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Happy St. Patrick's Day!!
I thought that, after two years of wishing, I could share with you my personal St Patty's day theme song. But I can't get "audio in a post" to work on Xanga, god dammit! >=(
Whatever Xanga, you are lame. And I don't know if/how audio posts work on LJ. I give up.
Now look at some pictures from Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge last weekend instead.
I went to see the Eagle Festival, and because I had heard it was a really good place to bird. I think it's better to bird when there aren't 10000 other people there. Also earlier in the morning would help, but then I'd have to stay over the night before since it was about 2 hours away.
I did see a bunch of eagles, which was cool. I've seen them forever down at the Cottage, but not this many and this frequently and for so long at one time. At the Cottage they fly away from you once they see you, and here they didn't seem to mind as much. I also got to see them walking around on beaches, which I've never seen before.
For the festival, they had people playing music and displaying artwork and signing books and stuff like that. They also had rehab birds - I missed the Peregrine Falcon, and was too far away behind too many people to see the eagle, but the owls were cute. They also had guides take you around the loop to help you see things.
I got two lifers there, White Pelican and American Black Duck. I wouldn't have noticed/been able to ID the pelicans if I hadn't seen them fly in and land. I could see the black under their wings. Once they landed, they were so far away that they just looked like more white swan blobs. Speaking of swans, I apparently don't have Tundra Swans on my Life List even though they've been at the Cottage forever too. I guess I could count them as part of this trip, I don't know. I always wondered how I'd tell a Black Duck apart from a Mallard, because they look so similar in the guide books, but when I saw them at the same time it was pretty obvious.
If I ever get around to posting on naturekate again, I'll give the whole bird list. Highlights were newly-returned Ospreys and a Northern Harrier hunting over the marsh.
And now, pictures!
Loblolly Pine Tree bark that I liked. The chunks of bark were pretty huge.
This is what it looked like driving around the Wildlife Loop. On the right are freshwater impoundments, on the left is brackish wetlands and a river.
A little Screech Owl the rehab center had. I took a bunch of pictures of him that I put on Picasa.
Ryan, it is indeed a Spectacled Owl.
The rehab center explained that they are from South America, and yet it didn't occur to me to ask how it got from there to a rehab place in Delaware.
Eagle perched on a tree.
The best eagle picture I could get.
Compare it to the one below that I took at the Cottage several years ago.
(Sorry it's small, I don't feel like finding and scanning the original, which would be more impressive.)
The Cottage is betterrrrrrrrrrrrrr *snobby*
I put a few more pictures on Picasa here, mostly of the rehab owls (especially the Screech Owl being silly in the strong wind!).