The 7 hours Orion was sleeping on the TS building one day, I was sitting on a ledge in a parking lot down below. My neck was killing me from looking up all day, (now I know how MAK feels) but I didn't care because the second you look away, BAM, they are gone. I took no chances, I wanted to know where that youngster went when he took off.

I definitely know how that is...my very first trip to Rochester (2004, I think), I spent ALL day one day in the blazing sun (it was hot, even for me, and I'm used to heat), eating energy bars when everyone else went off to have lunch in a nice air-conditioned spot.  The falcons hadn't been flying much because of the heat, and I didn't want to miss it if they finally decided to provide some action.  I'm still grateful for Joyce, who spent a lot of that time with me!  I did the same thing at dinner, since I still hadn't seen much flying, and got to see a lovely stoop by Kaver straight down the face of the Kodak Tower.  The downside of that was there was no one to share it with...

Jeane and I took a vacation to Alaska in mid June...and finally got our vacation photos organized.  It's a big album, but we deleted more than half of what we started with.  But as usual with our vacation albums, grab a snack before you start  . We spent our days almost entirely within Denali National Park at an exquisite place called Camp Denali.

One highlight for me was a nesting pair of Gyrfalcons.  They were high up on a cliff, so the photos aren't the best, but what a nice "life bird" for me!  If you're interested in seeing what nesting habitat for wild falcons looks like, this is one good example.

Here's the link to the big album:
http://photos.bellhanley.com/Trips/Hiking/Alaska-2012/

If you only want to see the birds and wildlife (though the scenery and flowers are extraordinary, so you'll be missing out on that), here's an abbreviated album:
http://photos.bellhanley.com/keyword/wildlife-alaska-2012

In both cases, there is a "slideshow" button if you prefer that format; it'll let you see the photos in a bigger size.

I hope you enjoy them!

Nice photos...thanks for sharing.

(And do not even THINK that I knew those Latin names... of course I looked them up! OK - back to Wimbledon...)

Must check that Roadrunner link... Beep-beep!! Had not heard that before...

Except you forgot the best Latin name ever: Turdus Migratorius (American Robin).  And yes Dot, the Greater Roadrunner is in the same family as our cuckoos.

Still amazing it goes down bones & all!

Our local raptor rehabber told us once that a problem they occasionally see is that some well-meaning person will try to rescue an orphaned raptor and will feed it something like ground beef, not realizing that birds get critical nutrients (calcium and other minerals, primarily) from the bones of their prey, and they can develop metabolic bone disease if given only meat without bones.

Very fun!  My sister and I watched part of this video being made at the "Biggest Week in American Birding" festival this May...we didn't know exactly what they were doing, but we enjoyed watching a crew of people with binoculars being filmed doing dance moves.  Good to see the end result!

It is a most excellent video!  I used it that year for my first trip to Rochester-to see Ananta (my avatar), Sacajawea, Grace & Linn. Cannot believe I'm going to see Linn as an adult tomorrow!

I think I used it in 2007 as well, which was the first year I flew into Buffalo and drove...the first three years I flew straight into Rochester and found my way on my own.

New tech shows just how wrong we were.

http://www.audubonmagazine.org/articles/birds/unlocking-migrations-secrets WOW! A very long read but interesting!! I'm not done reading it yet, on page 3, distracted by Falcon yelling near nest. 

I'm a little behind the times, but enjoyed the article a lot!  Jeane and I are going to be attending an event where Scott Wiedensaul (the author of the article) is the expert bird guide and speaker...so we're pretty pumped!

Friends of mine get shots of all the animals/birds they can poopin they call them Pooparatzzi(sp) shots! Shots of birds mating they call Pornithology. LOL

I had some pornithology going on in my back yard today...those darn House Sparrows...

Some terrific shots you got! Looks like a very successful trip. Thanks for sharing your adventure with us. Beautiful shots of the warblers, its so hard to get decent shots of them as they never seem to sit still!
  Winters we often venture to the Canadian shore of Lake Erie at Nanticoke Power Plant where Bald Eagles overwinter. This past winter we saw 9 in the sky together circling!  There is also a Peregrine nest there we monitor(not accessible by the public)

You're darn right....they never sit still and they hang out in shady canopies.  The Yellow Warblers were far more cooperative because they were in nesting mode and the males kept taking breaks from foraging to advertise their territory.

At this same birding festival last year I took a field trip on a ship that ferried us across the lake to the southernmost tip of Canada (Point Pelee).  We had some good birding there, but the folks told us it's even better during fall migration because all the warblers stop there to fuel up before crossing or getting around the lake...the opposite of why the Ohio shore is so fruitful during spring migration.

There is a native woodland plant called Jewelweed that is a favorite food of hummingbirds when they begin their fall migration, and on my trail run today through my local woods, I noticed it was already full of blooms (well over a month early).  Makes me a little concerned that the big buffet will be finished blooming before the hummers are ready to return South. 

The upside:  maybe more of them will stop by my backyard feeder .

I dragged my sister to northern Ohio in early May for a birding festival there.  The weekend we were there was a little slow for warblers, but we managed to see some good ones.  The early leaf-out this year made photographing them challenging, and they were mostly in dense shade!  In fact we got very few shots of warblers, but we got some nice birds nevertheless.

Here are my photos: 
http://photos.bellhanley.com/Birds-Bats-Butterflies/Wide-Wide-World/Lake-Erie-Birding-2012/

And my sister's photos (she got a few nice pictures I wasn't in the right place to get!):
http://joyfuldog.smugmug.com/Nature/Lake-Erie-Birding-Festival/

Note that my gallery has two pages of thumbnails, and Linda's has three...smugmug doesn't make that terribly obvious.

Enjoy!

Check out this video. A night intruder but momma was right there. Hope the intruder survived. Sound up also. The 3 eaglets didn't even stir.

That was pretty exciting -- and what's up with those eaglets...they have a serious case of the laid-backs.

http://gargravarr.cc.utexas.edu/owl/2012/20120522/video/2012%20Owlet%20Family%20Portrait%20Video.mp4

The video was great fun!  Thanks for posting...

http://pix.kg/p/102246575213%3A318540157/scl

Baby bunnies!  A nest of about 6 of them at the base of our Clematis!

Those are so cute!  I've been seeing them on my runs through the park...little ones just exploring their new world.  Thankfully they run for cover when they see me, which is what I'd prefer they do for their own safety.