Free Republic

Daughter Mary and I made a quick run through the gator farm rookery. It's still winding up but when it gets hotter I won't be able to handle it. I got enough for several posts, these are all I had the energy to process today, gonna take a nap now.This was the first outing for my Sony since it got back from the repair shop. No problems so far!

Playing with Windows Movie Maker, the version in Win7. All these shots are with my Sony A200, Vilano Beach, St. Augustine.

No new stuff, these are from the archives, some going back several years.Various cameras, I've worn out several. I believe they were made to be used

A top Russian female newsreader has caused a stir after appearing to offensively show US President Barack Obama her middle finger during a live newscast. Online footage of the incident, which occurred earlier this month during an afternoon news bulletin on the privately held REN TV channel, is being avidly viewed in both Russia and the United States. In the footage, Tatyana Limanova, an award-winning senior newsreader at the channel, can be seen briskly reading out an item about how Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has just assumed the rotating chairmanship of the Asia Pacific Cooperation organisation. She is then heard...

The birds which cannot cope with the demise of Communism Several bird species which live behind the former iron curtain have been unable to adapt to the demise of Communism, scientists have found. Jasper Copping 9:30PM BST 22 Oct 2011 A study has identified several species of songbirds which have suffered following the demise of the Soviet Bloc after being unable to cope with the consequences of the changes it unleashed in eastern Europe. While some birds have thrived after adapting to socio-economic changes affecting their habitats – such as the regeneration of eastern bloc cities and the emergence of...

Title and link only -- Gannett stationhttp://wusa9.com/news/article/161065/158/Woodpecker-Saving-Daughter-Costs-Mom-500

In 4 hours and 15 minutes I will mark my 7th anniversary oN Free Republic.JimRob and all of you, you are part of my extended family now and I am deeply honored to know you.And, THE RAIN CAME AND FILLED UP THE POND AGAIN!!!

I got out early today, got to beat the heat. This years new birds are starting to show up, the young Yellow Crowned Night Heron looks to be right out of the nest.Yellow Crowns aren't uncommon, they're just shy and wild so they aren't seen as much as the other herons and egrets. Tricolored heron, Egretta tricolor Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Nyctanassa violacea, immature, just out of the nest Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Nyctanassa violacea Great Egret Ardea alba Snowy Egret Egretta thula

After hours waiting beside an African river, Arnaud Germain thought he finally had the perfect shot of his favourite bird. But as the wildlife photographer trained his lens on the colourful kingfisher, he got a rather different snap than he was expecting. All of a sudden, a crocodile and a hippo burst from the tranquil waters straight in front of him, locking jaws in ferocious battle. Arnaud desperately tried to refocus his camera on the river monsters as they fought on the banks of the Shire River, in the Liwonde National Park, Malawi. After hours waiting beside an African river,...

HOLDENVILE, Okla. — Just about everyone thinks Eric Torpy is a birdbrain. In October 2005, Torpy asked an Oklahoma County judge to tack on three more years to his 30-year prison sentence for armed robbery and two counts of shooting with intent to kill. “He said if he was going down, he was going to go down in Larry Bird’s jersey,’’ Oklahoma District Judge Ray Elliott told the Associated Press back then. “He was just as happy as he could be.’’

Zippity Doo Dah Zippity Ay My oh my What a wonderful day. Plenty of sunshine Comin' my way. Zippity Doo Dah Zippity Ay Mr. Bluebird on my shoulder, It's the truth; It's actual; Everything is satisfactual. Zippity Doo Dah Zippity Ay Wonderful feeling, Wonderful day!

At low tide the mudflats of the saltmarsh will have large areas covered by colonies of little Fiddler crabs, the males busy waving the larger of their claws to lure females to his burrow. Fiddler crabs dig down a foot or so, the burrow curves as it descends.The White Ibis has a curving beak, how convenient is that?It was about high tide when I got to the marsh, this White Ibis was the only moving thing in sight. It was putting down those Fiddlers like popcorn. The Ibis are pairing off ready to nest now, but this one was all...

A little bit of rain and a lot of sunshine makes things start happening around here. A Great Egret was fishing the lake when I got there but the Great Blue Heron chased it off. They are about the same size but the Great Blue is a lot more aggressive, they will claim and dominate a stretch of water. They make exceptions, the Snowy Egrets, Little Blue Herons and Tricolor Herons don't eat the same diet as the Great Blue so they are often tolerated.The Red Shouldered Hawk is a little late this year but it's likely one of the...

I got to the little pond just as the tide was starting in, nothing there yet but the Great egrets and Snowy egrets were fishing way out in the marsh. Nothing came in close but one Great egret. I moved back toward the pond and the White ibis came busting in. The Ibis feed further up in the cordgrass and Spartina than the egrets, they seem to wait until the tide gets up in the vegetation some before they feed. There is a cold front coming in, gray skies and spitting rain all day.

There is water in the pond and the Snowy Egrets can bathe again. From the look of their plumage pairing off and nest building time is almost here. The yellow lore ahead of the eye will turn crimson when hormones reach a peak, some red is starting to show now.I've missed my little pond, it's been dry too much this winter. The birds could ice skate on it last year, nothing but frozen mud on the cold days this year.

The Daffodils are popping, the bees are busy and the birds are almost ready to pair off and build nests. Today, in sunny St. John's County Florida.

I came home from the gator farm one day last April hot, tired and ready for a nap. I dumped the memory cards to my remote hard drive for later. I only ever processed one of the 2 folders, just now stumbled over the other one.It's almost time to go back again!From last April.

WASHINGTON, Officials with the Library of Congress in Washington said a female Cooper's hawk was captured after spending a week trapped in the facility. Matt Raymond, the library's director of communications, said the hawk is believed to have flown in through a window Jan. 19 and spent a week evading capture in the Thomas Jefferson Building's Main Reading Room, The Washington Post reported Thursday. The hawk, which fed on frozen quail from a trap without being snared, was caught using starlings as bait by a Raptor Conservancy of Virginia team at about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday. The team spent about 25...

The recent mysterious deaths of birds and fish are causing alarm among naturalists around the world. Birds are literally falling dead out of the sky, and fish are washing up dead on shores and rivers across North America and around the world. The reaction from the mainstream media seems strangely subdued, as if they're all just blowing this off as some unexplained quirk about the natural world that should be largely ignored. NaturalNews readers think differently. We are concerned when thousands of dead birds fall out of the sky for no apparent reason. The sky itself may not be falling,...

SANTA ROSA -- Days after massive bird die-offs in the south, Sonoma County officials Tuesday had a mystery of their own as more than 100 bird carcasses were discovered near Geyserville. California Highway Patrol Officer Jon Sloat said the birds were discovered on to Independence Lane at about 2:30 p.m. Saturday. The California Department of Fish and Game was notified and a local warden responded. He took several of the birds away to be identified and tested by a biologist, Sloat told the San Rosa Press Democrat. The birds all appeared to be the same species – small in size...