Christmas Bird Count 2010

While some dyed in the wool birders were on the refuge searching for owls at four in the morning, I languished in bed until six.  :)  I’m all for the birds, but I’ve just reached that stage in my life where tromping through the marsh at that time in the morning just doesn’t thrill me any longer.

I met up with the group at the VIS a little later, and was assigned three other people to take along with me.  One woman even brought her poodle with her.  What’s up with that?  I like dogs, but this wasn’t the time or place to have a canine companion along in my opinion.  The pooch was pretty well behaved, and only barked when we left it in the car to do some of our counting.  Luckily, the birds were far enough away that the barking didn’t effect them.  The reason the owner put him in the Suburban is that he was walking in the cow pies.  I haven’t checked the back seat to see if I’ll be cleaning off cow pie paw prints tomorrow.  :(
Since I was the leader of our small group, today was not a day for taking pictures.  Two out of the three were pretty much beginning birders.  That’s not a bad thing.  They were able to point out some birds to me, they just didn’t know what they were.  However, I just couldn’t pass up a chance to try to get a shot of a bald eagle.  These were the only two shots I took all day.  This guy didn’t stay around to pose!  I could tell by the white head and tail that this was not one of the three eagles I saw last week.  So, there have been at least 4 bald eagles on the refuge in the past week.  That’s not very common.

With the areas I was assigned to count, we tallied over 12,000 snow geese, our most abundant bird for the count.  It was a pretty good birding day overall.  It remained overcast all day with surprisingly calm winds and temps in the 70’s and high humidity.  Of course, calm winds meant that there were probably more mosquitoes in the car than there were geese on the refuge!  :)  I didn’t have much skin showing, but the little buggers found every square inch that was available.  Can you say itchy and lumpy?  I guess I’ll just suffer in the name of science.  :)

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

Holiday baking – my way :)

Blogland is alive with pictures of cookies, cakes, and butter tarts as people prepare their confectionary delights in preparation for the coming holidays.  I’ve never really had a sweet tooth, so I haven’t been tempted to try any of these recipes.  I’m a salty crunchy lady!  So, since I had today off, I decided to fix my holiday treat.

I don’t fix it often because it takes three pounds of pretzels, and even I have trouble consuming that many pretzels by myself before they are no longer fresh.  :)  I’m planning to share these cheesy pretzels with the other volunteers here.   The recipe also takes three days to make, so they should be ready just in time for our Christmas Day dinner. 

I think it’s more interesting to have differently shaped pretzels, so this year I included a bag of Texas shape pretzels.  You just empty the pretzels by hand (so you don’t get all that extra salt from just dumping the bag) into a huge bowl.  Then sprinkle on a 2.7 oz. bottle of popcorn seasoning.  I chose parmesan garlic for this batch.  Next, pour on the bottle of buttery flavored popcorn oil and carefully mix.

You need to then mix/rotate the batch 3-4 times/day for three days until the pretzels absorb the oil and seasoning and dry out.  That’s it!  I keep the bowl in the microwave in between mixings.  You won’t believe how tasty these pretzels are when they’re done!  It’s also a great snack for a Super Bowl Party if you are into those sporty type things.  :)   I guess it’s really not baking, but if you are a salty crunchy type person try this for your holiday snacking.

 

I got an email today from JOHN AND BRENDA. 

They sent me a picture of themselves, their rig, and Meg, their border collie, as they were pulling out from their visit with me on Sunday morning.  Seems to me that John fits in just fine down here in the southwest sporting that cowboy hat and belt buckle!  :)  I’m thinking that I may just meet up with these good folks again next winter in the Arizona desert…  Hmmm, could some desert boon docking be in my future??

 

Tomorrow, I’m off to participate in the annual Christmas Bird Count.  Amazing to me that something still has the title with Christmas in it.  I’m surprised that it hasn’t been changed to the winter bird count or something like that.  This is an annual count that occurs throughout North America (and Mexico, I think).  I don’t know how long it’s been run for sure, but I know it’s over 50 years.  Groups of people count all the birds they can find in 24 hours in a designated circle that is 15 miles in diameter.  I used to participate in this count back in the 80’s when I lived in upstate New York.  It’s a real bird-a-thon, and generally a good time is had by all.  Last year Tammy, a ranger on the refuge, and I participated together.  We’ll be doing the same again early tomorrow morning.  Guess I’d better get busy and pack a lunch…

 

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

Back to working the VIS

It got down to 37* last night, and that's what the temperature was inside the VIS when I arrived this morning. There is one little electric space heater, but it took until the middle of the afternoon to heat up the area so I could take my gloves off. Granted, I get cold easily, but just sitting inside there on a cement floor makes a slow day very long. I had a total of eleven visitors, but did do $165 in sales. I guess the sales make it worthwhile for the Friends group, but it's rather boring for the person working.

I had at least hoped to try to get another chance to get a picture of the vermilion flycatcher, but I didn't even see him until it was time to close. I was afraid that he had been blown away during the severe winds on Thursday. It's raining a little again this evening (what else is new?), but hopefully it will be sunny tomorrow.

I will be arriving at the VIS by 6:30 tomorrow morning to participate in the Christmas Bird Count. At this time of the year, tens of thousands of birders participate in Christmas Bird Counts across the USA, Canada, and Mexico. The statistics from these counts have been accumulated for at least 50 years. The count areas are designated circles with a fifteen mile diameter. All birds seen or heard in these circles are counted during a 24 hour period.

Back when I lived in Newark Valley, NY, I participated in about 15 years of these counts. I'd get the kids up before dawn, and off we'd go to our designated section of the circle around Owego, NY. They'd moan and groan about this, but I hope it gave them some appreciation for the avian inhabitants of our planet. I'm hoping Christmas counting in Texas will be more pleasant weather wise than it was in upstate NY. ;)

Here's to a good "Tweet" tomorrow.....

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