This is a pet peeve of mine...particularly drives me crazy when I see people trimming or taking down big trees in the spring or summer, when you know the trees are full of nests that are incredibly well camouflaged.  When in winter I can suddenly see multiple nests in just about every tree, you know they are there in the summer but folks just don't see them (or perhaps don't care).

Jeane and I took a hiking trip to the Canadian Rockies the last week of July, and have finally organized our pictures.  If you're interested, here's the link (actually, two flavors):
1)  You can navigate using the multiple pages of thumbnails:
http://bellhanley.smugmug.com/Trips/Hiking/Canadian-Rockies-2010

OR
2)  Go straight to the slideshow:
http://bellhanley.smugmug.com/photos/swfpopup.mg?AlbumID=13337701&AlbumKey=Vpk9M

Enjoy!

P.S. We took far too many pictures, though we deleted at least 40% of the ones we took, so you might want to fix yourself a snack!

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Remember the fight for nest at UB March 30?  Well the video is now on the blog! 

That was amazing; thanks for posting it!

My sister's long-time boyfriend is one of the severe cases...not much he will eat at all.  So for the last few years we haven't gotten to serve anything fancy; no more eggplant parmesan, cheese fondue, eggs benedict...now when the family comes over we grill burgers and hot dogs and serve potato chips.  Fruit salad he'll eat, but no veggies.  We usually toss in a salad or veggie for the rest of the family.

Dean insists that we shouldn't plan around him, but it's hard to have a family gathering where he doesn't eat anything.  Benefit is that menu planning is much simpler than it used to be!

OH, noooooo, Lou! Looks like I just "infringed" on your topic!!! Ooops!

Slainte!

Bobbie

Don't worry Bobbie. According to the rules of topic etiquette, section 18.4, subsection C, it's only the FIRST person who creates the tangent that is at fault. Sort of like the first person in a convoy making a wrong turn; everybody behind him (or HER in this case) just naturally follows.

Lou

And when I contributed, I at least modified the topic somewhat so that anyone following it might not be misled into thinking that we were still talking about a fish.

Patti

I will be v. interested to hear re minks being protected. They are obviously "native" to some part of the world... but what with the poor critters being kept for the fur trade, who knows where they belong. When they get into rivers etc. which are not their true homes, they simply create havoc. Let that be a lesson to us...

The American mink is native to North America (I don't know about South America), but I think there is also a European mink.  There are lots of members of the same family (mustelid, I think) native to North America: short-tailed weasels - a.k.a ermine, long-tailed weasels, fishers, pine martens, badgers, otters, wolverines, black-footed ferret etc...I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot.  They're rare enough that I always get excited to see any members of that family, though it is hard to warm up to a voracious carnivore that you know is preying on the other cute critters we like to watch.

Hi everyone. I want to let you know the loss of my Panpan. He was euthanasied this morning after a short illness ( not even 12 hours ). Probably a lightning cancer. Foudroyant in french.
Thanks for the listening. Nicole

Nicole, I'm so sorry for your loss...I understand how hard it is to lose a pet.

Patti

Osprey will also pick up teddy bears and all kinds of stuff.  Monofilament fishing line is a problem for everyone (including people, as it can get tangled around and into everything).

Two out of the three Osprey chicks on the KY Osprey camera this year had to be rescued when they got tangled in monofilament line...

This site:  http://www.keepky.org/index.html

Has two more Osprey fledging videos posted, from the 2nd and 3rd chicks, as well as a video from yesterday where the chicks all returned to the nest to tussle over food...video and photo galleries can be accessed from the menu on the left.

http://classic.kodakgallery.com/valhallaviews/birds/july_2010_osprey

Beautiful pictures, as usual.  Thanks for sharing...
Patti

OK, cool...thanks for the explanation.

To keep better track of the really good pictures in the Rfalconcam Archive, a "Like" button has been added to the Archive Viewer. When you are going through the archive and see a picture you like, click on the button to tag the picture as a good one.

http://rfalconcam.com/rfc-main/archiveViewer.php

Hey Shaky...just trying to figure out the purpose of this feature...is there a way to view pictures that have been tagged, either by me or others?

I decided to take the "DMHAR" to a family Picnic and see if I could get others to play We all had fun trying to see if any sane Hummingbird would come near it. Thanks to Lou for creating the "BFH2010" model, did you take out a Patent on it  It should make you a Fortune!!

The Helmet will be going on to it's next adventure, stay tuned to see where it goes next!!

ginha

http://tinyurl.com/2wkoecq

Good try, Ginha!  Love your T-shirt, by the way!

Patti

The video quality on this site isn't the greatest...but there are some interesting videos posted (pictures as well).

http://www.keepky.org/

The menu on the left will take you to the video archive and the photo archive.

The latest videos are of the first chick fledging, and returning (not making a great landing...)

Kidding aside, today is already an altert day here in the DC region, please remember to keep yourselves hydrated and check on your senior neighbors and parents.  Rich is planning "lite" days all week.  AND remember, when it finally does rain, the roads are going to be nice and oily from the lack of rain. 

Be careful out there, please?

I'm having to get up in the mornings to get my running in before the heat (and bad air) builds too much...and I am NOT a morning person...makes for one cranky Patti!

Patti, if it makes you feel a little bit better, it is ugly out there at 4 AM!  Remember, we have that humidity thing on the Bay, which isn't the same as Louisville humidity.  There IS Good news in this!!!  My hair is loving the moisture!  Ok, I'm reaching here, but I'm looking for that silver lining.  Please be carefull Patti because it is ugly even before the sun comes up. 

I think you have it a little hotter there...our highs this week are only in the mid to upper 90's.  The humidity is rather nasty, but tomorrow morning by the time I finish my run at 8:00 am, it will "only" be 78 with a heat index of 86 (69% humidity).  That won't be fun, but I have a high-tolerance for heat, and it's only a short run, so I should be fine.  Last weekend when I got in a nine-mile run I got up at 6:00 am to do it.