Beauty decided to try decorating the nest box yesterday, since she would be spending so much time here. Her first attempt, it was decided, left a little something to be desired.

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When Orville awoke this morning, they shared ideas, deciding that three was definitely better than one. If she could manage it, though, he suggested she try to get a fourth pebble up on the shelf, so none of her eggs felt left out. However, Orville loved how she put them under the view of the 'main cam'. "So realistic!", he said.



Later on, he commented that this really was a fine arrangement. He had company, and now had some art for the walls. "It's starting to feel more like home!"

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I know, I know... it's first thing in the morning, and you haven't had your coffee...



Oh, that looks better!

Don't worry, Archer, we've got you 'covered' - if she gives you any grief, we've got photographic evidence!

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(Resolved 5:21 )

Europe has so many grounded planes, which means skies less congested by contrails. Between that and the volcanic ash, sunsets have become extraordinary. Spaceweather hosts tons of pictures, and had the following on their website this morning:

Hard and sharp-edged volcanic dust is hazardous to aircraft, clogging engines that suck it in, and pitting windows that pilots need to see through. According to Eurocontrol, the intergovernmental body that manages European air travel, about 16,000 flights across Europe have been canceled. Stranded passengers have one consolation--sunrises and sunsets of rare beauty. Browse the links below for examples.

volcanic sky shots: from René of Schiphol, Amsterdam, Netherlands; from Manuel ten Hake of Zoetermeer, The Netherlands; from Vincent Phillips of Speke, Liverpool, England; from Toine Kuiper of Leende, Netherlands; from Jeffrey Berkhout of Nibbixwoud, Netherlands; from Katie-Anne Fitzgerald of Belton North Lincolnshire UK; from Alan C Tough of Elgin, Moray, Scotland.

Iceland volcano and Northern Lights


More photos of the volcano - April 4
4 April

Eek!




A&B do magic: I'm big... let's have a little hocus pocus and the magical egg check flourish... Poof! I'm small!

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Eggs still there? Yep! Turn the eggs? Check!

Orville still there? Yep! Turn Orville? Check!

Everyone's okay... time to people watch!

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Chatta Mom is an out-of-date blog, but has several very good jokes. There are quite a few that are 'senior' oriented, but most of them are funny.

Enjoy!

Even though the species aren't given, the photos of birds are beautiful. These are photos from Lapland Image Bank. Be sure to check out the aurora photos!

Enjoy!

I read a book by a man who became fascinated with the oceans, and used the loss at sea of a cargo container of plastic tub toys - ducks, turtles, etc., and several cargo containers of Nike sneakers, to document the current cycle and timing of the Pacific Ocean.  It was Flotsametrics and the Floating World, by Curtis Ebbesmeyer and Eric Scigliano.

It includes stories of Christopher Columbus following flotsam to harbor, and other historical events that can be tied to flotsam.  It also includes details of the unfortunate existance of marine garbage patches around the world.

Excellent and fascinating read, to get a better idea of how some of the largest water systems on our planet work. At times depressing, to discover what humans are capable of doing to the planet, especially if they don't pay attention to what happens to the objects they use after they are done with them.

[without]

While looking for the Northern Flicker from Lord G's latest Peregrinations posting, I stumbled across the Macaulay Library, at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

It has a search function by common name, scientific name, or catalog number, and you can search for audio and video of animals around the world.  For those of us who don't always know what prey we're looking at, I thought it might be helpful for identifying those mystery species afterwards. (However, one serious shortcoming, they don't have pictures of birds without their heads... )

Enjoy!

poor guy!

The camera seems to be posting a new picture roughly every 33 minutes, or slightly longer...
1006 1039 1112 1145 1218 1252 125 158 232 304 338 411 444 517 550 624
 

I'm speechless. Phil Says.

That is a truly bizarre site.  Thanks, I guess?

I think it completely meets the requirements of the thread, TOTALLY off-topic... I still have no other adequate response...

Speaking of Mariah, does anyone know if they weighed her while she was in rehab? I've often wondered how the year off from raising a brood affected her weight and overall health.

Mariah didn't have a year off until after her rehab.

I've searched Imprints, and my memory, and as far as I can tell, Mariah did not lay any eggs prior to the battle in 2009. (Thus my mention of a year off.)
 
I believe, therefore, that this might have helped contribute to her survival after the battle, as her body was not yet in full production mode - she hadn't yet expended the precious nutrients for eggs, which would have somewhat weakened her bones, and she instead used them for her own recovery. Does anyone know if she gained weight during her rehab?