I experienced it while having sushi in a Japanese restaurant.  It provided a wonderful, authentic ambience.

Paul

I know from our front porch broods that Robins are very careful not to reveal their nest locations.  The mother will not return to the nest while she knows that she is being watched.

Paul

I really enjoyed this photo story.  Wonder where the transmitter is?

Paul

Happy Birthday, Dale!

Paul

Here is the first half of our annual stay in New Hampshire:

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Paul

And for all you loon fans, here is our local pair. The lake is rimmed with mountains, so the calls echo at night. It's a wonderful effect. We think the pair has two chicks this year.

Paul

 While climbing Mount Major, in New Hampshire, we were surprised to find a Red Eft.  The Red Eft is the terrestrial dispersal stage of the Eastern Newt (Notophthalmus viridescens).  The newt begins as a tadpole and metamorphoses into a Red Eft.  After two to three years of eftdom, it metamorphoses again into a green adult.  The eft stage allows it to colonize small streams and springs, such as arw found on Mount Major.  Enjoy the eft -- the name alone is really great.

Paul

I find myself slipping into the falcons' rhythm, relaxing when the relax, active when they are active. However, I'll reach for my water bottle or start watching a Great Blue Heron, and that's when the falcons go back into action! Often, when I look back, I'll find either no falcons or more falcons.  It all goes to show that the falcons are much better at watching me then I am at watching them.  If one wants to enter the world of the Peregrine Falcon, one must imitate their relaxed alertness!

Paul

No peregrines to watch here on Sandy Island, in Lake Winnipesaukee, so I have been getting by with loons and mergansers.  I love to watch and listen to the loons, especially when going to sleep at light, but the resident  flock of nine Common Mergansers provides top notch entertainment several times a day.  They do everything in a tight group, staying much closer together than the Mallards.  They are diving ducks with serrated bills for catching fish, and are constantly disappearing below the surface and reappearing some distance away.  Here they are, just hanging out on their favorite rock.

Paul

Harlequin was hatched about ten days later in the season than Quest, so this is just about the age at which her mom left her parents' territory for good.

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Paul

It's entirely possible that I'm losing my mind, but didn't Paul post a video some years back of an Osprey with a fish so big it was struggling to get airborne a second time?    Presumably it had made it from the water to shore initially.

My wife, Mary, took that (in 2004, as I recall). We are vacationing on Sandy Island, in Lake Winnipesauke, and I am now sitting very close to where it happened..  The Osprey had caught a very large bass, at least five pounds.  It was making its way across the island in a series of twenty foot flights.  It was too late in the season to have chicks to feed, so I assume it was looking for a safe place to eat the fish.

Paul

It's just like taking a trip myself.  Maybe next year, I will finally go down into the canyon as you did -- the pictures certainly inspire me.  The place on Airport Mesa in Sedona where you saw the sunset is just a short walk from where we stayed on our trips.

Paul

Have a great birthday, Nora!

Paul

We had a challenge attending Catherine's dance performance and still making it to the island before the unlit airport closed, but we made it easily.  Best of all, we were appointed judges for the parade and got to watch it from the reviewing stand!  Good pelican watching also.

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Paul

Oh, no.
I hope there is a good outcome.  I hope the police find who did this.

Paul