Ridgefield - An Early Assortment

On the front side of the auto route at Ridgefield, a Golden-crowned Sparrow, a Great Blue Heron (the most numerous of the large birds) eating what looks like a vole, a Bald Eagle (perched in a tree directly over the road), and a Northern Harrier privately enjoying lunch...

Ridgefield - Rough-legged Hawk

As promised, here are two shots of the White-tailed Kite light-morph Rough-legged Hawk seen at Ridgefield, just west of Rest Lake, on Tuesday afternoon.  One shot is the original frame, the second is the close crop...  S/he was NOT close to the road :)

I want to thank Truffles and her driver for spotting the Kite Hawk. Without their sharp eyes, I might have missed it entirely...

Ridgefield - Mystery Raptor

Does anyone know what species of bird this is? Size reminds me of a Red-tail, but I don't honestly see any red in the tail;  breast is mottled like a Cooper's, but my memory says it wasn't that small a bird.  Red-shouldered Hawk, perhaps?  Admittedly, the lighting is bad; s/he probably wasn't going to let me get out of the car and venture across the field to get a better look :)

Photo was taken at the 9th Street entrance to the River S Auto route at Ridgefield on Tuesday afternoon...

LATER: At the moment, the ID for this bird is vascillating between Red-shouldered and Red-tailed, the vote being split almost 50-50...

Poster # 76: Chirp, on Dogs and Cats

Chirp, always helpful, lets people know the difference between dogs and cats in a most succinct way... :)

HD Video from Norway

An HD video download from Norway, all 7.5 hours worth, is available for bittorrent download. If you are into trains, scenic landscapes, etc, and have somewhere around 23 gigabytes of free disk space (not to mention the time involved with downloading and watching), this may be for you...

Oh, and if you DO download, PLEASE invite me over to watch... I'd be happy to bring the popcorn :)

As Seen on TV. Really...

From what I can find, this is a REAL product!

XKCD does it Again :)

Thank you, XKCD :)

Image URL (for hotlinking/embedding):

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/abstraction.png

'Tis the Season...

with grateful embed permission from comics.com

Kellogg's Spokesman

"... the neighbour's dog is having a go in my grass!"

Evening Grosbeaks

Just before leaving for the gym this morning, a small flock of Evening Grosbeaks (joined by the neighbourhood regulars) dropped in for a bite at my local seed feeder.  For a second, I wasn't sure they were really there...

I managed to get a couple of half-decent shots through the window (it was still -7C out there) before I tried to go outside and get something better.  Unfortunately, once outside, not a one wanted to come closer than the birch about 30 metres away...

Here are a few shots from those five mostly-freezing minutes:  a male Evening Grosbeak adjusting his too-large body to the feeder, and one of the dozens of Dark-eyed Juncos fluffed up against the cold...

Also had an Anna's Hummer flit in and around the crowd for about 30 seconds before buzzing away at speed...

Beauford

A gorgeous Bernese Mountain Dog, playing with everyone (including a fun Golden Retriever puppy) on a recent afternoon when the park was just a bit "dirty" :)

Passenger, the

Where's the Vulcan Nerve Pinch when you need it? :)

Tigger and Koda

Tigger, here, is a Hound + German Shepherd mix.  He has good speed, a nifty herding instinct, and displays colourful markings...

Koda, a Siberian Husky, is a regular at the park.  You have to love the anthromorph'd smile and those electric blue eyes...

Project Management 101

This is one of the truest, scariest, and funniest Dilbert cartoons I've seen in a while...

Roland and Cedar

Roland is a gorgeous Australian Shepherd, but not one given to posing for photos...

Cedar, a Golden Retriever, didn't mind being available all afternoon :)

Fantastic News from the UK

Seems there is call to reverse certain photo-related provisions of Section 44, which made it a criminal offense to photograph anything a police officer said was illegal, even when it wasn't...

Congratulations for common sense in the UK!

Clara's Holiday Artichokes

Have to say, this looks delicious. I'm going to try and remember to give these a go...

Lacey and Maggie

First, we have Lacey, a Bichon Frise, enjoying the brisk weather (and the open running spaces)...

Next, I'm divided as to which version of this photo I like more:

This is Maggie, the boxer. She's semi-regular at the park, and that this particular moment, is enamoured with a tennis ball being thrown by someone who doesn't mind that the ball is gunky beyond all belief; she WANTS the ball, but is so well-behaved she's willing to wait for it :)

Do you have a preference between the two boxer shots? Let me know...

2009.12 Desktop Calendar

A few weeks ago, I had a mini-fallout occur just a few linear metres from where I sit typing this: Dozens of Townsend's Warblers and hundreds of other more likely (for me, anyway) passerines dropped out of the sky and attempted to empty both the neighbouring trees and my seed feeders of sustenance...

It seems apropos they should be this month's Desktop Calendar...

Please feel free to download this photo for personal use on your computer's desktop. To download, just click once on the image, which will bring up the enlarged image on a new webpage. Then, right-click on the image and follow your operating system's instructions for pictures / images.