Rain, Rain - Wet Robin

We got a good thunder and rain storm tonight. Thankfully the tornado from the warning west of Mandan didn't cause any trouble for us in Bismarck tonight. We did manage to get quite a bit of rain in a short period. I thought I'd snap a few photos to put on my blog. Little did I know at the time the raindrops falling would be caught in the light of the flash and appear as blotchy round circles in the picture. This is not rain on the lens, but rather rain as it was falling from the sky and suspended in motion with the flash of the camera. I took several more photos trying to get some good shots of how the heavy rain and blustery blowing wind made it look outside. Most are so splotched with round circles like this you can hardly make out anything else in the photo. They look so dark - much darker than I remember them in person.

The robin I blogged about a few days ago got another good dowsing with water tonight. And its nest is tipped to the side again. Perhaps we can try putting it upright tomorrow in the daylight. Seems it wasn't such a bright idea for it to nest right under the eaves after all. The leaves of the grape vines have grown quite a bit more this past week, but they offer no protection at all. Poor thing, it's bound to be cold out there when it gets drenched this much. It seemed to stick to the nest throughout the whole thing. I wonder if those eggs have hatched yet. I haven't noticed any activity that way in it yet. We'll check it better tomorrow.

Okay, here's the details of the photo highlighted in case you couldn't make it out too well in the previous photo.

We listened to weather on TV while the sirens were going off. Thankfully there was no damage from tornadoes or water damage from rain or flooding with us. In the middle of it I went to check all the basement windows. Everything was sealed up tight. I'm glad about that since I just so recently re-arranged and organized so much of my stuff down there. I would hate to have to pull it out from water damage. I'm definitely thankful for that.

We took the boat out on the river a few days ago. We didn't go far because some dark clouds and lots of wind blew in. It only made good sense to head back to the dock. Along with the clouds and wind, it turned chilly, too! No bites this day. It was kind of fun to get the boat out on the water, though. In the photo the waves are fairly calm. By the time we headed back they were substantially more choppy. Oh well, there will be more days to try for more fish.

Tipping Bird Nests

We have a bird's nest in the grapevines. It is about twelve feet from the door. I noticed it for the first time about a week ago while I was letting the dogs out the back door. The bird would always fly off as soon as I opened the door. Now it is used to me letting the dogs in and out. It still flies off if I go out the door, but won't budge if it is only the dogs.

We got quite a downpour of rain and thunder storms over the last couple days. With that rain we discovered the nest was now sitting tipped off to the side. The bird was still doing its best to hang on, but it looked like the nest was about to completely tip over. We felt the eggs and/or babies would eventually fall right out with the rain and wind that is expected for the next several days.

My husband and I decided to try tipping the nest back into position. He reports there are two blue robin eggs inside at the moment. Apparently it is fairly securely woven in among the grape vines and just needed to be turned up a bit to go back into position. This photo shows mama robin back on the nest after it was pushed back up into position. It seems she is just under the eaves of the roof enough to miss the rainfall now. Now there's not as much chance for the babies to fall out once they hatch. It will be fun to see the progress of the little ones over the next few weeks. If I get more opportunities for photos I'll post them here.

Nature Girl

When I was a kid I LOVED to be outside absorbing various elements of the natural world around me. Seems like growing up has meant getting away from that. Not so for this blogger this past weekend. My dh and I took the boat out to a local lake and enjoyed a pleasant time fishing and taking in some warm sunny summer-time weather. I loved it! We caught fish, had a good time of togetherness and both of us enjoyed getting outdoors for a great day. I shot this view of the fish finder showing there's lots of fish in this lake. How cool it that?! Fish finders - what an awesome invention. It's good to know they're down there even when they're not biting. On this day, however, they were indeed biting. We caught a couple large mouth bass, a crappie, a sun fish and a trout. It was all great eating that night!

While we were out on the lake I had my camera out to snap a few photos. Under this little bridge we caught a couple fish while up above us the birds were flying in and out of their nests. These birds were quick, flitting to and fro.

Apparently I was paying equal attention to the local wildlife, other than the fish. It was fascinating to watch the birds that made their homes in the sides of these cliffs. Actually there were quite a few of this type of cliff creating the landscape around this lake. I had lots of opportunity to try to take photos of the birds, but have to say I missed them in a multitude of shots, or they were flying faster that the camera's shutter speed. I took lots of photos, but none of the birds showed up in any of the shots.

Here's a close up of the holes that make up the doorways to their nesting sites in the side of the cliff. Nary a bird in site although I witnessed lots of them flying in and out of these holes while we fished.

I have to admit with the recent acquisition of my new drivers license I discovered the state of North Dakota has required me to wear my glasses while driving. That's a first for me - to be required to do so. One of the pitfalls of aging I guess. Anyway, I invested several hundred dollars recently in purchasing a pair of prescription sunglasses so I could protect my eyes from the sun while driving and still meet these new state directives. Polarized glasses, no less - they're the best - especially when out on the water. But this view of the sun reflecting off the water had me squinting and averting my eyes. A somewhat cloudy day with the sun warming things up for awhile in a direct manor and other times hidden behind the clouds. This sparkling water was a glorious thing to see in person. I'm afraid a photo just doesn't do these outdoor scenes justice. It appears darker in this photo, but it was actually a VERY BRIGHT day and the light was blinding reflecting off the water.

All in all, it was a great day out on the lake. I got to spend time with my honey, we caught fish, enjoyed some warm weather and came home warmed, worn out and relaxed from the sun.

Turkey Vultures Circling

We were driving past the state capital the other day and I noticed a huge number of birds circling around the area. There is some new construction taking place with the city creating new walking paths around the capital grounds. There was a story about the new walking paths on the news last night.

Perhaps the reason all these birds are currently circling around the area has something to do with the workmen and construction equipment disturbing the area they have been nesting? I don't know, just a guess. Anyway, driving by the other day, thinking there may be a dead animal in the area, got me thinking about these birds.

So I googled Turkey Vulture and found some interesting stuff I never heard about before. Info there says these birds weigh about six pounds and have a wing span of up to six feet across. From what I can see, these have got to be that big, they're huge!

I didn't get an actual count on them because of them moving around so much. It looks as if there are about 15-20 birds in this grouping. Perhaps they're migrating through the area? I can't remember having seen so many together at one time in this area before.

In my Google search I went to the Turkey Vulture Society website. I never would have thought there was a Vulture Society. They had lots of interesting info about these birds. For instance, they hardly have to flap their wings when they fly. Rather they launch themselves and glide. According to their website, these birds can glide for up to six hours without having to flap their wings. They gain height by catching thermal air drafts then circle till they find another thermal.

During my search on-line I ran across an article in the Bismarck Tribune dated last week about the Turkey Vultures in town. It said there were 130 nesting on the north side of Bismarck.