Great story.  I guess I am really spoiled about Bald Eagles, as rare isn't a description that I would use. 

Please don’t shoot them,� she begged, adding that finding one is nearly as rare as finding a Bald Eagle.

The comment about "rare as finding a Bald Eagle" is especially funny because Jeane and I saw the kids from this high school give a presentation last winter (January or February) at an area in Western Kentucky that is known as the "western waterland"...there are so many huge fish-filled lakes down there that it's a great wintering-over habitat for bunches of Bald Eagles and an occasional Golden.  There are quite a few nesting pairs.  So they may not see that many Bald Eagles near their Somerset location, but there are certainly lots of locations in Kentucky where it's possible to see lots in a single day in winter.  We're planning to do the same Eagle Watch cruise this coming January that we did last winter; we probably saw upwards of 30 eagles that day (and we know about 15 of them were distinct because we they have an evening roost and we were able to count that many at once.)

This is a really great program for this high-school students, though.  They have an advisor who helps coordinate the program, but the students do all of the work, volunteering their time, with the older students mentoring younger ones.  They brought several of their education birds to the state park where we were staying, and gave an entertaining and educational program about the raptors they were displaying as well as their work as rehabilitators.  It was really impressive to see high-school students so engaged in a volunteer activity.

Patti

Just bookmark
http://classic.kodakgallery.com/Welcome.jsp

Paul

Thanks to all of you...it's good to know it's not a personal problem.  And Paul's bookmark above got me to where I could view the two albums folks I couldn't view!  Good deal...for as long as it lasts. 

Patti

Is it just me, or are other people having problems with the new Kodak Gallery?  Since they rolled it out, I don't seem to be able to browse anyone's albums (for example, Ei's "Walk in the Woods" album posted today).  I also placed an order today about six hours ago and had to use IE instead of Firefox because Firefox wasn't displaying the page correctly where I could customize a holiday card.  I have yet to receive the order confirmation email, and when I go to the "order history" link, I get an error message.

I'll report all of these concerns to Kodak, but mainly I'm wondering if anyone else is having trouble viewing shared albums?

Patti

http://www.sciencefriday.com/videos/watch/10248

Patti

I've heard there are ultrasound deterrents, but I don't know anything about them.

Joyce

I've actually bought several of these to place in various spots throughout the backyard.  They get mixed reviews on Amazon; perhaps it depends on the individual cat (especially would not work on deaf cats!).  But they seem to help in my yard, especially if I keep the batteries changed faithfully.  Here's the one I use:  http://tinyurl.com/yfysw6l

Patti

My favorite NPR show, Science Friday, was live at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology today; the topic for the first hour of the show was bird migration.  I only got to hear part of it between errands in my car, but their video "pick of the week" was a shoot of bird banding activities at Braddock Bay.  Since that's local to many folks, you might be interested in the video, or you may want to listen to the entire show (the second hour was about veterinary medicine).

You can listen online (or get a podcast) at http://www.sciencefriday.com/

Look at the "Latest Videos" section for the bird banding video.

-Patti

Today the most wonderful singer of Argentina has dead. 
Mercedes Sosa had an amazing voice. She started as a folcklore singer, but then she began to sing different kinds of songs, mostly from latinoamerican authors, and even soft rock themes.
All my country love her. I believe most of the people in the world who love music, know and love her too. She was  a voice of freedom during dark days of violence and dictatorship in my country
You tube is full of her videos, this is only one, perhaps her most loved song: Gracias a la Vida

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d_h5CZPyjQ&feature=related

Mirta

So sorry to hear this; I discovered Mercedes Sosa a few years ago (I can't remember where or how anymore), but I bought one of her CDs.

-Patti

Just looking through some pictures (amazing what happens when you leave work at a human hour for a change  ) and came across some oddities...

and I took 2 pictures of one of the few flowers that have survived in my yard-don't recall what they're called-one with flash and, since it washed out the color a bit (the actual color is the out of focus one top right), one without flash...

       

Ei

I think those might be "Mistflower", but look that up and see if it matches.

-Patti

my first thought was aphids, but the photos I found on the internet didn't look right...Ei's photo is a MUCH better candidate, at least the color is right on. The little buggers are too tiny to tell the details. On the other hand, *****YES****** they most certainly are biting; they make small but itchy bites that last a day or so.

I'm kinda with Mirta...I've tangled with many aphids over the years but haven't ever noticed them biting.  So my vote would be for something else.

I would have to agree with Catherine that it is the cutest snake ever.

Patti

From the Center for Biologic Diversity

Nominate Your Favorite Eco-Villain for the Rubber Dodo Extinction Award

It's time to hand out the Rubber Dodo Award to the person who's done the most to drive imperiled species extinct in 2009.

Vote for the 2009 Rubber Dodo Award

I had to go for the mountaintop-removal guy, since that impacts my home state, but having spent a week in February wolf-watching in Yellowstone, it was a hard choice.

Patti

http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/discovery-news-animals/

The  video is really cool. So is the fish stealing whale. Not thrilled about the  videos so I skipped them...

I second the recommendation; I watched several; the gecko video was one of my favorites.

great song Paul!

but I didn't give up!  what's happening here is that when a squirrel gnaws part of a Mr. Stripey, I fry up the rest. I'm also proactively picking the big ones green and developing a real taste for it. They're frying up like eggplant, to which they are related but you'd never know under non-wartime conditions. Tobacco and deadly nightshade and potatoes are also related...I'm wondering if I can perform any more alchemy. I might try if I don't die of squirrel cooties (yes, I cut off the squirrelled bits, yes, I wash them, and yes I fry them well).

Dale, I don't know how you're preparing your fried green tomatoes; most of the time when I've had them in restaurants they're breaded with flour.  However, our tradition here it to use course ground corn meal (the wimpy stuff you get at the grocery will do, but a nicely crafted milled cornmeal is even better).  We really prefer the corn meal to flour.  We tried it (and prefer it) with eggplant parmesan as well. 

I've had good luck with sprinkling black pepper around the plants.  Don't let the pepper touch the plant,  because it burns the leaves in some plants, and you have to reapply every couple of days or after it rains, but I've had good luck.  I bought one of those big containers of ground black pepper at a warehouse club. 

I fought squirrels for several years, and finally gave up.  My squirrels were picking them before they were even big enough to make proper fried green tomatoes.  I never got a ripe tomato in spite of an abundance of small tomatoes!  I tried numerous things people suggested, though I didn't try black pepper around the plants.  I did buy some of the "pepper wax" you're supposed to spray directly on the fruits; it's very hot chili pepper in a waxy binder that helps it stay on the fruit.  My squirrels ancestors must have come from down south where the chili pepper is native, 'cause it didn't seem to phase them.  Now I just grow herbs...

Another game that I came across.  Thought Patti and others who like to trek might like this..

http://www.history.com/expedition/game/

Lou

OK, that was fun...I failed pretty miserably on my first try (ran out of food), but managed to complete the expedition successfully on the second attempt.