Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Birders Who Blog Tweet and Chirp and Talk and Laugh...


Sorry for the delay in getting this post out. I've been having computer issues that prevented me from downloading photos to my laptop. Thanks to some fine tweaking from Art, I finally got them ready. Last Saturday Dawn and Jeff Fine brought their RV through Minnesota on their way west. It was Dawn's inspiration to put together meet-ups of birders who use various media to communicate about birding, Birders Who Blog Tweet and Chirp. A wonderful group of birders assembled Saturday morning at the Lowry Nature Center in the Carver Park Reserve in Victoria, Minnesota. Roger Everhart of the blog Minnesota Birdnerd was on hand to demonstrate bird banding. Unfortunately, the windy,warm weather did not bring birds to the nets but Roger spent time explaining the banding program and telling of his experiences in banding.


Here's our group proudly holding a copy of WildBird Magazine (Hi Amy!) . Maybe you'll see our photo in the magazine in the future!

Left to right, front row:
Virginia from Bees in the City
Penny from Penelopedia
Jeff (Dawn's hubby)
back row:
Me!
Hap in New Hope
Richard from At the Water
Ruth from Nature Knitter
Dave (Penny's hubby)
not pictured:Sharon, aka "the other Sharon" or Hellziggy (who came later)

Volunteer handlers showed us the education raptors including this beautiful Merlin-

and this lovely mellow Barred Owl.



I believe these serious looking birders were gazing at an American Redstart high in the branches. After a leisurely morning at Carver, we all headed over to a local restaurant for a fabulous lunch. Laughter and lots of chatting filled the time and a delish lunch filled our stomachs. Our plans for the afternoon were to drive east to Bloomington and the Hyland Park Reserve for more birding. Right away in the parking lot as we arrived we got to watch an Eastern Kingbird hunting for dragonflies.

After the dragonfly was caught the Kingbird spent a bit of time trying to bash the wings off before it could be eaten.

We spent a lot of time on the dock overlooking the turtle pond. There was lots to look at and talk about. Sharon let me try out her 2X converter on my camera and lens. Here's a photo of a pair of Mergansers and a Mallard that I took using Sharon's converter. The auto focus wouldn't work on my lens with the 2X in place so I had quite a bit of trouble focusing. I have not used my camera on the manual focus mode so I felt like I was all thumbs, but maybe with more practice...

Turtles chillin'.


Some of our group had to leave early but most of us went to dinner at Merlin's Nest to meet the Birds and Beers folks. Another great meal and more conversation and laughter, it was a perfect ending to a wonderful day. I learned something from every person throughout the day. Birders are fun loving, big hearted people. We're planning to get together again for more birding and talking and laughing...
Thanks everyone for coming, some from long distances to make this day so wonderful.

24 comments:

Dawn Fine said...

Oh Cool..You got the kingbird with the dragonfly!
You really took some awesome pics! makes me jealous for a dslr..

It was a great group, wasnt it!
I hope you continue your bird outings with the group!
Cant wait to hear about them..and i will secretly be jealous..but happy you are all birding together.
Thanks again Lynne, for making it a very special day!

Linda in Erie said...

Some really great photos! It looked like it was a wonderful time. I especially love the photo of the kingbird with the dragonfly.

HellZiggy said...

Yes! I successfully avoided having my picture taken!
LOL

It really was an awesome time. We should do more TC outings. I think we need to force everyone to come up north to us, no more of this waaaaaaay down south business.

~other Sharon

Beth said...

sounds like a great time and a great group of people.

Beth

Jayne said...

How fun! Glad the weather was good and the you had such a good time getting to know one another... oh, and to do some birding...lol!

Kerri Farley said...

Sounds like lots of fun and a great day to make nice memories!
Your pics are great!!

troutbirder said...

Looked like lots of fun indeed. Sorry I couldn't make it.

Eve said...

What a great time Lynne! I miss my birding buddies...I'll be meeting new birding buddies next month when I attend my first trip here! Can't wait.

Richard said...

I was a great day with great people. Ordered my Garmin when I got home, so once it gets here and I learn to use it, I'm ready to go again. First thing I'll probably put in it is the directions to Hasty Brook since you don't even have an address up there in the boondocks...:-)

Ruth said...

Great pictures! How nice to meet up with all those bloggers. (I like your shoes...I have the same ones)

MaineBirder said...

Wonderful photos! I am sure a great time was had by all.

Montanagirl said...

Lynne, what a wonderful post! The photos are just terrific, and I'm so happy for you that you got to meet some more bird lovers, and had such a great time!

Janice K said...

It sounds like you all had a wonderful time. I'm happy for you all.

That owl was really a beauty!

Tina said...

Soooo glad you all had such a good time and your pictures are wonderful..birdees to turtles.
Looks like you had some nice weather also!! :)

Amy said...

Lynne, you're so cute. Has anyone sent a 300dpi JPG of the group photo for the "On the Fly" department in WildBird? I don't appear to have received it. Cheers!

Ruth's Photo Blog said...

Sounds like a fun time.

RuthieJ said...

Hi Lynne,
Your pictures turned out great! The one of everyone looking for the redstart is the best! :-)
Sorry I missed that kingbird--that's what I get for taking off without the rest of the group!
PS--did Jeff show up at Birds & Beers? (just curious)

Carolyn H said...

Lynne, what great fun! I'm glad you had such a good day and that the weather cooperated. Great photos, too.

Carolyn H.

Q said...

Dear Lynne,
You are so lucky to get to meet so many birders who blog!
It must feel like old friends getting together.
I love your photographs...
Sherry

Anonymous said...

You did pretty good with the converter in place. Also nice capture of the Kingbird.

Deb said...

Looks like a nice bunch of people! Wish I could have made it, maybe next time!

Unknown said...

I'm envious of all the great shots people got on Saturday. Your kingbird with the dragonfly is wonderful! Thanks for posting your photos, and I love your comment, "Birders are fun loving, big hearted people." This group certainly provided strong evidence for that proposition!

Leedra said...

I had seen a group photo on Dawn's blog. Was glad to see Hap was there, and have emailed him.

Love the birding photos you have here. Even hard to pick a favorite.

Leedra’s Photos For Fun


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Photography By Leedra

Kathie Brown said...

Man, I go away for just awhile and you go blog crazy on me and do all these posts! Now I am way behind! It looks and sounds like you had so much fun! I am so happy for you! Great pics by the way. Love the merlin and the kingbird and the owl and the...oh well, you get the idea!