B & B - Birds and Blogging

Today was the first morning I officially had people signed up for the bird tour.  Two fellow volunteers were also going to be coming along, so I was a little pumped.  Winds were predicted to be almost as bad as last Sunday, but they were calm as I headed to open the gate at 7:30.  The couple from Alaska was waiting for me at the gate.

This week I added a stop at the beginning of the tour at a small pond close to the RV sites.  I had seen these four ‘snowbirds’ arrive yesterday as I sat outside with Emma.  Check off white pelican on the list.

On the way to the rest of the ponds we spotted a big raccoon making its way to the spillway.  No bobcat this morning, but I think I’ll see it again one of these mornings.  We circled a couple of the ponds and found that more waterfowl has moved in for the winter.  Besides all the coots and ruddy ducks, we saw quite a few canvasbacks, eared grebes, and gadwall.  Each week is a little different.

As we rounded a corner, I told the Alaska folks that a young vermillion flycatcher liked to hang out in this area.  Right on queue, the little dude appeared.  Guess I’d better give him a raise.    After less than an hour into the tour, the predicted winds descended on us.  Little birds hunkered down, and the waterfowl made their way to protected areas.  Even the raptors were having a hard time maneuvering.  You just can’t control the weather on these tours.

Yesterday afternoon, one of the maintenance volunteers came over to seal my picnic table.  I brought Emma inside so she wouldn’t get in his way.  (Those of you that know Emma, can understand why I brought her inside.)  After Dick had finished his work and left, I noticed a male Gambel’s quail making its way through the campsite.  So Emma and I sat on the inside steps of the rig and I took these shots through the handle opening of the screen door.

It wasn’t long before the rest of the flock came wandering through.  I really like these comical looking birds with their stunning topknots and babbling chatter.  Close up, I like the scaled quality of their neck feathers.

Last week when I went to the local post office to pick up the refuge mail, I found one of these beautiful birds sitting stunned in the middle of the road.  I pulled over to the side of the road, got out, and picked it up to move it under a small mesquite bush in the shade.  It didn’t protest, and when I came back down the road it was gone.  I felt like I did my good deed for the day.  Don’t know if it flew into a car or what, but I savored the feeling of having that soft bird in my hands for a moment.  A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, don’t-cha know.

So that’s it for the birds for today, and now on to Blogging.  As some have noticed, I switched to Google+ for my comments a couple of days ago.  I did that because sometimes commenters ask questions, and g-mail doesn’t always allow me to respond to those questions.  With some help from Rick it was an easy transition, I thought.  In order to comment now, you need a G+ page or profile, so I knew this would not work for some people.  I had mixed emotions about that since I really enjoy reading the comments readers make (except for those spammers of course).  Well, after a day and a half, I received three emails from folks saying they wouldn’t be interested in doing the G+ thing.  That was it.  There were no other comments in my email account.  If I viewed my blog on my dashboard, it said there were zero comments.

Made me think I had made my readers really mad.  I checked my G+ page, and did find one comment.  Finally this morning, I went to my dashboard, clicked on view blog, and then clicked on 0 comments.  Viola!  There were comments there, but I hadn’t been notified.  Don’t know why not.  I checked my settings, and it says I’ll be notified by email of any comments, but that’s not happening.  It seems the only way to know is to view the blog and then click on comments even though it says there aren’t any.  That’s a pain.  Is this how everyone that has switched to G+ comments has to do it?  I’d appreciate your input.

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Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy