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Archive for March, 2006
March 26, 2006 at 4:34 pm · Filed under Birding
The helicopter was stuck on the ground, so I went looking for things that weren’t. A brown streak caught my eye as I walked behind the baseball field, and I saw a glimpse of something carrying a twig. I followed it into the bamboo forest and was greeted with a nest and a Brown Thrasher admiring its handiwork. Another Brown Thrasher sat nearby. I watched for several minutes as they chirped and moved around, then I went back to the path. A red-headed Woodpecker flew overhead and landed on one of the tall pine trees. It laughed, presumably at our inability to fly.
We’ll show it, some day…
March 8, 2006 at 9:27 am · Filed under Life
It finally hit me yesterday morning, I’m leaving for Israel on Thursday! For those of you who don’t know, I’ll be spending my spring break in Israel for a Dr. Hummel Bible class. Every year he takes a group of LETU students on a trip to a place of Biblical significance, and this year the destination is Israel. I figured this was probably a once in a lifetime chance to go see the Holy Land, so I signed up. It isn’t a “just for fun” trip, there was tons of reading to do beforehand and there will be reports to write afterward, but I think it’ll all be worth it. I’ll be posting plenty of blog entries and pictures of our adventures when I get back.
We depart tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m. for DFW. We then have a flight from DFW to Newark, NJ, then Newark to Tel Aviv!
I need to pack.
March 5, 2006 at 4:22 pm · Filed under Life
Friday was my 21st birthday. I supposed the traditional thing to do is to go out drinking. I did have some champagne… The champagne of teas (Darjeeling) :-) Zerg, Fargo, and Slope gave me 4 oz. of 1st flush Darjeeling and 4 oz. of high grade Ceylon, which happen to be my two favorite kinds of tea. We had some of the Darjeeling later that night while watching a movie. It did not disappoint.
Of course, what would a birthday on 41 be without a ponding? I saw some of the preparations happening, but I was still surprised at how quickly my room filled with people intent on dragging me down to the truck waiting below! Always a fun time. After it was done, just about the only thing I could think of was a nice warm shower (it was colder this year than in the past, low 50s) but by the time the ponding was over with, it was past midnight and the dorm had locked down. I didn’t have my card with me, so I had to stand outside shivering in the cold until someone happened to walk past. I guess that’s what I get for not helping them pond Dex. When I got back to my room I found another surprise, a plate of 41 cookies baked by Michaela for Dex and me.
From what I hear, Dex’s ponding was a little different. Apparently he tied himself to a bush with his belt. Doesn’t seem too smart to me, but it did delay them a little.
March 4, 2006 at 10:38 pm · Filed under Birding
Today marks the first time I’ve gone birding on my own. I didn’t go on Thursday morning with Courtney like I usually do because she was busy finishing up a paper and I had some tests to study for. This left me going a whole week without any birding, and I was surprised how much I missed it. I had some research to do in the library after lunch, so, in with Fargo’s laptop and some papers, I packed my binoculars into my book bag “just in case.” As I suspected, the calls of the birds were irresistible, so I wandered off behind the pond instead of going to the library.
Birding without someone that knows what they’re doing is hard. I saw several kinds of birds, but was not able to identify as many as I would have liked. Just behind the pond, I saw a couple of Mocking Birds. They were easy enough to identify, but they’re all over campus. As I neared the edge of campus, I saw several birds fly over the fence to the trees on the other side. I think they were Flickers. They flew like woodpeckers, crawled on the tree like woodpeckers, and they were large like a Flicker. When I got to the library, I looked them up on WhatBird and they seemed to match. My attention was then drawn to activity in the trees on the LETU side of the fence. I’m still not quite sure what they were, but I’d guess Pine Warblers. They had bright yellow bellies with some gray mixed in, their wings were black with white tips, and the picture on WhatBird looked close. However, they didn’t seem quite like the ones I’ve seen with Courtney before and they weren’t doing their usual call. I continued on, closer to the societies and saw a few trees full of what I’m guessing were Chipping Sparrows. They were also refusing to let me identify them by their call, but they were small, black and brown. WhatBird’s description seemed to match.
Somewhat frustrated at my lack of identification skills, but still glad I’d had some good time away from computers and studies, I headed back toward the library. On the way, I saw a turkey vulture circling overhead. Just before I entered the library, a cardinal flew from one tree to another. I didn’t see anything more than a streak of red, but it was still a treat, cardinals look really neat.
Hi there. My name is Curtis Hawthorne, but most of my friends call me Fjord.