For The Birds

It is kind of amazing how close one can get to wild birds.

So yesterday afternoon a snow storm came in, which is a big deal for North Carolina, so they closed the schools. Since I was the parent oncall for the day, I ended up home early that afternoon.

I found myself staring out the window, and saw a male cardinal sitting on a snow covered branch. It was rather pretty, but the window had screening so it wasn't conducive to good photography. so I decided to go outside and shoot it from there.

The tree is in our side yard, and I was standing in our front yard under another tree, along side some bird feeders. As I was standing waiting for the cardinals to come back to the side yard, I noticed that many birds were coming around the feeders - just 10ft away.

So I turned around, leaned against a branch, and over the next hour or so got up close and personal to many birds... these shots are some of the results:

OK, this one isn't technically a bird (or even non-technically a bird), but he came close to, so I took his portrait.

Always Keep An Eye On The Guy With The Big White Lens

A few weeks ago I was walking through the middle of Central Park, in New York City.  It was my first time in this section of the park, so I was a little overwhelmed at the scale, and all the things to see.

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I spot a photographer with a huge telephoto lens  (ya know those big white Canon ones that just scream 'I got more zoom than you!' ?  It was a larger one of those) jogging across the grass, looking up into the trees.  So I looked up as well to see what he was looking at, and saw a red tailed hawk, just hanging out in the middle of the city:

It was at that moment that I learned a valuable lesson:  Always keep an eye on the guy with the big white lens, cause when he swings into action, there will be something cool to see.

Also learned in the moment right after this one is to keep your camera pointed at the wildlife.  Because if I did, the next photo would be of a red tailed hawk swooping right over my head.  However, I learned that lesson about 20 seconds too late, so you get nothing.  Sorry about that.

For The Birds: Snowfall Edition

Today North Carolina finally got a light covering of snow.  My bird feeders got a whole lot of action.  At times over 20 birds were fluttering around them.  I grabbed my camera and took a few shots.  I'm still figuring out my new camera, so please forgive the graininess in some of the shots.

Here be the birds:

 

 

And finally, an #AutoAwesomed view of what my feeders looked like today

Climbing Rocky Face Mountain

On Sunday I learned exactly why they call it Rocky Face Mountain.

In February I bragged online about clearing out Rocky Face Mountain Park...  a week later a local caching couple by the name 2IceHikers published two more caches there.  On Sunday I made my return to once again clear out the park.

I walked the trails as close as I could to the first cache.  I had to go off-trail, and walk about 200ft along the edge of a large rocky outcropping, to get to ground zero, but I soon had the cache in hand and the log signed.

It was at this point that I had a choice.  To take the trails to the next cache would be well over a mile of trail hiking, however the cache was only 0.4 miles as the crow flies. The shorter distance was almost straight up (400+ft elevation gain), and 100% bushwhacking (tho the description said the woods near the second cache were 'light').  The trails would be longer, but much easier.  I had hiked those trails several times in the past, so I decided to man up and bushwhack over to the second cache location.  

Adventure awaits!

So I started to ascend the seemingly endless rocky slope.  As it turns out the rock face goes up at a fairly steep angle the entire 400ft elevation (not sure how far inward it goes, but when I got to the top I was only 1/10th of a  mile closer to my goal).  

It was a heck of an ascent - lots of 45deg slopes, and some logs and trees to navigate around.  I was about half-way up when this site came into view.

 The sharp eyed among you will notice the large bird coming over the horizon.  My first thought was "cool! Eagles... or... vultures... or... something." ... so it turns out my bird identification sucks.

My next thought was that I was in the company of, assuming I was watching eagles, food, in the form of my dog.  Now I don't know much about eagles, so this is likely all very silly in retrospect, but at the time I was rather concerned.  I knew some eagles have been known to attack animals as large as deer, so my 40lb dog was no match for such winged beasts.  Also I had just read The Hobbit, in which giant eagles featured heavily.  All this is to say I felt a tad bit of fear for my trusted companion, and kept her close, as I continued on up the rocks.

There were a half dozen of these winged beasts in the air, and I got lots of views like this one:

I must confess, by the time I got to the top I felt like Gandalf leading the hobbits (aka Bailey) to safety from the wraiths - I may be a grown man, but there is *nothing* wrong with my imagination, thank you very much. (I wish I could say the same for my bird identification skills).

Once I got to the top I took a moment to admire the view, and to take a selfie (notice that Bailey is on leash, and kept close to me).

Since I was near the summit, I headed laterally across the mountain into the woods to bushwhack the 1500ft or so to GZ.  I quickly found the cache.  Mission now accomplished I located the nearest path, and took the longer, easier way, back to parking.

It was a grueling climb - I can feel it in my legs today - but I am glad I did.  I didn't see a solitary soul on the way up the side of the mountain, but I must have passed 30+ people while walking back to the Geovan Of Destiny.  A solitary hike through nature is much better for the soul than a crowded one.

So now Rocky Face Mountain Park is clear of caches once again.  Your turn, 2IceHikers.  I await your next move.

Further Down Stevens Creek Trail

Yesterday I went for a pre-work walk along Stevens Creek Trail in Mountain View California.  I had walked the trail by the Ames research center.

This morning I went for another walk, but this time I headed down towards the shoreline.  There I found a rich ecosystem full of birds.

I took a few shots, for your viewing pleasure.

 Enjoy.

Stevens Creek Trail

I am not where you think I am.

Last weekend I flew across the continent to Mountain View California for business.

The office is on the very southern edge of San Francisco Bay, and borders on two sides a nature preserve, and Ames Research Center.

This morning before hitting the office I took a short walk along Stevens Creek Trail, which bisects this nature area.

The following are a few pics from this frosty (31f) but rather pretty walk.  It was a great way to start the day.

Geocaching At The North Carolina Arboretum

My parents are in town from Canada so we spent the day at the North Carolina Arboretum, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains near(-ish) Asheville.

The Arboretum has a bit of something for each of us.  My parents have never visited the Asheville area, my kids could get outside and play on things, I had some geocaching to do and, as it turns out, there was a quilting display for my lovely wifey.

As a bonus, there was a also a display of Lego sculptures for all of us (because the love of Lego is universal).

None of the ladies were overly keen on geocaching, and since we had to take two vehicles anyway, my father and I headed out early to hit the trails.  The rest of the family met us there for lunch.

My father and I arrived at 9:30, and spent the next 2.5 hours hiking the trails, finding tupperware in the woods, as geocachers are wont to do.

There was also a geocaching event today to mark the fact that the Arboretum staff had hidden many new geocaches on the grounds.  Finders of 6 caches qualified for a prize.  As a result there were many geocachers in the Arboretum, and we ended up caching with several of them at various points:

The fall colours are almost gone from the trees, but that just meant a nice carpet of freshly fallen leaves to walk on.

Most of the caches were in easy to find, yet interesting spots, like this cache hidden in the burl of a tree. Dad made the grab like a pro.

As you can see, from the right angle the cache is easily visible.

After we found 6 caches we went into the Education Center to claim our prizes.  We had a choice of items, but we picked t-shirts for the kids.

While we were there, I noticed one of the employees had a snake around her neck.  I asked if I could see it, and before I knew it, I was holding a live snake for the first time in my life.  Apparently the snake is named Courney, and she is a corn snake.  

My wife took a bunch of photos of me with the snake, but unfortunately none of them turned out.  This is the only one I could rescue, but unfortunately I looks like I am scared (I wasn't).  I was actually talking to it.  I was renaming her Queen Corn The Slitherific.

My mother took this photo of me with Her Royal Highness.

All in all, it was a great day at the Arboretum.  All of us mentioned we wanted to return, hopefully in the spring when the flowers are blooming.

Ants In My Cache

I spent the afternoon in Asheville NC today geocaching with my wife.  We came across this cache full of miniature wildlife:

It was kind of freaky at first, but after a while we started watching the ants scurrying to save their eggs from the evil people invading their homes.  Once the ants scattered sufficiently I grabbed the log and signed it.

We then went on our merry way. Has this ever happened to you?

Disclaimer: No ants were (intentionally) harmed in the finding of this cache.

Bears Go East: Bangor Has Moxie

The following events happened on July 14, 2013
Our epic family road trip east is coming along nicely.  So far we have met our goals of touring all four Canadian Maritime Provinces, and are working back down the east coast of North America.

Yesterday we crossed back into the United States and spent the night at the house of some geocaching friends, brdad and msteelee.  Today we spent the day hanging out with them.

We started the day by going geocaching (actually lies - it was started with breakfast).

msteelee has a kid friendly cache that seemed perfect for Zeke, so we all headed out to a nearby wooded area to attempt it.  It is a 6 stage multi cache, and a crackin' good walk through the woods.

After that we split forces, with brdad and myself heading off to grab some more caches, and msteelee and my wife and kids going off for nap time (and, I found out later, ice cream).

We met back at their house for lunch (fluffernutters! marshmallow fluff spread on PB sandwiches... yummy), and Moxie (a root beer/cola combo).  Then we started making plans for supper.

They were going to cook us some Maine lobster for dinner, so my wife, brdad and Yours Truly headed off to pick up supplies.

We arrived at the grocery store to find the group in front of us had bought the last lobsters in the tank, so we activated Plan B (you should always have a Plan B) and bought the lobsters from an unmarked van on the side of the road (seems legit, right?).  I dunno why but that seems like an authentic local Maine lobster experience to me, so I went with it.  I didn't die from food poisoning, so I consider it a win (actually it was very tasty).

Here are some more scenes from the day, starting with Zeke grabbing one of the cache stages.  All the stages were there, but the final was missing.  Luckily we knew the CO and they worked up a replacement cache and log for us to sign (note: one should always bring a CO in tow when caching - saves a LOT of time if there are issues).


Most of the other caches brdad and I did were near a nice little pond in the back of another wooded area.  This area had several fun caches, including a funky gadget cache made out of an arduino, and used solar power... a unique cache in my experience (which is what makes gadget caching so much fun).

This is a fine looking lobster that I named Larry.  I tried to race them on the kitchen floor, but they were not overly ambitious this afternoon, so I let them mellow before we sent them to the Great Steam Pot In The Sky.

Supper is cooking! There are taters, corn cobs, clams, and the aforementioned lobster experiencing the great transcendence from "sea" to "food".

After supper we played some games.  This one is called Five Crowns. Between you and me I think Abigail was counting cards...

That was our day in Bangor spent with authentic Mainers.  It was a great time, and a nice break from our travel routine.  Tomorrow we're back on the road.  Where will we end up?  Stay tuned to find out.

Cafe Giraffe!

I think its fair to say that amongst my family the favourite animal is the giraffe.  They are basically deformed clown horses, and who doesn't love a deformed clown?

During our visit last week to the North Carolina Zoo, we took some time to feed the giraffes.

Apparently giraffes eat 75lbs of vegetation a day, which is about 2 Zekes, or 4 Abigails. Since we only had only one of each of those, we resigned ourselves to providing them a snack of conveniently provided leaves.

If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend it (if you don't get the chance, I still recommend it, but you likely won't get the same sense of satisfaction.

These are a few pics from the experience. We'll start with a nice shot of a giraffe stalking its prey...

 The zoo keeper feeding the gangly beast.

Zeke fed the giraffes a few leaves.  He was surprisingly brave about the whole thing (he tends to be skittish around such things.. first time he touched a horse he cried).  He probably would have stayed all day and fed them if he could.  Abigail, on the other hand, cried her head off when she saw the giraffes up close - not a fan (yet!)