Or: How Green Is My Heron...
If this is Thursday, then this must be a Bird Walk!! And, by golly, it is Thursday and there is another Bird Walk. Hoozah!! And we were off!! Early!! Too doggone early for an empty belly and so, as a sop to my stomach, Bruno, we stopped first at the local BK for some quick nourishment.
And it was quick and it was, not surprisingly, tasty. Hahaha, I am a sucker for a warm biscuit with a spicy sausage patty stuck in the middle. Mmmmmmmmm....
And then it was time to go and as we went outside, I couldn't help but note the flowers growing around the BK. What a riot of color!! What an opportunity!! And so I went to the Faithful Mini and got out my camera and....shot away.
It's funny how for most of my life, I was completely unaware of the flowers all around...at the Mickey Ds, the BKs, the Jack-In-The-Boxes. You know, all the really important places. Yet, I was completely and totally in a fog vis-a-vis the flower thingie. And, now, that I'm retired, I can see!!
What the...!?!?! Now I can see!!
Well, maybe I had to wait to start seeing until they got these digital cameras to a point where I can shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot and shoot and then shoot again.
Hahaha, maybe I had to wait to see until I was in a position to really see with my camera. Because, honestly, there is no way I would of or could of have taken so many pictures of the flowers that I've shot in the past two years.
No. Way.
But, now, right now, I can shoot all I want. It may not be very good but, y'know, it satisfies me. Hahaha, I can see the beauty and, in my life, that's all that really matters. Makes sense, doesn't it? Sometimes you do the things that fill you up and don't worry about the others.
And, of course, sometimes you're able to hit your particular "Wow!" buttons and, maybe, just maybe, push a couple of other people's buttons, too.
But, for now, for me, it is just enough to be able to 'see' the things I am now experiencing. It took a long time to get here and I know this won't last too much longer so I am aiming to enjoy it as much as I can. I'm gonna take my pictures and have my fun as long as I can.
And, my friends, that is that.
Life is good, right!?!
And, soon enough, time moved on and so did we. Right on over to the D-River Open Space for the meet-up with the Audubon Bird Walkers. I do appreciate these Open Spaces that the city maintains. I know it's just a park under another name, but regardless of what you call it, it's a doggone good thing.
A very good thing.
And we were surprised when we pulled into the lot and saw all the people there. Wowsers!! There were 29 folks in all for today's walk. A huge number!! We had license plates from Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. Plus, we had folks from Colorado and California as well as a lot of folks from all around the local area like Waldport and Newport.
Look!! There's Ol' Good Time Tommy.
It's cool now that we're getting to know the folks here. It's good having friends. I was floating in the back getting some pictures of the crowd for the Newsletter while they were making their introductions and Mark caught me just when I thought I'd missed that particular drill. Hahaha, Mark noticed and reeled me in.
It was a funky morning. Can you still use that word, funky, without people laughing at how old you are?
Fun Facts: Funky is, plain and simple, an adjective. The first definition is that it describes something having a moldy or musty smell. Something with a strong, unpleasant odor. Then it goes on to its second iteration which is having a style reminiscent of simple blues or funk music.
Finally it gets to the slang usage popular when Ol' Smilin' Jack was a young man where it means something unconventional or eccentric; offbeat or odd. Also a thing having an unsophisticated or old-fashioned charm, quaint or unpretentious.
Hahaha, Play that Funky Music, White Boy....
As you might expect, lexicographers have had a tough time nailing down the origins of this word. Linguist Geneva Smitherman tried to capture the meaning of this word in Talkin' and Testifyin': The Language of Black America, where she explains that funky means "(related to) the blue notes or blue mood created in jazz, blues, and soul music generally, down-to-earth soulfully expressed sounds; by extension (related to) the real nitty-gritty or fundamental essence of life, soul to the max."
Funky, derived from the noun funk, "strong smell, stink," originally meant simply "smelling strong or musty," and could be used to describe body odor, something of which I am well familiar with as is anyone who has gotten within 20 feet of me when I took off my combat boots.
The use of funky to describe jazz and other genres of music was nicely explained by historian and critic Eric Hobsbawm in 1959 in The Jazz Scene: "Critics are on the search for something a little more like the old, original, passion-laden blues: The trade-name which has been suggested for it is funky (literally: 'smelly,' i.e. symbolizing the return from the upper atmosphere to the physical, down-to-earth reality)."
And, somehow, some white Hippie Kids appropriated the term to describe anything that was far out, rad, with it, hip, and one of my favorites, Bitchin'.
Hahahaha, silly white kids. And, as you might expect from someone with an infantile and puerile sense of humor like mine I will totally misuse and abuse that word for the rest of this funky blog.
Low down and foggy. But it does let you take some funktastically moody shots of the lake.
But, quick as Bob's your uncle, we were on our way. The whole bunch. There was the same general, genial sense of camaraderie in the group but there wasn't, at least for me, the same easy flow and ebb of people drifting in and out of conversations. Maybe it was me today but the group was large and didn't hum like the others did.
Maybe it was the size. That's the only different variable other than the 20 or so different people that came for today's walk.
And the excitement started early!! With this guy!!
A Green Heron!!
Fun Facts: These shy fellows have an elaborate set of calls and postures they use to communicate with other herons. They use different signals for mating dances, warning calls and, as they are discovering for migration, too.
This funkadelic bad boy can easily live in either salt or fresh water habitats. A key point to their future as the loss of adequate habitats for all birds is a growing concern.
And they are crafty, too. They are one of only a few bird species observed using tools/bait for hunting. One researcher reported watching a Green Heron drop the same bait into the water more than 28 times before a fish finally bit!!
More Fun Facts: These guys, while the smallest of the North American herons, are really good at climbing. Even chicks as young as 1-2 weeks old can climb on branches using their wings and beaks.
Here's the really cool part of these cool facts is that these guys are able to aim their excrement at the eyes of their predators as a defense mechanism. Totally cool!!
Hahaha, Take that, you jerk!! SPLAT!!
While these guys are considered to be widespread and common, their shy nature combined with their well camouflaged exterior and odd feeding times make them hard to spot...but not today!!
Hahaha, I'm sorry. I keep trying. I do like taking these artsy-fartsy shots. And I keep trying to get a shot with some driftwood in it.
And (and this is why I'm laughing), I keep missing the mark.
Totally missing the mark!! But having fun!!
Then, while we were still there right at the start of the walk, we saw this guy. Well, to be honest, we saw a bunch of these guys but this is the only one I was able to capture on film....er, uh, on digital?
Haha, regardless, I caught him!! A Common Yellow Throat!!
And there he is!!
 |
| Oh, you're so beautiful!! Yes you are!! |
And, from the same area, we spotted these Cedar Waxwings. And, you know, if you see one CW, then you'll more than likely see another pretty close by. And we saw six of them at one time on the wires.
It was promising to become a very funkiliciously fruitful day. Mind you, we haven't even left the parking lot yet. I mean, we were still at the starting point.
And we finally took off!! Off to adventure!!
And I immediately fell back into my old habits...hanging in the rear and looking down more that I was looking up. And looking down was profitable.
Just not for long. We hadn't gotten too far along when they spotted this guy!!
I take great pride in the fact that I am among the few people living that can, first time, correctly spell the name of this bird. It's a Steller's Jay.
Fun Facts: These Blue Bombers have the dubious honor of being one of the most frequently misspelled names in all of bird watching. Their plumage is certainly stellar, but that's not how you spell their name. Stellar's Jays were discovered on an Alaskan island in 1741 by Georg Steller, a naturalist on a Russian explorer's ship. When a scientist officially described the species, in 1788, they named it after him - along with other discoveries including the Steller's sea lion and Steller's Sea-Eagle.
We were on the boardwalk connecting the Open Space to the Devils Lake State Recreation Area...where we would go on through the campsites and out towards the lake.
And, there, stuck in-between the boards, was this testament to the tenacity of life. Reaching out high enough to get what it needs to survive and thrive.
My gosh!! I am getting way too philosophical here.
Hahaha, I need a beer to get my head right and my feet back on the ground. Excuse me.
Ah, much better now. If possible, I'm feeling less intelligent with every sip.
I mentioned that today was promising to be very fruitful vis-a-vis birds and I wasn't wrong. This American Robin makes #5. Normally I count myself very lucky to get 2 or 3 pictures of birds but today, well, today I was smokin'!!
Hahahaha, I know, you're asking yourself, What's so hard about taking some pictures of birds that other people have spotted!?! And you'd be right. Nothing hard about it at all...when everything works out. When the birds sit still long enough for me to focus on them and the leaves and branches cooperate by getting out of my way. Oh, and I have everything set and ready to go with the camera. Then and only then do I have the ability to take a picture.
And, today, everything was working Jackie's way!!
Whoa!! There's #6. A Eurasian Collared Dove.
Fun Facts: Illegal Aliens, these guys were introduced to the Bahamas around 1974 and made their way to Florida about 1980. After making landfall, they quickly spread across the North American continent. The first record of them appearing in Oregon was around 1998.
These guys are very pale cream. In fact, some birders, and you know how rowdy and rough that crowd is, have begun to call them 'Sky-Rat Lattes.' Actually, that's pretty funny. Hahah, those birders, they're wild and whacky folks!! The 'Sky-Rat Lattes' insult is in reference to another invasive species, the European Starlings, the original 'Sky-Rats', and this dove's pale coffee-and-cream coloration.
They seem to be pretty benign invaders as they've shown no indication that they are displacing the native Mourning Doves. So far.
Just like all over LCO, this park had more than its share of these funktastic Orange-In-the-Wind flowers.
It is so doggone easy to get a good picture of these guys. They sorta scream, "Shoot me!"
And then I had to hustle up to stay with the Pack. This is the third time we've been to this place for a bird walk but it hasn't gotten old yet. Hahaha, by now, I know where they're going before they go and I am still enjoying it.
And the State Park was full. Lots of tent sites were occupado and all the Yurts were taken. So it was no surprise that our herd sorta moved in on some folks enjoying their vacation at the lake.
And, Boy, Howdy!! Did we ever invade. Our presence was hard to ignore. And the lake was smooth and calm and looking good, too.
Hahaha, don't cross a buncha birders!! They named the game Angry Birds for a solid reason, Man.
And while we were at the lake we saw this Great White Egret. Sitting up in a tree sorta preening and enjoying what little sun there was out there....and posing.
Looking good, El Señor Egret.
And, by the way, this is #7. I am setting world records here!!
Then, while I was standing there, while we were standing there, someone spotted this guy coming back home after a shopping trip. There's some fresh lunch there in his claws.
And, if you're keeping track, this is #8, an osprey.
So whenever I'm on the lake my inner artsy-fartsy kicks in. It's a uncontrolled reflex action, kinda like automatically gagging at a Pauley Shore movie.
Oh, c'mon, it ain't that bad!! You can tell that along with driftwood and gulls, I like taking reflection pictures, too. Lots of them.
And lakeside scenics. I'm a sucker for those, too.
Oh, c'mon, it ain't that bad. Actually, in the photo world, there is some virtue to an overcast and dreary day if you're able to shoot down at some interesting scenery. And the muted light enriches the colors there to give them a deeper quality.
Hahaha, time for another beer. Thank you, I will.
And. before we started back to the river, I got one more shot of the GWE. He was still there and still looking regal and, really, just a bit detached, aloof.
Also before we left the lake, I asked everyone to line up for the obligatory group shot.
Thank heavens for the ol' wide-angle lens here as this group was spread out. And not everyone was here for the pic. Several of the folks had already started meandering back.
And we made it back to the starting point. And to this gal, posing for everyone on the lake near the bridge. Seriously, she was sitting up there on the log and watching the parade go by, probably hoping for some tasty hand-outs.
OK, I happen to think this is one of the better shots of a mallard that I've ever gotten. And, for the record, she is #9 for the day. I'm just sayin'.
Oh, uh!! More driftwood. I'm trying. OK, OK, in the future I promise I'll work a bit more at ignoring the driftwood. Maybe. Possibly.
Hahaha, even I'm getting a bit tired of them.
It didn't take long for the crowd to disperse. Seriously, this was a big group today. Seriously.
And, pretty soon, it was just the usual suspects. That's Tom on the left, then Mark, Caren and Carol. Jody is making his escape there on the right. I bet you that Caren has a bird book open and they're talking about what kind of bird they just saw. I bet.
I'm not gonna even guess at what Tom is looking at across the river.
Haha, we'd been good all day so we headed on over to 101 Inspirations for a Chocolate Chip Treat.
I deliberately said treat because we went in looking for a CCC (Chocolate Chip Cookie) and ended up...
...getting a Chocolate Chip Scone. My question is why would you screw up a perfectly good scone with chocolate chips. I mean, c'mon, chips fit in with most anything but why mess around with scones. But there they were and so one of them went home with us.
This shop doesn't really know what vibe it's trying to hit.
They have this odd combination of decor on the inside with an access to the next door antique shop. Oh, by the way, LCO is big on antique shops. Anyway, you can sorta see what the inside is like here.
But it's got this Germanic exterior. Reminiscent of Der Deutchland and the Alps. Well, regardless, the place is a good bakery.
But it fits in with the place across the street...The Punk-'N-Berry. Oh, I didn't get many pictures of ol' Winnie the Pooh the other day, but I noted that I got one of Winnie today. There he is on the wall. Along with the other balloons.
A full on view of PNB. Gotta admire the mind that came up with that exterior. Tres original.
And, on the other side of the streets was Maxwell's....and the street scene for the tourists.
And, that was that. I was able to photograph NINE birds today. That was certainly enough excitement for the day, right? Well, not entirely.
To get to the next milestone in the day, I have to go back in time for a couple of years. Back to my Scout days where I remember, when I sat on the Eagle Board of Reviews, that I always tried to ask what the Scout had gotten out of Scouting. And I always got a good answer...fun, experience, confidence and so much more from every Scout I asked.
Then I'd follow it up by asking them to consider, when they became adults, that they might have an obligation to give back some of what they had received by, maybe, becoming an Adult Scouter and being one of the keys that made it possible for another boy to have a great scouting experience. Kind of paying it back, so-to-speak.
A month or so ago, we had bumped into one of the Assistant Scoutmasters for the local Troop here and we volunteered to help by becoming a Merit Badge Counselor. I've got three sons who reached Eagle and I want to, in my own fashion, repay some of their experiences back. And mine, too.
All that is to lead up to our going to the Troop Committee Meeting for Troop 47 tonight. I submitted my paperwork to become a Merit Badge Counselor for Troop 47 a couple weeks ago and before they submitted it they wanted to meet us and make sure we'd be a good fit. And we are.
So, that was another part of our day. Getting involved in the community. Carol has one Eagle and so, together, we're paying back a bit. Scouts, Audubon, life. We're involved now and, y'know, feelin' funky, Man. Cool.
And, as I am sure you know, getting involved is good.
Life is good.
Hooah!!
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