at least one year old, I offered to foster her until she was old enough to return to the clinic.

I named her "Grace," thinking she needed a name with positive connotations, and introduced her to my outgoing, energetic 8 month old Lab mix, Holly. The two quickly became friends, and were good influences on each other. Holly's open enthusiasm countered Grace's fears, and her calmer nature helped Holly find some self-control. Six months of training classes and life with Hol and me were good for Grace, overcoming her early experiences, and the sweet side of her nature shone through.

Needless to say, when the day came to return her, I was heartbroken, but a deal was a deal, and I was determined to stick to it. Luckily, when it came to a vote on whether I should turn Grace over or not, the other three staff vets over-ruled me. I was stuck with her, for life.

Over the years, we did a lot together. Grace helped me raise a kitten, taken from his mother too soon. She allowed him to "nurse" on the hairs of her belly, bemusedly watching him suckle for comfort, until he was 8 months old and she decided it was time he was weaned.

Grace and Manny

She taught me first hand what it is like to live through radiation therapy and ACL surgery. I think every vet should have to be the client once in her or his career, to see how it feels. Grace made sure I learned empathy for my clients who have dogs recovering from major surgery and cancer therapy.

Grace's "badge of courage"

and her ACL incision

She loved tennis balls

and kids with balls,

her best friend, Holly

and men. Here she is schmoozing with her orthopedic surgeon, just before her ACL repair.
One time, at a dog park, I couldn't find her. Turns out, she was making up to a strange man. She loved my farrier, also a Rott fan, and my ex-boyfriend, who doesn't care for dogs at all. Poor guy - to see a large "dangerous" Rottweiler running up to him, mouth open, and then laying her head in his lap. All she wanted was a a little love, but he was terrified.

One of her favorite spots was the place under my computer desk, where your feet are supposed to go. Trust me, there is no room for feet with 85 pounds of Rottweiler squeezed into the cubbyhole. There was barely room for her, but she always insisted on waiting here for me to finish my tasks.

While she loved basking in the sunand in front of the fireplace,she also enjoyed playing in the snow.

I could never get her to swim. though. She preferred to wade in the edge of the pond, waiting for Holly to retrieve a stick so she could steal it.
She loved the sport of Agility. We took an introductory class at the end of our initial obedience training courses, but then I didn't follow up. After she had fully recovered from her radiation therapy, we went back to class. I sent the radiation oncology team at MedVet these photos from her "graduation," to show people who were considering treatment that there was life after cancer.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. The first week of last August, she limped on her left front leg. I took an X-ray, and saw a very subtle sclerosis (hardening or thickening) of the cortical bone of the ulna. She got better. The first week of September, she did the same thing. She skipped the first week of October, and I thought we had broken the jinx, but then she limped for the next two weeks. A repeat X-ray showed my "subtle" lesion was worsening, and I knew in my heart what was happening.

As the lameness increased throughout November, I considered my options and rejected amputation as too aggressive in a 10 year old dog with a history of one cruciate ligament rupture and the potential for the other rear leg to go. Cancer surgery and radiation, orthopedic surgery, and miscellaneous other minor procedures .... she had been through enough. I promised her two things - no more surgery, and a release from pain when it became too bad.

Thanksgiving, Christmas, my birthday - I kept increasing her pain medication and trying to ignore the huge mass in her elbow that rendered her joint completely unusable. She carried that leg all the time, and it got harder and harder for her to get up and down or to walk too far, Still, she ate all her food and tried to play in the snow, so I was in denial. Finally, the day has come. The day all dog lovers dread. The day she looked me in the eyes and said, "I'm ready." That day is today, the day I say good-bye to my heart.

Rest in peace, my sweet Gracie.

OOS at The Wilds: The big surprise

2010-01-21T15:54:00.001-05:00

This post won't have many words. And, soon, you will see why not. The special treat for OOS members who attended The Wilds winter raptor event? A behind the scenes tour of the white rhinoceros building, including the new baby, 3 month old Anan, born on Halloween. And, we even got to touch them!

A mother rhino and her year-old offspring.Coming in for a closer look.

Mother is alert for possible dangers, like veterinarians.

"That's close enough, lady. Back off."

"Yes, Ma'am!" (She actually came up to me and bumped my arm with the base of that horn. I backed up.)

"Aw, shucks, Maw - I wanted to play with her!"Who knew a rhino could sit like a dog?Or, that they had such cool feet?Or ears?

I thought watching a rhino take a mud bath was the best.Until I saw one playing chasing games with her baby.

Nothing is cuter than a baby, especially a baby rhino.

Sweet-faced Anan nuzzles a visitor's leg, like a puppy.

OOS at The Wilds: Year 2

2010-01-19T22:00:00.001-05:00

Blogging had become something of a chore, rather than a pleasure, so I took a little un-announced leave of absence. Thanks to gentle (and sometimes not-so-gentle) nudges from loyal fans, I have been encouraged to get back on board. Here is a tale of the Ohio Ornithological Society's 2010 trip to The Wilds.

The Wilds, in case you have forgotten, is an area of Muskingum County, Ohio that was destroyed by surface mining for coal in the 60's and 70's. In surface mining, aka strip mining, huge machines were used to strip all the vegetation and top soil off shallow coal deposits. Mining companies kept the coal and trashed the rest of what used to be beautiful rolling hills. See my post here about The Wilds, a home for endangered animals, that is breathing new life into this once barren land.Nest boxes for American Kestrels, provided by the OOS, dot the property around The Wilds.

Every year, the OOS sponsors a trip to The Wilds to look for its other form of wildlife, wintering raptors. The target species are Rough-legged Hawks, Northern Harriers, Red-tailed Hawks, American Kestrels, and Short-eared Owls. If you are lucky, you might even find a Merlin or a Golden Eagle spending their winters in this unique Ohio habitat. Non-raptor species are here, too - Horned Larks, American Tree Sparrows, and the elusive Northern Shrike could be around the next corner or over the next field.Last January was my first winter field trip to The Wilds. Regular blog readers will remember that it was cold. How cold? DARNED COLD, as in -18 F in the morning, even without the bitter, cutting wind that constantly blows across the landscape. I swore never to return. I'm glad I didn't keep that resolution.

The weatherman predicted temps in the 30's for the weekend of Jan. 16-17. "Remember," Julie said, "Thirty degrees at The Wilds is like ten degrees anywhere else." Who cares? I was going birding with friends - Julie Zickefoose and Bill Thompson III, Nina of Nature Remains and her husband, Tony, fellow OOS'ers like Anne Oliver, Jim McCormac, Peter King, Marc Nolls, Cheryl Harner, and many more. Plus, the announcement promised a special treat this year. Who could resist?Mad birders line the roads, scanning the horizon for raptors. Do you see the Golden Eagle? Neither did we.

We did see plenty of Rough-legged Hawks. Here are a couple of ID tips for you, courtesy of trip leader extraordinaire, Mr. BT3.

One: Long wings, a long tail, and dark "wrist patches." This bird is a light morph - they also have a darker form.Two: Since Rough-legged Hawks are birds of the tundra, where they nest on the ground and don't see many trees, they have tiny feet. They can perch on much smaller branches than a hawk like the Red-tailed. So, when trying to distinguish between the two, the hawk perched on skinny branches at the tip of the tree is more likely to be a Rough-legged; one on a large branch near the trunk of a tree is a Red-tailed.We also saw lots and lots of White-tailed Deer. They seem to know they are safe from hunters within The Wilds' perimeter fence, and are abundant here.
This protected little spot, with its rivulets of melted ice and snow, was full of bathing American Tree Sparrows. At first, I thought they were the Horned Larks we were seeking, and was embarrassed by missing the ID. Later, a much more experienced birder than I made the same mistake. Whew! I'm not alone in making bad calls.
Cow fields. "The place" for Horned Larks, promised Bill, and he was right, as usual.
Lucky us, we had a way to direct everyone in our group to the birds. The White Cow was our official landmark. She must have been the most popular cow in Muskingum County that day.
The Horned Larks are to the left and behind the White Cow. Honest.

In contrast to last year's low of -18, the temps this year started out in the upper 20's and we hit a high of 52 degrees. That's 70 degrees warmer than Jan., 2009 - and no wind! Ohio weather is just like a box of chocolates; you never know what you are going to get.

In between looking for birds, we found other amusements. Like, trying to take a photo of a camera-shy blogger. Gotcha, Nina!
Other bloggers are much less concerned about having their picture taken. Guess who?An unofficial hat contest broke out, the contestants vying for the honor of looking like Elmer Fudd.
Bored children threw slush balls and built slush-men. (The snow was melting too quickly for a true snowball fight to break out.)Later groups, passing this spot, would announce on their walkie-talkies: "Looks like Phoebe and Liam have been here!"

As the afternoon turned into evening, dozens of hopeful birders gathered at the birding station at Jeffery Point, hoping for Short-eared Owls at twilight. No owls deigned to appear.
Oh, and that promised surprise? Come back in a day or two - all will be revealed.

The three worst words in birding

2009-12-06T14:19:00.014-05:00

Edit, Dec. 12: Added some better photos and bird ID's. How'd you do?

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"It just flew."

Surely this is the worst thing any birder could hear when she or he is working like mad to get on the bird that everybody else can see. All around you, people are giving you directions, some helpful, some less so. "It's right there. Right in front of me, high in that tree. Not the big tree, the smaller one, with all the green leaves. Can't you see it?"

No, I can't see it! And why not? Because, IT JUST FLEW!

So, to celebrate the worst phrase in birding, here are some less-than stellar photos of the birds that just flew. Just for fun, how many of them can you identify? (All photos enlarge with a click.)

Bay-breasted Warbler
Magee Marsh, May, 2009

Blackburnian Warbler
Cranberry Glades, W Va., April 2009

Black-throated Green Warbler
Cranberry Glades, WVa., April 2009

Bobolink
New River Gorge, WVa., April 2009

Dark-eyed Junco

Wildacres, N. Carolina, June 2009

Green Heron
Crooked Run Nature Preserve, Sept. 2009

Great Egret
Magee Marsh, May 2009

Canada Warbler (I think)
Magee Marsh, May 2009

Red-headed Woodpecker, immature

Clermont County, Ohio, Dec. 2009

Next week, we commenorate my second-least favorite birding phrase: "You should have been here yesterday (last week, last year.)"

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Two quick stories. The junco is the first one I have ever heard singing, and I recognized the song. At least, I recognized it as "something different." Because we only get juncos as winter visitors here, I had never heard them sing before. While walking along a road at my pottery retreat this June, in the mountains of North Carolina, I heard a sweet chipping song. At first, I wrote it off to yet another one of the hundreds of singing Chipping Sparrows I had been listening to that week. Then, I stopped and really listened. The junco was sitting at eye level with me, and I got to watch it for quite a while and take several photos before it flew.

About the "maybe Canada Warbler:" That photo is dated May 16, and I had labeled it as a Canada. I have a memory of seeing a Canada Warbler that day and it's on my check list, but have no other photos documenting it. I have many photos of Magnolia Warblers from May 18 of this year, but none from May 16. Until my beloved Science Chimp weighed in, I was confident in my label. Now, I doubt myself. Compare the Maggie below with the Mystery Warbler above - you be the judge.

Birding at East Fork

2009-11-29T14:00:00.010-05:00

I spent the morning birding the south side of East Fork Lake today with the Cincinnati Bird Club. Lots of the usual people were there, and a couple of new faces, too.

trekking down to the lake

We started at the lake, looking for waterfowl and gulls. Bob, our trip leader, was hoping for a 3 gull day, but was anticipating Ring-billed, Herring, and Boneparte's Gulls. Imagine our surprise when the third species of the day turned out to be a rare Franklin's Gull instead of the more likely Boneparte's.

scanning the gull flock for rarities

Two of these things are not like the other,
two of these things don't belong.

Mary Ann, you can see better
if you look through the scope!

A planned walk along the "turkey trail," our favorite sparrow haunt, was abandoned when we discovered recent bush hogging had cleared the weedy field, but representatives of the four expected sparrow species - Song, Field, Swamp, and White-throated - were found in smaller patches across the road. This spot was lucky though, for a tree full of Eastern Bluebirds,

and a cooperative American Crow.

I saw 8 deer during the course of the morning. Here's is one of the does:
and this is the only buck. I wonder if they know that gun season starts tomorrow?
We had a decent trip list - I got 41 species, including 6 of the 7 expected woodpeckers, and at least two people on the trip had Life Birds (Black Vulture for one woman, Red-headed Woodpecker for another man.) A six-woodpecker day is reason for celebration in my book, even if the Pileated was "heard only." The only woodpecker I missed was the winter visitor, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.

Common Loon
Horned Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
Canada Goose
Lesser Scaup
Ring-necked Duck
Bufflehead
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Franklin's Gull
Great Blue Heron
Killdeer
Red-tailed Hawk
Turkey Vulture
Black Vulture
Mourning Dove
Red-headed Woodpecker (several!)
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
American Crow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Brown Creeper
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird (lots!)
European Starling
Northern Cardinal
Dark-eyed Junco
Song Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

Identifying Trees from a Distance

2009-11-27T06:00:00.000-05:00

The Larch

The larch is the only deciduous member of the Pine family. A deciduous evergreen - now that's an oxymoron for you.

Succession Happens

2009-11-24T06:00:00.000-05:00

This post is one I started back in the spring, after my visit to Oak Openings, a Toledo Metropark. I thought I would stir it up, reheat it, and serve it to you this fall.

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The Girdham Road sand dunes of Oak Openings are famous, or they should be, for their unique flora and fauna. Lark Sparrows, Red-headed Woodpeckers, and Summer Tanagers are only a few of the regulars that birders can find in one stop.
These sand dunes, surrounded by huge oaks, are the last remnants of what used to be the beach of Lake Warren, the huge forefather of the current Lake Erie.
However, nature abhors a vacuum and successional plants are constantly waging a war against the barren dunes, looking for a toehold to colonize this apparent wasteland.
Sedges are the first to make inroads. This growth pattern, in outward rings, creates a tiny windbreak, allowing the shifting sands to accumulate, and paving the way for other successional plants to follow.
Wild Blue Lupine, a specialist here in northwest Ohio.Dwarf Dandelion, another rare species, found in the Oak Openings region.
From tiny acorns, great oaks do grow, and here is an oak sapling, trying to make its way in a veritable desert.
Want proof you're in a desert? How about a cactus plant? Prickly pear cactus, that is, the only cactus native to Ohio.
The Black Oak habitat along Girdham Road, between Sagar and Monclova, is home to my favorite woodpecker species - the Red-headed. A colony of nesting birds lives here, and you are guaranteed to see at least one, if not more, when you visit. I found two willing to pose for me, although further away than I would have liked.Also on that visit, I had a lovely encounter with a bluebird family, including this charming juvenile.
It seems like Oak Openings is always an afterthought with birders visiting northwest Ohio. So much time is spent at places like Magee Marsh and Ottawa NWR that this unique treasure is overlooked, and that is a pity. There is so much going on here that it really should be the main entree of your next birding and nature trip, not merely the dessert.

Just Brew It

2009-11-22T09:46:00.001-05:00

Coffee. It's as essential as air or water to millions. Many of you can't face the day without your morning cup or mug. It's even spawned a whole culture, involving social etiquette and a mysterious language.

I never picked up the habit myself, despite threats like, "You will drink coffee when you need to pull an all-nighter in college" or "work the night shift at the hospital" or "survive vet school" or "hold down the emergency clinic over New Year's Eve weekend when the local puppy rescue has a parvo outbreak." I may be the only adult on the planet who doesn't know how to stand in line at Starbuck's and order a tall mocha frappuccino, a grande double shot espresso, or a venti latte half-caf no-foam, extra hot.

But, I know a lot of you like coffee, and a lot of you like birds and nature, too. And, if you do, you should be drinking shade grown coffee.

Let us backtrack. It used to be that coffee fincas (plantations) in Central America were practically nature preserves. Coffee, an understory plant, grew beneath the natural canopy of native trees and bushes, little or no chemicals were used during production, and the birds flourished. That included "our" birds, neotropical migrants like warblers, vireos, and tanagers that nest in North America and migrate south for the winter.

Now, things are different. Shade-grown coffee plants were replaced with sun-loving varieties, which required chemical fertilizers and pesticides for increased yield. Now, the native plants are stripped away, exposing the topsoil to erosion and sacrificing all that lovely bird habitat.

What's a caffeine-addicted birder to do? Why, drink shade-grown coffee, that's what. Bird-friendly, fair-trade, organic shade-grown coffees are becoming more widely available because of demanding eco-aware consumers. More than just buying and drinking it, promote shade-grown coffee at your local bird club meetings, nature centers, or specialty stores. Ask your favorite coffee shop to stock up on shade-grown coffee. And spread the word to others via your blogs by attaching the logo below to your site.

For more information on this topic, see Kenn Kaufman's article "Brew the Right Thing" in his Bird Watcher's Digest column "After the Spark," Jan/Feb 2009, and Paul Baicich's BWD article Nov/Dec. 2006. Or, go to Kenn and Kim's blog here, or to the Audubon Coffee Club via this link http://www.auduboncoffeeclub.com/

Cheryl Harner, of the Weedpicker's Journal, inspired this post.