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Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Friday, December 21, 2007
Calling All QUACKS!!!
CALLING ALL QUACKS!!! CALLING ALL QUACKS!!! THERE'S BEEN A SECURITY BREACH AT SILVER LAKE!!!
Since I was off work and needed to run some errands, I decided to take a drive through Silver Lake Park. As I was driving through the park I noticed geese had invaded the portions of the park that had been cordoned off by the city earlier this year in order to keep the geese.
Someone had come up with this silly idea to use fences, wires, silver streamers, and cement blocks to create barriers the park in order to reduce the number of geese at the park, the amount of goose poop, allow more grass and plants to grow, and relandscape portions of the park. The only thing they've accomplished so far is to create an unbelieveable eye-sore!!!
I was so happy to see the geese (and mallards) were smart enough not to let those silly wires and streamers keep them out. I started laughing so much I almost had to stop by pickup...anyway, after running my errands, I went back home, grabbed my camera and took a few pictures of the situation.
I really do think it's a shame that the city thought that the number of geese needed to be reduced. It's a spectacular sight to see them and all the other waterfowl that visit the park (mallard ducks, american coots, ruddy ducks, and an occasional eagle or blue heron).
Anyway, here are the pics. Enjoy!
Since I was off work and needed to run some errands, I decided to take a drive through Silver Lake Park. As I was driving through the park I noticed geese had invaded the portions of the park that had been cordoned off by the city earlier this year in order to keep the geese.
Someone had come up with this silly idea to use fences, wires, silver streamers, and cement blocks to create barriers the park in order to reduce the number of geese at the park, the amount of goose poop, allow more grass and plants to grow, and relandscape portions of the park. The only thing they've accomplished so far is to create an unbelieveable eye-sore!!!
I was so happy to see the geese (and mallards) were smart enough not to let those silly wires and streamers keep them out. I started laughing so much I almost had to stop by pickup...anyway, after running my errands, I went back home, grabbed my camera and took a few pictures of the situation.
I really do think it's a shame that the city thought that the number of geese needed to be reduced. It's a spectacular sight to see them and all the other waterfowl that visit the park (mallard ducks, american coots, ruddy ducks, and an occasional eagle or blue heron).
Anyway, here are the pics. Enjoy!
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Cardinal Update
Yesterday, the count of cardinals simultaneously feeding at our feeders rose to nine! It will be interesting to see if this number increases during the course of the winter.
I wanted to get a picture of this flock of cardinals, but Weezer started barking and scared them away...by the time they started to come back, it was getting too dark to take a picture.
-- Update 12/21/2008 --
I got a marginally good pic today. Unfortunately, I was taking it through our sliding glass doors and got a relection...oh well...Like I say, it's marginally good:
I wanted to get a picture of this flock of cardinals, but Weezer started barking and scared them away...by the time they started to come back, it was getting too dark to take a picture.
-- Update 12/21/2008 --
I got a marginally good pic today. Unfortunately, I was taking it through our sliding glass doors and got a relection...oh well...Like I say, it's marginally good:
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Cardinals
The number of cardinals at our feeders seems to be increasing. Yesterday, there were 7 of them all feeding at the same time. Some were eating from the "barn" feeder and the rest were scavenging on the ground. Five were males. It will be interesting to see if the number of cardinals continues to increase over the course of the winter.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Birds
Now, that the ground has been covered with snow for several weeks, the birds have been quite busy at our bird feeders. There's a spot at our dining room table where I can set and watch all the feeders. The birds put on quite a show yesterday while I was having lunch. There were 3 pair of cardinals, nuthatches, black-capped chickadees, house finches, slate-colored juncos, and 1 house sparrow.
My favorite feeder birds are definitely the nuthatches. They're just barely small enough to use the tube feeders, but they seem to manage just fine. It's quite the commotion when the nuthatches and chickadees are flying to/from the feeders, but it sure is entertaining.
The slate-colored juncos never use the feeders. They just hop around on the cement under them and scavenge any seeds that have fallen out. They may be rather drab colored, but they're still cute. The cardinals both scavenge on the ground and use the barn shaped feeder since it's large enough for them to perch on.
All the feeders are too high up for the squirrels, but they also come onto the patio to scavenge the seeds that fall.
My favorite feeder birds are definitely the nuthatches. They're just barely small enough to use the tube feeders, but they seem to manage just fine. It's quite the commotion when the nuthatches and chickadees are flying to/from the feeders, but it sure is entertaining.
The slate-colored juncos never use the feeders. They just hop around on the cement under them and scavenge any seeds that have fallen out. They may be rather drab colored, but they're still cute. The cardinals both scavenge on the ground and use the barn shaped feeder since it's large enough for them to perch on.
All the feeders are too high up for the squirrels, but they also come onto the patio to scavenge the seeds that fall.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Weekend Wrap-up
On Saturday, we went to see the movie Beowulf in 3D. It was absolutely fantastic. It's certainly a movie that I would recommend to anyone that likes movies of the Fantasy genre. Human animation is so realistic down to small details such as facial hair and blemishes. The movement of the characters, as well as, the background, landscapes, etc. are equally as detailed...and besides, the story is interesting and there's lots of good action.
We left the theater in the middle of rather heavy snowfall, and the ride home was on snow packed roads. We went slow and made it OK.
Sunday morning we went to blow the snow out of the driveway and discovered the snow blower's main belt had came off again. So, we put it back on and were able to get the driveway cleaned out. I just hope we don't have to do that every time we want to use it.
A good share of the rest of the day, I spent trying to figure out the version of Paint Shop Pro that I have on my new computer. It's different than the old one, but I finally got it figured out well enough to create our holiday card. I'm not all that happy with the way the card turned out, but I guess it's better than nothing.
We left the theater in the middle of rather heavy snowfall, and the ride home was on snow packed roads. We went slow and made it OK.
Sunday morning we went to blow the snow out of the driveway and discovered the snow blower's main belt had came off again. So, we put it back on and were able to get the driveway cleaned out. I just hope we don't have to do that every time we want to use it.
A good share of the rest of the day, I spent trying to figure out the version of Paint Shop Pro that I have on my new computer. It's different than the old one, but I finally got it figured out well enough to create our holiday card. I'm not all that happy with the way the card turned out, but I guess it's better than nothing.
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