Category: Observation

When a Wren Isn’t Just a Wren

I’m having some serious concerns about a race I have this Sunday.  It’s time for the annual IVS Half Marathon in the hills of Springdale Cemetery.  Even when I’m healthy this race can take its toll on me, evident by last year’s struggle in the frying pan (link here).  Unfortunately I fell victim to the Peoria Plague last Saturday and I just can’t seem to shake it.  This week was a big project at work which didn’t give me much time to nurse it, so it sunk its teeth in deep.  Hit my last 12+ miler last Friday, missed my 8 miles taper last Sunday, did hit my 6 mile taper Tuesday but felt like crap afterwards and then decided against the 4  mile run  scheduled for yesterday.  Suck Suck Suck.  Topping it off I messed up my back sometime this week .. Suck Suck Double Suck.  I worked from home today to force myself to keep down and opted for a quick adjustment at the chiro in an attempt to get that calmed down.  Back feels much better now (legs were an inch off.. would have been running in circles ha) and some light at the end of the tunnel on the plague.  I primarily breathe through my mouth during the run so that mitigates some of the stuffiness.  One more day of doing nothing (which absolutely kills me) and hopefully my temple will be whole again – keeping the fingers crossed.  Figured I’d crank out a happy post to keep my mind off of the race.

Noticed this bird while reviewing the Red Rock Canyon shots in the digital darkroom.  I initially passed it off as a House Wren and set it to the side noting the execution on the shots was less than stellar.  I have them around here anyway and even featured one during Project Chekov (link here).

At the time I didn’t really think much about it until one day I was looking through the bird references when I came to the House Wren section.  Something caught my eye which made me hesitate a bit.  Something was amiss but couldn’t put my finger on it.  Tail up, wings sharp and down.  Even had the spotting on the wings and tail feathers.  Nothing to strange but the spidy senses were on full on alert.  What the hell?  Decided there was a kink in the system and started turning the page….and then it came to me.  Quickly flipping back to the House Wren confirmed my deduction.  The page I turned to featured the Bewick’s Wren.

Find out the details on this bird after the jump!

Continue reading When a Wren Isn’t Just a Wren

A Vegas Photo Drive

It has been awhile since I’ve brought out a Phoadtography post!  So far you’ve been subjected to shots from the Vegas skyline, shots of Vegas from a photo walk and it just seems fitting that I close out the Vegas scene with a traditional “photos from the road” collection.  For those not familiar with the concept of Phoadtography, it is pretty simple.  Linda drives and I take shots of interesting things – in between my expert navigation duties of course.  To start us off on our little excursion I bring you the prototypical Sin City billboard…

I marveled at the genius of this particular advertisement.  It has so many alternative takes – are they talking about the Vegas Strip, the common theme of stripper shows in Vegas, how to strip a gun down and put it back for cleaning or don’t even think about stripping me of my Second Amendment rights.  This sign must make gun control advocates shake in their house slippers.  One goal activity Linda and I have not been able to cross off is to hit the Gun Store and fire off some (okay, maybe A LOT) of rounds from an automatic rifle – yummy goodness!

“Who ya’ Gonna Call?”

Clearly this was taken closer to the downtown area where these kinds of businesses are everywhere.  Almost as common as drive up wedding chapels.  Based on the vehicle outside of this place, business is good.  What happens in Vegas .. stays on your arrest record.

Hit the jump to see a few more shots!

Continue reading A Vegas Photo Drive

Send in the Scrubs

Taking a quick recovery break from last night’s final long training run.  The IVS half is coming up in a week and start my taper tomorrow.  I wasn’t able to get the desired 10 mile run in due to a swarm of lightning that convinced me to bail out a mile early.  Last weekend a lightening bolt took a 5 inch chunk out of my neighbor’s huge oak tree from top to bottom –  a helpful reminder not to roll the dice with nature.  9 miles should be fine for race day prep .. besides, the last mile or so I was pushing it to make it back to the truck before it let loose.  Not one to just sit around just watching the boob tube (although the Illini are kicking butt), thought it would be a good time to crank out a post!

Unlike the previous post. today’s featured bird didn’t take long to lock in an identification.  If you haven’t noticed a theme yet, the birds of late have all been from our Red Rock Canyon in Nevada shoot.  This is a wonderful park not far from Las Vegas and a standard stop for us when we haul our photography equipment out there.  Definitely a good place to add to your Birding List if you are light on your land birds – which I happen to be at the moment… although building fast.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to the Western Scrub-Jay

Pretty cool looking bird with the white eyebrow liner and the white speckled in the throat area.  When the bird list was checked it was discovered that there was a question mark in the check box.  This usually means a possible ID was made but lacking a good confirmation.  Similar to the Gray Vireo and Townsend Solitaire which both have question marks in their check box until the bird in the previous post is officially confirmed (still looking for some help on that by the way).

The question indicator resulted in a quick search of the blog to figure out where it was previously referenced.  Looks like there were two possible sightings – one in 2008 (link here) and one in 2010 (link here).  Reviewing those two possible shots, the conclusion is neither one of those is a Western Scrub-Jay.  Not sure what the 2008 one is yet, but the 2010 is most likely a Clark’s Nutcracker.  So good news, I can replace that question mark with a solid check now.

Time for the classic EddieSoft pose…

Hit the jump to see a few more shots of the Western Scrub-Jay

Continue reading Send in the Scrubs

One White Ring – One White Bar

To sum up this month in one word I’d have to go with BUSY.  Day long meetings at work, project Aaauuunnnnoold moved into a new phase (getting close) and then there’s that little thingy called a half looming just over a week away.  A wave of relief came over me when the monthly post count came up to 5.  Whew, only one more to close out this month and the pictures for two posts were already completed and in the hopper.    The best way I can think of to end this month is to feature a Bird!

Not just your ordinary Bird post though, this one is a Mystery Bird post … translated, one that needs some assistance from my loyal readers.  To set the stage, this particular bird was taken at Red Rock Canyon on our trip to Las Vegas back in Nov 2012 (better late than never).  Unfortunately, I was unable to get a full on shot of this bird.  It preferred to stay semi-hidden among the rocks.  They had “Area under restoration” signs up so respected their wishes – cost me a good angle on a new bird.. but if photographer’s can’t respect nature… we are doomed as a society.

To be honest, I need your help in identifying this bird – hit the jump to see which direction I’m leaning towards!

Continue reading One White Ring – One White Bar

A Vegas Photo Walk

Vegas is such a target rich environment when it comes to photography that a single post just will not do – Nope! I already covered the “Eyes in the Sky” with my previous post (link here). Today’s post focuses more on the sights at “Eye Level” . Wait a minute, just looked at the set of pictures — hold that statement for a tad and enjoy a couple more shots at “Sky Level”.

The Bellagio Casino is a must target for any cameras on clear night on the strip. The architects should be commended for a building with a perfect combination of lighting and shadows. We have a number of shots of this casino for a number of different angles and every one of them has a majestic feel about them – also gives you a wide range of cropping options

Here’s the other shot of Vegas after dark. This one posed a bit of a struggle in the digital darkroom. I wanted the lights to be vibrant and sharp in the shot, but that cost me some detail in the body of the balloon – detail, by the way, that I wasn’t really aware of before from my many trips past it. Depending on how your screen is set, you might or might not be able to see the various symbols – probably could have pulled out some HDR to pop those a little more – will make a note for next time we are out there.

Hit the jump to see some more sights from our Vegas photo-walk!

Continue reading A Vegas Photo Walk

Me Thinks It’s a Grackle

UPDATED: 10/22/2016 – Sorry for the correction, but I realized while writing another post on this bird that this is not a Long-Tailed Grackle, but a Great-Tailed Grackle – no idea where I got that other name other than the fact it has a …. wait for it … wait for it … a long tail. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Thanks to the last set of soft bird pictures, I figured it was a perfect time to bring out another set of pictures definitely on the soft side – if I keep this up it will transform from a mistake to a STYLE!  I actually need a little help in the confirmation of this particular evil looking bird.

I snapped this bird while walking on the Treasure Island Casino boardwalk in Vegas back n Nov 2012 (hey, I warned you the backlog was epic).   A large dark shape caught my eye as it flew in behind us to scavenge in the cracks of the boards.  Per my Golden Rules, brought the camera inline and took a few shots thinking at the time it was just a Brown-Headed Cowbird.  It wasn’t until reviewing the shots in the digital darkroom that it occurred to me that the shape of this bird did not match my reference model for those birds.

For one, Cowbirds have a much shorter beak.  The one on this specimen is more like a dagger.  Add to this the fact Cowbirds typically have brown only on the head (thus the clever name eh?) with the rest predominantly black.  This Vegas bird carried the brown through the body and only shades to black at the wings and legs.  And then there’s the whole overall size issue with this one having a much larger stature than the Cowbirds seen in my neck of the woods.

Hit the jump to see a few more shots and learn what I think this bird is!

Continue reading Me Thinks It’s a Grackle

A Juniper Surprise

So, based on the hate mail that has been showing up in my mailbox lately, the teeming millions want their bird posts and they want it now. Fred B. from Michigan wrote “If I don’t get a bird post in the next 48 hours I’m going to stab this little voodoo doll I just made of you.” Harry R. from Nevada just called me a bunch of names and likened me to a terrorist – honestly I’m just assuming it was due to lack of birds but he may just be delusional and simply suffering from a bad case of the bumbles. Oh, and Rick P. from Texas simply asked me if I’d consider featuring a jailbird in the upcoming months. Although I don’t like to give into peer pressure, it is obvious that the people are getting restless – next thing you’ll know Homeland Security will put out a report stating there is a serious trend of the commoners not trusting their government. I’d hate to contribute to such unhealthy thoughts so to remedy that I’ll shall pull out a BIRD POST (trumpets, cheers, clowns losing their heads). Today I bring you a new bird on the list taken at our favorite home away from home – Vegas! To be specific it was actually taken at Red Rocks Canyon while we were out there in Nov 2012 – I know I know, beat me, whip me, make be write bad checks.
Oh, and did I mention it was kind of a surprise find?

Before we go any further, I need to state for the record, that these shots are for the most part pretty crappy.  They were taken in very bad lighting and it took everything I had in the digital darkroom just to make them somewhat presentable.  At first viewing I was disappointed and had my finger moving to the delete key when something made me take a second look.  When I was taking this shot I took the profile to be just a common Tufted Titmouse.  We have them all over the place where I live and that species alone probably consumes about a quarter of my bird food.  I’ve learned to at least snap a few shots in the field even if first impressions are less than exciting – even in bad lighting since these first two had to be pulled out of underbrush darkness.  Guessing that green thing is some form of trash and the twig in the first one is UBER annoying.  Regardless, something made me hesitate to toss them.

There is one common element in our local Titmouses .. maybe that is Titmice now that I think about it… and that is a sometimes faint but always present orange coloring on the sides.  The lack of that on this particular  bird was likely the reason for the hesitation. The crest was a perfect match but in all the shots, the orange element was missing.  It was off to the reference bookshelf to see if this was indeed a new entry on the bird list.  To my pleasant surprise there was an all grey Titmouse – in fact, there were two, the Juniper Titmouse and  the other being the Oak Titmouse.  The Juniper range fit the location I was at perfectly and the Oak was isolated along the Western side of California.  If only Sparrows could be this easy!

Hit the jump to see a few more crappy shots of this new bird to the list and read a few interesting related facts.

Continue reading A Juniper Surprise

Eyes in the Sky

I think the old saying “I’m not paranoid, I know they are watching me” comes into play with today’s post.  As mentioned before, there’s a bit of catching up to do and this clearly qualifies since it comes from our Vegas trip back in .. wait for it…  November 2012.  Turns out that Vegas is a great hub for getting to awesome photography sites such as Zion and Red Rock Canyon.  The latter of which will be featured in some upcoming posts.  At least once a year we like to pack up all the camera equipment and head to Sin City.  While out there on November, we decided to take a walk around the strip and opted to bring the mini-Beast (the 70-200) out with us – definitely more manageable than the Beast in the crowds and doesn’t get in the way of gambling (hehehe).   Admittedly, we have been to Vegas A LOT and always looking for something different to explore.  Fortunately, Vegas is a target rich environment when it comes to photography – when you have exhausted the view at street level, you can always look up and see a whole new perspective.

This is when the zoom comes in handy because when I refer to looking up I mean looking waaaaay up.  Those Vegas architects like things big and tall.  It also appears they like to embellish their products with all kinds of interesting sculptures and decorations.  Take for instance the statue above of a soldier standing on a hmmmm … a dogreptafish.  Yeah, I’m not really sure what it is either but interesting none the less.  It has been awhile now, but think this was taken outside of Caesars or possibly the Venetian based on the arches in the background.

Moving from the strange to the downright horrifying, here is the top of Harrah’s Casino.

In case you are having problems making the association, in my book all jesters are clowns in tights – the horror, the horror.  This is one of those things I’d rather remain oblivious to – I’ll take the blue pill please.  For now on every time I walk past that casino I’m going to get the chills.  Don’t be fooled, those are not horns, but rather blow guns to shoot darts into unsuspecting visitors, swoop in and take them back to their lair where they proceed to skin them alive for the pure enjoyment of it all (you think I’m kidding!?!)

Speaking of dart guns – here’s another one I captured.

Clearly not as creepy as those clowns were.  I can’t tell if the saucer shape was part of the sculpture or not – possibly a halo but then again it might be a certified UFO monitoring us from above – let’s hope it isn’t aliens making assumptions about humans by watching people in VEGAS .. eesh.

Hit the jump to view a few more shots of the Vegas high life

Continue reading Eyes in the Sky

I Mock Your Quota Concerns

Let’s see, a one, a two, a three, a four, a five… uhhh a five…crap! I’m guessing everyone out there is figuring this time I was surely beat. Even with the late blitz I’m STILL one short for the monthly quota. Is it time to panic, time to break out the shame sign and walk the local mall?  That would be a big fat NOPE. One advantage of being so far behind on processing my photo shoots is I have a lot to choose from when in a bind. Like the Copperhead posting (link here), I’ve opted with pulling one off the back of the FIFO queue.

This a brand new bird to the blog and to my birding list.  My brother once asked me if there were birds that  could be considered common that I haven’t had the opportunity to shoot yet.   The answer to that thought provoking question is “yes”.  One of the birds that has surprisingly alluded me is the Purple Martin.  For a bird supposedly in everyone’s backyard around my neck of the woods, it has failed to make its way into my tin.  Another supposedly common bird that was lacking from the list is this one – the Northern Mockingbird.  Not so common around where I am, but definitely inhabits a large cross section of places Linda and I have been while out on shoots.   As you can see, that is no longer the case.

This particular specimen was found while we were visiting  the Biltmore Estates near Ashville,  North Carolina.  We actually spent two days exploring this amazing place.  The first day we arrived in the late afternoon and opted to simply explore the grounds and save the house viewing for the next day.  When we first arrived the first thing I noticed was how perfectly laid out and clean the grounds were – it was like someone had handpicked the placement of every element of the forest.  To my surprise, this ended up being the case as the construction pictures revealed that there was nothing in the area when the house was built.  Along with that, they also cared for a massive flower garden.  Clean forest and tons of flowers – what better conditions can you ask for when in search of birds.    I’ll probably go into detail in a later post on the house, but we managed to pull a Big Ben, Parliament moment when we got there.  Somehow we managed to miss the parking lot turnoff which meant we had to traverse the entire grounds a second time before we could get out and explore.  If you have never been there, let me tell you, that is not a short drive.

Check out how much meaner this bird looks when you are head on – I can imagine how prey must feel – well, those with eyes – they are omnivores.

Hit the jump to even more pictures of the Mockingbird!

Continue reading I Mock Your Quota Concerns

Heat Treat Complete

Seems like just yesterday I was being treated to an ambulance ride to our favorite Emergency Room.   If you recall, there was an “incident” after one of my long runs that left me a ummm let’s go with less than fresh (link here).  Since that episode I’ve slowly been working my way back to running form.  From a residuals perspective it was pretty clear that the heat stroke took at least 30 seconds off my pace and as warned more susceptible to the heat.  Essentially the body would start to panic as soon as it felt the temp going up and just start sweating profusely – pretty much premature panic.  Each training run I tried to get more conditioned to the weather and gradually increased the mileage eventually topping out at 9 miles, 2 miles short of the incident mileage.  The reason for the continued push to get back in running form was primarily due to the fact the Bix 7 was just around the corner.  No rest for the wicked and the Bix hills are nothing to take lightly.  Well, race day was last Saturday and as you can tell from the fact this post exists, I survived the first real test since the escort to the hospital.

The Bix 7 isn’t usually a medal event, but thanks to it being the 40th anniversary of the race they broke out the medals.  This was a nice addition to the 3oth and 35th anniversary medals already hanging on my walls.  More importantly, the cool medal was enough to motivate my friend Sung to run the race with me.  He has recently started to run as part of his new health kick which has provided some amazing results.  If you recall he went up with us to complete the Bix@6 training run a few weeks back.  The success of that effort coupled with the opportunity to get a trophy for the wall was enough to convince him to sign up for the real thing.  In addition to Sung, another friend, Ryan, was also signed up to experience the mega-party.  The recruiting effort is going well, Rhonda and Ron were also there to participate in their second year (hope they got their pins) – once you experience the Bix you definitely want to set plans for attending the next year – one of the funnest races in the area for sure.  We were unable to meet up with Rhonda and Ron before the race but (from L to R) Ryan, Sung and I were able to take the traditional pre-race shot together.

Hit the jump to read how everything turned out

Continue reading Heat Treat Complete