Category: Observation

Another Day With The Cranes – 2 of Many

Been an exhausting day pounding out a 12 miler in the Jubilee hills and then breaking out the mower for the first cut of the season.  To give myself a bit of a rest, figured I’d take a seat and crank out a quick post.  I warned you in the last post that there were a number of Crane entries coming from our visit to the International Crane Foundation (link here) nestled near Baraboo, Wisconsin.

This colorful Crane specimen is referred to as a Wattled Crane and like the Blue Crane from the previous post, is a native of Africa.  Half the population of these birds (total ~8,000) take up residence in Zambia – a mighty long way from Wisconsin!  Unlike the Blue Crane, this particular species is on the other end of the stature scale.  If I recall correctly the Blue Crane tops out in the 4 foot range.  The Wattled Crane tops out in the SIX FOOT range.  Yes, this is one of those Cranes you can view at eye level while standing (unless you are short of six feet in which case you are immediately demoralized having to look UP to a bird.

Hit the jump to see more shots of the Wattled Crane!

Continue reading Another Day With The Cranes – 2 of Many

A Day With The Cranes – 1 of Many

In case you might have missed it, we are now officially in May.  Hard to believe around here seeing as how it has been like 46, windy and raining most of the week.  Couple that with the current administration claiming our economy is hurting because of .. wait for it .. the unusually cold Winter and we officially call Globull Warming a policy of redistribution based on hogwash.  But I digress, the real point about mentioning it was May is that it signifies the start a new set of posts (yeah, crowd goes wild!).  Calm down, you might scare the bird of the day.

Pretty cool eh?  Happened to catch this beautiful specimen walking across our backyard one morning.  Believe that?  Okay, I lied.  This was actually taken while hiking in a remote and dangerous part of Baraboo, Wisconsin.  Wow, tough crowd.. so it really wasn’t that remote… or that dangerous … but it WAS just outside of Baraboo Wisconsin so it wasn’t a complete distortion of the truth.  Reality is this Blue Crane was taken while visiting The International Crane Foundation (link here).   For those not familiar with this particular place, this foundation is focused on saving/restoring the various Crane species throughout the world.  They were founded back in 1973 by Ron Sauey and George Archibald.  From there they started a journey to conserve the Crane population that was in serious risk throughout the world.  They are probably most well known for their ongoing efforts to bring back the Whooping Crane population by creatively employing an ultra-light to help young Cranes migrate from Wisconsin to Florida starting back in 2001.  If you are a true birder, you owe it to yourself to make the trip to visit this awesome foundation.

On our first visit up there several years ago (when these pics were taken), we didn’t have very high expectations.  Wisconsin didn’t seem like the appropriate place to go check out Cranes.  Figured we’d stop by there, walk around the place for a bit and head out – maybe an hour tops.  It is stunning how wrong we were – thinking we pulled ourselves out of there after about 3.5 hours and that was because we had other places to be.  Not only did they have a number of birds on display, there were a number of habitats that were set up perfectly for photographers – in other words, they provided a means to shoot directly at some of the birds without having to deal with annoying linked fences.  The Blue Crane featured here had a nice area complete with muraled walls to provide the illusion of being out in the wild.  Each of the areas had some form of grazing area along with a structure they could seek shelter from the sun if needed.  I spent a lot of time waiting for the shot above thinking the doorway would provide a natural frame.  Decided to do a little more cropping on it to see which I liked better (see first shot).  Been back and forth on that, but eventually decided I liked the tighter cropping – any opinions from your perspective?

Here is a shot showing the wall mural – also gives a better impression on the size of the bird.  From a Crane perspective, the Blue Crane is on the smaller stature end.  They run in the 4 foot and 11 pound range.  Yes, I did just say they average 4 foot tall while also stating they are on the SMALLER end of the scale.  You haven’t had a true Crane experience until you are staring at one of the species standing nearly at eye level.

Hit the jump to read more about this beautiful Crane!

Continue reading A Day With The Cranes – 1 of Many

Red Tail No Where

Wow, been awhile since I’ve made a post.  Sorry about that!  I’ve been a little busy as of late with some work deliverables and with an upcoming Half Marathon looming a lot of my time is spent pounding the road.  Ummm maybe I should correct that, the road has been pounding me as of late.  If you recall, I had a sore foot leading up to the Peoria Heights Half (link here).  That eventually cleared itself up (after the race) but again on another training run last week I messed up some bones on the top of my foot – can’t win!  Trying to run through it and made it past 9 miles tonight, so at worst case pretty sure I can tough it out if it doesn’t clear up by the next race – eventually all the other body parts start hurting worse and you forget about those injuries you had going into the race.  In celebration of getting through tonight’s run, figured I’d treat myself to a bird post – not just any bird post though, a NEW CHECK on the list bird post.

Anybody recognize this Raptor?  If you are like me when I was taking the shots you are probably saying .. Red-Tailed Hawk.  That would be an excellent guess since that is the most abundant Hawk in the area.  You can’t go 3 miles on our local highways without seeing one of those hanging out on a roadside tree or fencepost scanning the fields for some juicy mice.  In the last three years, the Red-Tailed Hawk population has stayed just slightly behind the exploding Turkey Vulture population.  However, if you recall, I have already checked that bird off my list on a previous post (link here).  About midway through taking these shots it started occurring to me that this particular Hawk was not really displaying the most apparent feature of the initial guess… that would be the RED TAIL part.  Now this shoot just got a whole lot more interesting.

Hit the jump to find out what this bird is!

Continue reading Red Tail No Where

Peoria Heights Half Marathon Conquered

Not sure if this is common with other runners or not, but I have a tendency to remember with quite clarity specific races.  This generally pertains to the ones that maybe ended in a personal hardship, celebrated a specific anniversary or was a personal victory of some sorts.  Yesterday’s race was actually a combination of reasons that I’ll always remember.  If you have been reading the blog for the last couple of weeks I’ve hinted that I was running a half marathon – specifically the Peoria Heights Half Marathon.  The goal this year was to get more halfs in and that meant starting earlier in the race season.  Typically the half target is early September.  This year the target was May, but found out two weeks ago that the Heights race was on (was given indications last year it was off due to the sponsor moving out of that city).  Went ahead and signed up figuring I could use it as an easy training run and wouldn’t have to bring my own fluids.  I was already at 12 miles having kept the training up through the Winter months – one more mile (point one) shouldn’t be that hard

Well, I can say with great pride the medal is now mine.

From a swag perspective, this one featured one of the nicest medals I have received and definitely the best shirt.   Kudos to the River City Race Management Team (Shazam Racing) for putting on another great race.  If you recall, they also ran the Screaming Pumpkin Race (link here)  which also had awesome medals.  We were unable to locate an ambulance, which is a little troublesome on its own, but we decided to take the traditional post race picture on a nearby wall – the best part being I was able to SIT.

Hit the jump to read all about what it took to claim this medal!

Continue reading Peoria Heights Half Marathon Conquered

Duck Duck Goose

My nervous tick is indicating it is about time to put out another bird post!  Unfortunately, the one I have teed up for today is one I’ve kind of been dreading.  Not that it a terrifying bird or anything (in fact it is quite visually appealing), but rather the offshoots of the Goose are difficult to ID with any certainty.  Once there’s crossbreeding with the Canada Goose and domestic geese you never know what you are going to get – from there, the mutations just get beyond levels of truly classifying.  This is possibly the case here, but based on some serious research, there might be a check here after all.

For reference, focus on the LARGER birds in the images – there was a smattering of Mallards hanging around that looked quite content in the midst of the larger flock.  These shots were actually taken by the side of the road on our way back from Wildcat Den State Park near Muscatine, Iowa.  Linda had always been wanting to take me there so took her up on it one weekend we were free (geesh, probably a year or two ago).  If you have never been there it is similar to Starved Rock in the features, but actually better – for one thing they have way less graffiti all over the place which always make me sick every time I journey up to Starved Rock.  That is one of the few uses of drones or cameras that I condone if that will curtail that crap.  So, on our way back, I noticed a nice collection of Geese and Ducks hanging out enjoying the nice weather.

Hit the jump to read a lot more about these birds and a few others I shot at the same time

Continue reading Duck Duck Goose

In the Muck and on the Porch

Running low on time tonight but thought I’d throw a post out there while watching the Cardinals battle it out with the Reds.  Worried it was going to be a short night, but the Cards covered the 4-0 lead they handed the Reds at the start of the game.. now just down one!!  Since birds tend to take an extra amount of time due to all the associated research figured it would be prudent to just go with your regular standard green …

Bullfrog.  Now when you see me taking pictures of bullfrogs you can quickly come to the conclusion there was nothing else even remotely interesting to photograph in the area.  First I look for birds, then larger animals followed by dragonflies and then.. well those muck loving amphibians.. oops, forgot spiders and slugs – definitely spiders then slugs THEN those mucky amphibians.   Not so much that I don’t like these particular creatures, but where they tend to hang out is usually loaded with those blood sucking mosquitoes.  I do HATE mosquitoes and with two hands on a camera I cannot properly defend myself from their onslaught.  UPDATE – Cards now up by 2!.  Pretty sure the above frog was taken at the Jubilee College State Park pond.  All in all pretty pleased on how that particular shot came out – the frog was pretty clean in contrast to the muck it was lounging in and those eyes came out nice and sharp…. the following shot took a darker feel.

Probably could have lightened it up a little bit more but was going for the more “lurker” approach.  The darker coloring gave the impression it was more concealed in the surroundings just waiting for the next victim to wade by.  This shot was actually taken up by Kewanee IL. in a park just north of the city.  We were taking pictures of a Great Blue Heron and two Swans most of the time we were there.  At one point looked down and saw those two eyes break through the water so took a few minutes to get it in the tin.  Some interesting tidbits about Kewanee for those that are not aware of it (as in live North of I-80 and East of I-39 and don’t believe there is anything worth visiting outside of Chicago).  Kewanee is considered the Hog Capital of the World due to being the top hog producing county in 1949. The name itself is the Ho-Chunk (note, a Native American tribe, not a group of fat prostitutes) word for Prairie Chicken.  It is also the home of Mary… everyone knows Mary so no need to go into detail there.

Hit the jump to see one of their relatives.

Continue reading In the Muck and on the Porch

Mackinaw Merganser

I must say, last month was a bit of a strain on my nerves. That many posts without featuring a bird is just about enough to give me a permanent twitch. The month of variety is officially in the books, so we’ll start afresh with a bird post. For those that were liking the variety, don’t fret. There are plenty of topics in the hopper and some of them just might keep you up at night! Truth be told, we have been out birding shoots for the past two weekends so the tins is plum full of new birds to feature. Problem is I’m still behind on last year’s shoots so it might be a bit before I get to these new ones – even with the upped production (not sure anyone noticed but there was like 9 posts last month). Just like in running, you can’t get to the finish line without taking a step and today we are heading back to the same place as the last post – Mackinaw Island (link here).

Well, actually unlike the last post from the mainland, these shots were taken on the island itself. We were busy biking the area and found these Common Mergansers hanging on the backside of the island.  Before I leave that last sentence I need to comment on the aspect of BIKING that island.  It probably should have been apparent, but once you get off the outer ring it is a beast of a ride.  Big kudos to Linda for toughing that out.  We headed up to the fort and to the airfield which took us some mighty steep hills.  If you choose to do this yourself, make sure you bring your own bike or minimally rent the multi-speed mountain bike.  NEVER and I mean NEVER opt for the two seater – I am very aware Linda cannot be trusted on one of those so TWO bikes was the order of the day.

One Merganser in particular caught my eye while on our last mile or so before completing the loop around the outer ring.  Based on lacking the white stripe on the neck and lighter chin the guess at the moment is a Juvi.

The reason this particular bird caught my eye is that it looked like it was in the middle of a morning workout.  Good to see the wildlife putting in the same amount of sweat we were dripping on the island that day – can’t remember the exact temperature but it was HOT.  By the time I made it off the bike and got the camera ready, the bench press and dumbbell routine was over.  Next up was the stretching portion.

This Merganser was ready for whatever the day had to offer!… well, almost there.  Nothing is better than topping off a tough workout with a little Yoga.  Not sure when it comes to Merganser Yoga, but this looks like the  Tree Pose…

… or maybe the duck Warrior Pose.  In either case – damn impressive and perfect fodder for the camera.  Eventually he dove into the cold water to rejuvenate the muscles and meet the day head on.  On retrospect, seems like a lot of work to simply float on the water all day but who am I to judge.  Having written this now I’m feeling like a slacker even though I did get a 12 mile run in yesterday and hiked another 6 miles today.  Maybe I’ll go hit the weights myself – can’t be outdone by a duck now can I?  Certainly not (although doubt that JUVI is running a half marathon next weekend heheheheh!)

Reach Out and Grab It

The “Month of Variety” is coming to a close.  This is a good thing for me because the bird pictures are really starting to stack up as of late.  I’ve had a number of local encounters this month that I’m really happy about and Linda and I have been out on additional bird shoots that have have netted some nice opportunities as well.  Speaking of which, today’s shoot was unbelievably FRUSTRATING – well at least one large chunk of it.  We had been up and down the Mississippi River for most of the morning checking out whatever water birds we could locate.  While visiting a nature center at of the sites we came across a birding pamphlet that indicated the Pileated Woodpecker was COMMON in the particular area we were, Spring, Summer, Winter and Fall.  Let me restate that – they are COMMON to the area.  Needless to say, we tracked down a wooded nature preserve and headed right for it.  By headed right to it, I mean, drove all over the place trying to find it including backtracking like crazy trying to locate it.  Unbeknownst to us at the time this was going to be the theme for our prized Woodpecker hunt.  Eventually we located it and headed out on one of the trails.  Mental note, next time take a better look at the map.  In our haste to get the shot, we failed to set a proper course.  About 20 minutes into the trek we heard it!  You can’t mistake the sound of a Pileated Woodpecker.  Sure enough, about 5 minutes later it flew high over our heads and lighted quite some distance deeper into the woods.  In hindsight we should have just tracked it down, but instead we decided to continue on the trail back to the car.  An hour plus later we were lost thanks to absolutely pathetic trail markers.  It was awful, but eventually we found the proper trail and started our trek out.  At one point I joked to Linda that there will probably be 5 Pileateds sitting in the tree next to our car when we returned.  That didn’t come to fruition when we staggered out of the woods.  We got in the car and left dejected.  About .3 miles out of the park that damn Pileated (assuming at this point it was the same) flew past our windshield and into the trees by the side of the road.  By the time Linda got the car stopped and I got out it had disappeared again AAAARRRRGGHHHH!!!  All that work, 2 sightings and NOTHING to show for it.

But that really wasn’t the topic for today’s post.  Instead I am going with some shots that we took during our Mackinaw Island trip back in 2012.

It was actually a gorgeous night on July 3rd.  We were in the area to catch the Fourth of July celebrations.  As with our previous visit, we opted to stay on the mainland rather than fight the hassle with the shuttles.  The hotel we were staying at was on the lake complete with beach.   As the day was coming to an end, the full moon decide to grace us shrouded in a breathtaking orange.  The Harvest Moon shots in the previous post was what reminded me about these shots.

There is something about a serene water setting that completely relaxes you.  No more worrying about work or fretting about tasks to get done at home, just living in the now with the best nature has to offer.  I was standing out in the water enjoying the scene when Linda took this shot.  Was I thinking deep philosophical thoughts, the foundation of our existence or maybe the downfall of the greatest country in the world thanks to socialist agendas?

Hit the jump to see the answer.

Continue reading Reach Out and Grab It

Little Boy Blue

Greetings Earthlings! In keeping with the “Month of Variety” figured it was time to go with something out of this world. One of the many great things about living out in the country is you get to experience all that the night has to offer. If the howling coyotes don’t intrigue you or the bats don’t take your breath away (literally spooked one out from under our deck tonight) and the billions of visible stars don’t captivate you .. there’s always the majesty that is …

… the full Moon. In particular I’ve always referred to this as a Harvest Moon. Not sure where I learned that, but guessing once again it has its roots in my early education years since the fact it was orange is what I associate with the Harvest Moon. According to Wikipedia, that may not be a requirement. What makes it the Harvest Moon is the closest full moon to the Autumnal Equinox.  Now whether that means it is always orange is left unclear. Another interesting note was that the Harvest Moons are unique in that the time difference between when the moon rises on successive evenings is significantly shorter than average. Typically the moon rises 50-47 minutes later each day. The Harvest Moon successive nights is only in the 30 minute range.

Personally, I generally liked the half moon form better than the full. Just gives a more eerie feel and the texture on the surface at the midpoint gives a cool jaggedness too it. And as Pink Floyd so eloquently stated, don’t let the band you’re in start playing a different tune or you just might be there.

I can imagine the anguish that previous statement probably caused. “The dark side of the moon isn’t referring to the “missing” part you idiot, it is meant to refer to the OTHER side of the moon”. You know, the one that was introduced to us thanks to Apollo 8 in 1968 – since that point it is no longer a mystery, we KNOW what the back side of the moon looks like and it is bright pink with millions of multi-color spots all over it – pretty much looks like a giant cupcake with sprinkles.

Question time – what direction does the Moon orbit the Earth? If you said same direction as the Earth.. you get a big gold star! Now what appears to be the harder question since there are a lot of people out there that don’t know the correct answer (and yet they are still allowed to vote). Does the Earth orbit about around the Sun or does the Sun orbit around the Earth?

Hit the jump to see a few more shots of our little buddy in the sky

Continue reading Little Boy Blue

A Fungus Among Us

A mushroom walks into a bar

The bartender states “we don’t server your kind in here”

“But I’m a Fun Guy” responds the mushroom.

This was actually an opening joke at a work presentation.  Trust me, the rest of the material was better.  Each presenter led with a bar joke – when you’re in a multi-hour strategy session anything to lighten the time is welcome.  Besides, it provided the perfect lead into my latest blog entry.

We are in overtime this month but this set fit the “something different” theme.  When it comes to fungi (I hope you got that joke earlier) I am a total neophyte.  To put it in perspective, I had no idea what a morel was until we were invited to a hunt by our new neighbors about 6 years ago when we moved into the new house.  Apparently if you live in the woods you are expected to be a morel hunter.  After someone finally explained to us what one looks like we headed out into the woods with zero guidance on where one might find these supposedly good eats.  Eventually Linda and I found one.  We took it back to the gathering area and low and behold we won the “biggest morel” contest.  Note, I can definitely tell you these rather cute orange mushrooms are NOT morels.

Oh, I do know one other thing about mushrooms.  Do not eat a mushroom unless you absolutely know what it is.  This should go without mention – it’s a fungus – why in the hell would you want to put that in your body .. IT’S A FUNGUS.  From what little research I did, this must not be as obvious as one would think because 95% of the websites visited during that research explicitly stated that warning  somewhere on the site – translated – someone has been sued.

Hit the jump to read a little more about these fungi and others.

Continue reading A Fungus Among Us