Gotcha!

After several months of staking out in our backyard and sour-graping,  I was finally able to snap a species considered rare in Colorado - the elusive Blue Jay.  

I caught a glimpse of its pretty plumage from the kitchen window while prepping my potato-leek soup.  As luck would have it, my camera was lying on the dining table with the right lens.  I quickly grabbed it knowing that my feathered friend would be gone in a few seconds.  True enough, it vanished in the wink of an eye ... but not until after I took several shots ... woohoo!!!

Fence Patrol Officer Brontësaurus was thankfully slacking in her job :-)

The Colors Are A-Changin'

Sonnet 73

by William Shakespeare

That time of year thou mayst in me behold

When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang

Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,

Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.

          In me thou see’st the twilight of such day

          As after sunset fadeth in the west;

          Which by and by black night doth take away,

          Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.

In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire,

That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,

As the deathbed whereon it must expire,

Consumed with that which it was nourished by.

          This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong,

          To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

Along the Poudre River Canyon (west of Fort Collins) taken on the 1st of October

Sleeping Elephant Mountain

Trail Ridge Road through Rocky Mountain National Park, 2nd of October

Nature's Corres

Brontë has practically taken over our lives.  So much so that we haven't been able to carry out our usual nature activities lately - bird watching in particular.

Last week, however, we got some respite from puppy parenthood when my sister and brother-in-law visited from France.  We dropped Brontë off at the daycare first thing in the morning and then picked her up before 6 pm.  The thought of her playing with other canine friends consoled a mother's bereft heart.  I know this sounds very dramatic but I am not ashamed to admit it.  I missed her very much but the image of her sitting, looking at me with her tail wagging never failed to put a smile on my face.  It helped me make it through until it was time to bring her home.       


Despite the temporary Brontë bereavement, Pete and I spent a wonderful time with our French family.  Together, we were awed by nature's wonders.

Knackered after staying at the daycare.

Female Allen's Hummingbird at the Pike's Peak Cog Railway Depot (PPCRD)

American Pipit at the Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP)

Female Broad-tailed Hummingbirds at the PPCRD

Arctic Raven at Pike's Peak Summit

Clark's Nutcracker at the RMNP

Dark-eyed Junco at the RMNP

Female Mountain Bluebird at the RMNP

Gray Jay at the RMNP

Turkey Vulture at the Red Feather Lake

Bull Elk

Cow Elk

Chipmunk

Ground Squirrel

Pika

Pika stocking up for the winter

Yellow-bellied Marmot

Ate and Claude traversing the tundra at the RMNP

Brontëology

16 July 2011

Brontë is now officially a Wright.  We signed our lives away for at least the next decade after fostering her for  a week.  Afterwards, we headed to The Dog Club of Fort Collins to enroll in the Good Puppy Class.  She's a very smart dog I believe (she can come, sit and stay within the week that she stayed with us) and it is my desire to learn from an expert before moving forward with her training.  I am hopeful that the classes will prevent any destructive behavior and teach her good manners.  Later, we paid for her license at the Larimer Humane Society where she was issued a temporary one since she hasn't had her rabies vaccine (she's too young to be vaccinated).  She'll be legally licensed once she gets the shot.

POOP SHEET
Name:  Brontë Patricia Mary Wright
Breed:  Border Collie - Labrador Retriever Mix (Borador)
Age:  10 to 12 weeks
Activities and Interests:  Eating, Sleeping, Peeing and Pooping, Playing, Walking with Mommy in the morning and walking with Daddy in the afternoon, Chewing Mommy's hair, hands, feet, slippers and anything else she can get hold of

Brontë's first day at home, 10 July 2011.  She wasn't actually included in our choices.  All three Lab mixes that we wrote down on our application had been all adopted.  I was upset but the Director of the shelter, A Puppy's Voice, mentioned that a Border Collie-Lab mix was on the way to the adoption event.  The couple who had fostered her couldn't keep her due to financial and time constraints.  We were just too happy to take her with us on a foster-to-adopt basis at first.  Who can resist that face??? 

A Puppy's Voice holds adoption events every Saturday in front of Petsmart in South College Avenue, Fort Collins.

Some of the puppies looking for a permanent loving home

We took her to the annual picnic of Northern Colorado Filipino-American Association, a first for all of us.  She made a lot of new friends.  

One of her favorite sleeping positions

Medical records.  We should see the vet within 5 days.

Avian Mugshots

Out of the 493 species in the official checklist of Colorado Birding Society (CoBus), I have so far photographed 59, some of which I look forward to seeing again for a better and closer shot (e.g. hummingbird).  Pete and I have definitely seen more than 59 but we don't cross them off the list until they are snapped and their mugshots make it to our avian wall because that will be just against the rules of the Wright household.

So ... 59 down and 434 more to go, that is after living in Colorado for 6 months.  Have we been slacking somehow?

Avian Mugshots

  

Stakeout

30 June 2011

A certain part of our group (i.e. Pete) claimed to have sighted a Blue Jay in our neighbor's backyard last Saturday.  "NO WAY!" I exclaimed since it is considered a rare species in our region.  Later in the week, he'd get a glimpse of the elusive bird twice and he'd summon me each time.  Unsuccessful on my part to catch it on both occasions, I dismissed the sighting as a figment of Pete's imagination (translation: I was sour graping).

Two days ago, however, while I was checking on my Pineapple Sage and Chives, it darted from our neighbors' backyard on our left to ours and on to our neighbors' on our right.  I froze in disbelief.

Today, I staked out in the patio while I tried to finish a Here-and-Now Collection from the Harmony Library - Jonathan Franzen's Freedom (Walter Berglund, one of the protagonists, was now on a crusade to save the Cerulean Warbler).  My camera was handy, strategically positioned for a sudden need to snap a photograph.  No luck this time but I was content nevertheless for I was not alone in my endeavor.

Meadowlark entertaining me during my stakeout.  It also gives a sterling performance every morning with the dawn chorus.

Steller's Jay ... my only Jay sighting so far.

Encounters with the Wild and the not-so-Wild (International)

Pete promised to take me whale-watching in Australia.  It's nestled in the top 3 of my dream travels list, the other two being a safari in Africa and birding at Tandayapa Lodge in Ecuador.  The more I watch nature shows, the more the list grows.  I bet my life he will not be surprised when he finds out that it's turned as voluminous as Tolstoy's War and Peace.  

I haven't done any nature trip in the past but I've had numerous interesting encounters with the wild and, erm, the not so wild.

Pink Dolphin in Sentosa Island in Singapore.  2002.  Dolphins are one of my favorite mammals.  Someday, I wish I could swim with them in the wild.

Now that I'm older, my feelings towards dolphins (or any wild animal for that matter) in captivity have drastically changed.  I recently watched the award-winning documentary, The Cove, on Netflix.  It shows the mass killings of dolphins in Taiji, Japan and aims to put a stop to the cruel practice.  I couldn't help crying like a baby.  

The neighbor's toutou in Hendaye, Pays-Basque - France where we rented a gite in 2006.

Course de Vaches in Saint Pée sur Nivelle, Pays Basque - France.  2006.

In 2006, I had the pleasure meeting Claude's (my brother-in-law) friend, Jacques (seated, second from the right).  He's an amateur wildlife photographer and he took us to the Rambouillet Forest in the evening to listen to the elks in rut.  What an eerie experience!

Piazza San Marco in Venice, Italy.  2005.

Garde Republicaine.  Jardin des Tuileries - Paris, France.  2006

Oman.  2006.

I met some local fishermen in Oman in 2006.

Goats attacking our mode of transportation.  Oman, 2006.

My friends and I witnessed the hatching of turtle eggs in Oman on the beach the name of which I can't recall at the moment (not the photo above).   Somehow, we felt that everything was staged.  We could be wrong, of course.

Jeff Koon's Puppy (LOL)outside Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain.  2006.  Funny how it looks so much like a kitty cat.

Stork in Alsace, France.  2007.

Ate having fun with Mr. Turkey Vulture and the kids.  Alsace, France.  2007.

Pete and Django, a kalabaw or carabao in English, Philippines' national animal at Villa Escudero in San Pablo City, Laguna - Philippines.  2007.

Avernes, France.  2008.

Mandarin Ducks in Munich, Germany.  2008.

Gannets nesting in Filey, Yorkshire - England.  2009.  I would've wanted to see puffins but Pete and I arrived too late.

The Lake District, England.  2010.

Le ragondin or coypu in Argelès-sur-Mer, France.  2010.

Dog Charmer at Park Güell in Barcelona, Spain.  2010.  

with Antoni Gaudi's mosaic dragon (haha!) at Park Güell in Barcelona, Spain.  2010.

On one of his business trips to Bassano del Grappa in Italy earlier this year, Pete brought me along but had to leave me on my own when he drove to Innsbruck, Austria.  I went for a walk by the Brenta River and came across some feathered friends.

Alpine Swift

Black Redstart

Crested Tit

White Wagtail

European Goldfinch.  Very different to its North American cousin (see photo below).

American Goldfinch in breeding plumage