Sunday, August 26, 2012

Islands, Mountains and Wetlands

Last week of July into the first week of August saw me in Hawaii being trained as an Arbinger Facilitator.  It was held at BYUH, so I took a few more pics of some of the campus birds.  I also got out on Saturday with a guide.  Great guy named Lance Tanino.  We went up high in the mountains as well as out on the ocean.  A few shots.




Red Vented Bulbul



Cattle Egret



Cinnamon Mannakin



And the female



Nutmeg Mannakin



Often seen in large flocks eating the grass seeds with the Cinnamon's.



Common Myna



High above Diamond Head, we we chasing Apapane, which unfortunately, we didn't get.  We did get some fun birds however.



Amakihi



Red Billed Leothrix



Japanese White Eye



And the largest Bee like creature I have ever seen.  This one was bigger than my thumb.  Let's make this the mystery creature for this post!

Out along the Eastern coastline of Oahu, we saw some pretty cool stuff.



A Red Footed Booby, high in a tree.



A Yellow Fronted Canary



And a Black Noddy way out over the water.

A bird which has eluded me for many years is the Red Tail Tropicbird.  Not only did I get some great shots of it flying over the water, but I got the chick in a nest in the rocks as well.





Look close to see the chick in the lower right hand corner of the cave.



The chick (as many are) seemed well fed and as big as the parents!



The Red Tail Tropicbird is really a handsome bird. 

Some birds are found right downtown Honolulu in the trees around the government buildings.



A Hawaiian Coot.  This is a fairly rare one with a red and white shield.  Most are one or the other.





The Rose Ringed Parakeets can be heard all through the parks and grounds.

Honolulu has recently adopted the White Tern (formerly called the Fairy Tern) as the "city" bird.  This bird was almost done for when a number of years back it suddenly colonized Honolulu.  It has a very strange nesting habit.  IT HAS NO NEST!  Thats right, it just lays an egg in the crook of a tree, and when the chick hatches it hangs on for dear life for all the weeks until it can fly! 



This one was born and is growing toward fledge in a tree on the busy boulevard that runs just east of the Convention Center in downtown!

Upon my return to Portland, I left almost immediately for Utah to cover some depositions, and a hearing in Park City.  One evening I decided to drive up Little Cottonwood Canyon.  I had heard that the hummingbirds were out.  They were, but the shots were not worth taking.  It was fun to see some of the other wildlife however!



I did keep my distance from this Cow Moose, as I knew that a Cow with one calf tended to be pretty protective, I figured there was no way I wanted to mess with her and twins!



Cute calves!

On the way down the mountain, the western sunset was really something.



It was fun to the the plane and the birds in this next shot.





I got back expecting to go birding with Greg Baker on a Pelagic trip, but the rough seas caused a cancellation.  As such Greg and I went out to Sauvies Island instead, where we got some good shots of mostly raptors.



Great Horned Owl



This one was protecting its territory from several Coopers Hawks in the area.



Coopers Hawk



The banded tail is a great identifier for these Cooper's Hawks.



It was very interesting to see this Juvenile Common Yellowthroat



And I just love the flycatcher family.  This Willow Flycatcher is really a dandy.

One of my favorite birds is the Osprey.  It is majestic, a hard worker as evidenced by it's nest and the way it fishes, and really doesn't bother anybody. 







Whew!

Sunday, August 19, 2012

A Baptism and the 4th

Paula and I made a quick trip out to Vermont over the 4th of July.  The primary purpose was to attend the baptism of Anders.  Hard to believe that my little girl has a boy old enough to be baptized! 

Dad was naturally very proud.



This is really a great little family!



For some reason this trip included very little work time for me.  I really had a great time hanging with the kids while Paula and Chelle shopped, went to cooking classes etc. 

Our walks were really fun in the perfect Vermont summer weather.  It is hard not to want to walk when the lake is just out the back door! This shot is taken with a 50mm lens just outside Chelle's back door. 



Eddie is really growing up to be an interesting person.  He epitomizes cool!








And I am really proud of Anders and Maddie for the big brother and sister that they are.



These shots were taken in the gazebo across the lake from Chelle and Brig's on a pennisula.  That is Chelle's house in the background. 



This is the same perspective with a zoom lens. 

Of course we had to notice the birds.  These guys are actually now calling my attention to the ones they see.  We got really close looks at several including this House Wren,





And a proud Common Yellowthroat



For this post's mystery critter, can one of you grandchildren tell me what this bird is?



Is it the same species as this one?



Sadly, on our walk we saw this Canada Goose who had apparently swallowed a fish hook and had a float permanently hanging from it's bill.  A few days later it appeared to have shed it however so we hope it worked out ok.



Even the flowers were stunning however and it was hard not to be really happy to be outside.



Later that evening we did another walk, and enjoyed the full moon.



As I said earlier, we were in Vermont for the 4th of July week.  All the classic activities were ours to enjoy.  We saw the parade in Brownsville...









Got in a swim at Grandpa Jim and Grandma Carol's pool...





And before the day was over we got in the fireworks up at Hartland before the thunder storms arrived!





The storm passed quickly however, and there was that beautiful moon again.



We got home just in time for Tulia's shower. 



Lynn who recently lost her husband and our friend Don with little Tulia.



And Aunt Hailey with Dorothy looks a lot like a mom who loves babies.  Maybe another?



It's a good life!