Snow on the road, early into a big snow Big snow tonight, and the roads will be awful tomorrow. A pic of things before it gets too wild.
|
I published this article a long time ago, but recently scanned it for another bit. Back in the day, Don McFarlane, his son Stuart, and I went off to find, explore, and map the caves of the Chiriqui Province in Panama. There was almost no information on caves in this area, but we took what we had, added info from geological maps, and had at it.
Almost all of the caves were found by talking to locals. We mapped the caves and assessed them for scientific interest. Cueva Porton, at the time, became the longest surveyed cave in Panama at 707 meters of passage. The report and maps are now available. Published first by Nittany Grrotto,: https://www.dropbox.com/s/y83xx5yv3guvf3n/Panama%20Chiriqui%20caving.pdf?dl=0 So, some photos.  Hermit thrush in the brush  Canada geese on the move  Lots of Canada geese at Lake Fairfax  Canada geese heading out  And the bird of much searching, a bar-headed goose in a flock of Canada geese. Okay, so we froze our eyebrows off for that bit of birding. But we also hit Riverbend Park to see about the birds on the Potomac River. Still cold as an iceberg in Alaska, but we refused to let the cold stop us.  The Potomac River, with ice floating down and a bit of rock out in the middle.  Tufted titmouse from Riverbend Park More pics from this bit of birding.
Dag blast it. Forget I can't do this with Firefox. Going to another browser. kc This will take me two days to post all the pics. For now, pics from Lake Fairfax and some of the pics from Riverbend. Might be some going backwards as I am just in a jumble with all the pics.  On the way to Lake Fairfax, stopped by Colvin Run. Most of those are mallards, but the little one third from the right is a pintail. So on to Lake Fairfax. Lots of geese, and somewhere in the mix is a bar-headed goose.  A junco happy in a tree Which is not a bar-headed goose. We looked at hundreds of geese at the park.  Canada geese at Lake Fairfax  Canada geese flying at Lake Fairfax Okay, I won't even be able to finish Lake Fairfax tonight, let alone more Riverbend photos. One photo to finish this for now.  White-throated sparraw at Lake Fairfax I got another chance to walk for about two hours at Riverbend Park on Wednesday. http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/riverbend-park/ We have arctic whether coming in, and this day was about 40 degrees out and sunny. So a great opportunity to see a lot of birds out and feeding, as they are now hunkered down and not active (current temps in the 20s and likely in the teens by morning). I like to tell a story about walks such as this, but for tonight, I am just going to post some photos with a bit of commentary, as it is getting late. First up, a first-year bald eagle. 
A first-year bald eagle from Riverbend Park, Fairfax, VA
This is likely the worst photo I have ever put on my blog. However photographers will note that I have the eagle in focus even though it is through a bunch of branches. That took some skill to do. The reason I include it here is as a lesson. I saw this bird while standing pretty close to a birder with binoculars. There are loads of Turkey Vultures in this area, and he reached that ID without really looking at it, after I asked him to use his binocs to help with the ID. We talked a bit and headed our separate ways. But in the end, after downloading the image and seeing the clear field marks, it is a first-year bald eagle. So the lesson is to make sure of your bird ID with observations and/or photos. Don't assume the big brown bird is a vulture, make sure is it such. But now onto the water. Let's talk coots. 
An American coot looking into clear water for where to dive for food
And that is just one coot. There were about a hundred floating, diving, and standing around eating ham sandwiches. Okay, maybe not that last one. 
Lots of coots on the Potomac River at Riverbend Park
Coots R Us 
And a coot running across the water to gain flight
And another note to fishermen, please try not to leave your line or lures in the trees. This can snare birds. 
A rubber worm hanging from a tree. That hook and line can be fatal to birds
But now a tufted titmouse 
Tufted titmouse at Riverbend Park, Fairfax County, VA
 And you make the call on this one. Looks like an osprey but I haven't worked it out. And a quiz photo. What is this?  Yellow-bellied sapsucker But along the trail I did see this yellow-bellied sapsucker 
Squirrels are always cool.
And finally, for tonight after a big post of pics...
White-breasted nuthatch
I am posting this rather late at night. Spelling or similar errors can be attributed to the late hour. But I hope you enjoyed the pics.
Tribulations with my server are still not fully ironed out, but I can now post pics again. 
The moon in the day
A tunnel in Fairfax County, Virginia. We have had much cold and ice this winter, and some icicles can be seen.
Okay, so back in business!!! The first try at a fix didn't work. The second one did, and that was to switch browsers. Inconvenient, but simple enough. Apparently there is some glitch in my Firefox that is preventing it from recognizing when I try to click the "upload photo from your computer" button.
Okay, so technically she's doing a spin, but the closest thing to the twist I could find quickly.
So, talked with tech support and they have given me two possible ways to fix my problem, and were quick and polite and knowledgeable. Awesome service. Now to see about making one of those fixes suggested stick.
Just some geometry and odd elements in one frame. No manipulation of any kind other than to resize it for publishing here and the copyright.
Still have to drag photos. This photo was taken from the rooftop parking lot at the Balston Commons Mall.
|
AuthorKeith Christenson - Wildlife Biologist Categories
All
Author
Keith Christenson Wildlife Biologist Archives
September 2021
|
RSS Feed