Destructive Tar Sands Oil-TED video

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Colorful Violet-green Swallows

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If you ever wondered why they named these 'Violet-green' these photos will demonstrate that those these birds are violet, blue and green colored. I took these photos with super zoom and then cropped them a little more to get these close-up views. The weather was a little snowy so light was poor but the birds were perching longer due to the cold weather. This was the day of our big late snowstorm that caused 'fall-out' conditions so there were a lot of swallows that were forced down during their migration. SeEtta
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Spotted Sandpiper chicks getting bigger

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I continue following the Spotted Sandpiper parent and when possible it's chicks. Over the week-end the parent, who gives warning calls for the chicks to hide when it is concerned, allowed one of it's chicks to come out from the heavy vegetation to learn how to walk along the edge of the river and forage there. I stood very still about 35-40 feet from where the chick was located to get these pics with my long zoom lens. And the chicks have certainly grown taller since I last saw them just 4 days before. Nevertheless the parent bird stayed nearby clearly watching over it's offspring. The pic just above shows the sparse feathering where a tail is growing--they just look like fuzzy-butts. The bills on the chicks are also growing quite a lot both in length and width though clearly much smaller than the parent's bill. And finally yesterday both chicks were out from the thick vegetation and I got the bottom 3 pics of that chick (they are the same size and look j...
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Groove-billed Anis, unusual looking southern Texas specialty

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 I spotted this ani at Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge as it was drinking water at the edge of North Lake. I came around a corner and it was only 10 feet in front of me but it quickly flew into the thick vegetation. After vocalizing it flew up into a tree where I got the top 2 pics.  I saw my first Groove-billed Anis in Costa some years ago but an experience that is still clear in my memory.  As I was wandering alone around the town of Monteverde so it was my own discovery not just a bird pointed out to me by a guide. I heard a second ani vocalize in the vegetation near the tree and the first ani flew in there providing me with the above photo.  Unfortunately the thick vegetation made getting a focused photo not possible but it was too neat to get 2 anis together to not include this pic.   The next day I returned to Santa Ana which was having Family Days with a number of activities including the opportunity to kayak on North Lake which...
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