Housewife

The equal opportunity groups are filling up my inbox as of late complaining about a disproportionate number of featured male birds.  I find this a bit odd based on the fact that with a number of the recently featured birds it is difficult to actually tell the different sexes.  Quite frankly, in the birding world, typically the male is the more interesting bird to look at.  Of course, this directly correlates to how damn hard it is to identify a lot of the females from each other seeing as most of them are just a different shades of brown.

Case in point, take this bird.

Allerton Park Female House Sparrow - 04/2015

Quick, what is it?  My guess is you came up with the clever response of .. “it’s a bird”  (you know you did hehehe).  The truth is, I couldn’t even tell what this bird was.  Based on a hefty amount of research I first opted to ID it as a Clay-Colored Sparrow.  This might have been more wishful thinking being as I didn’t have a Clay-Colored Sparrow checked off my Bird Life List.

Allerton Park Female House Sparrow - 04/2015

Hit the jump to find out what this bird is!

Continue reading Housewife

The Allerton House

We are officially in bonus time ladies and gents.  Not bad seeing as how it is only the 20th – no whining about being down posts this month.  There’s more than one reason this month is special – I finally overcame my demons today and managed to knock out three loops during our weekly Sunday Springdale Run.  That’s right, 20 miles in the books on the nasty hillfest we torture ourselves about every weekend these days.  The third loop has been my nemesis for over a year now – every time before I end up begging for mercy at the end of the second loop regardless of how well I felt at the end of the first.  This time we held back a bit on the second loop too keep from tiring our legs out.  There is a theory that there was some help from the Girl Scouts but further testing is needed before we can definitely say we have found a running secret!  Note, I was so happy I checked this life list item off I enjoyed a Shamrock Shake – a rarity based on the calorie count that decadent dessert possesses – figured with over 2500 burned off  during the run I could spare a few to indulge.

20 miles also signifies something else – I’m gonna need some time to rest the legs.  Not one to waste a perfectly good afternoon, figured it could be spent cranking out this bonus entry.  Now I’d like to introduce you to the House Sparrow.

House Sparrow Shot at Allerton Park

This happens to be one of the few Sparrows I can easily identify in the field.  The black laced necklace of the male in these shots is easy to spot and distinctive enough to ID.  At some point I’m going to distill all the key features of the various Sparrow members so my brother and I can quickly classify all the little brown jobbers that end up in the tin after any Midwest outing.

House Sparrow Shot at Allerton Park

Hit the jump to see and read more about this common North American bird.

Continue reading The Allerton House

Better Spots

Greetings everyone!  I now have a new bittersweet birding experience as of two days ago.  Birding to me is about the hunt as much as it is about the execution of the photo capture (which determines whether it can be counted our not based on the highly technical and strict Doerfler Birding Rules – link here).  Linda and I have traveled far and wide hoping to track down a specific bird or to just explore new habitats to see what we can find.  Every once in a while this cycle reverses in that a bird comes to me.  This is exactly what happened to me last Wednesday night.  I was working on surveying part of my lot just past dusk when all of a sudden a fluttering was heard over my right shoulder.  Startled, I looked back to notice a large object moving my way.  First thought was a bat but it looked too big and bulky for such a creature.  When it narrowly avoided hitting a tree it was obvious that it wasn’t a bat.  It did manage to land about 20 feet from me in a small clearing.  For at least a minute I stared at it… trying desperately to make out what it was.  The darkness had set in and only a small amount of ambient light was available.  The coloring on the back camouflaged it perfectly in the woodsy setting making it impossible for me to get a sharp image.  Then it hit me I could take a picture with my phone!  The second my hand made it to the phone the chicken like shape bugged out in a large semicircle up and out of view.    After a quick call to my brother, we determined it was an American Woodcock.  Dammit Dammit Dammit.  A few seconds of patience from the bird could have added a +1 to my list.  Never have I seen a Woodcock in the wild or in a zoo.  It was sweet to see such a cool bird.. but the bitter taste of missing the shot will be with me until I finally get it in the tin.

So instead of a Woodcock post, I bring you this…

Porcupine Mountains Trip - July 2012

Do you recognize that bird?  Turns out I had these better shots of the Spotted Sandpiper originally featured during the Yellowstone series (link here).  Surprisingly, these shots were actually taken BEFORE the Yellowstone shoot which was in May 2013.  These were shot in July of 2012 – wow, I am waaaaay behind on my processing.

Porcupine Mountains Trip - July 2012

Hit the jump to see a couple more shots of the Spotted Sandpiper

Continue reading Better Spots

Ft Myers – Bright and White

Spent the day at a Rick Sammon seminar and now all pumped up on the photography front.  Linda and I have been following Rick for several years now ever since we found his Digital Photo Experience podcast.  That audio show is our go to entertainment on our long travels.  If you are a fan of photography (a likely assumption based on the fact you are reading my posts), I highly recommend caching their show both from the questions they get/answer and their numerous interviews with experts in the field.

Continuing the posts from the Ft. Myers trip, here is a set of those white angels that get to enjoy the wonderful weather down there on the gulf.

Scenes from Ft Myers Florida 2013

Figured it was time to finally put that previous image on display.  I’ve kept it close since it is a special entry in our EddieSoft Gallery.  That shot of the Snowy Egret earned me a first place finish AND a Best in Show at the 2013 Knox County Fair (link here).  If you know about the competition Linda and I have between ourselves, then you probably know that kept me from having to take the UB title that year!

Scenes from Ft Myers Florida 2013

Hit the jump to see some more pictures of the Great and Snowy Egrets.

Continue reading Ft Myers – Bright and White

More Ft Myers Bounty

Looks like the GPO nomination is shaping up to be an interesting one if not an outright implosion.  Seems the conservative populous has initiated an all out rebellion against career politicians.  Last night Rubio put up an embarrassing showing, Cruz showed a surprising strong gain and Trump.. well Trump once again put the tremors into the old guard.  That would be the old guard that thought it wise to bring Romney and McCain out of the mothballs to attempt to tell us low information voters how wonderful life would be if we just listened to them one more time (I think those pathetic choices that gave us our current administration pretty much speaks volumes for low information elitism).  Since politics has a tendency to get my blood boil, let’s turn to something more positive – another +1 in the books:

Ft Myers 2013

How cool is that!  This shot was taken during my quick trip to Ft. Myers back in 2013.  For those of you counting, this makes the third addition to the North American Birding Life list in only two days.  I’ve mentioned this several times, but that lagoon in Ft Myers is a treasure trove for birders.

Ft Myers 2013

Hit the jump to find out what this bird is and see a few more shots!

Continue reading More Ft Myers Bounty

Ft Myers Delivers

Welcome back everyone!  As mentioned previously, this is dog show weekend so I have an unusual amount of extra downtime to crank out some posts.  Since this blog started as an observation on life I thought I’d begin with a funny experience from this morning.  I was standing in a pee zone (as I like to call it) waiting for my mother-in-law’s dog to get his business done before rejoining Linda inside the event building.  At the same time a lady gets in her car to exit the parking lot.  To better describe the setting, there were a number of cars parked in two rows – one row aligned with her and one behind her.  The lucky thing for her is she could have backed out straight, missed all cars behind her and been on the road in about 5 seconds.  Instead she cuts it sharp out of the space into the small lane between the rows.  Of course, that was too short for the vehicle so the next 2 minutes were spent inching out, turning, going forward, inching some more out, repeat a painful number of times.  From an observation perspective, that was entertaining, but the real reason I’m relaying this story is a lady came up behind me and quite loudly proceeds to ask; “Why didn’t she just back out?”,  “Why would she do that?”, “I’ll feel bad if she hits that car” (by that time the driver was less than a foot from another car).  Trying to aid in the situation I tried to give her a visual sign she had plenty of space to come forward and complete the final turn.  When I did that, the quizzical lady gets a stunned look on her face and goes “Tell me that’s not your wife!?!”  I hesitated because I was holding back a laugh she mistakenly took as a reluctance to say yes it is.  This prompted another hopeful plea that it wasn’t my wife.  I let her off the hook, but the look on her face when she realized that she may not have probably read the scenario was priceless.

Sorry for that long intro, but it’s nice to get back to my observation roots.  During the previous Crane post it was mentioned that there were other wildlife trips just waiting to get attention.  Before I can get to those I needed to finish up some pending posts like this one from Ft Myers.

Scenes from Ft Myers Lagoon 2013

I’ve already jumped the gun a few times on the fruits of that quick Florida trip (link here, here and here).  Each of those posts produced +1’s for my Birding Life List.  Three new ones is always good for a trip, but the Ft. Myers Lagoon exceeded expectations.

Scenes from Ft Myers Lagoon 2013

Hit the jump to see more about this bird… and maybe another surprise one!

Continue reading Ft Myers Delivers

Crane Craniums

Pretty much doing some early Spring cleaning around here at LifeIntrigued.  I have a bunch of processed pictures sitting in the queue I want to get through as soon as possible.  Not that there is anything wrong with them, I’m just getting really antsy to get to all the trips we’ve taken since these were taken.
International Crane Foundation July 2013

The good news is this set of shots is more recent than all the Yellowstone posts from May 2013 you’ve been reading for the last couple of months.  To quantify the liberal use of “recent” these pictures were taken in .. wait for it … July of 2013.    WOOT!

International Crane Foundation July 2013

Hit the jump to see some more interesting birds!

Continue reading Crane Craniums

A Walk In The Woods: Jubilee

Welcome to the new month!!  It took a little longer that last year.. and the year before that.. and the year before that, but we made it.  Yesterday was a gorgeous day here in the Midwest.  The mercury made it up to  the 63 mark which signals a great time to go birding! Although not feeling the best from a bad run the day before, I decided to head down to Emiquon and then caught Jubilee State Park on the way back.  Neither of those locations produced anything noteworthy.  The plan was to come back, process the shots and get them up on the Blog for your enjoyment.  Unfortunately, the tin was pretty thin so pulling out a birding trip to Jubilee from back on January 30th of this year.

Birding in Jubilee State Park - January 30th, 2016

The shot above is definitely my favorite of the set.  In truth, the lighting wasn’t that great forcing me to push the ISO up.  This caused a grain that ended up adding to the overall look of the scene.  It has that water color effect or even the look of a Japanese rice paper painting.  Can’t wait to get that one printed out.

Here’s another shot of the same Eastern Bluebird.

Birding in Jubilee State Park - January 30th, 2016

This Nuthatch was hanging out in the bottoms down by the Jubilee pond.  This area is usually a bog, but the cold January weather froze it up enough to traverse it without issue.

Birding in Jubilee State Park - January 30th, 2016

Hit the jump to see a few more shots from the hike.

Continue reading A Walk In The Woods: Jubilee

Royalty

Just sitting here listening to the Republican debate and thinking to myself – the main loser tonight is CNN. Their party bias is so evident tonight it is at comedy level. If you don’t believe me, see if they ask these same questions at a Democrat debate. Then again, not sure that party can handle a question beyond what is your favorite Girl Scout cookie. By the way, if they answer anything but Thin Mints they can’t be trusted.

Rather than concentrate on the Trump baiting I’ll focus on something more fruitful – another post. Thought I would give you bonus post in celebration of Leap Year.
Eagles Along Mississippi River in March 2015

I actually processed these pictures some time ago. They were taken on a trip up to Davenport Iowa along the Mississippi River. Embarrassingly, this was in March of last year, but hey, still an improvement over the Yellowstone timing which was back in 2013. The reasons for going with this previous set instead of a more recent shoot is due to one main issue – lack of Eagles this year. We’ve been up to the Quad Cities a couple of times now and I think each time we were lucky to find one.

Eagles Along Mississippi River in March 2015

Hit the jump to see some more shots of these beautiful birds.

Continue reading Royalty

A Cold Day at Emiquon

Yesterday I managed to put up an 18 spot on the run counter.  In celebration, I cleaned up the house, scrubbed the bathrooms, vacuumed, gave the dogs a bath and steam cleaned all the hardwood floors in the house.  Believe that?  No!?!  I’m hurt.. but the truth sometimes hurt – not as much as my body hurts, which is why I simply thought about those things and then crashed on the couch – hehehehe.  Now I’m just going to sit in this comfy chair and bang out a new post for you.  Today’s topic is all about a birthday present to myself.  Back in January I took a day off from work and went birding in Emiquon.  These were the results of that day.

Scenes from Emiquon on Jan 16th 2016

I was taking some pictures of Eagles out on the ice when all of a sudden I saw two Mute Swans out of the corner of my eye heading straight for me.  Although startled, I did manage to get The Beast turned in their direction just in time to get a few incoming shots.  They noticed the big glass pointed their way and diverted their flight.

Scenes from Emiquon on Jan 16th 2016

Predicting how this might end, I kept the camera pointed in their direction as they went in for a landing.  Sure enough, when they hit the ice they slid for about 10 feet.  I will give them credit, they rode out that slide like pros.

Scenes from Emiquon on Jan 16th 2016

Hit the jump to view a few more shots from the birding day!

Continue reading A Cold Day at Emiquon