Run: 6.6 miles in :54.45 min. @ 5:20 a.m.

An indication how some runs go, this morning's training high point was a visit from the neighborhood Cardinal, a frequent visitor to our backyard bird feeder, during my post-run recovery-drink-and-newspaper-reading session.
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, 71°F, 84% Humidity, Wind: From SW @ 11 mph; feels like 71°F.
Course: Six Looks Like 8 found on USATF Map It!
Pace: 8:17 min/mile
Effort: 4 out of 5
How did I feel? Tired.
Gear: Amphipod RunLite Trail Runner, Amphipod Xinglet Reflective Wear

Perhaps a little hepped up from running that 5k on Sunday, yesterday (Monday) I mailed in registration for the 14 mile(!) 'Dam' Good Trail Run
on Sunday, August 22. This will help me continue to prepare for the half-marathon on September 12 (I hope). The race itself has a few unique elements, some of which I 'll detail in a later post. Now onto this morning's run...

The air was slightly warmer than normal for the early morning hour, and my while my overall effort was high, it was labored and thr overall quality, arduous. I had a difficult time "being here now" and found my concentration (and therefore my form and focus) falling of course. THough the resulting run was not necessarily pleasant, I did feel a sense of accomplishment in simply getting through it. Despite this morning's rough run, I'm confident better things are ahead!

Post-Run Breakfast Mate

Howdy, neighborino!
On morning's that I do go for a run, my ritual is to , upon returning home, make myself a breakfast drink and sit in the backyard to look at the day's paper. Occasionally I'll have any number of guests stop by. This morning, I was glad to have one of our neighborhood woodpecker's stop by!

Spring Break Zoo Trip

You will quickly notice a common (intentional) theme: dinnertime!
The one thing I had "planned" for myself to "do" this Spring Break was to take a trip to the Seneca Park Zoo. Fortunately for me, I did not need to go it alone as my stepson was kind enough to accompany me. When he and my own children were younger, it was a regular occurrence, but though I had though about it frequently, I had not been back to the zoo for a formal visit in nearly six (!) years.






As I look back at these photos while posting, I realize that I should have written down what "types" of birds and mammals I had taken a picture of... it's not like there weren't a kajillion placards announcing such information (much of which I read) right in front of my nose the entire time.

Ubiquitous Bird Picture

On our way home this morning from my parents, as we pulled in the driveway, there was an American Robin (Turdus migratorius) sitting in the direct path of our car. As it flitted to the side yard, I asked my wife to hand me our camera as I was about to take a picture of the bird sitting below a bush.

My wife then asked, "Why do you take such ubiquitous pictures?"

"What do you a mean?" I responded, not quite fully understanding.

"Robins are everywhere, why take pictures of them?"

Cardinal Portraiture

The same Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) in three different locations in the matter of about five minutes, captured with my digital camera yesterday afternoon, when the high temperature in my Upstate New York city hit 80 degrees!

Not only is it great to have Spring arriving in such a warm way, but it is wonderful to hear the birds once again stopping by our yard to chatter!

Winter Haiku: Pigeons

grey contour feathers fluff,
weary pinkish claws hold fast--
steady, despite odds.

Testing Christmas Tech

A red tail hawk atop a light post at Lake Riley, taken this morning from the front seat of my car at maximum zoo-in.
For Christmas, my wife gave me a new lens for our Canon EOS Rebel XS (a gift I had received for my birthday last May). The purpose of the new lens is to allow for better resolution close-up photos taken from a distance. Anne and I have both enjoyed looking a local birds (primarily in our backyard) for a number of years now and slowly we have gained interest in photographing them.

While the standard lens on our camera did take nice pictures, the zoom-in feature was somewhat limited. The new lens, a Tamron, extends out to allow for a higher-resolution close-up. Lacking the patience to wait for birds to land in my backyard, I stopped at Cobb Hills this morning on my way to get get coffee to take a few test shots, including the one at the top of this post.

The same photo, trimmed and enhanced using the Canon ZoomBrowser EX software.
I'm looking forward to getting out into the field with my wife this week (well, to a local park anyway) to see what we can photograph and how well the pictures come out. Any suggestions for these recreational nature photographers would be appreciated :)

The King (of Lake Riley) Holds Court

While the Lake Riley Heron may not really be in charge, his position
and stature certainly gave me that impression!
On a lark, yesterday afternoon I stopped by Cobbs Hill Park to check out the heron activity on Lake Riley. As you can see the Lake Riley Heron was holding court with the other lake denizens Canada geese, ducks and gulls.

Though I could not discern any audible vocalizations coming from LRH, it
certainly seemed as though he was communicating something.
At this point, the geese and gulls had dispersed, likely scared off by my
presence, but not the mighty LRH!

A Brief City Duck's Tale

Though my ongoing recovery from last month's running injury has kept me from even "jogging," I did set out on a circuitous bicycle route from my home to our city's downtown, briefly stopping along the Genesee River. While out-and-about I snapped a few fowl pictures presented below... with narrative editorializing, too!

I stopped briefly on the patio adjacent to the Rochester Convention Center and looking down saw a sole duck all by her lonesome on a long shale island. Can you see her, too?
Here's the same pic as above, only with the duck enlarged. She was "hiding" in the center of the photo. The young camouflaged duck skittishly walked around the edge of the shale before gently gliding into the current.
Uh-oh! While she earnestly attempted to swim against the current, it only caused her in the frustrating pattern of swimming in a wide circle. Eventually, she gave into the current and allowed it to carry her...
Through the aqueduct and out of my view, presumably to points unknown (or the other side of the bridge and onto another part of the river)--this time clear of any shale island resting spots.

Do You See What I See?

Given this blogger penchant for a certain type of water fowl, just what is this really intended to be a picture of? Can you see it?
The photo above was taken during our trip to the Adirondacks last week. It is times like these when I wish I had (or look forward to acquiring) a telephoto lens for our camera. AS it stands now, the best I can do is take a picture (like the one above) and using some software to magnify and sharpen the image resulting in the picture below:

Why it's a heron of course, this time seen in the Racquette River!
This original photo above had initially been snapped in hopes of capturing a second, "after" photo, one that would show the heron snatching a fish from the water. While actually seeing live-and-in-person the series of events (silent waiting following by the snatch) was oddly breathtaking (quick, fast, graceful, natural), the photo I took? Not so much.

Heron Today, Gone Tomorrow?

The LRH kindly stands his ground as I sneak up for a close-up...
what a beautfiully elegant bird!
As a rule while running errands i try to bring my digital camera with me just in case I come across anything of visual interst. Whether my foot, bicycle or automobile, when I'm aware in advance that I'll be passing Lake Riley at the nearby (about three boocks) Cobbs Hill, I check for the presence of the brd I politely refer to as the Lake Riley Heron (LRH).

This morning I had the good fortunes of both seeing him, having my camera and the time to stop...

I like this picture because the LRH has his legs in a slightly different position than that of which I am used to: one straight and one at a "V" angle--its like here I caught him at mid-step..
The relative view of both the "lake" and LRH from the road. I always try to see if LRH is "home" when taking the left onto the expressway.

An Open Letter to the Woodpecker Family

A memory of those halcyon days of sunshine and suet balls.
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Woodpecker,

You may not have seen me around too much lately and I wanted to apologize to you and your family for failing to leave food out for you. I know this apology won't fill your belly (which must be rather large given the frequency with which you feed).

Though I have only had the opportunity to watch you from a distance briefly over the past month, it has become apparent that your visits have become less frequent. Your staying away seems to have coincided with my own failure to refill your suet feeder. For this indiscretion, I apologize.

While washing dishes today, I was excited to observe you (or maybe it was your child as it has been awhile) flitting from feeder to feeder looking for something to eat. I can't express how wonderful it was to see the Woodpecker family back in our yard!

The only excuse I have is a lame one. For the past few weeks, I have been preoccupied with teaching summer school when I could should have been maintaining the suet feeder in our backyard. (My wife would like to express her apologies, too.) Rest assured that with summer school over as of today, we will be heading right out to the bird store and fill up the suet feeder with those lovely peanut suet balls you and your family seem to love.

I look forward to seeing you again in the yard, soon. Best wishes,

Scotty

uk(na)yaH-uk(na)yaH-uk(na)yaH

The moment last Friday, at our backyard nyjher feeder.
Today was the first Friday of summer that I did not have to plan on going to work on the Monday following the weekend. (That's a lo-o-o-ong way of saying "no school until late August!") With some time to sit home and watch the birds in my backyard, I filled the feeders and periodically checked back. I'm happy to report there was quite a bit of activity, some of which I captured on film(or digital camera--see picture above) and in a poem.

I used a few variations on the hay(na)ku format this time, by both "chaining together more than one reversed hay(na)ku tercets. This is achieved by simply reversing the line order criteria for a "traditional hay(na)ku and extending the image beyond a single three line stanza.

Watch out, here it comes:

tree to feeder,
red feathers
flit.

balancing carefully atop,
the cardinal
waits.

quick beakful for
the flight
home.

What's going on in your backyard?

"Hunting" the Lake Riley Heron

I managed to quietly approach the heron and take some close-up shots without disturbing him/her. I'd venture to guess that given the foot traffic the park gets, the bird is used to the presence of humans, though perhaps not so many give it as much attention as I.
Bicycle: 2 miles @ 7:45 a.m.
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, 72°F, 73% Humidity, Wind: From SSW @ 15 mph, gusting to 26 mph; feels like 72°F.
Course: To Lake Riley (in Cobbs Hill Park) and back.

Located less than a mile from our home is a small county park which includes (among other things such as a reservoir, basketball courts and a small series of trails) a small man-made lake, Lake Riley. (In truth, Lake Riley is really more of a moderately-sized inland pond.) I pass by the park many times during any given day, and often while doing so, my wife and I will notice the distinctive silhouette of a Great Blue Heron standing on the edge of the lake or in the reeds at the northern-most part.

Parking my bicycle near the adjacent parking lot, I spot the heron facing northward, the shaggy feathers below his beak blowing in the early morning breeze like some ancient mariner's beard. The Lake Riler Heron cuts quite an image as he seemingly watches over the families of ducks that float aroudn him/her.
Amid the trappings of an urban area, save the small park in which the lake resides, the bird always seems out-of-context. Most days when we notice it, I am without my camera and have (for a month or so at least) occasionally attempted to remember to bring my camera so that I might snap a picture of it. On those days, of course, I notice neither feather nor beak of (what I have dubbed) the "Lake Riley Heron."

This morning, however, I went for a short bicycle ride to Cobbs Hill in hopes of photographing the elusive Lake Riley Heron and was in luck.


Eventually, the heron becomes aware of my watching it and, tiring of humoring me, flies of to the other side of Lake Riley.
I look froward to checking back on the Lake Riley Heron from time to time to see just how he/she's doing...

A Dawn Pond Pantoum

Another poetic format I previously taught my middle school students, and one I will attempt to write myself today, is the pantoum. A pantoum is a poem with a fixed structure of repetition. Written in two stanzas of four lines each (quatrain), lines 2 and 4 of stanza 1 become lines 1 and 3 of stanza 2.

When I taught this from to my students, and they struggled to find a topic (focus), I suggested that they seek inspiration by simply looking around a room in their house or school, or even out out the window, to try draft a pantoum about what they see.

Like many forms, the level of adherence to structure is totally dependent on how comfortble you are. In the case of my pantoum, I'm going to use two qautarins, thereby employng the following scheme: 1-A, 2-B, 3-A, 4-B; 1-B, 2-C, 3-B, 4-C.

Standing in silence at the pond's bank amidst a tuft of long grass,
the shaggy plume, just below the great bird's slender neck, blows listlessly in the early morning winds.
A pair of geese, goslings in tow, calmly make their way under his gaze and across the glassy surface.
Staring out across the calm waters, the heron's bill points northward, and anew the day begins.

The shaggy plume, just below the great bird's slender neck, blows listlessly in the early morning winds.
Goslings create a cacophony of bleats and honks announcing an intent to follow their paternal guide.
Staring out across the calm waters, the heron's bill points northward, and anew the day begins.
Signaling with his own throaty croak, he takes flight across the water, eventually settling on the far side.

Totemic Tanka Tweet

dashing down the trail
on a misty morning run,
in the trees and long grass
totemic neighbors peer out--
squirrel, rabbit, bird, chipmunk--
"Which, Friend, are you now?"

As entertaining as writing haiku, twit-aiku, run-ku and many other "kus" can be, sometimes I like to mix it up by playing with other forms.

One poetic form related to the haiku is the tanka. Like haiku, the tanka (both are ancient forms of Japanese poetry) follows a suggested syllable "count" for each line, in this case 5-7-5-7-7 (five lines).

Birds, New & Old

Date: May 30, 2009
Time: 5:30-6:00 p.m.
Weather: Partly Cloudy, 63°F, 39% Humidity, Wind: From WSW @ 24 mph, gusting to 35 mph; feels like 63°F.
Location: The backyard of our home in upstate New York.

The Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina) sure seem to enjoy the new suet holder--one which does manage to keep the starving squirrels at bay!
Bird Species/Markings/Features: One Chipping Sparrow(Spizella passerina), pictured above, another frequent Summer visitor to our feeders. Just this morning, while talking with me on the phone from our backyard, my wife noted to me that the feeder area resembled a "sparrow/chickadee farm!"

Look for Gray Catbirds (Dumetella carolinensis), like this one seen here hiding in the trees above the feeder, in dense tangles of shrubs, small trees, and vines, along forest edges, streamside thickets, old fields, and fencerows.
The new visitor, one adult, male Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis). This took Anne and I few minutes to identify--and my photo does this shy character little justice, but after watching its behavior (and guided my the field book), its identity all came into picture pretty quickly. "A medium-sized, slender songbird with a long, rounded, black tail and a narrow, straight bill (thrush-like). Catbirds are fairly long legged and have broad, rounded wings." Most noticeable was the manner in which its tail "flicks" up and down, much like a cat.

A male American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis), very common at our
feeders, snack on thistle.
One American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis); though the goldfinch’s main natural habitats are weedy fields and floodplains, they are extremely common nearly year round at our thistle feeder.)

Sights/Sounds/Activities: There was very little song activity despite the "traffic." Upon noticing the catbird, I went out to snap the pictures and listen intently for a distinctive call with which I might (at some future date--the CD of Bird Songs was in my player at work!) identify them. Ironically, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's All About Birds website specifically identifies that the Gray Catbird call is among the easiest to identify, noting that "If you’re convinced you’ll never be able to learn bird calls, start with the Gray Catbird. Once you’ve heard its catty mew you won’t forget it."

Notes: Yesterday afternoon upon returning from my son's baseball double header, and after noting that Anne had planted our "crops" for the season, I set about refilling all of our feeders. This yielded fairly immediate results, not the least of which was the arrival of a bird we had not (in our three years or so of actually "watching," a new arrival to the backyard party.

Much in the same fashion that we have identified all prior newbies (a variety of woodpeckers and finches) and by using both a pair binoculars kept at the kitchen counter and a somewhat faded orange-ish copy of Stan Tekiela's Birds of New York Field Guide, we play ornithologist to determine who was who and what was what.

Ritual Morning Run

Run: 10.5 miles in 1:22:05 min. @ 6:50 a.m.
Weather: IDEAL! Cloudy to Mostly Sunny, 54°F, 90% Humidity, Wind: From WSW at 12 mph; feels like 54°F.
Pace: 7:48 min/mile
Course: A moderately-distanced looping route South of my neighborhood to Brighton -Henrietta Town Line Road and back.

Directly out our back door, an American Robin wishes me luck on my morning run.
I wake up this morning early (maybe too early) and attempt to meditate for twenty minutes. Our dog, Gracie, at on my feet, or rolling around breathing heavily and looking attention, doesn't help. This doesn't go as well as I had hoped, so after ten minutes (but what seems like longer) I blow out the candle, extinguish the incense and drop the pillow to the ground. It's time to get ready for the run I had pre-planned last evening.

This decision and course was made before my feet (top of foot and the back of my ankle towards the heel) began aching, but I recognize that to stop now would result in likely sitting at the computer procrastinating. I choose to be (relatively) productive instead and make my coffee that signals the start of my morning run ritual.

Having mixed the sugar and cream into my coffee, I head upstairs to the attic where we keep our computer, to check (and document) the weather conditions and review the course online. I open a window in the roof (it acts as a sort of vent) and am startled by how cold the morning air feels rushing in and dispelling he lingering incense smell from my earlier attempt at sitting.

It's going to be a pleasant morning for a run...

Blue Jay'n Again

Eventually I will get out of my backyard (hopefully this weekend) and take some digital photographs of some subjects other than the local blue jay, who only seems to emerge from the trees in my neighbor's yard when I re-fill the feeder.


As was the case with the last photographic attempt at blue jay'n, I tweaked the initial images using the software. I was glad to see that other than some trimming and zooming, not much was required... now I just need to do a better job remembering the settings for the camera when the "good" pictures were taken. It seems like for every shot that turns out "okay," there are at least five or six which are immediately destined for the deletion can.

A Face Full of Blue Jay Butt

Last week for my birthday, my wife was kind enough to gift me with a new camera, a Canon EOS Rebel XS. Our previous camera, an older Kodak quickie digital model served its purpose, but ultimately did not do some of the things we had eventually hoped it would, such as allow for better picture taking when it came to smaller subjects, such as the birds in our backyard.

I'm confident we will be able to do this with our new camera, though my skills and proficiency with the nuances of digital photography are still lacking. Yes, I have read (most of) the direction manual, but will probably find "playing" a better way to figure out the ins and outs of this camera.

One thing I have already learned is how to "manipulate photos using the software (in this case Zoom Browser) to make the pics look a little closer.

Here is the picture taken by my wife of a blue jay on one of our backyard feeders, just as she took it (though I did add a yellow arrow to make identifying the "subject" easier):


A nice picture, maybe, but the subject is kind of hard to see. When this was taken the intention was to snap a clear picture of the bird, presumably facing the camera. Once I zoomed in and cleared up the image, the resulting pic at the top of the post shows that what we indeed snapped was face full of Blue jay butt!

It's just the first "real" bird picture attempted, so don't be too critical... I certainly feel that with a little more practice (and reading of manuals) we will be on our way to posting stronger pics...