Wednesday, July 2, 2008

My How the Birds Grow in the Spring

Well, no-one took a shot at the feathers that I posted yesterday, so I'll give you an answer. The bottom two are from the Great Blue Heron. I love to find feathers from this wonderful bird. I got a little close to this one so it headed for some place unknown. you can see it directly above the power wire.
These are the family of Canadian Geese I have been following. The youngsters are as big as the parents.
The two adults headed to the water for protection and the kids stayed on shore. So even juvenile birds start to be independent of their parents. The parents came back toward shore and I backed off.
Tonight is the Tim McGraw concert at Blossom. After the Tim McGraw tussle with a drunk fan he had this week everyone should be on their best behavior. you can see the You tube account here.


17 comments:

Jack and Joann said...

How was your Tim McGraw concert? I was expecting some pics of it. I had a co-worker whose father moved to Nashville for business and bought the house that was right next door to Faith Hill and Tim McGraw. They said the McGraws' house was not too shabby. But they never got to meet the McGraws while living next door to them.

Michele said...

Yes, the geese are big boys and girls now, aren't they? I have noticed that wherever I go now. Really nice photos!

***Fotografia e Luz*** said...

What delights of paradise ducks with these beautiful and not forgetting the sentences

Sandpiper (Lin) said...

Your pictures are beautiful. I never would have guessed what the feathers were. I enjoyed your previous post, too!

Louis la Vache said...

"Louis" is buried deeper than his cowbell in a work project for the next several weeks. He will stop and visit, but may not stay long enough to 'sign the guest registry'.

kjpweb said...

Never would have guessed the feathers!
Have fun with Tim!
Cheers, Klaus

Oman said...

Lovely set of photos. Geese here looks different, basically just white.

Carletta said...

That last photo is very pleasing Fishing Guy. I like the ripples in the water. Nicely done.

I'm sure the concert will be great.

Anonymous said...

a very beautiful post. wonderful shots and info

Shionge said...

Wait FG...I'll bring along my picnic basket and let's sit down by the lake/pond and enjoy this wonderful view...geez..thanks :D

Are you waiting..for me? It's gonna take a while as I book my flight first kekekeke...

Pappy said...

Honk, honk, honk. They are some of the most beautiful and graceful birds on the planet. Pappy

Unknown said...

Love the photos and music! I have a question though. Do you have a laptop on your boat?

Tom said...

I nearly missed the picture of the Heron in flight.
I have a few feathers is a collection.. I but little brass nibs and make pens from them..

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the visit. Hope your Tim McGraw concert worked out. I was at your blog yesterday and saw the feathers but missed the part about guessing what they were from. I think.

It did remind me though that I used to go to Fort Loramie Lake here in Ohio once or twice each year to pick up the goose feathers the adults molted. They do it about the same time each year.

The trick was to get there before the idiots mowed over them shredding them.

I got them for the 3 wing pointers on each wing. Those on the left wing curve over the left wrist when cut and used as a quill pen. The three on right wing curve over the right wrist etc.

Each goose comes on shore when it is time and squats, more or less, and drops all the feathers in one spot. I mean all the tail feathers and all the wind feathers. Not so much the breast feathers but there are there too.

Then they go to the lake and jump in for protection from predators until their new feathers develop and they can start to fly again.

I would collect them and bring them home and sold them to scribes around the world for about $12.00 a dozen uncut but sized. I used to dry them in hot sand, cut them, scrape off the membrane, make a nice nib to specs and then install a reservoir and trim the feather to fit the customer's hand. I think for about $25.00 each.

I still have some that I can use and will probably never get rid of them. It is a dead art but as a reminder that is where the Pen knife got its name.

Travis said...

Really nice photos. Your last post was great too. I remember feeding the Canadian Geese when I was a young boy. Later the public was asked to stop feeding them due to the overwhelming population that now exists in that area.

The Birdlady said...

Lovely.

Anonymous said...

The geese are growing as fast as my girls!!