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Posts Tagged ‘ducks’

Time for Nonsense

Posted in Birds, Journeys, Nature, tagged , , , on August 6, 2013| 3 Comments »

The Llama Song – Listen to it: http://tinyurl.com/2jy2tc

            Here’s a llama. There’s a llama. And another little llama. Fuzzy llama. Funny llama. Llama llama duck. Llama Llama. Cheesecake llama. Tablet. Brick. Potato llama. Llama llama, duck.

            I was once a tree house. Lived in a cake. But I never saw the way the orange slayed the rake. I was only three years dead. But it told a tale. And now listen little child. To the safety rail.

            Did you ever see a llama? Kiss a llama. On the llama. Llamas llamas. Taste of llamas. Llama llama duck.

            Is that how it’s told now? Is it all so old?  Doorknob. Ankle. Cold. Now my song is getting thin. I’ve run out of luck! Time for me to retire now. And become a duck.

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Here’s the llama… — Photo by Pat Bean

Laughter is Good for the Soul

And here's the duck. They were both photographed at Riverside Park in Bayfield, Colorado -- Photo by Pat Bean

And here’s the duck. They were both photographed at Riverside Park in Bayfield, Colorado — Photo by Pat Bean

 

And this crazy song makes me laugh and laugh, Supposedly it was written by someone called Burton Earny in 2004, who has since gone into hibernation.

What makes you laugh?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Wondering Wanderer's blog pick of the day.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: Pete Scully http://tinyurl.com/mwtwo5o One of the artists whose blogs I’ve begun following. I love Pete’s sketches.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Renewal

Posted in Weekly Photo Challenge, tagged , , , , , , , on November 10, 2012| 4 Comments »

A Ducky Family

Half-breed ducks at Springfield Park in Rowlett, Texas. — Photo by Pat Bean

When I first began bird watching, a flock of ducks like this  had me scrambling through my guidebooks over and over in my efforts to identify them. A seasoned birder finally took pity on me and explained that they were hybrids, half  mallard-and half something else, usually the white domestic ducks that hang about in civilized ponds.

“You won’t find them in any birding field guide, and the AOU (American Ornithological Union) discounts them as a legitimate bird species,” he said.  “And they can’t reproduce,” he said.

These days I recognize  such hybrids immediately.  And in my crazy mind, they speak to me about how life, in all of its forms, is constantly trying to renew itself.

 

 

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A Wigeon of a Tale

Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , , , on January 10, 2012| 4 Comments »

“Be like a duck. Calm on the surface, but always paddling like the dickens underneath.” – Michael Caine

The flock of American wigeons I saw recently that reminded me of my five-year search for its Eurasion cousin. -- Poor photo by Pat Bean

Bird Talk

My kids tell me I have a better memory for where I’ve seen a new bird species than I do for their birthdays. Well, they’re wrong. I know the dates they were born very well. They just think I don’t because of how often I forget what day it is.

They are right, however, in thinking that I can remember where and when I’ve seen a new bird for my life bird list, which I started back on April 10, 1999.

The first bird on it is an American avocet. It and the next 67 birds on it were all seen when I went on a guided bird tour to Deseret Ranch in Northern Utah. I tagged along as a reporter assigned to do a story on sage grouse.

It was the first time I kept a list of the birds I saw — and the day I became a birder. I give

An American wigeon, a species that can be found all across the United States. -- Wikipedia photo

all credit for my newly found passion and addiction to birdwatching to Mark Stackhouse, who led the tour.

After I had listed the 67 birds, and had decided I would start my bird list, I did a very foolish thing. I added a Eurasian wigeon to the list.

A few years earlier, when I had been following Congressman Jim Hanson around during one of  his visits to Northern Utah, he made a stop at what was commonly known as the Millionaire’s Duck Club, a private hunting club located adjacent to the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.

Everyone was all excited that day because someone had spotted a rare Eurasian wigeon through a roof-top telescope. I was invited to take a look, and the wigeon became part of the story I eventually wrote. With written proof that I had seen the bird, I didn’t think twice about adding it to my list.

Eurasion wigeons, which can normally be found in winter along U.S. coastal areas. -- Wikipedia photo

But then I got into the spirit of birding, and realized I wouldn’t recognize a Eurasian wigeon if it dropped down from the sky five feet in front of me. And I knew that I didn’t want any bird on my list that I hadn’t personally identified. But to take it off, would be to mess up the entire order of my list.

It took me five years before I did finally see this duck. It was Oct. 4, 2004, in Yellowstone National Park. What a great day that was. And I remember it as well as I remember the days my children were born.

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