On the Wing

Great Blue Heron coasts over the Chattahoochee River

Finally, I convinced Fife to rent and ride bikes down the Chattahoochee Riverwalk* today. Truthfully, he didn't take much convincing, and he was a perfect companion for the trip: patient and agreeable. We rode all the way to Columbus Water Works' sewage treatment plant (not as bad as it sounds)...just down the street from Key School.
*Check out the interactive, panoramic media for a virtual trip down the Riverwalk.

We chose Trek Navigators from Ride on Bikes on Broadway in Downtown Columbus. Mine was perfect in every way - almost didn't even notice the dreaded muscle aches on the climb up the few hills we met. I imagined myself heron-like -- on the wing. But, unlike the graceful heron, I suppose we'll be sore tomorrow. For $10 each, we could have kept the bikes all day, instead of just the 3 hours we spent on them. What a deal! I know that we'll be back - earlier in the day - for a longer ride. Maybe we'll ride to the Infantry Museum or Oxbow Meadows.

The trail was just as beautiful this winter day as I've ever seen it; the rains from the week-end washed every plant and animal we saw to shimmering splendor. Well, except for the little guy riding ahead of me up one long hill.  My own backside was mud-splattered by the time we climbed the final hill. (No pictures of that!)

We saw a beautiful Great Blue Heron wading by the river bank and looking for a meal, geese swimming and in flight, some cormorants, a cardinal, a ruby throated hummingbird, one (!) squirrel, and lots of leashed dogs, but no gators. Maybe next time...

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It was a perfect ride on a perfect day on a perfect bike down a perfect trail with a perfect Bike Buddy.

Blueberry Redux

Earlier this summer a friend and I worked hard for two hours to pick a gallon of blueberries each. The bushes from which we picked were all but barren.

Today Anna and I tried a new-to-us, pick-your-own grove and found what must be the blueberry mother lode in this part of the world. She and I picked for two hours from neighboring bushes, each gathering two gallons.

The morning was overcast and cool, perfect for blueberry picking. Neighborhood birds agreed, and several accompanied us: lots of noisy crows, a brown thrasher or two, and
one beautiful red-headed woodpecker. A particularly critical mockingbird seemed very worried that we might pick all of his breakfast berries. He definitely needed to relax!
We left plenty for him and all of his friends, and took a half a gallon berries to my parents. Tonight Anna and I made blueberry jam and blueberry sweet rolls. Now what to do with the other 3 gallons...

Tech note: I forgot to take my camera again, and had to use my Blackberry to take pictures of the blueberries and Anna. The images don't look great here, but when double-clicked and brought to their full sizes, they look pretty old good considering what I used to capture them.

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Walking the Riverwalk

Today, while waiting for my bike inner tube to be replaced, instead of pedaling down the Chattahoochee Riverwalk as planned, we took a very short walk. Too muggy to walk very far, but we enjoyed Seward Johnson's bronze, When Now Becomes Then, as well as the herons, cormorants, gar, and turtles, who were also out enjoying a steamy, overcast Georgia July afternoon. We'll be back with inflated tires and a pair of binoculars for a longer trip soon.

View a (too small) video below or follow the link to a larger slideshow. I imported the digital images from the SD (Secure Digital) memory card to Picasa 3, uploaded them directly to my public, online Picasa album, and linked that here. Picasa 3 also allowed me to create and embed a photo video with the images. I like the slideshow better, I think.

Bays, Beaches, Bikes, Botany, Birds, and Best Buds

Here's a short Flash slideshow of our trip to Destin, Florida: a delightful week of perfect beach weather, turquoise gulf, lots of seafood and fun, shared by family and a sweet friend. Blessed. Truly.

Mockingbird Wonder

Lots of mockingbird activity since last Sunday's hatchling spotting. This morning I followed the brood from the kitchen window. As one bold fledgling hopped across the driveway, stopping every few inches to exercise his feathered wings, his parents hovered from fence, to hedge, to electrical wire, and then to the basketball goal, jerking their heads around nervously -- chirruping and squawking at me watching from my stoop vantage point. I mean him no harm, sir, m'am! But I did intend to get a picture of the fledgling.

Yesterday Papa Mockingbird buzzed the back of my neck when I was cooking supper on the grill. I had ventured too close. My son, freshly home from freshman year in college and newly sophisticated himself (yeah, whatever), did't share my sense of mockingbird wonder. Rather, he seemed downright annoyed when I enlisted him to keep guard over my back as I climbed the step stool to the nest in the Ligustrum. I got a picture, but not a good one. Oh well, it will have to do. Both the parents and my son were too agitated for me to try again. Unfortunately, I saw only two chicks in the nest and evidence of the unfortunate sibling in the neighbor's yard.

Birth Announcement: Hatchling Triplets

When last I peeped in on the Mockingbird nest, three, speckled eggs rested inside. Today, on a one-week check-up, I found no eggs, but a trio of hatchlings. One was quite insistent that someone feed him. I had heard lots of bird chatter this morning and suspected that they had arrived. So did a stray cat, but she ambled off when I walked outside to investigate. Horrible picture, but I could do no better with Mom and Pop squawking ferociously from the wire above (and with my OLD camera - must get a new one).


Funny observation: As I was eating my breakfast this morning I spied Pop Mockingbird standing patiently on our basketball goal for a loooong time, holding a largish, ripe mulberry in his mouth. Mulberries ripening and birdies hatching: perfect timing on someone's part.

Triplets in the Hedge

Finally took time to trim the shrub outside the kitchen window today. I buzzed with abandon to the beat of Bruce Springsteen on my iPod, unaware of Mama and Papa Mockingbird squawking and buzzing me. After I took off the earbuds, I definitely took notice of the pair! Carefully peeking in the bush, I found the Mockingbird's new home and was thankful that I had come no closer to delivering shock and awe than I had. A trio of speckled eggs was awaiting a parent's return.

Update (4/19/09): This morning from my kitchen window I was able to unobtrusively observe the parents visiting the nest. Thank goodness! I was so afraid that they might abandon it after the close brush with my hedge trimmer yesterday. Apparently not. Now let's hope that I didn't leave a trail for the neighborhood jays and cats.

Oxbow Redux

When Laurie and I visited Oxbow Meadows earlier this week, I found out about the 8 AM Saturday bird walks and planned to go. Maybe because of a stormy Friday evening...or possibly because 8:00 comes so darned early on Saturdays...Fife and I were the only visitors. We thoroughly enjoyed the leisurely walk down to the ponds with our gracious guide, Patricia. It was a beautiful day and she identified the birds I had actually seen on Wednesday -- cormorants (not turkey vultures), little blue herons (not great white egrets!!!), indigo buntings and blue grosbeaks (not painted buntings), as well as a few new ones (green heron, blue bird, wood duck, tree swallow, pine siskin, towhee, mockingbird, eastern phoebe)! We also saw the goldfinches that we had seen earlier in the week, but today they were brilliantly yellow. All were totally awesome to me.

As we were leaving the trail, Patricia spotted the adult Little Blue Herons wading in the water hyacinths. What I had mistakenly identified through the binoculars on Wednesday afternoon as great white egrets, were most likely immature Little Blues (white also).

Technology application of the day: definitely Picasa 3! It can be set to detect picture files. Although I did not use that feature, I easily imported pictures to one file, edited one or two, and could have imported them directly into this blog (Picasa and Blogger are Google aps). Instead I added a few captions, changed the font and background color, selected a transition style, imported a soundtrack, and let Picasa create a movie, which I easily embedded in the blog. I believe that even the youngest elementary-aged student could create a movie this way, with appropriate scaffolding. I can't wait to show this new feature of Picasa 3 to our teachers.


My non-SLR camera did not "capture the moment" well, but I at least had the color settings right today.

Nature: Meet Technology Integration

Following a dreary few days of rain, wind, and brrrrrrisk weather, my friend and fellow techie teacher, Laurie, and I visited Oxbow Meadows Learning Center just south of the school where we teach. We are collaborating on a science/social studies/literacy project that will integrate Georgia Performance Standards, Cornerstone literacy strategies, and speech/language goals in an exciting technology-enhanced, problem-based learning project for our students.

We picked a perfect day to visit: sunny, mild, cloudless, and almost visitor-free. Red-winged Blackbirds, Great White Egrets, Turkey Vultures, common finches, a pair of Canada Geese, one perfect Painted Bunting, a Mockingbird or two, and several snapping turtles enjoyed the day as well. Disappointed not to find a Great Blue Heron -- maybe next visit. We were delighted to chat with the knowledgeable workers and to borrow some excellent field glasses and field guide.

Red-winged Blackbird (Amazing what a little accessorizing does for a simple, little black dress.)


Great White Egret (Nimble, quick, and unexpectedly graceful on those ungainly looking legs.)



Turkey Vultures (Well, somebody's gotta appreciate 'em...they have a thankless job.)



Painted Bunting (SHAZAAM!!)



We took lots of pictures - a virtual field trip of sorts. I unintentionally used the color accent camera setting, so the greens look terrific, but everything else pales in comparison to the brilliance of the day. No matter, we'll be back, hopefully with kids in-tow.

Oxbow Meadows April 8, 2009

Click on the picture to link to the Picassa Web Album. View as a slideshow.

Randomness

During a thunder storm last summer I stood looking out the sunroom window at the wind tossing the branches of the tremendous sweet gum in the back yard. However, I quickly jumped back into the den when I heard the pop-crack-swish-thump-bump-bump-bump of a large limb coming down. Luckily, when it fell, it only bounced off the roof, piercing it in three spots (undiscovered until the rain came a day later). Good for us, but one woodpecker was probably sad to see his favorite dining spot hauled away.