The Coolest New Way to Bird Watch

 Bald Eagle:

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OK, so maybe I'm a little behind and you already know about this stuff, but I feel like a kid in a candy store! BALD EAGLES!!! FINALLY!!! You already know I keep trying to find them at Round Valley, or anywhere else I hear about.... but this is the coolest thing ever: eagle cam!!!!!  Since checking this out I found more and more, even Hummingbird cams!! How crazy awesome is that!!!!! Can you tell I'm all excited??
Not far from me, in Hillsborough, N.J., is Duke Farms, a 2,700 acre estate founded by tobacco and hydropower magnate James Buchanan Duke beginning in 1893. When J.B. Duke died, his daughter Doris was 12 years old. She inherited control of the estate, and continued to enhance the property when she became an adult. (Quoted from website):

"Doris Duke adapted her father’s greenhouses to create display gardens that she opened to the public in 1964. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, she purchased small 19th century farms along the western boundary of the estate, which represent the rapidly vanishing agricultural landscape that once characterized central New Jersey.
When she died in 1993, Doris Duke expressed in her will that Duke Farms serve as a haven for native flora and fauna and be used to drive positive change on issues concerning the health and protection of the environment.
The Duke Farms Foundation was created in 1998 to own and operate the property. Today, the property is being transformed into a regional center for environmental stewardship."
In 2010 Duke Farm the eagle cam was installed to provide researchers with an opportunity to monitor a pair of nesting Bald Eagles without any disturbance to the birds.  A classmate told me about the eagle cam and where the nest is. I am hoping to get the chance to drive by this weekend. If the warmer weather ever decides to show up here, there are a ton of fantastic garden and enviromental tours I would love to check out.


Hummingbirds:

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Now seriously, did you ever think you would be able to see this???? Hummers on the nest???? This little lady already has babies too!! Actually finding a hummingbird nest is on my "Bucket List", yup, I'm totally serious. What can I say, I'm a pretty cheap date and not hard to please really.

Here's another one, an owl mamma whose eggs should be hatching any day now:

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Peregrine Falcon:

Video clips at Ustream

For even more "nest cams" checkout Cornell Lab of Ornithology. They currently have cams for: Great Horned Owl, Barn Owl, Barred Owl, Carolina Wren, Eastern Bluebird & a Wood Duck. You can also visit thier archives for other species including a Pacific Loon! Years ago I carved ducks along with my Dad (before he became a gardener/daylilly addict) so I'm pretty good at knowing ducks. I imagine it won't take you long to figure out I am one of those cliche "Jack of all trades, Master of none" types. My mom will tell you I most definately take after my father.
Alright kids, now I will have to check on my long list of birds to watch and sometime realize that I'm not getting any of my big "to do" list of homework done.

Wherever you are, I hope it's warmer than New Jersey! We're still waiting for the "Real Spring" to arrive!!!

Getting Down & Dirty!



Can't wait for this to be filled in, it's so barren looking...



BLAH! This soooo needs a make over. Nothing going on for winter looks has taking it's toll,
I need some new year round plants in here.

AHHHHHH little green things popping up all over, wonderful mini clues that salvation is near!



Love this little mini weeping pussy willow...love seeing buds on it even more!!



Mailbox needs a paint job & maybe a new location.
Hoping my butterfly bush cuttings made it through the winter???

Hmmm, quite the hot mess going on here...to the left is the beginnings of my
new homemade composting system. Pallets: they're FREE & they're everywhere.
Smack some together & VIOLA! Plan on having 3 here when I get done.
That big stretch of nothing happening at the back of the shed....the future site of
my very own "potting space". Putting up a bench with a roof & lots of storage for
all my precious crap that beautifies my territory. Guess I will have to pretty up the
quail pen to while I'm there....

The biggest eyesore in the yard: my picnic/work table. Why? when I have a perfectly beautiful brandy new garage do I insist on making  a big mess right in the middle of everything??? Cause I love being outside, yeah, even when it's a gazillion degrees out, I have to be outside. I know my poor husband grinds his teeth every day he walks by on his way to feed the dogs, And why, really why, can't I ever get around to getting rid of the oil from frying the turkeys, and putting that damn fryer away...from back in November...it's always such a gross mess to clean up now. Of course then I might also get rid of the damn broken (yet another one) umbrella too. But let's face, wind or no wind, I WILL wind up buying another umbrella, just cause I like the way it looks, though I will commit to the story that it's really for Manny to get out of the sun.....

So this is it, the beginnings of getting down & dirty in the yard and cleaning up the messes that went left undone etc. Visit with the doctor this week led to a revealing  notion that I am my own worst enemy, NOT everyone else, you know, the way most people want to think, right???.....so DAMIT, I have to admit that now?????? So while that was a little painful, it was also very liberating. But in the mist of making myself crazy, my blood pressure is out of wack even though I am already on medication for it. Doctors orders were to chillout. Lucky for me, God has been most kind & merciful and FINALLY saw fit to bless me with a couple of GORGEOUS sunny days, just exactly what I need to snap out of this latest  funk. Some no pressure, down and dirty garden time. Got enough done yesterday to see a difference in the yard and my BP.  Ahhhhhh Spring, have I told you lately how much I love you?????? Oh yeah, one of the most awesome reminders I have: the birth of my daughter Jesse!!!! Doesn't get much better than that!!


May God be with you and bless you.



May you see your children's children.


May you be poor in misfortunes


and rich in blessings.


May you know nothing but happiness


...from this day forward.

Some Local Scary Waters

The remainders of the Point Pleasant-Byram bridge ,that crossed the Delaware River, was washed away in the flood of 1955.

Last week  looking for signs of the Osprey that were reported to have nested here last year.



THEY SHRUNK!



Manny & I were about 10 feet lower than that rock in the other picture!



Canoeing anybody? Entrance to Bull's Island, bridge over the canal.





The "Walk Over Bridge" at Bull's Island. That would be Pennse on the other side. Been on (& fished under) this bridge a gazillion times, this was the first time I ever got creeped out. Actually had a little "vertigo" thing going on.....




Riding along the PA side just below Upper Black Eddy

In PA looking at Frenchtown Bridge

I was checking out the river and surrounding area around 2:00 pm. At that time the river was approximately 24.5 feet and is expected to crest at 26.6 sometime after midnight.

The Most Loveliest Red Breasts I Have Ever Seen!



That's right....BIG, RED & BEEEEEEEEAUTIIIIIIIIIIIIIFUL!!!





My infatuation with snow is officially over for this year. I am SOOOOO done.



Seriously you pervs, what were you expecting?????? No worries, I'm so giddy and deliriously happy to finally see some Robins that I don't care!! *SIGH*.......FINALLY they are here, I was beginning to think Spring was going to pass us by, a scary thought that would shatter my soul for sure.

I love all the seasons. But mostly I love them because when I'm about tired and/or bored of them, they change. I thrive on diversity and this cold weather lagging on is having a most distressful affect on my cheery persona.

Of course if my husband reads this he will most likely start to gag uncontrollably....

               SPRING!!!!   IT'S ALMOST HERE!!!