Wingbee trip

I went to Redding CA for a week for the Pacific Flyway Wingbee. It was pretty cool. There were 25,000 wings! And they were down 5,000 from normal years. I learned alot on identifying sex and age one the wing. I kept a male and female wing of each species and flew them back with me :) I'm going to make a wing board for training techs and for check stations. Maybe I'll find a camera to get a few photos of the pretty ones and share.

Since we were short on wings and had alot of people this year, we actually finished early and I took Thur to do some sight seeing. I went to Shasta Lake in the mountains north of Redding. Beautiful spot. And I went on a tour of the Shasta Lake Carverns. I have never been in a cave before, the formations were pretty awesome.

On my drive from the airport on my arrival I stopped at two National Wildlife Refugees and did some birding and also at Shasta Lake. I saw bunches and bunches of birds. The spotted towhee, red-breasted sapsucker, and oak titmouse were newbies for me! Gotta love that.

Oh, and as I sit here, Bugglie Bubble is welcoming me back! Still Here!

bald eagle
red-tailed hawk
turkey vulture
bufflehead
ring-necked duck
green-winged teal
cinnamon teal
northern shoveler
American widgeon
northern pintail
gadwall
mallard
snow goose
white-fronted goose
white-faced ibis
snowy egret
great egret
great blue heron
double-crested cormorant
pied-billed grebe
American coot
ring-necked pheasant
long-billed curlew
greater yellowlegs
black-necked stilt
killdeer
acorn woodpecker
red-breasted sapsucker
yellow-bellied sapsucker
downy woodpecker
oak titmouse
spotted towhee
Anna's hummingbird
yellow-rumped warbler
marsh wren
western meadow lark
ruby-crowned kinglet
starling
white-crowned sparrow

Roy did it again

Oh boy Roy. I was at the WMA checking water levels with my dogs. All of a sudden I hear high pitched yelping! It didn't sound like Roy so I thought Reena was probably in a fight with a porcupine of something. I'm running over yelling Reena Reena, but she pops up the bank on to the road. So it's not Reena, then it is Roy in a frantic state. I quickly find him (he had the smarts enough to at least bark this time so I could find him) and he's caught in a trap again. Poor boy. And not one trap but two! His foot was in a trap, that was in another trap. He must have stuck his foot in a trap, jumped around and stuck the same foot in the one other trap there. Only Roy.

Luckily he trust me enough to work on getting them off without bitting my hands off. The traps were set illigally with visible bait. Trappers are supposed to put the bait in a hole, bury it, or have the traps more than 30 ft from bait that is visible so that raptors and other non-target species are not caught. The trap also did not have the required contact information for the trapper. So I picked them up, left a note for the trapper to call me to get them back, and gave the info to the CO officer. I doubt they will be giving me a call. I don't have a problem with people trapping if they follow the rules.

Anyway. I get to go to Redding CA tomorrow for a week for a Pacific Flyway Wingbee. What is that? Well, a bunch of waterfowl hunters submit the wings of harvested birds and now the USFWS has thousands of wings they need to identifiy to species, age and sex. So they get a bunch of folks together for a whole weeks and all we do is ID wings! Could get old after the first few but I hear it is a fun time to meet folks etc. So CA sunshine for a week....havent' seen that in months!

its a miracle

I always thought that if I ever had a moment with a cat and dog sleeping with each other like all the cute photos you see it would be a miracle. Guess miracles can happen.

When I had both Larry and Mac, the cats were always wary to some degree and never let their guard down and played like cats should. The dogs and cats kept a wide breadth around each other. Mac was always the most nervous about it. Once Mac was gone Larry started getting brave enough to come up and sniff the dogs tails or something, and he would have moments of zooming around the house after a wad of paper. Larry is just such a character, he's pretty bold and bossy, and thinks he should be number one. With just the 3 pets I've had precious moments on the couch of a dog on either side and the cat in my lap. But never touching!

Lately I'll hear Reena give one sharp plaintive "hey, what the hell" bark from the other room. When I check, Reena is standing in the middle of the room and Larry is somewhere looking innocent. I'm assuming Larry snuck up behind her to sniff her or actually touched her or something!

Last night Reena was at one end of the couch and Larry came up between her and I, but instead of getting on my lap, he snuggled up to her butt and lied half on her. She startles and turns around, but doesn't protest. She stares at me, then glances down at the cat then back at me, questioning. Then glances at the cat again and back at me. She totally had the look of "Uhm, what am I suppose to do?" Meanwhile Larry is just settled in like nothing is going on. I tell Reena she's fine and he's being sweet. She gives up and turns and puts her head on her paws and relaxes. How precious. Then Larry nonchalantly stretches out his front paws and rests them on her back legs. Like, ok, I'll push the envelope just a little further. It was funny just to watch the whole thing.

Maybe Larry will tackle Roy next. Good luck with that one! Roy doesn't even like it if I move an inch when he's on the couch. A big gruff huff and he's gone.

Bugglie Buble'

I have a new pet! He came in with the firewood several moons ago! And he's a crooner for sure! Hence his name Bugglie Buble'. I listen to him every night, as I lounge on the couch watching TV. His is a raspy scraping voice, one of a kind. He loves to chirp in when I'm fast forwarding through commercials (I have DTV, so I can do that). He's a great entertainer and his timing is impeccable. I've burned the firewood and brought in new, but somehow he has made it through. As for the spiders that come, the ones I find crawling across the ceiling or the rug...they all get whacked. But with Mr. Buble', it's not that way. I've grown to care for him, I think I love him. However, we have never actually met. So I hope he's not the creepy crawly Bugglie type, or I may have to take that back. He may have to get smacked with the sole of my shoe.

But for now, Here's to you, Mr. Bugglie Buble'