Banquet by Fire and Moon Light

The average temperature for this week was 42.3 °F. Chilly.

The high on Thursday was 74.7 °F. Nice.

So we sat out on the deck, fired up the fire pit, poured some wine, and enjoyed the evening.

Just like our cave dwelling ancestors used to do.

And as we were enjoying, the full Moon rose to the east, on a path to intersect the Earth's shadow later that night into morning.

The iPad sure has quite a few more smudges at this angle.

And the iPad was there so we could enjoy the DVOC virtual banquet, and although while the weather report was wrong about rain during the eclipse, it was right about rain that night. So we enjoyed the keynote speaker from the dry comfort of our living room.

Ironically, the talk, and it was a very good one, given by Holly Merker, was about Ornitherapy, one of the main tenets of which concerns the benefits of spending time outdoors in nature.

She was preaching to the choir.

Hey, I Can Do Art Too!

After several years of judging, Patty and I were again contestants in the DVOC annual members photography contest. And we both won awards, although we came up short of the grand prize.

I took first place in the Flora category, with this shot, Ninebark Flowers.

Patty took second place with Dewy Phlox.

Image courtesy Patty Rehn

We flip-flopped in the Scenery category, Patty taking first place with Sedona Sky.

Image courtesy Patty Rehn

And me second place, with The Bridge.

Patty also received and Honorable Mention  in the Birds category for her Juvenile Willow Ptarmigan.

Image courtesy Patty Rehn

You can see a list of the winners here and the images here. Congrats to all the winners!

👩‍⚖️  👨‍⚖️  ⚖️  👨‍⚖️  👩‍⚖️

Of course, those were not the only images we entered. So here are the images which did not sufficiently impress the judges. You can decide for yourself if they are worthy or not.

Patty's entries included  these images.

In Fauna category, Io Moth.

Image courtesy Patty Rehn

In Scenery, Mt Ranier.

Image courtesy Patty Rehn

In Flora, Desert Fivespot.

Image courtesy Patty Rehn

In Birds, Prairie Warbler ...

Image courtesy Patty Rehn

... and a baby Piping Plover.

Image courtesy Patty Rehn

And in Birders, Birding in the Land of Polar Bears ...

Image courtesy Patty Rehn

... and Shooting up the Joint.

Image courtesy Patty Rehn

And my entries included the following.

In Birds, Giant Kingfisher, ...

... Yellow-billed Duck, ...

... and Blue Flower-piercer.

In Scenery, Arches Sunset.

In Fauna, Napo Tamarin.

📸  📸  📷  📸  📸

It was a fun night with many excellent photographs. And I didn't miss judging at all.

Bird Feeders

On the same trip as we saw the owls we enjoyed other northern and semi-northern birds. Some very close up. And some hiding in plain sight (of other folks ...).

Image courtesy of Adrian Binns

And at the same well known secret owl place we became bird feeders. Well some of us. Others, like Phil, the fellow at the left in the image below, were like me, hoping to get the bird in hand shot (he did get some very good shots on the trip).

While some, like Barb, the woman in the blue hat, multitasked as both feeder and photographer.

Patty, was a feeder.

A very happy feeder (here at a non-secret place, Algonquin Provincial Park), where in addition to the Black-capped Chickadees we got at the secret place, Gray Jays also availed themselves of the handouts. (Blue Jays, skittish even in Canada, would approach but not land. They would only eat what we dropped on the ground.)

Here is a Chickadee taking a sunflower seed from Edie, a seed larger than it's bill.

And Deidra with a Gray Jay.

Now, if I could only find that Chickadee ...

Image courtesy of Adrian Binns

Peek-A-Boo

MLK weekend Patty and I joined a group of DVOC'ers on a journey to the Great White North. We visited a well known secret place.

And we saw ...

... many Long-eared Owls, hiding in the trees.

I see you!

At one point we wandered in to a grove of trees, a roosting area, and owls just came pouring out. We estimated that there were at least fifteen owls, mostly Long-eared but with perhaps a couple of Short-eared Owls mixed in as well.

The birds were swirling about the roost, and thus us, as we tried to walk out. More birds being spooked by our presence? The same birds coming back to roost and finding us still there and spooked again?

I was surprised at how skittish these birds were. All of the Long-eared Owls I had previously encountered tended to stay put as we gawked and snapped away with our cameras. But even though we were in a nature preserve known (and preserved!) as a roosting area, we were asked not to mention the location online. It seems there have been problems with folks harassing the owls, explaining perhaps why they were so skittish.

Anyway, it was one of those magical moments, having a dozen owls flying about at the same time.

We Have a Winner!

And this time it is me!

In 2010, 2011, and 2012 the grand prize had eluded me (in 2013 I was a judge, and thus not eligible to be disappointed). 

But not this time.

I won the Peregrine Award for Best in Show for this image, "Night's Lights":

And a third place in the Scenery category for "Foggy Bridge":

Patty did quite well again this year, with four winning images:

First place in Fauna for "Land Iguana on Land"

First Place in Flora for "Red on Black"

Third Place in Birds for "Humming Bird"

And Honorable Mention for the artistic award for "Lava Flow Turning"

All of the winning images can be seen here with a list of the photographers and how they placed here.

Sparrow Hunting

This past Saturday we went sparrow hunting.

They Like to Hide

You can read all about it here.

Extralimital

Another in my series for the DVOC blog.

http://blogdvoc.blogspot.com/2014/09/extralimital-white-headed-woodpecker.html

Happy Reading!

Extralimital

My first post for the new DVOC blog:

http://blogdvoc.blogspot.com/2014/06/extralimital-stellers-jay.html

Enjoy!