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Borrego Springs, CA

Sunday, November 23, 2014

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.

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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.

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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.  Winking smile  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.)  IMG_8955After 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.

IMG_8974It 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.

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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. In love

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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                                                                              THE END!!

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

38 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. You must have got rid of G+ it is a pain in the you know what! Those birds are beautiful...love their top knots. Had two almost 40 F days...but headed to the deep freeze again. Enjoy the warmth! :)

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  3. I'm not sure how Google+ works but think I may have a profile. I am intetested in the Google phone stuff I read about in your comments the other day. I get frustrated with the technology stuff and need a personal geek to help me out.

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  4. I've now switched back to no G+. I've lost some comments along the way, but it is what it is. Seems it has something to do with my template. Sure wish I didn't lose those comments...

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    1. Well, glad you turned off G+. Even though I have a profile, I hate that comments show up in a person's public personal profile whenever they comment on any G+ blog. I do see that you now have the "Embedded" comments option turned on so replies can now be attached directly under an individual comment--- I love using that feature & hope you do too!

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    2. Just to be clear, "comments show up in a person's public personal profile whenever they comment on any G+ blog" is a choice the person leaving the comment makes by choosing 'public'. That's the default but you can easily change that if you want to.

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  5. Strange format now for posting comments on your blog. It just popped me to a completely new and separate page. Oh well. I'm not a fan of going through Google+, so we'll see what happens when I click Publish. As usual, the bird photos are super! BTW, I do appreciate you commenting on my blog. When I closed the old one and started the new one, I went from 100+ followers to 16, even with notifying everyone prior to the change. So . . . thanks for visiting and "talking" to me!

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  6. I remember now. I did have to update my template some time back when I switched to g plus. I do get emails for posts. I am not sure why the plus commenting thing seems to cause such consternation. When I comment I don't see much difference between the two. Seems as though many people are using gmail and google search engines. Hard to understand the problem. Either way. Whatever works for you I'll comment either way. Hugs to you ms Judy! Can't wait to see you on our coast.

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  7. I guess you are back to the old way comments. No problem here. You photos are beautiful.

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  8. When Google introduced its new Templates a few years back they obviously discontinued support for some of the older blogger templates. They had warned about this regarding the use of old, outdated browsers too.

    With Judy's template, it was not possible to use the embedded posts option. Nor is it possible to show the normal Share Icons beneath her posts.

    The conflicts with G+ Comment Integration and Blogger made it necessary to revert Judy's blog back to the regular Blogger comment system.

    Judy is now receiving emails for all comments lost and they are showing up on her blog as they should.

    As I told Judy tonight "nobody should ever listen to me"!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  9. Interesting about the comments. I think I'll stick to the old way too. My template is very old!

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  10. Judy, can you or Rick or anyone please reply as to how/where one can turn on "embedded comments" under the old (blogger) comment system? Or email this info to me at craigm014@gmail.com. Thanks.

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    1. Craig..To turn on Embedded Comments go to the Blogger Dashboard: Settings > Posts and Comments and click the down arrow beside Comment Location and select 'Embedded'.

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  11. The quail make me smile, make me feel happy just seeing them scoot along. You got some great pics of busy birds that don't hold still for a second! I like the familiar comment format. Google+ is hard to read.

    (know the special feeling of holding a "rescued" bird in-hand -- good for you!)

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  12. I haven't changed to Goggle+ because Paul also would like to receive the comments. Goggle+ does not allow two people to received comment notifications. Rick looked into it and can't figure out how to make it work either. If he can't do it, not sure anyone can.

    I love the photos of the quail. I think they are so cute to watch.

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  13. I do not comment a lot but if I must sign up for Google+ I will not be commenting at all. I'm clad you have switched back and now offer the Reply to each Comment.

    I too love the quail, great pictures!

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  14. That Gambel was just star-'struck'! "OMG, it's the Blogger Bird Lady!!" ;-)

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  15. those quail are amazing looking. . .surely hope I get to see some when we get to AZ.

    I love all things Google. . .I especially love using the Word Documents and Excel Spreadsheets in Google Drive. . .best thing ever! I can now see all things Google from any computer, and my phone. . .comes in handy if I forget my grocery list!

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  16. Is my comment going to show up or is it going to disappear into the outer space? Here goes....

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  17. Since I am obviously a crusty old lady who hates change, I am not a fan of Google +..I don't have any problem commenting on Rick's blog, but I do have to switch from Dennis to me and that is a pain..I really think that sometimes the Powers That Be think they are changing things for the better, but it' just more complicated and worse...and that is why my evil twin is Maxine....(she's actually my heroine!)
    PS..Lovin' those dinosaur looking feather scales on the quail...Didn't I hear somewhere that dinosaurs are really very much related to birds??

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  18. LOVE your header picture … the bird let you pick it up???? oh, squeal! aw

    I always click on notify me if I want to receive answers to my comments but you never answer comments so … I don’t click on it here, ha? … or any blog where the comments are like 25 or 50 or more … I’ll just go back and reread when it was an interesting post or comments … sometimes the comments are as interesting as the blog post … yep

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  19. I love watching the quail strutting around our campground. I'm just happy when I can read and comment on blogs. But I do prefer the old way.

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  20. OMG....I don't comment often and not sure we ever connected but just had to share. THOMAS Seasonal CRANBERRY ENGLISH muffins are in the store...got mine at Walmart. WOW, OMG.... AMAZING!!

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  21. Oh my Google+ just makes me sigh. I'm so glad you aren't using it. Those Quail pictures are just stunning. I'd sure love to see them.

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  22. Glad to see you ditched that Google + stuff. Wished a few others would as well.

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  23. You saved a life! 😊 I love the quail shots! One of my all time fav ducks is the Ruddy, which I don't get to see very often! Lucky you for having them there!

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  24. Mr and Mrs Gamble make me remember the lovely voices that they use while sitting in the bushes and trees!

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  25. Great photos as usual, welcome back to the non-G+ world.

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  26. Have to agree the CJ's comments about those English muffins.

    Haven't checked blogs in a few days. Let's see if mind gets posted.

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  27. OOPS - My MIND isn't posted or whatever. Just that my mind typed mind when I meant mine. Understood!

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  28. I like the pelicans. They are so gangly with that humongous beak. Then you see them soaring gracefully high in the air and...... wow!

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  29. Nice Post.Thanks for Sharing this in your Blog

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