12.03.2023 Madagascar - Malagasy Birds

Madagascar is a beautiful island nation just off the southeast coast of Africa. Many millions of years ago, Madagascar separated from Africa and Indi, creating a habitat of unique birds and animals and plants. The people we met were very friendly and the experience was a true adventure. If ever the opportunity presents itself, I do recommend a visit.

We were a group of 10 birders and several local guides, depending on the location we visit. The local guides were phenomenal in locating some of the rare and endemic birds. We hiked up and down steep ridges, crossed streams without bridges, traversed rice fields and spiny forests and tropical forests. We saw quite a few different reptiles and yes, we encountered leeches. Not my favorite encounter, but they can be easily removed. My favorite encounters were with the lemurs, and I will have a separate blog with pictures of these magnificent creatures. 

This was one of my favorite birds.  He is a paradise flycatcher with that striking blue eye ring and long graceful white tail. Some of my best viewing was when I ventured out on my own during the afternoon lunch time break. It is easier to see birds with fewer people, but the advantages of the group and guides is identification. But it was fun to venture out on my own to see what I could find. And I was able to observe the behavior of quite a few birds which I would have missed otherwise.

Beautiful tail feathers.

Here he is flying behind the tree. Look to the right of the trunk to see the forked tail feathers.

Let's not forget the female. Here she is at night sitting on her nest. 

 

The male paradise flycatcher sitting on a tree bench, not too hard to spot. 

The female paradise flycatcher has reddish colorations and a long tail, too. She is gorgeous in her own right! Neither the male nor female sit still too long.

The blue coua is a larger ground bird that was only easy to spot because of the eye patch. They blended in well with the forest floor and often hid behind bushes. We did see a few of these at several different place. 

Blue pigeon. Observed him eating berries in the morning. Gorgeous red eye patch.

Who is this beautiful bird? He is a Pita-like Ground Roller.  Beautiful.

Red crested coua. 

Well camouflaged on the forest bird is the nightjar. She was definitely hard to spot.

Hoopee - a very cute bird.

Red tailed tropic bird on her nest on Nosy Ve Island, just off the western coast of Madagascar.

Great Heron at Nosy Ve.

Cisticola - a common but very pleasant bird.

Olive bee-eater

Red capped coua

Subdesert mesite in the spiny forest.

Madagascar cuckoo-hawk

Red Fody

Torotoroka Scops Owl

Madagascar coucal. Now this was an adventure following this bird. He was partially hidden in the vines as I was walking along the trail. I kept trying to get a peak of him and of course a picture. Finally, I had enough pictures that I could identify him. I am sure he was happy when I finally stopped and he flew across the trail. 

Black and white robin.

Barn owl.

White browed owl seen at night.

White-faced Whistling ducks.

This is just a small sampling of the birds we saw. Sometimes I just watched and did not photograph, especially the rare red-tailed Newtonia. It was so special to watch this bird (once thought extinct) that I did not waste time setting the camera for a picture. I just watched him. It was such a tough hike to get there that I wanted to be certain I really saw them! So, this is not my photograph of the red tailed Newtonia but one downloaded from the internet.

As soon as I have the chance, my next blog should be about these fantastic animals - the lemurs. Stay tuned. They are fascinating.

This was a great trip complete with open boat ride to the island of Nosy Ve along the west coast of Madagascar, a cart ride pulled by zebus to take us to the motorboat through the water, beautiful sunrises and sunsets, hikes through spiny forests and tropical jungles, no return flight on an in-country flight back to the base in the capital city Antananarivo, challenging hikes, early mornings and nighttime birding excursions.  As I get pictures organized, I will post more. 

Until next time......

11.23.2023 Happy Thanksgiving

It was a great day today. We mostly relaxed and watched football and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. It felt good to have a day off, but nevertheless, we managed to stay quite busy! I actually cooked a full Thanksgiving dinner. It was such a beautiful day that we spent some if it just being outside and enjoying the fresh air. Once it got dark I realized that I could have put up the Christmas lights, but we'll save that for when it is really cold!!! 

How was your day? Did you spend it with family and friends? Did you enjoy a good meal? Did you have to cook and/or do dishes? Did you remember to be thankful for your blessings? That is something we all need to do. It is a good day to reflect and be grateful.

An early morning photo op. Shorty seemed ready for a picture, so I ran inside and got the camera. never lose an opportunity when all three are lined up and cooperative! No time for grooming either! They just finished rolling around in the leaves.

From my family to yours, a very Happy Thanksgiving to each and every one of you. 

Look for Shorty's next blog coming soon about barking. It promises to be amusing!  Here is a hint: this was the culprit!

Until next time.............

11.08.2023. End of Summer Flowers and Sailing Season

 

11.08.2023. End of Summer Flowers and Sailing Season

 The program made an interesting error and published this on Shorty's blog instead of mine. Will be writing more soon.

 Yes, it has been a while since I last posted. A lot of things have been keeping me busy - tidying up the gardens, drydocking my Mimi and of course, my boys.

My New Dawn rose bush was very prolific this summer with two major blooming sessions. It still has one flower in bloom on the branches. Maybe it had done so well because it had a major pruning this Spring, or maybe it needed all of the rain we had this summer or maybe it is just good luck! But I did enjoy these delicate and fragrant flowers. Even had enough to bring a few inside to enjoy on the kitchen table.

The monkshoods are still in bloom, although I have fewer plants this year than ever. There also were none at the garden center, so I could not replant them. I like these as they are blue and will bloom until the first heavy frost. They are one of my favorite flowers in the garden.

 

 And here is a purple cone flower that the bunny missed! Earlier this summer the bunny ate all of the daisies, black-eye-Susans and cone flowers. This one grew new buds and survived the hungry little critter!

 

 

And yes, one periwinkle is still in bloom, even though this is really a Spring bloom!

 

 

Here is the last full bloom and a couple of buds that may not survive the cold temperatures. 

 

 

 

 

And, sadly, the end of summer also means my little sailboat goes into winter storage. There was one last sail at the end of September then to the docks.

 

 

Autumn is filled with yard work and some football, although my Patriots are not doing very well again this year. But hope springs eternal that they soon will play better!

 

Hope you all are well. A blog is in progress with I hope some nice bird and lemur pictures. Stay tuned!

 

Until next time............

No blog complete without a photograph of my boys! They turned 10!

 

09.24.2023 Brady

 Well, said Tom Brady, If you can write a blog about Bruce, why didn't you write a blog about me? So, he might have said that if 1) he knew me and 2) he saw my blog about Bruce Springsteen.  BTW I did meet him and had a picture taken with him - he had his arm around my shoulder! 

It is no secret that I am a fan of TB 12 and so are my boys, and we are in the camp that feels he is the greatest football player ever. Tough accolades to achieve I know. There was a brief tribute to him at halftime during the New England Patriots home opener game. It was a fitting tribute to a player that led the NE Patriots to six Super Bowl championships. He is the first to say that football is a team sport, team effort, all about the team. But he was the team leader for almost 20 years. And he even won one Super Bowl - his 7th - after he joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before retiring this year. He deserves the positive accolades. All of them.

He will be inducted into the New England Patriots Hall of Fame (without having to wait for a vote - the owner decided) on 06/12/2024. Worth keeping the season tickets for one more year to attend that event! He will be eligible for the NFL Hall of Fame 5 years after retirement. 

He had one more run on the field. And he let out his signature hearty "Let's GO" at the end zone. 

He was joined onstage with his family - the three children (and yes I miss that his ex-wife Giselle was not there).  Mr. Robert Kraft gave a very nice speech and Tom said that he is a "Patriot for Life". He did mention the cold weather up here, probably in response to the previous criticism he received from many fans who took offense when he in the past said was too cold to be here. But he is right - it is cold here in the winter!

The ceremony also included the presence of many of his old teammates and it was nice to see the brief reunion of some very great players that were instrumental in the Patriot success of past years.

This sign says it all. Thank you, Tom, for making the New England Patriots the champions they were, for making them the most talked about football team during your era and for making it very exciting for us fans. You did not fall off the cliff as predicted by one envious sports personality. 

No matter the score or the situation, we always believed that Tom would pull out a victory - and he usually did. Who will ever forget Super Bowl 51? We were down 28-3 at halftime to the Atlanta Falcons and won in overtime 34-28. And we did believe he could do it and he did! Steady as you go. A good example for all of us no matter what we do. Steady as you go.

Yes, thank you Tom for all of the exciting games, all of the victories, and all of the wonderful football memories. Thank you.