Sharing Early Literacy Learning Journeys

Archive for April, 2013

The birds are back…

The birds are back.
For spring and summer.

Water birds. Land birds.
Familiar birds: Geese. Mallards.

Unfamiliar birds.
Bobbing on the river that runs through town.

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Black and white heads against choppy, blue water.
‘Hooded Mergansers’? Not sure…

On the way out of town,
Stop at calmer waters.

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More ducks.
Black and white. Grey and white.

The ducks dive for food.
Re-surface. Anywhere!

Camera: Press. Focus. Click.
Duck:  Dives down. Out of sight.

Left with a photo of calm, cold water,
With a squiggle on the top!

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Drive home. Download photos.
Beautiful black and white heads.

Google ‘Hooded Merganser’ to check.
Black head. White hood. But brown on the body? No…

View another picture.
Black and white head.

Bufflehead? Bufflehead?
Check google photos with my photos.

Could be…
Male. Black head. White wrap around patch. Yes…

Then, a telling factor:
“… buoyant, large-headed duck that abruptly vanishes and resurfaces as it feeds.” Yes…

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A male Bufflehead

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Later, we see a male Hooded Merganser.

The birds are back!

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Bufflehead/id

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/hooded_merganser/id

Weekly Photo Challenge: Up

It’s ‘a great day for up’
when you go
off the beach cliff
and up, up, up
into the sky…

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with these high up hang-gliders.

Up always reminds me of A great day for UP, by Dr Suess –
a fun read with a child!

great-day-for-up

with thanks to http://www.sodahead.com for the cover picture.

Freezing rain and icy decorations: Winter’s last blast?

After a week away, we return to an icy ‘welcome’ with biting winds, freezing rain and icy roads in the dark, early morning hours. Dress shoes with smooth, hard soles slide on the ice-covered pavers. I shuffle gingerly to the front door, grasping the textured bricks of the house wall to keep me steady and upright .

In contrast to the dangers in the dark, morning light reveals a derth of delicate decorations…

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Icy maple branches and

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icy spruce branches.

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An icy clothes line and

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icy chicken wire.

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Icy ‘antlers’ of cedars and

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icy crystals of spruce.

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And buds in ice prisons, wait to burst free…

Is it spring or autumn in your part of the world?

What does your environment look like?