MY photo of a Red Knot!

Larry found 5 Red Knots today and I was very grateful to the retired Grandma, who called her husband over when I was scoping Roseate Spoonbills at Ding Darling NWR and insisted that he teach me to digiscope. ("Now Ed you must teach this young lady, how to digiscope!") Because he did, I was able to get this photo today of a banded Red Knot. Very Cool!

This picture was taken with a Cannon Power Shot A480 at 3.3x zoom looking into a Swarovski, 80mm Spotting Scope at about 20x magnification. Pretty neat...huh?

Rites of Passage

The installation of one's air conditioner is the rite of passage signalling the onset of summer. I cleaned the filter, I installed the exhaust pipe in the window and plugged the spaces with squishy foam. After a few hours of running quite well, the room was a tolerable 78 degrees but the floor was flooded with water. I thought, maybe the unit isn't balanced correctly, so it's not draining right. I emptied the water and turned on the unit once more. A couple of hours later, the floor was flooded again. Houston, we have a problem.

Good bye old A/C...you have served me well, cooling me off during all those hazy, hot and humid NYC summers for the past 5 years.

Costco has a new sale on it's books tonight.

I bought a new air conditioner.

It will be on a nice brown UPS truck next week, on it's way to my bedroom.

It is coming from California, it will take approximately 5 days to get here.

It will see more of the United States than I have.

I wish that they had a little map of the country so I could follow it's journey, through the desert, over the Rockies, past the waving wheat, over the Blue Ridge Mountains to my door.

After that long trip, I hope I can lug it up the two flights of stairs to it's final destination.

The Road Well Traveled

We don't exactly travel light!

We have a computer, a scope, an electric percolator, diet soda and snacks.

We are ready to roll!

Here I am, after 30 miles of walking in three and a half days, doing the tourist thing in the Nation's Capital and then off to do some serious birding at Bombay Hook, NWR in Dover, DE.
I am ready for the mosquitoes, the ticks and the no-see-ums.

I get the point...

Larry at the Washington Monument.

Larry under the Chinese Gate in Washington.

Larry by the Capitol Building
They didn't let us get close enough to take a picture in front of the White House, so no Larry.


They call it a Reflecting Pool...

We took a road trip to Washington DC. I haven't been there in 32 years. One thing really stands out in our nation's capital. There are no supermarkets. I don't know where the residents get their groceries. The 5 days I was there, I didn't even see a truck delivering food. No wonder why everyone was so thin, they don't have any food. There was a Starbucks on every corner. Everywhere I went I saw people drinking coffee. They say caffeine is an appetite suppressant.

The streets were very clean. The metro system boasted that they didn't have any rats, unlike another system, they refused to mention. They said it was because there was no eating or drinking allowed in the system. Even if you wanted to eat something, there was no where to buy any food.

No food, no litter, no rats...Problem solved.

May 8th-jamaica bay

It turned out to be a beautiful day. The morning weather reports threatened rain, and indeed, there were a few light showers, but nothing like they predicted ocurred at Jamaica Bay. Seeing my favorite bird, the American Oyster Catcher, made it a complete birdwatching day for me.

We saw cygnets, goslings and owlets today. Last night I had a dream that Larry and I had to cross a bridge and there were Canada Geese on eggs and with goslings sitting in the middle of the road blocking our way. I must be psychic, because that is exactly what happened today!

These adorable, little yellow and black goslings were being guarded by their parents in the middle of the path. They were so cute!

Looking for Larry (Notice the evil eye!!!)

Get away from Larry!