New Camera!

After looking and thinking for a long time, I finally bit the bullet and ordered a Canon Powershot SX20IS. So far, I am very impressed. Just took it out back and took some snapshots to see what it could do.



This thing can zoom. (20x optical!)



The exposure isn't perfect on this next one, but I'm hopeful with what it can reach out and grab.



I'm looking forward to more posting on here now that I've got a new shooting platform!

Catching Up

On the trip from South Carolina to Missouri, I went by way of Ohio and visited my parents. We spent an afternoon at some local preserves looking at birds and butterflies. Here's what I found.


Cabbage White


Eastern Comma


Hackberry Emperor

Damn

Part of my life involves moving. It has benefits, namely it gets me to new and different habitats to see new and different birds and such.

This last move had a bad downside. The movers lost a box. Just one. Box 136-Green.

Box 136 had almost all of my bird books in it. It had 3 binders in it. One was service-related records (which fortunately had all been scanned a few months previous) and 2 full of bird records that had not.

Now, I still have my life-list in digits. But I lost a bunch of trip reports and other bits of written data pertinent to my birding over the last 20 years.

Books are now arriving from Buteo Books and Amazon.com. The check came in the mail. Still, I'll never have the second edition National Geographic Guide that was well-worn that I bought that first spring of birding at Bosque Del Apache NWR. A few titles were so out of print they could not be found.

I picked up a few titles I'd been wanting. Birding on Borrowed Time being one of them. Started reading it today and am enchanted with Phoebe's record keeping she's describing.

It all makes me think again of my records, and how to keep them.

My life list is an Excel spreadsheet. Fairly portable and compatible. But it's getting big enough that it is less so. Having lost hard-copy records reinforces the idea of remote backups as well.

The good news, on a less introspective scale, I think, maybe, I've defeated the Carpenter Ants who had been ravaging my hummingbird feeder.

First Time

We recently took a quick trip to Florida, which, of course, included some time spent at Fort DeSoto County Park. I enjoyed my time watching waders, of course. Unfortunately, there was a fresh southwesterly breeze so any trans-gulf migrants were pushing farther inland or hiding in lower branches to stay out of the breeze.



Saw this interesting combination of trees near the entrance to Arrowhead Picnic Area.



My daughter took a few pictures of me birding.

After the kids tired of the beach, I took them back to Grandpa and Grandma's and made my way to E.G. Simmons County Park. More shorebirds.



Willets were in number everywhere.

Finally, I had my first. Not a new bird, per se, but a new birding experience. I saw a Gray Flycatcher. I had previously seen them in the Bahamas in 2005. This was a first for my US list, though. Therefore, it was the first bird to be a "country bird" in the US without being a lifer.

As I was pondering all of this back at my in-laws, a Swallow-tailed Kite flew over their backyard, eventually there were 6 of them circling about in the evening sky. These were lifers.

His Eye is on the Sparrow

I've been reflecting on my experiences in Iraq, pretty much ever since I got home. One keeps coming back to me. I came across it in my journal today--

We serve an awesome God. You already knew that, but let me tell you about my day. Yesterday and last night the evil one was really trying to throw fear at me. We went out to ____ today. That is the route where we’ve had our 2 KIAs on.

I had a good day yesterday, I got caught up on some stuff, I got a package ready to send to home. The enemy starts trying to twist all that to “putting your house in order, eh? Good thing….”

Prayed last night, prayed this morning. I know it is in God’s hands....., I’m sitting there waiting for it to start and a gull flies overhead. I get a pretty good look at him, jot some notes in hope that I can identify him later. After the change of command I look, sure enough, Black-headed Gull. Lifer.

We go over to link up with the patrol. What am I riding in the back of? An up-armored MRAP. Take the already enormous and armored MRAP and put some great big armor plates on the sides of it. I was smart enough to catch that that was a God thing.

Make it out there fine, .... I wander around a bit and see some big mud puddles in an open area. Well, what do you know? There are birds feeding there. Grab my binoculars, watched, took notes. It’s good just to see birds.

....Come back safe and sound. I’m exhausted. Riding around just wears me out anyway, I think it’s the subconscious stress…which today wasn’t quite so "sub."

Come back here and pull out my notes and start looking through my bird book….3 more lifers. Ringed Plover, Little Stint and Common Redshank. As I am sitting here thinking wow…not quite what I was contemplating last night, it finally hits me. “See…I know the plans I have for you…they are for good.” Thank You, God. You want us to have joy, not fear. You are beautiful.

In sort of a variation on one of the verses from Psalm 63, which God has been using to speak to me the past several days, I took a picture of a House Sparrow in the shadow of an MRAP. You an see him on the left tire. And he was singing. Here’s the verse—

“Because You are my help, I sing in the shadow of Your wings.” (63:7)



God was almost yelling at me today, wasn’t He?