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It’s a blue moon tonight with Ringo having disappeared last night and has not come home to eat all day. That’s what you get with a rogue agent like Ringo. I miss his funny face and sparkling blues!
We fished last night, 
and as always he waited patiently for his reward, but nothing came. Maybe he went to go live with a better ‘fisher’? All I know is, there was no sign of him anywhere all day. Tonight I went to several of the neighbors whose homes he frequents and no one had seen him. The neighbors checked their garages and looked all over, but no Ringo. I am hoping I will look up and see his face at the back door, but so far, nothing. To those of you who say that’s what happens when you have outdoors cats just don’t understand the dynamics of a cat who was brought in by my neighbors as a stray and raised for years as part of the Loch Arbor scenery. I have inherited him, but Ringo does his own thing, though he always comes home. Most people around here know Ringo and enjoy seeing his handsome face, they know he is a rascal. Maybe he needs a tracking chip!
Let’s hope he is somewhere safe, and if someone catnapped him, they will learn he is not a cat you keep inside for more than a four hour stretch. 
I have no reason to doubt he can fend for himself, he eats lizards and birds and would find his own food with no problem. Just wish somehow knew where he was. This is not like Ringo to be MIA like this. AT least everyone is on the lookout. I’ll put his face up by the stop sign tomorrow if he doesn’t show.
Around here it is hot hot hot and no rain in sight, I bet we will get dumped on all at once again. WOnder where this tropical depression will hit? Will it build to become a hurricane? Will have to watch. Thank goodness the well has stopped leaking oil, but there is still a lot of oil out there. What happens to the streams of oil once picked up and swirled in a hurricane?
The birds are very quiet lately, not as many as in early spring. I do see my beautiful jays come all together before 7pm. There are still five of them and they get quite snippy with each other. 
Here are 4 of them, they are hard to get at one time. 
and of course, the cardinals are adorable to watch as they interact with the bold jays. The cardinals are much calmer. 
Have not been getting grackles, though the crows come in the morning and early afternoon. 
Monday and Tuesday I finally put a photo\art book together, it was a lot of fun and look forward to seeing the finished product when it gets here. I would like to do a few of them on different subject, but the cost seems high with the shipping being about $3 over what normal flat rate mailing should be. I even tried calling Printers, Book Binders and Graphics places this morning and was told for them to make the photo books would be expensive, I was hoping to be able to buy them in bulk fairly reasonably, but can’t find a way to sell below $25 to squeak buy with a tiny profit. Anyway, the first book is on Crows. Will give link when I see the book and it’s finished product.
My Kodak Easyshare P850 died, I put in the recharged battery and it acted like it was taking a picture and flashed like it, but there was nothing but black on the screen. I checked the settings, re did the battery, set back to default and nothing but black. Time to replace it. 
Ran over to Best Buy to look at what they had, liked the Sony HX1 and the two young clerks, Byron and Kristen were wonderful and helped me do comparisons with the Nikon of the same specifications. Will consider my options, love the 18 months same as cash!
Saw a hummingbird tonight as I was putting weeds in the trash, it was drawn to the lush red buds on the fire bush. I hurried out with fresh hummingbird food, but the only thing attracted to that seems like the carpenter ants.
In the meantime, I keep looking up at the back door, then walking over the the front door and open it and call Ringo’s name, then stare and stare and stare… 
Where’s my boy?
I came back from Tampa yesterday as we thought our new grandchild was coming sooner rather than later, but after all doctors reports and tests, she will be coming on her own terms, not to a timespan set by the doctor for his surgical convenience. So figured I actually had a bit more time in between and thought I would spend time here and get things in order and today I was rewarded as I drove to run errands and saw a fox squirrel running on the golf course. 
I drove home as fast as I could seeing I didn’t have a camera. I hoped that fox squirrel would be roaming nearby for a few minutes and I was right. Though when I got on the Mayfair Golf course, the rodent kept running away! First I looked left and right to make sure I wasn’t going to be “whacked” by some golfer! But it had been raining and was still thundering so the place was empty.
Walking toward the animal was like trying to catch your cat who only lets you get so close and then runs off about twenty feet further just to tease you as you approach. Here’s the pics, I was lucky that there was a second one not far from the first and he let me have some photo access at a distance.
Leaping away, I had to hurry, luckily a guy in a golf cart gave me a lift.
I wondered how close I could get before I could get a good shot.
Closer and closer…
The darker one was not quite as jumpy as the first. What a handsome face and coloring he had. 
I love seeing them.
At home all was hot and quiet, the birds were just not very busy at all. The woodpecker is still busy feeding his brood.
Had one crow come visit this morning and of course, the young jays.
Oh, it’s good to be home again….
This looks like a polished piece of porcelain with hairs sticking wayward, but it is a close up of an Alaskan King crab claw. That was dinner last night, (not mine, I ate shrimp and they were ‘shrimpy’ in comparison with the width of that leg!) But, when I saw the cracked claws, I had to take some close ups, the hair was just too bizarre! The orange was such a pretty color.
Outside it is like a blast furnace and everywhere I go, I notice the mockingbirds chasing everything out of their way. I did happen to get a few of the crow sitting on one of my cut off trees getting ‘buzzed’ at by the mockingbird. Here’s the story in pics:
the crow retreats to tree stump, he looks out at the oncoming vengeance of two mockingbirds.
They swoop down and fake attack that stubborn crow, 
The crow took off, 
heading
right in my direction and then veering off. The crows and mockingbirds can be seen all over as the ‘mockers’ love to dive bomb the crows. The crows just go about their business looking overhead all the time. Here’s some crow pics: 
My cranes were here on and off all afternoon, I witnessed the tender moments between parent and child by the lake. The babies do love to chase off the other birds, they have been taught well. 
Here’s Mom grooming. 
Baby watches to see how close the ducks get. 
ah, the love! It was so sweet how tenderly the mother would tap the baby’s beak. 
My mallard pair are hanging around too. The foot that looked broken is up and running again I am glad to report. Birds must injure themselves from time to time. I have noticed my grackle since last year who has the mis-shapen toe, 
notice that wayward toe on the right.
He hops on it, gets along well and makes up for the impediment by being very much of a bully. 
That grackle is a great example of ‘making do’!
The flowers are looking good, but the heat is getting to them as there has been no rain for over a week and 90+ degree temps that actually feel like over 100! 
It’s so hot even the doves
have become feisty! 
Blue jay and dove eye to eye. 
The dove was
“unflappable” 
Stood its’ ground. 
Then it actually moved forward at the jay and they both flew off. 
The heat is making our tempers short. Confrontation isn’t limited to humans – I see well executed sparring right in my own yard!
P/S, now I am in possession of a dove that got pounced on by the neighbors cat. 
I saw it out of the window and ran out. The poor dove was stunned and not flying. Right now it is sitting quietly inside the cat cage with food and drink, in a dark bedroom and later or in the morning I will let it loose…(When Ringo is in the house)
Very simply, there is so beautiful detailed bits of nature around here when you take pics with macro lenses. I am going to put up photos that give natures little details. First let me tell you I saw the mallard couple 
and the male was limping, but nothing at all like the other day when he didn’t use his leg and held it up – happy to say he is improving. 
So lets take a look at some details, first Kim’s Sago palm, 
This ‘projection’ means it is a male plant, here’s a bit closer look at the cone, 
and look closer: 
and another
And lets look at some creepy little bugs that chew up my milkweed plant
They are really so tiny you hardly notice they are there. 
This cutie was busy too, I think he was eating those yellow buggy goobers.
these are natures tendrils, little vines, love the way they curl: 
These are all
from the red passion flower vines. 
crepe myrtle.
Canna lily, and canna lily photoshopped, 
Look at the grasshopper – 
he was splashing me with his juices. 
That little golden bubble came out of it’s front left foot… 
a sunflower and variations 
periwinkle and
variation, 
and this 
and a soft shell turtle
— 
The turtle was swimming around cursing me, telling the fish to hurry and go toward the middle of the lake where I couldn’t reach them. It worked too, I caught nothing tonight. Ringo was mad and went back to the porch.
What’s worse, a brooding feline or vindictive turtles? While I stood there watching my bobber a long long time, a crow was helping myself to the bait, as much as he could shove in his mouth. What can you do, he’s part of nature’s details….
and I mean that title literally! For some reason the birds were bossy today. First, there were two blue jays coming to enjoy some seed and water. 
A woodpecker came in and decided to partake. 
and things got heated, 
The woodpecker bowed in a subservient position. He tried to calmly discuss his position 
But the jay chased him off. Though they didn’t bother the doves.
Nor the sandhill cranes, 
Though the crow chased everyone off so he could stuff his mouth.
Sweet cardinals . 
The mallard couple came too. Everyone was hungry for bird seed.
The cranes even decided to come and knock on my sliding glass doors. When I answered they hurried outside the porch patiently waiting for rations. 
A storm threatened and a squealing osprey sat in the tree warning of lightning. 
I took photos of flowers, 
The common grackle took to bossing the other birds around. One jay came back 
challenging the grackle 
face to face they each showed their attitudes. 
and then the jay flew off after a threatening jab of grackle beak. 
The jay landed on the pot and looked down at the despicable grackle.
A back up grackle came in , 
as a squirrel ran up the tree and raided all the food in the birdfeeder, 
peace at last… 
Wonder where Ringo was? he slept through it all, silly boy. 
Ah, Tuesday has morphed into Wednesday – I am in a time warp again as another day squeaked by. Where oh where do these hours go?
Anyway, it was a hot one. Woke at 7am yesterday and the moon was still gleaming against the blue. 
Aaron threw out the cast net and got a few shiners and he brought in a bass and a gar. 
Then he and Leila headed back to Tampa with their Bella, 
I had so much fun being with all my kids this weekend, family is so important! Don’t forget to tell yours how you feel and often…
On Saturday I had run over to Sanford and was in Maya’s Bookstore and saw this, 
an adorable baby sated in sleep. Yvette, the owner was keeping a very close eye on him as his mom, Wee Gauthier, an orchid vendor with “Orchids For All Occasions” put away her flowers as the Saturday Farmers Market was coming to a close. They were gorgeous orchids: 
As you know, I have a black thumb. But back to the sleeping baby, I am excited to have my own new grand baby this August! I hope I will be a big part of the babies life. My daughter made sure to get a romper for the baby that expresses who I am, 
The weekend with family was wonderful and went so fast, only wish Aaron and Leila lived here so we could all be together much more, what can I say, I’m selfish! But Tampa certainly is not California — get over it Abbe!
Andrea had come over with all kinds of baby madness shopping and had made an ADORABLE diaper cake, she’s such a talent: 
Back to Tuesday: wildlife and the yard.
The cranes came this morning and Papa crane had quite a conversation with one of the babies:
I still have not heard any baby noises from the wood duck box, but she keeps an eye out for me and flies away as soon as she senses I am near. She is a very nervous duck. 
I also bet the mallard couple have some eggs somewhere around here too, they are still hanging around.
The baby heron are so funny, one flew up in the tree after Papa crane chased him off, and he acted like he was going to kick some crane butt, but he was only making a spectacle of himself. 
The flowers too look beautiful: 
the rains do make them bloom and die faster. 
The birds too have been busy and the cardinals are back again, it seems they were MIA for a while. 
and of course the crows 
common grackle. 
and Mr. squirrel.
and of course my window view. Head on outside and enjoy something in nature.
First the business of art: Friday night the Casselberry ArtHouse held a reception for the exhibit, “Celebration of life, Bohemians Redeaux” – saw a few of my old group members from Womans Caucus for Art and their work. Here’s some of the art that will be on the walls for the next few weeks.
–
They had quite a nice reception and wish I could have stayed longer as I missed a lot of good people. And Rob, your quiche was delicious! 
This was before it got crowded – it was a tribute to Sharon Pollard who talked 11 other artists to go with her to Paris a few years ago to spend time and together and to be themselves in a city known for great culture, the 10″ X 10″ paintings reflect their view . Sharon has since passed, but her legacy through art is very much alive and at the Arthouse, Enjoy!
The weekend flew away, the days melt like ice cream on a hot pavement. I have enjoyed the squabbles of the crows versus the mockingbirds. Where ever you go you see familiar battles with the smaller mockingbird chasing the crows out of their domains. The mockers must be guarding nests. 
The crows love to aggravate and they are food hoarders, the load their mouths with as much as they can fly away with. 
This guy was hurrying to get everything! 
The crows are sticking around lately. Love their cocky demeanor. 
So much fun to watch.
the heron babies are huge, fully grown, but they still come back at night to the nest to feed. I don’t think they know about landing on the land yet??? 
They are rigid young fliers.
As for the herons, spotted them yesterday out my window: 
later I saw the mother enjoying a nice Sunday bath before rejoining the family for a stroll, here’s the sequence of pics: 
Her head fully submerged. 
She was enjoying her time alone. 
Sheddiing a feather. 
laughing out loud at her own jokes. 
refreshed! 
catching up with the family. 
baby stretches his wings high in excitement. Mother calms him down 
more love 
They all groomed themselves. 
the babies are great groomers. 
And love their faces.
Then of course, must add some flowers and scene from the other night fishing, hope I have de-stressed you…
haha, this beauty is part of life here too.
and a visitor from Saturday 
….
It is wonderful waking up to go outside and hear all kinds of birdsong. Sometimes the cranes are in the yard and they scream in your ear, but most of the time, it’s always the cardinals who start things off first thing in the morning, then woodpeckers and other birds join in.
I used to have a chimney bird who sang haunting tunes down the chimney, and then there was a titmouse who would look into my desk window at me for months. As it is, I am just a lucky person to have an abundance of bird music and to be able to appreciate it. here’s yesterdays mockingbird who was sitting on one my oleanders just singing away.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=1362550593784&ref=mf
Here’s the beauties that I have encountered the past few days – feel free to enjoy them as much as I do. I have not seen the baby cranes today, but Papa crane has been here several times being bossy as usual. Fishing was horrible, nothing for the heron, she had to catch her own…
(Does Avatar count?)
and of course, this last funny face thinks he can fly like a bird too, and I let him think it, but really, he eats like a bird — like a dozen birds. He needs to learn to dance at the end of a leash so he can make some money for all the birdseed he eats
Had to go help check in artists today that the Sanford Welcome Center. Some were picking up their work from last month, some were bringing their art for Fourth Friday this Friday. It will be a still life theme and I promise, the work I saw was beautifully done and very colorful. One Artist, Mary Ann Erikson came back and brought homemade pine straw baskets that she had carefully crafted and wow, her intricate work was astonishing. She also paints and does photography. The baskets will be for sale. 
The day started out overcast and dull. 
I didn’t realize it was national pancake day or I would have gone for a short stack at i-hop! The artists came in and out and I took photos in between.
a guy on a motorcycle pointed at me
After I finished I took myself to the Colonial Room for a cheap lunch. It’s like being in a time warp where many of the locals know each other and chat between the tables and even the waitresses seem as if they are stereotyped out of “Alice”. I heard one man describing his chemo experience and said he did not have to shave anymore. A waitress telling another she got her uni-brow waxed and it hurt like Hell. A couple chatting about camping somewhere, you just hear it all. One man sitting with a friend said the adorable waitress was just too young for him, he was taken with her you could tell.
I am only eating light because yesterday I thought I had something wedged between my teeth and flossed and part of a filling fell out. You know what that means, big money going to a dentist- YUK! If only they could charge a bit less than a yacht payment for any work they do…
left the downtown area and swerved to the left to the marina to see the birds, still not one muscovy duck, but did see a lot of sights, here they are.
The big white heron had a beautifully colored area around it’s eye. 
Then I went home and did some photo editing, popped off some emails and fished and now I am getting ready for SCC poetry open mic –
First thing that struck me on my way to Sanford Party-Gras were the robins! One street over there were many robins in the road, funny how they can’t go one more block to my house so I can get some good photos. 
I rolled down the window just to show my “northern peeps” that their birds came down here to stay warm, well, I suppose they can call 50 degrees warm, not me, I’m headed out with 2 pairs of socks and 2 shirts under a turtle neck and long coat.
I parked the truck and looked at the sky as it was supposed to rain. 
but it was a thick, wooly ceiling up there. The first store I came across was G’ma Bobbie, on the corner or Magnolia and 3rd St. It was always a fun store to get used frames in and the new owner, Barry was busy giving it fresh touches. 
They have a lot of furniture and knick/knacks. Barry also has an adorable cat that needs a home, she was a beauty, but as you know I have 3 myself. 
Here’s that adorable face. 
And she was so very soft.
Walked down Magnolia toward First street. Passed Wayne Densch Theatre, a new Yoga studio and Stones Throw Bistro, and a photography studio. 
Passing Maya’s Bookstore, and out into the street looking at the small, early crowd. 
This couple was festive.
They had a band playing. And people dancing. 
Wow, Mardi Gras is so colorful!
Stopped by Rhonda’s, Art Affair Gallery 303 East first and had to visit her exciting store and see what new looks were hanging around. She had a lot! And she will be moving to a larger place right on the same corner which means she’s digging her heels in and will be showcasing a lot more art and local artists. Thanks Rhona Richley! Here’s a glimpse of things at Art Affair Gallery.
Plus there is cool jewelry too.
In front of the Gallery was Gabrielle Shafer showing antique jewelry creations, called
Enchanted Antiquities. Her set up was very creative, her unique hand made jewelry is all specially selected from older pieces. She incorporates the old and new together and ‘viola’ beautiful jewelry, wish I had gone back to get a close up. Hope she did well. 
Next to Art Affair Gallery is Soap Sanctuary & Gift shop, a wonderful place full of body delights. Loved her business card. 
Went across the street to The Welcome Center, encountered a very festive woman who was a volunteer there. (What do the volunteers drink before volunteering? hahaha) 
Up on the walls is the artwork from last time I was down here. (one of mine is still there) 
There were some costumes on the floor, but didn’t see any naked folks running around.
Back out on the streets and looked at many artists, ceramics, woodworkers, jewelry, jewelry and more jewelry. 
Always enjoy the worldwide imported selection of furniture and gifts at Washburns. 
Bailey’s Upscale Resale had lots of great buys, big bargains there.
Always like to support fellow photographers, this was G. K Sharman blog at http://gkspix.wordpress.com. Also enjoyed the ‘chair art by Julia S. Owens, check her out at http://juliaowens.net Below is LUNCHBOX by Craig Beverly.
Enjoyed Beverly’s t-shirts and the price was right! http://myspace.com/lunchbox74 – Rhonda, if you read this, put some of Craig’s shirts in your shop, (Craig also had terrific art, hint hint…)
Maya’s is one of the best books stores around here! And go upstairs and see Kim at her store, Fringe, 
she has a lot of vintage clothing and accessories.
Then moved on, 
As the sun set, the cold was waiting to pounce. As I drove away, I could hear the music from the biker bar.
And that was a bit of a tour around Sanford’s Party Gras and I didn’t even mention that most people go there to eat really cheap and really good food. It’s all over the streets with vendors from local eateries participating. I didn’t eat or drink, but there is wine everywhere too. I did stop at Panera for soup to go. YUM!
And when I got home, Ringo was in the corner having a dream, I think it was all the vaccines he had impaled upon him at his yearly exam. Can you believe that I could have had all kinds of ala carte services for his “wellness” today costing a total of $396! I opted for the basics at $112.
Maybe it was something spooky because as Ringo was dreaming, Quentin Tarantino appeared on tv looking directly at Ringo and shielding his eyes in his voyeuristic way. 
What a strange way to end a party-gras blog, throw in a celebrity and a dreaming cat, hey, why not….
Art Affair gallery – http://artaffairgallery.com
Fringe 407-320-8016
Baileys Upscale Resale http://www.baileysresale.com
G’ma Bobbie’s 229 Magnolia Ave.
Soap Sanctuary & Gift Shop http://thesoapsanctuary.com
Gabrielle Shafer Enchanted Antiquities http://enchantedantiquities.blogspot.com
Julia S. Owens http://laughingjulia.etsy.com
Washburns www.washburnimports.com
Maya’s Books and Music 407) 321-6504
I voided my own rule of only using straight photography on my site, but thought I would leave you with my Abb-Strax, and photos of things, some I hope to sell one day soon on a website.
Ringo “in dreams” 
The day started out with the grackling grackles all over dominating each other, each vying for a position at the stump, (umm, good exhibition name, will use for next art proposal – note to self.) The grackles were so active and I love their color. Here’s a few pics:
A crow snuck in too. 
The male crane came for a while, he saw his shadow, only 4 more weeks of winter. 
Then he flew away and I can see where he and Mama crane are nesting.
She’s secluded and definitely nesting, can’t wait for new arrival! That means next month we will have baby cranes AND herons, that is always fun and a good photo op!
The same man fishing the other day in the rain was back today enjoying the lake, he didn’t seem to be catching anything, but the day was too beautiful to care anyway. I bet he is on vacation and visiting someone.
Then the winds did pick up from the east, it got a bit chilly with the whipping wind. The sky was too gorgeous not to notice.
Went to a garage sale and bought a couple matching nice frames for $5. Then on to Walmart and this is what was beneath my truck when I parked — SMOKERS CLEAN YOUR BUTTS — NO ONE APPRECIATES LOOKING AT YOUR OLD BUTTS! 
Then on to marina for a while. 
Past the New Tribes Mission 
And around to the water, and actually it was very boring up there, just ducks, not much else. 
A lot of fisherman, so maybe fishing is good, in fact, I will go see for myself…
Okay fishing sucked, but did get good pics. 
Heron with an upsweep.
Heron was disappointed, we got nothing. Packed up my gear, I had my camera case to the left of the nesting heron, the wind out of the east blew heron-poo down on my camera case, now I have a story to tell.
Went inside and cleaned up to run over to the Lake Mary Historical Museum, will show that tomorrow…. What a teaser…
Back from a nice visit to Tampa where it was officially announced, I will be a grandmother. This will be my first grandchild and it is exciting news, of course, Aaron wants me to move there, I am undecided as of yet. I didn’t get time to really take many photos except for Leila’s party, which I left on their computer. The pelicans are all gone, hardly any birds, only a few woodstorks. 
and smaller birds.
By now we all know about the earthquakes that rocked Haiti. And because of that, my little town of Sanford is on the map. The US Airforce transport planes are shuttling the sick, injured, orphaned and Haitian Americans over to Sanford International Airport 7 miles away. For a while those planes were coming in often during the day. 
These heavy green military planes rock the house as they flew over. While they were coming ever couple hours, 
I only heard two yesterday, in fact, they said they were going to stop because the state is having a hard time financially dealing with what to do with everyone. Some have family, many don’t, many more require hospital care. They also announced that Miami and south Florida would not accept anymore injured Haitians at the hospitals and even moved many patients up to North Florida because of the Super Bowl and the potential of needing those beds. 
This last pic is a transport heading back toward Haiti over a week ago. Poor Haitians, what is to become of them? I suppose more of the same.
Last night was a moon event, the moon was the closest to us for the year, unfortunately, the clouds were really thick too. But did get a few peeks in between. 
I am hoping that by the time the moon comes tonight, these rain clouds will be gone and I can get a really good photo. We are waiting and waiting for some front, it’s gloomy, but won’t hold my breath for rain. (Ah, as I write I hear the rain.)
Went over to see how Andrea’s cats look after being shaved. Musa was not happy
He looked like he had UGG’s on his feet. Lola was cleaning herself right away. 
And Cocobella gawked at them because she did not have to get shaved, so she gets to be dominant! The cat with the most hair wins for being the boss. 
My own Ringo was busy by the bird bath this morning just daring the birds to come near him, no one took him up on his offer.
Though there were a lot of birds earlier. 
And there is one black bird who has a broken foot I keep noticing, it’s curled up, but he is still feisty and gets around well.
Andrea always gives me the cutest things, she gave me a camera charm, and had this funny pot scrubber 
and adorable dessert plates 
And of course, Lee always sends her roses each week, this week’s were gorgeous as always, Lee is always so kind. 
After I left, I came home and noticed some vultures up the road eating a squirrel, I scared most of them off with the camera. 
When I looked up, there were about a dozen flying into the trees and could not get a good shot with all their movement.
Yesterday met Pam for lunch at Mimi’s and we got our art submissions off for potential exhibits, I am hoping we get at least one of the two. It was a crappy day yesterday too, but at least it was about 73 degrees. So I got to fish for the first time in a while and the fishing sucked, but my heron did come down to see if I hooked anything. 
Ringo watched the bobber – that’s his job.
And I looked all around,
I love fishing in this smooth, parallel world, where the ghost moon rests
it’s big head on soft, wide cloud shoulders
and birds sing with full hearts and
there is nothing to burden the mind
except for winking bobbers and a cat licking it’s lips…
Not marriage, an art proposal. My talented friend Pam is a very recognized photographer, her specialty is infrared and emulsion lifts, way to technical sounding but beautiful to look at. Have a look at
http://www.pamelazdaum.com/
I am honored to say we are making a proposal for a show together and I am having a hard time with some photos I have screwed up the resolution on. So am trying to find good ones, need about 15 or so photos, so just wanted some opinions about if these would be good to look at for a show. I purposely make them small as sometimes people ‘lift’ them, here’s a few, please give me comments as I love feed back good AND bad, any critique is welcomed.
working on more, need to add my cranes, but if you feel like saying anything, please do.
How do they do it? Communication that is —
I went down to the lake to cast a line and not a thing was biting, but that does not mean a loss of activity. The cranes were here, they were looking for their last birdseed meal before leaving. Both looked like they have been busy in the iron rich mud. 
Earlier they had had a fun game of pine cone toss. The male is an amazing tosser. 
The sky has been dark all day and the birds quite busy. Saw an eagle over the lake this morning. 
the smaller birds were all over too, it must be due to a front going through with rain promised tonight. The rain gauge looked like this early in the day. 
The blue jay came down to grab as much bread as it could hold in one beekful. 
There were crows all over. 
as were the cardinals and other smaller birds.
Ringo and I headed to the lake. 
and watched many birds overhead, Ringo was ever so alert and hoping one might crash down for him. But no such luck. No fox sightings today.
The female heron was in her nest when the male came to greet her, and as soon as their beaks touched and they made their prehistoric chatter, the male was off.
He headed right for my cedar tree which always means he is looking for branches. He landed, 
and plucked a tiny branch and then ran it back to the female.
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He handed it to her and watched her take it and shape it into the nest and then he
took off again. 
Back to the tree 
and got another and went back again. 
They touch beaks and squawk and then he left and flew to the ground. 
He looked to the left and right and even up. When I saw him next, he had a huge branch. 
click on the numbers/letter below for video, you might have to also give a click when the preview box comes on, (click on the preview box and it should show the video, sorry for a bit of grainy-ness – there are two videos of herons, one further below)
That branch was longer than he was. It’s amazing how these birds know each other’s needs. The male has hardly even paid much attention to her lately, this is the most time I have seen him spend tending to her nesting needs.
He was gone a third time and brought one more branch and then it began to drizzle a bit and I had both cameras and decided I would like to be able to keep having two working cameras so I headed in while Ringo stayed at the shore watching more birds overhead dreamin for one to fall within range. 
The
herons communicate their needs well, and even the other ‘lessor’ birds seem to know Ringo’s thoughts and aren’t going to fall for his innocuous pussycat act. Maybe birds are better communicators than I thought, maybe they’re psychic…
Abbe's world of wildlife 