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Birding / nature / photography ~ Older Asexuals for light walking and hiking nature adventures ~


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We saw a great crested grebe yesterday, taking advantage of the sluice gates of a lock stirring up food from the canal bed.

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18 hours ago, pickles mcgee said:

A friend and I had gone to find the cabin of ancestors of his, which got moved to the park along with several other old cabins.

 

And we found it!  My friend’s last name is Burnett also.  He doesn’t think this relative was direct (like great great grandfather), but probably a great great uncle (or great great great).

 

Spoiler

A29-FDC26-537-A-4-E61-8-C0-E-B6542-E285-

 

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When I put the mealworms out for the birds today, the house sparrows were queueing up on the fence.  I must get new batteries for my camera and attempt a photo if they queue up again. 

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I just had a close encounter on my front lawn with a skunk. Fortunately it skedaddled without resorting to more persuasive defenses. :P 

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I know I have mentioned him before, but the young robin that is holding my garden as his territory now is so adorable!  The moment I go out he appears, posing on the top of the parasol or the parasol stand.   He sings at me from the hedge to let me know he is there sometimes.  He has to get in quick for food before the starling flock.

 

Puffball mushrooms are appearing on the lawn, the hedge has recovered from the drought and, less joyfully, the wasp nest is still active.

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12 hours ago, daveb said:

I just had a close encounter on my front lawn with a skunk.

Wow, in the city?  Could you smell it?

3 hours ago, Myssterry said:

Puffball mushrooms are appearing on the lawn

Puffballs are one of my favorite mushrooms to eat, if harvested right when they appear or a day thereafter.  if in doubt they are indeed puffballs, they can be sliced open to confirm they have no gills.

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4 hours ago, Muledeer said:

Wow, in the city?  Could you smell it?

Suburbs, with plenty of green space. We get deer, coyotes, raccoons, beavers, etc., too. (although I have never seen any of those in my own front yard; only saw deer a few blocks away where there are more old trees close to green space, and only know of the others from reports)

No smell last night, but I thought I smelled some skunkiness in the distance this morning. Maybe someone else or something else wasn't so lucky. :P 

Edited by daveb
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Last night, I retrieved the memory cards from two of my trail cameras.  The camera I have set up on an active game trail also takes short video clips.  Usually, I have to sort through hundreds of shots triggered by wind, but this time, there were about 60 video clips of just the animals.  There were moose eating the leaves off the aspen trees - a mother and her calf.  There were multiple mule deer, some very large bucks, single deer, and mother deer with her twin fawns.  The omnipresent fox was busy patrolling and hunting, and it also just sat there for a photo shoot.  The sounds included squirrels barking, birds chirping, twigs crackling underfoot, wind noises and the constant sound of the river rushing over rocks.  The animals were at ease, none were stressed and they were just living their best life at a slow pace.  I have not had cattle on the ranch this year because the abundance of grass and natural feed has kept them on the other side of the river, and hunting season has not yet began.  Viewing these video clips made me realize how much of nature is missed by capturing one still photo vs. live action.  I wish I could share them with you.   I truly live on a nature preserve!

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@pickles mcgee, @daveb, I agree that it's probably a Skipper, but it could well be one that we don't get in Britain. Some species, such as Lulworth Skipper and Essex Skipper, for example have evolved over time, but are very localised

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On 9/17/2022 at 8:32 PM, pickles mcgee said:

Just got this shot on Powell Butte. @Skycaptain and other butterfly people: can anyone ID this critter?

 

888-F0-A42-C42-C-4242-B461-743-E10-D2-BA

You could try INaturalist -- they're decent at ID'ing automatically from the photo.

AKA

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1 hour ago, AlsoKnownAs said:

From my recent trip to San Diego, this gorgeous bird is a California scrub jay.

Excellent photo!

I've always had a soft spot for scrub jays from my early days in southern California to my current days in Oregon. I also love that we get both scrub jays and Steller's jays. (although all jays are stellar) :D 

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On 9/17/2022 at 6:32 PM, pickles mcgee said:

Just got this shot on Powell Butte. @Skycaptain and other butterfly people: can anyone ID this critter?

 

888-F0-A42-C42-C-4242-B461-743-E10-D2-BA

I have no idea what it is called, but there are similar creatures around here as well.  I love how they color themselves to blend in with the dying leaves this time of the year.  It looks like some kind of a moth to me.

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On 9/18/2022 at 6:33 AM, Muledeer said:

The animals were at ease, none were stressed and they were just living their best life at a slow pace. 

Loved your write-up about your nature preserve.  A little slice of heaven.

 

On 9/19/2022 at 1:37 AM, Skycaptain said:

I agree that it's probably a Skipper

I iNatched it, and it does seem to be a skipper.  I had never heard of them.

 

20 hours ago, Muledeer said:

It looks like some kind of a moth to me.

It looked like a bit of both to me--the brown and tan and furry body seemed moth, but the antennae with bulbs at the ends, and the way its wings are folded up, seemed butterfly.  If it's a skipper, the iNatch site said they are butterflies. 

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On 9/18/2022 at 3:33 PM, Muledeer said:

Last night, I retrieved the memory cards from two of my trail cameras.  The camera I have set up on an active game trail also takes short video clips.  Usually, I have to sort through hundreds of shots triggered by wind, but this time, there were about 60 video clips of just the animals.  There were moose eating the leaves off the aspen trees - a mother and her calf.  There were multiple mule deer, some very large bucks, single deer, and mother deer with her twin fawns.  The omnipresent fox was busy patrolling and hunting, and it also just sat there for a photo shoot.  The sounds included squirrels barking, birds chirping, twigs crackling underfoot, wind noises and the constant sound of the river rushing over rocks.  The animals were at ease, none were stressed and they were just living their best life at a slow pace.  I have not had cattle on the ranch this year because the abundance of grass and natural feed has kept them on the other side of the river, and hunting season has not yet began.  Viewing these video clips made me realize how much of nature is missed by capturing one still photo vs. live action.  I wish I could share them with you.   I truly live on a nature preserve!

No cryptids though? :D <Cue all the "A man set up a trail camera on his property. No one can identify the mysterious creature he spotted. SEE FOR YOURSELF" YT videos>

 

Today I went for a short trip to the site with a famous palace (which I skipped) surrounded by gardens and a park with equally famous centuries-old oaks. No photos have been taken on that day but you can see one of those majestic giants here

 

 

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On 9/24/2022 at 2:31 PM, AlsoKnownAs said:

Also from my trip to San Diego: a California ground squirrel sounding the alarm.

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Damn.  I can't  view that photo.  We have Uinta ground squirrels here and I wanted to see the difference in their appearance.

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1 hour ago, Muledeer said:

Damn.  I can't  view that photo.  We have Uinta ground squirrels here and I wanted to see the difference in their appearance.

I'm guessing it would be tricky to spot any differences.

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1 hour ago, AlsoKnownAs said:

Here's another copy of it: I saw several.

May be an image of nature

I love the expression in his face!  Here is a Uinta Ground Squirrel:

HUNT0067.jpg

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13 minutes ago, AlsoKnownAs said:

It was calling out an alarm at the time.

AKA

Was that from a video clip or just a lucky snapshot?  I photographed a marmot screaming , by luck...

 

SUNP0043.jpg

 

20180530-075030.jpg

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Back in Maryland, I got this lifebird late last week. It's called a Nashville Warbler.

May be an image of bird and nature

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On 10/3/2022 at 5:18 PM, AlsoKnownAs said:

I got this lifebird

Beautiful!  Congrats!

 

I googled "birder lifebird" and got this, and it was what I had guessed:

 

A "life bird" is a species that a birder has seen and identified in the wild for the very first time in their life.

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I got a lifebird today at an RSPB reserve.  The cattle egret!  They have followed here after the little egret, but are quite recent visitors.  I got lovely views of them with the cattle that graze the reserve.  There were about 14 great white egrets, also quite new to the UK, and I haven't seen so many in a group before.  Kestrels were hovering, a male and female, and one flew over a gate quite close to me.  A stoat put in a close appearance at my feet and seemed as surprised to see me as I was to see it.  Great day's birding, many more species seen. 

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