I read an article recently on a way to better control the auto focus on a camera. Its called back-button auto focusing. It works on most digital SLR camera like our Canon Digital Rebel XTi. The concept is that the camera focuses while a button is pressed on the [...]
Finished another 3 days of cross country skiing. I am definitely dragging butt today. That brings the total for the season to five days on the snow. Not a bad year so far. The forecast isn't quite so promising though.
On Saturday morning, as we were waiting the arrival of our' [...]
While many Boiseans were enjoying Boise State's crushing defeat over the University of Idaho, a few of us bird nerds were out exploring the avian species near Bruneau Idaho.
Heidi, Jay, and I were planning to get an early start to the day, then link up with the Audubon' [...]
There hasn't been a lot of activity on this blog as of late. My summer activities have ended so I don't have any new photos popping up. I have also been working on a number of other documents as of late. Multiple essays for scholarship applications, the first draft of [...]
Wow, it's been a month since I have posted here. A lot has happened since then. School has kept me busy, I continue to hawkwatch on the mountain once a week, I took a week off to fully experience the swine flu! etc. In fact, I am still recovering from' [...]
With my return to school, my duties at the Idaho Bird Observatory have changed a bit. The songbird banding continues, but my morning classes don't allow me to participate to the same degree. The result is that I will be reducing my hours and shifting to hawkwatch instead of' [...]
After working on dinky birds for the past two months, on Saturday I spent some time with the larger migrants through the Idaho Bird Observatory! This last week, hawk watch and hawk trapping began. Hawkwatch, which is where I will be every Monday afternoon for the remainder of the [...]
A few weeks back, while working at the Idaho Bird Observatory, I had the opportunity to band a Green-tailed Towhee. This was only the 5th GTTO ever caught at the bird observatory in 13 years. It was also the first time I had ever seen one (lifer!).
The events occurring [...]
About once a week the Idaho Bird Observatory crew heads out in the afternoon for some shore birding. This time of year is starting to bring in many shore bird migrants heading South. On a recent trip to Indian Creek Reservoir, we were successful in finding many species of shorebirds [...]
Today at summer camp (Karyn's name for my work at the Idaho Bird Observatory!) it was a cold damp morning. The birds were a little slow as a result for the big storm that passed through over the last few days. On the first net run, extracting birds from' [...]
Last week I provided a tour of my new office at the Idaho Bird Observatory. This week I thought it would be great to highlight some of the non-avian inhabitants of the area.
Snakes in the office. One of the things on our minds as we speed hike from [...]
As my recent blog posts have indicated, I am working for the summer banding birds at the Idaho Bird Observatory. This last week as I was walking across a ridgeline at dawn, I thought back to the days when I would be sitting in my cubicle. What a vastly [...]
I continue to make progress on my research agenda. As noted in my research proposal, I am researching the coordinated migrational timing between avian predators and avian prey. The research is based upon fifteen years of migration data collected at the Idaho Bird Observatory.
While my research is based [...]
To fully understand the title of this story, you must know that I wear a Tilley hat.
While camping in Stanley Idaho last week we enjoyed watching an Osprey nest with two chicks in it from our camp. The chicks were about 3/4 size, demanding a great deal of food. [...]
On July 14th, fifteen years ago, Karyn and I were married on a mountain bike trail in central Idaho. Each year we return to the area to play until we can't take any more. This is that week.
Our anniversary day began with breakfast at the Stanley Baking Company. Yes, roughing' [...]
This is Karyn and I's anniversary week. We are spending it in the mountains where we were married fifteen years ago this month. Mountain biking, hiking, bird watching, and generally relaxing.
Not surprisingly, we have noticed that bird nesting season at this elevation (6500-7500 feet above sea level) is a little' [...]
Fifteen years ago this month, Karyn and I were married. The wedding was a bit out of the ordinary as we were married on our tandem mountain bike. Our witnesses, Doug and Peggy, were escorting us on their tandem mountain bike. My brother and Karyn's sister rode single mountain bikes' [...]
Last year I made a multiple year commitment to survey for NightJars one night a year. NightJars are a family of crepuscular/nocturnal birds which in our area consist of the Common Nighthawk (not really a hawk!) and the Common Poorwill. Neither are really that common! Last year resulted [...]
This morning I arose very early to ride my motorcycle up to the top of Lucky Peak to the Idaho Bird Observatory to help, but mostly learn how to band songbirds. Later in the summer I will be spending a great deal of time up there working with the [...]
On a lighter note, I discovered a new online beta tool which looked fun. This tool, called TweetPsych, analyzes your twitter comment stream (same as my Facebook comment stream) and provides some observations about your writing style and what you tend to write about. I found this particularly interesting [...]
Last night we had some strong thunderstorms moving through the area. That put a bit of a damper on the bar-b-que we were attending at a friends house. It was moved inside and the food was excellent.
Doug had mentioned that last week a group of owls invaded his back yard. [...]
This document provides a [...]
I am back again with more bird migration research. This paper is focused more closely on the predator prey relationships, specifically on the response of prey species to the abundance of predators. This is somewhat related to my research on the related timing of migration between [...]
I have continued my reading of research papers as background material for my upcoming research on the related timing of fall migration of avian predators (accipters) and avian prey (songbirds). A couple of papers were duds and not worth writing about. This one however is a [...]
I've been riding mountain bikes in the Boise foothills for 20 years. Each year I see a couple of snakes out on the trail. This year it seems as if I have seen more than all other years combined. I'm not sure if my timing is different, or what the [...]
I've been riding mountain bikes in the Boise foothills for 20 years. Each year I see a couple of snakes out on the trail. This year it seems as if I have seen more than all other years combined. I'm not sure if my timing is different, or what the [...]
This week, in my down time between spring semester and the upcoming summer semester, I volunteered to help a graduate student friend of mine with his research. His research is focused on Woodpeckers presence as a predictor for Owl presence within the Boise National Forest. A couple months back I [...]
Here is the third and final summary of our continued adventures in Yellowstone. The first part of the story is here - The Tyranny of Nature's Plan, part two is here - The Struggle for Existance.
Our last few days in Yellowstone came with mixed experiences. We had some' [...]
Here is a summary of our continued adventures in Yellowstone. The first part of the story is here - The Tyranny of Nature's Plan.
The flight of the Eagles. Tuesday evening present a spectacular showing of eagles. Our friends pointed out the Bald Eagle nest where we could see the' [...]
I borrowed the title from one of my favorite lines of a Jakob Dylan song. It’s very appropriate for what you can experience in Yellowstone National Park this time of year. Yellowstone, like no other place nearby, allows nature to play out in front of you. It brings excitement, fascination, [...]
I have continued the background discovery process for my research project on songbird and accipiter hawk (hawks that feed on songbirds) migration patterns. A week ago I reviewed a paper on the differential timing of accipiter hawk migration. That particular paper provided a lot to [...]
On Sunday, while I could have been studying for my upcoming exams, I instead went birding with some friends. This was the right choice to make for many reasons. First, I ended up doing well on my exam anyway. Second, birding is just a lot more fun than studying. And [...]
I have been narrowing in on the specification of my undergraduate research project in Biology/Ecology. The current proposal is related to correlation of migration timing between Predators (Accipiter Hawks) and Prey (Songbirds) at the Idaho Bird Observatory. In the process of refining my research objectives [...]
While all my schoolmates were in class, and my old colegues were at work, I was out birding!! One advantage of taking 4 labs this semester is that during dead week (this week), when most of my labs were done, it seemed like I have nothing to do. There is [...]
Saturday brought our final field trip for our Ornithology class. The destination was Centennial Marsh in south central Idaho. This is one of my favorite birding locations and is highlighted on the Idaho Birding Trail.
I awoke to the sound of rain, fairly heavy rain for our area. I [...]
A few days ago I wrote about the fledging of our local Great Horned Owl chicks. Later that night Karyn and I returned to see if we could watch the chicks flying. What played out was a more interesting tale.
We arrived to find the adult female owl feeding two [...]
This is the first time I have been by to check on the Great Horned Owl chicks in Hull's Grove. Wow, they grew fast. We observed the adults mating on a few occasions in early to mid-February. They were probably born mid March. In the last five weeks they have' [...]
I just returned from a walk to downtown Boise for a few errands. I planned my route to pass by the building housing the Peregrine Falcon Nest (webcam). A few blocks before I got there I saw one of the Peregrines flying overhead. I assume it to be [...]
Yesterday our Ornithology class took a field trip out to the Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area. This area is believed to include the largest concentration of raptors in the world. It is a productive wintering ground for many species and holds a significant summer and year round [...]
With my busy school schedule and our out of town trip over spring break, it had been a month or two since we had hiked our local birding hotspot - Hull's Grove. With spring well upon us, Karyn and I hiked this morning. What a beautiful day with lots of' [...]
My spouse, knowing my geekish nature oh too well, bought me a Oregon Scientific handlebar/helmet cam for my birthday. After a few test runs to and from school last week, mainly filming the asphalt in front of the bike, it was time for a real test on the trails. [...]
Last night Karyn and I attended a spectacular event. Jane Goodall visited Boise for a fundraiser for the Boise Zoo. Not willing to pay the $500 for the zoo event, we instead attended her evening talk at the Qwest arena. It was a very special presentation.
I was quite surprised to [...]
Last night I joined a Boise State graduate student on one of the owl surveys for his research project. I can't imagine a more beautiful night to have chosen. The moon was high in the sky providing plenty of light, and there was no wind or clouds. It was fantastic.
We' [...]
Our time in Fruita Colorado came to an end as I had to head back to school. I finally collected some of the photos and videos of our riding there. Here is a compilation of the remaining items.
Our last few days in Fruita went very fast. On Thursday there was [...]
More playing in paradise! The mountain bike trails in Fruita Colorado continue to impress. If you like single track, this is the place to be! We returned to 18 Road trail system again today. Chris, the local tandem rider we met, chose to take us out on a tour while [...]
We are still playing in Fruita Colorado. The weather is supposed to be unsettled all week, but there were no complaints from our party today! We awoke to another day of clear skies. The first task of the morning was to take in a little birdwatching along the Colorado River. [...]
Spring Break is finally here! Finishing off my tough week of 4 exams, Karyn and I quickly headed out of town for a little rest and self abuse in the outdoors. The destination - Fruita Colorado. The mechanism of torture - our tandem mountain bike, single mountain bikes, and probably [...]
Wow, what a week and it is only Tuesday! I should probably be studying for my next two exams (tonight and tomorrow), but my feeble little brain can't take any more right now. I need a little study break. I just finished my Ornithology lab practical and am exhausted. I' [...]
What a gorgeous day in Boise. Clear blue sky this morning, warming to about 50 degrees this afternoon. While we could use some more snow, we are currently 25% below normal for the year, I'll enjoy the blue sky while its here.
This morning Karyn and I went out bird watching' [...]
After one of the most difficult weeks in any of my college careers, Karyn and I took some time off to search for birds.
It has been exam time at Boise State University. I had an Ornithology test last Friday, Biology Tuesday night, and Ecology and Chemistry on Wednesday. The [...]
While the Idaho legislature continues to waste their time recording useless sound bites about wolves in Idaho, and proposing a gutting of our education system, they continue to ignore the issue of public transportation.
For the last few years the topic of public transportation has gotten a hearing before [...]
While working on my chemistry homework this afternoon, Karyn suggested I look in the back yard. Perched just above our bird feeders was a young Sharp-shinned Hawk! This is no accident. The Sharp-shin is a small bird predator. This last week the number of Pine Siskins has risen [...]
It continues to be an exciting time in my life as I complete the transition from my past 20+ year career as a computer scientist and on to my new career as a biology student.
The transition out of work has been interesting. Clearly after 20.5 years working at the same [...]
Each year I write a letter to my state legislators explaining some of my priorities as a citizen of Idaho. I am a little bit behind this year as the legislative session began last week. Regardless, here it is.
Dear Legislators,
I am writing to you today to highlight some of my [...]
The city of Boise is currently suffering from a nasty inversion. If you have never experienced an inversion count yourself lucky. I had never experienced one until I moved to Boise over 20 years ago. The inversion primarily occurs in the winter when a high pressure system locks all of [...]
I've thought a lot about the current rate of extinction within the world. It is currently estimated that "on average, a distinct species of plant or animal becomes extinct every 20 minutes". That's an unbelievably large number. While not all of those extinctions are human caused, the vast majority [...]
Karyn and I traveled to Sun Valley today for some great cross country skiing. The sky was crystal clear, no wind, the temperature was a perfect 28 degrees, and the snow was awesome. I once again took out my cheap video camera to get some shots.
I should note that [...]
You might remember a post from last week where I highlighted my Holiday Gifts. One of the gifts was a portable photography blind. I haven't been able to get out to put it to a true test, but have played around with it in the backyard. Yesterday, I was' [...]
Last summer I had a gift certificate to a local electronics retailer. I decided to buy a cheap video camera with it to try and film some mountain bike rides. That didn't work out so well as I had a difficult time reliably attaching it to my bike or helmet.' [...]
Today is a very scary, but exciting day for me! I have made a very significant new year's resolution, which has been in the works for some time. In March of last year, I wrote of my evolving mid-life crisis. The result took me back to school to study' [...]
I noticed on a friends blog (A DC Birding Blog), his Top 8 Nature Moments of 2008. Following his lead, I thought it would be a good idea to highlight mine. Here are my top nature moments for 2008. Not surprising, the top moments came from our time [...]
The holidays are upon us and now is the time for gift giving. Karyn and I have generally worked to minimize gift giving with extended family members, but I still seemed to have received some significant booty. More than any previous holiday season, the gifts this year were more than [...]
Today is the 35th anniversary of the signing of the endangered species act by President Nixon. It has been tremendously successful in saving a few species such as the Grey Wolf and the Bald Eagle. It has saved countless ecosystems from further degradation and has helped maintain [...]
There were a ton of Common Goldeneyes on the Boise River today. This was the best photo I was able to get.
Karyn and I walked an icy path, seeing most of the usual winter suspects. No Bald Eagle though.
[...]A recent research article published in the journal Naturwissenschaften has shown that Moorhens have an internal representation of their own eggs.
Intraspecific brood parasitism [...]
I am off from work for 2 weeks. Apparently my company believes that I am so valuable as an employee, that I can best contribute by not being there. We will see how valuable they think I am when January comes around. Ha! (inside joke, find out on January 2nd)
I [...]
Tuesday brought the end of my first semester back in school working toward my encore career in Biology/Ecology. By almost any measure I consider it a success.
This semester I took two courses. The first was a core course for my degree - General Biology. This also included a [...]
The snow finally arrived in Idaho, and in a big way. I have shoveled snow three times in the past two days! No complaints, it is long overdue.
Today Karyn and I decided to make a quick trip to McCall Idaho for the first cross country skiing of the year. Ponderosa [...]
I didn't think it was a great day for photography. This was even taken in the shadows, but turned out beyond my expectations. Wood Duck at the MK Nature Center in Boise. (click to enlarge)I am sure that this question has been keeping you up at night, but rest assured science is working hard to resolve the question. I came across this recent research paper in the scientific journal Evolutionary Ecology. The paper is not publicly available, it is [...]
I never thought the words would cross my lips. Actually they haven't, just flown through my fingers into this blog, but close enough.
The Eye on Boise blog is reporting that Otter wants gas tax hike, fee increases. I may not agree with him on wolves, but on this topic' [...]
We had hoped to be thankful for snow this holiday season, but the weather just didn't cooperate. The only candidate ski location that we considered that had any snow at all was West Yellowstone. There they have marginal conditions high on the plateau. With thousands of cross country skiers from' [...]
It's a beautiful day today in Boise. Not too cold for the time of year. The weather was near freezing this morning and is expected to top out around 50 degrees. While I would much rather have snow, I'll take in the great weather as well.
This morning Karyn and I [...]
When I first moved to Idaho more than 20 years ago, the state had a reputation for being a source of hate. The Aryan Nations had their active compound in northern Idaho, and this was widely known across the country. After that compound shut down many years ago, the hateful [...]
Salon.com has an article on Bush's seven deadly environmental sins, How Bush made a mockery of the nation's environmental laws and values -- and what Obama must do to get us back on track.
While much of the damage is done, I hope the turn around comes quickly.
[...]A day of hope and a day of promise!
Hope for the world, hope for people everywhere, hope for our country, hope for the environment, hope for sanity, hope for respect, hope for leadership, hope for the values that made this country great, and most importantly for all, hope for [...]
It was pointed out by one of my regular readers that I haven't posted in a few weeks. I guess, the "I've been busy" excuse doesn't work. So here is an update on my life.
First, school continues to go very well. I am sitting at an A- in my technical [...]
There have been a number of studies in the past few years analyzing the degree to which various species communicate with other species. I expect that many people might assume that little communication occurs between organisms of separate species, but that's just not true. Clearly there [...]
The wolf population "issue" in Idaho continues along its usual path of state officials looking for a "reasonable" solution. Here is a recent quote from our governor:
“They say Butch Otter wants to kill all the wolves in Idaho,” Otter said. “Well, they’re right.” - The Owyhee Avalanche
[...]
It finally worked out for Karyn and I to make it up the rough 4x4 road to the Idaho Bird Observatory. The Idaho Bird Observatory is a bird banding station for songbirds, raptors, and owls. Today we planned to take in the later parts of the day's songbird banding [...]
Its hard to believe I have just completed the fifth week of school. It is going by very quickly. A few ups and downs, a few surprises, and quite a bit a learning. I am very glad I took the step to jump back in.
Lets start with my technical [...]
While out on a bike ride today I did some thinking about our current economic conditions. It fired me up enough to write the following letter to my representatives.
Representative Simpson, Senator Crapo, Senator Craig,
I hope that a lot of your attention has been tuned in to the economic [...]
If you read the mainstream media or listen to any politicians in the western states, you probably have a sense that the wolf population is skyrocketing with no possible end in sight. Those of us who follow the wolf issue know that the wolf population peaked in Yellowstone National Park [...]
This weekend Karyn and I delayed our trip to help band hawks at the Idaho Bird Observatory and instead joined Defenders of Wildlife on a photography and wolf watching field trip. We hope to make it to the bird observatory next weekend.
The Defenders event began with a [...]
My jury trial has come to a close, although the experience still lives on.
This is the second time I have sat on a jury. The first was 19 years ago for a murder trial. On that occasion I spent three weeks in the courtroom and we returned a [...]
It was an exciting second week at school as I can now claim to be a straight A student! That could change any day now, but with my first graded elements in each class complete, I did achieve good scores.
This last week presented the first biology quiz of the [...]
I won the lottery! Actually I won that occasional lottery whose prize consists of you reporting in to jury duty service. The US Constitution guarantees a Trial by Jury. This jury is intended to be a jury of peers or common citizens. The result is that citizens are [...]
The Scientists and Engineers for America, an organization I proudly support, has created a list of critical questions on science which have been posed to all candidates running for federal office. The congressional candidates are asked 7 questions on Innovation, Climate Change, Energy, Education, Water, Research, and Health. Via [...]
This has been a difficult year for 4 day vacations. Last month our Magruder Corridor mountain tandem tour was cut short due to a mechanical problem with our trailer. Earlier this month, our 4 day trip to Maine was shortened to 2.5 days. This weekend, our planned 4 [...]
I survived my first week of school. It was an exciting time, full of new experiences, old memories, a few surprises, and some great learning.
As I mentioned in my previous message regarding the first day of class, my technical communications course is uneventful for this first week. I submitted [...]
The first day of classes is finally here! Today is my first official day back in school pursuing training for my Encore Career in Biology/Ecology. I have been waiting for 6 months for this day to arrive.
It seems to me that I have been blogging a lot about [...]
As I get ready for the beginning of school next week I am still thinking about what my emphasis will be. I am enrolled in a Bachelor's degree program at Boise State in Biology with an emphasis in Ecology, but I must still choose a taxonomy focus of my ecology [...]
Thanks to The Other 95% Blog for this lead. Click the poster to enlarge and read the fine print.
Technorati Tags:conservation, oceans, pollution
[...]Reuters is reporting that Americans have scaled back their driving for the 8th straight month. The miles traveled in June are estimated to be 12.2 BILLION miles fewer than the same month a year earlier or a nearly 5% reduction of total miles traveled. This has essentially "erased 5 [...]
Gold medal in the Olympic Cycling Individual Time Trial for Idaho's own Kristin Armstrong!!! What an outstanding performance!!! Congratulations Kristin!!!
This is a tremendous accomplishment for Kristin, but should also have very positive benefit on Idaho. This excellent result, combined with the nationally recognized junior cycling development program [...]
I was speechless a hour ago as I sat listening to the evening news. President Bush plans to destroy the foundation of the Endangered Species Act by removing independent scientific review! As if destroying our economy, our reputation in the world, our trust of the position of the president, [...]
