Cold Morning

I am improving... I don't think these are too shabby for hand-held shots at such slow shutter speeds...




Pine Siskin




American Goldfinch


Pine Siskin- I kinda chopped the top of his head off a little- but I like the detail...

Hood River Christmas Bird Count

The bird count in Mosier this morning was filled with a lot of the same ole birds, except for this guy:


A very cool Northern Pygmy Owl...



Is this his front or his back? Pretty awesome false eye spots to ward off predators- he looks like he has eyes in the back of his head!

The goldfinches love their new sock, check out these guys with thistle seed all over their faces.



I snapped a quick shot of the varied thrush, and I am looking forward to some better pics of this guy. He hangs around the back yard so there will be lots of opportunities.



Not the best song sparrow shot, but here it is:



And a junco:



A house finch in the fading light, kind of blurry:



I am excited to improve...

Christmas Birds

I got a new Canon SX30 for Christmas and I am really pleased with the performance of it, even though I am a total amateur when it comes to manual photography. But still, not too bad for my first outing. This was my first Orange Crowned Warbler.

2009 in Review

Kayaking from Deborah Castorina on Vimeo.

I am going crazy...

Seriously, I am losing it. I am trying to identify a bird based only on its voice and location. It's very hard to do something like this- I don't recommend it unless you really want to pull your hair out and develop an icky frustrated feeling. This bird has eluded me for nearly a year- I never get a chance to actually see it, just hear its lovely fluid whistling that seems to echo through the forest whenever I am blessed with its presence. The internet seems like it would be a great resource, but I have been sitting here for hours scouring the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website, to no avail. I must be getting closer....


Mitchell Ridge at Post Canyon- near Hood River- a likely hangout for this mystery bird...

Pondering...

I have been thinking about picking this blog back up... but I am not sure it is something I want to commit myself to. The thought is tempting, though. And the fact that no one really knows it is here or reads it makes both more appealing and a little un-fun at the same time. Oh well. I guess I will think about it a little more.

port orford cedars and entoptic phenomena...

things are going really well here... first day of training and it was awesome! i have so much to learn and so many things to read, but i really feel like this is exactly where i am meant to be and it feels so good. got to meet the chief scientist here and he is AMAZING, he has many books published on the science of the area and is doing such cool research. he seriously is spellbinding to listen to talk about this place... i swear he knows so much. i feel so lucky to be around such people. the weather is nice too... clear blue sky and cold mornings and nights with mild days. at night we have been hiking the trails a bit. last night we went on a 3 mile loop on the big tree trail, named for the largest girth douglas fir in oregon. its like a sequoia! so cool and its on monument property! tonight after dinner we climbed to a ridge and sat and watched the sunset... brilliant colors and ridges after ridges of blue mountains in the distance. i really need to take pics and post them, but i probably wont be able to post them till i get into town which most likely wont be till this weekend. i am on the shared computers now. so anyways... i need to think of a theme for my tours that i will give... its kind of like a research project... we each have to develop our own areas we want to focus on and then develop them using these interpretive models.... i love being in an academic setting. good stuff. so anyways.... i am going to bed now... talk to you all later...

Here at the caves...

Well I am finally here... this place is insane! It's perched at the top of a 20 mile long winding mountain road. There is no cell service here except up the trail on a ridge... so communication will be difficult. I am using the community computers right now, but word on the street is that there is wireless down in the valley so I will hopefully be able to get online there.

It has been raining since I got here yesterday, but everything is so vibrant and green! Mosses and lichens, douglas fir trees, cold air, the smell of fire coming from the chateau... it's very cool. They say that this weather is unusual though, the summers here are supposed to be warm and dry. So I will enjoy this break while it lasts...

I live in a dorm above the visitor's center... a bunch of other SCA people live here too, and everyone has been very fun and friendly so far. So that is good. I went on my first tour of the cave yesterday... so beautiful! Training starts tomorrow and I can't wait to learn about the area so I can begin to work with the public.

It looks like the sun is starting to come out, so I think I am going to head out to the trails and do some exploring... pictures to come eventually!

A smattering of pictures in no particular order...

....organization to come later....

This is just a quick sampling of the 800+ pictures from my journey... I will eventually get them on to some photo site where they will be labeled and stuff... as for now, this will just be a glimpse of what I have seen.

I am sitting in a cheesy motel in Redding, California. Mount Shasta is in my wake... 14,200 feet. It's pretty cool. I only have 4 hours to drive to my site, and I am excited to have a place to put my stuff down and call home. This has been the experience of a lifetime, I feel so blessed. I am not sure when I will be online next, seeing as the internet is pretty patchy at the monument, but I will try to get on post more photos soon.

Here is a mixture of pics from Petrified Forest National Park, the Grand Canyon, and Yosemite.

Greetings from the Land of Enchantment!

Well I am here in Albuquerque after 9.5 straight hours of driving. Needless to say I feel like I have been hit by a bus.... but all in all it was a good drive. There is not a whole lot going on in west Texas.... just a lot of flat grassland with not a tree in sight. It was weird though, because about 20 minutes before the New Mexico border there was this strange shift in the landscape, and the prairie gave way to desert scrub and sprawling mesas.... it was so sudden. I couldn't help but break out in an uncontrollable grin...after 5 hours of nothing but pasture, finally something different to look at! Here are some not-so-exciting pics:















Tomorrow's agenda includes a jaunt at Petrified Forest National Park and then off to the Grand Canyon... for a rock geek like me, this is heaven!