Tuesday, March 30, 2010

This and that

I headed out this morning to try to find the illusive black capped vireo.  I went to the Russel tract and met Chuck, the biologist, on his way out.  I believe I heard one vireo, but couldn't get a chance to see it.  Chuck couldn't either.  :(  These vireos inhabit very dense shin oak areas, and are hard to see.

More and more wild flowers are beginning to bloom in the hill country.  Maybe on Friday or Sunday I'll be able to take a drive to enjoy the blue bonnets and Indian paint brushes.  You know there are things to enjoy around here besides birds.  :)

If you're in to insects, here's a beetle that scurried across my site yesterday.  Don't know what kind it is.

This butterfly was making a bee line for my hummingbird feeder.

And yes, PetDoc, it is a spicebush swallowtail!

My son, Daniel, called tonight to let me know that he received the electrical plug for my old laptop that I sent to him last week.  I'm glad that he can use it for school, since I didn't know what I was going to do with it.  He did comment that he couldn't believe how slow it was.  I didn't know I was back in the dark ages of laptops until I purchased my new one.  What a difference I've found!  Now it doesn't take me hours to make a blog post.  :)

I think I told you late last week that I emailed a note of complaint to the Oregon Fish and Wildlife service about not receiving any kind of response from the places I had applied to for this summer.  Well, yesterday  morning I received a call from one of the wildlife areas while I was on top of one of the hills looking for the golden cheeked warbler.  I spoke with the volunteer coordinator and he certainly didn't  paint a very pretty picture of his facility.  So, I passed on that assignment....two hours from groceries and shopping, horrible bugs all summer, and they're not sure what to do with volunteers other than put them in the office.  Not my cup of tea by a long shot!  I guess my email had some effect, but I haven't heard from the other place yet.  I sent in my application to Malheur NWR last Friday, so maybe I'll hear from them within the next two weeks.

I had to turn on the AC today, as temps were into the eighties and my rig sits in full sun all day.  I'm not complaining though, I love the warmer temperatures.

Thanks for stopping by....talk to you later,  Judy

2 comments:

  1. Hi Judy,
    Now I wished Grant had updated our blog 3 weeks ago! Darn! We've been in Hill Country 3 weeks and didn't know the NWR was up there! Would've been great to see the yellow cheeked warbler! We leave here tomorrow for Corpus Christi!

    However, thanks for the Spicebush Swallowtail ID! There are thousands of them here, but they don't sit long enough for an ID! lol One did sit for about 20 seconds to see his/her beautiful blue spots!
    Best of luck finding a very good summer volunteer job worth your skills!
    Kathy & Grant
    Birdingrvers.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. I's wonderful to see your pictures of the little wildlife! I have always liked bugs! I used to hate spiders, but now I find them quite interesting, at a distance.

    ReplyDelete