A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush

That’s a famous old saying, but today I felt like I had a (so to say) bird in the hand and two in the bush!  :)  When I checked my email first thing this morning, I was given the address of the nearest fix it shop to repair my leveling jacks.  (that’s my so called bird in hand)  It is back in Boise, Idaho, but that is only a one day drive from here.  That will change my original plans of traveling down the Western side of California, but I can deal with that.  I’m sure there will be other things of interest along the way as I leave Boise and head towards Houston.  I’ll be working on the changed route over the next few days.

As usual, I packed my camera and took it with me as I headed in for a day of work in the VC.  I really wasn’t expecting anything new or exciting since I’ve taken it with me every work day for the last month.  However, I was in for a couple of surprises.  I’m not exactly swamped with visitors (23 today total), so in between guests, I sit out on the VC deck with my camera hoping for some action. 
As I was reading one of the interpretive signs for the hundredth time, a Townsend’s Solitaire (a type of thrush) flew up and nearly landed on my telephoto lens!  He was as shocked as I was, and immediately flew off into the bush, hence my first bird in the bush.  :)  This was a bird that I had never seen before, but I knew immediately what it was since I was hoping to see one!  He’s rather drab in appearance being mostly gray, but has a big white eye ring and white outer tail feathers.  Of course, I chased after him for these two shots.  Too bad about the shadows, but I’m thrilled never the less.
A young Northern flicker (red shafted) flew into the same tree, and off went the Townsend’s Solitaire.  :(  Don’t you just like those polka dots?  Reminds me of a dress my mother wore when I was a child. (Women always wore dresses in those days)
The shrubs and trees were just bubbling with little migrants this morning.  That’s a yellow warbler on the left, and a female common yellowthroat on the right.  The yellowthroat was shaking all it’s feathers like a dog shakes while it held onto a little worm in it’s beak.

I kept running in and out of the Visitor’s Center as folks arrived.  I didn’t give them the bum’s rush, but I was anxious to return outside after each visitation.  :)
At one point, I just sat outside on the steps leading up to the deck, and as I looked over at one of the cages surrounding a planting to protect it from the deer, I saw my second new life bird of the day!  Here was a Black-throated Gray Warbler.  Oh my goodness!  That was certainly not a bird I ever expected to see here…my second bird in the bush.  :)

I didn’t think the day could get much better than this, but it did.
Soon there was a great racket coming from the skies, and the Sandhill Cranes began to fly overhead.  They never seem to be silent, and I just love listening to their trilling chatter back and forth.  These cranes are one of the major reasons that folks come here in the fall.  What a nice display they put on.  It’s just a shame that no visitors were on the deck at the time to enjoy this with me.  Five minutes later, folks stopped in and asked me where they could see some cranes.  :(

As expected, bird activity slowed down in the late morning and early afternoon, but…
I was able to catch a glimpse of this Lincoln’s Sparrow that was taking a little afternoon rest in one of the trees.  It isn’t always easy to identify sparrows, but you can tell this is a Lincoln’s by the gray face and buffy wash on it’s upper breast.  It has a nice little eye ring, too.
I have seen many Black-billed Magpies in my time, but they have always alluded me when I have my camera ready.  Finally, today I got a photo of one.  I suppose now they will appear any time I take my camera out.  :)  That’s the way it always seems to go.  You look and look to see something, whether it be a bird or some other animal, and then once you finally see one, they appear before you every time you turn around! 

So, today turned out rather well…much more interesting to me than I thought it was going to be.  What can tomorrow bring?

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

The official tour

Today was the morning for my official tour of Malheur NWR.  I was to meet the Volunteer Coordinator at 8:00, and she would drive me around and fill me in on the details of the refuge.  It didn’t quite start on time because the Visitor’s Center was bubbling with people attending a birding workshop at a nearby retreat.  My fellow volunteer, Sue, was manning the VC, but needed an extra set of hands while the visitor’s made purchases.  She was also supposed to ask the visitors if they’d be willing to participate in a NWR survey.  I stepped in and helped her out with that because you have to write down their names and addresses.
While all the folks with binoculars, scopes, and cameras were scanning the surrounding trees for birdlife, the resident great-horned owl came to pose for pictures.  :)  How thoughtful of him.

About an hour later, the tour finally began.  This refuge consists of more than 187,000 acres of prime habitat.  That is big!  I must say that it was the fastest tour I’ve ever had, considering it’s size!  Of course, she knew I had already driven the auto tour route on my own, so we pretty much skipped that, and really didn’t stop anywhere to look at anything.  We also talked about my doing a special project in the field for her so I won’t be stuck the whole time I’m here in the VC.  I was all for that!  She also picked my brain about how to go about setting up bird tours here on the refuge.  I was happy to give her my input.  :)
 
We were back before noon, so I returned to the rig for lunch, and then made a call to Winnebago about the fluid leak from the leveler.  They gave me an email address to use to find out where the nearest place is to have it fixed.  I also asked them where the dipstick was located for checking the fluid levels.  It took him a while to figure that one out.  In the owner’s manual, there is a picture of the dipstick, but they don’t tell you where to find it.  What’s up with that?  Eventually, he told me it was on the frame under the motorhome in front of the passenger’s side front wheel.  So this afternoon, I crawled under the rig on my back to have a look.  I couldn’t find anything that looked like a dipstick (except myself:)).  I’m not giving up, though.
These two pics are of a yellow warbler I found hawking for insects on the wing in the willows along the Blitzen River the other day.  Notice how the bird on the left has his eye on an insect at the top of the pic.  :)

Tomorrow, I’m off early to go to a farmer’s market in Burn, OR, to hunt down some more home grown tomatoes.  It’s a 70 mile round trip, but it will be worth it to me if I’m successful!
                                                                   THE END! 

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

Revamping the itinerary, again

My plans for today were to visit the historic Fort Gibson, and the Honey Springs Battlefield.  I'm sure glad I checked the Internet this morning to get directions.  Guess what?  Neither place is open on Mondays.  Rats!  Oh well, guess I'll have to stay at this beautiful campground another day.  :)  I can manage that.  It will put me a day behind in my travels to Minnesota though.  Normally that wouldn't be a problem, but my daughter and one granddaughter are flying up from Chicago on Saturday to visit Andy, his family, and me on Saturday, and I'm supposed to pick them up at the Rochester airport.  I don't know what time they're scheduled to arrive, but I may not be pulling in to Andy's house until Saturday.  I'm sure we'll work something out. Perhaps Andy or their father could pick them up.

One of the strange things about this campground is that I get very good air card reception, but little to no cell phone reception.  Both devices are from Sprint, so I don't quite understand that.  I wonder if it has something to do with my new laptop?  Since I got it, my air card seems to work much better, but I have a new phone as well.  Hmmm, any ideas out there?  Tonight's post won't be as late as they have been lately because I'm actually typing away outside and am not tied to the Wilson antenna and amplifier.  The new laptop has a four hour battery life, so this is an experiment for me.  Since I like to stay outside with Emma until dusk, wouldn't it be great if I could just post outside?  We'll see what happens.

Only a couple of pictures tonight, as I spent most of the day taking Emma on walks and reading a new book.  It's a rough life out here!  :-)

Many little birds were fluttering about over my head this afternoon.  Among them was a male yellow warbler.  They glean insects off of the leaves and bark of the trees.  Several blue-gray gnatcatchers were about also, but getting a picture of them is like getting a picture of the wind.  They don't hold still for a moment.

This is not a spectacular photo, but it sure depicts how these little warblers bend and twist and keep their wings going in order to pluck a little lunch out of the trees.  :)

I hope the fine weather continues tomorrow so I can show you some of the historic sites in this area.  Oh, a flock of cedar waxwings just flew into the tree above my head.  Spring migration is certainly exciting for a bird watcher.  I'm really liking this posting outside!

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