Small Fish - 6 Great Egret - 1

I watched this spectacular bird from a distance of less than 100 feet (that's pretty close considering how jumpy they can be). During the 15 minutes or so that I watched it hunt, it managed only one minnow during in 7 attempts........

Pasta with Turkey Bolognese

In the past few weeks or so, I have not been very daring in the kitchen. Lots of frozen foods or perhaps a simple chicken dinner in the oven. Feeling the need to get going with something new, but not wanting to go crazy, I whipped up some Pasta with Turkey Bolognese.

Before your mind goes off track, I don't mean this Bolognese. I'm not in China!

Brown 1 pound of ground turkey. Stir in one big jar (26oz) of spaghetti sauce, 1 teaspoon of dried basil, 1/2 teaspoon of dried rosemary and 2 medium zucchini (cut in half and sliced). Simmer for about 5 minutes. Dump this over 1 pound of pasta shells (which has been cooking the whole time). Mix with 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese and you are done!!!

A super recipe. Easy to make. Literally, two pounds of food (or more) and plenty of left overs. If you are looking for an easy weeknight meal and want lunch or dinner leftovers (for a few days), this is the recipe for you!

Dripping Butter

I had the opportunity to do some late afternoon birding at Lake Erie Metropark. The trails were totally alive with Robins, Grackles, and Yellow-rumped Warblers. One "Yellowrump" was cooperative enough to sit still so I could snap a photo. At one point, I figured I was surrounded by a few dozen. They truly seemed to be everywhere.

You have to be wondering about my entry title. Yellow-rumped Warblers have a "yellow" spot on the "rump." You can do the "math", right? "Yellow = butter" while "rump = butt". Get it? Yellowrump? Butterbutt?

Perhaps in the coming days I can snag a photo of one's bum....

#506

When all is said and done, I truly have interests beyond birds and beer. History can be pretty cool, too. So, it was with great joy that I found myself at the local party store looking at a six-pack of beer that had an images of both Mad Anthony Wayne and a masted sailing ship. The six-pack featured 3 different beers from the Erie Brewing Company based in Erie, Pennsylvania. (I really like these sample packs. I get a chance to see what a brewery has to offer and I can get more new beers in one purchase.)

The US Government chose Presque Isle to build a fleet of ships during the war of 1812 because it formed the only protected harbor on Lake Erie. In 1813, during the battle of Lake Erie, Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry successfully defended Lake Erie against the British with ships that were built on Presque Isle Bay, making a significant mark on the pages of history.

So, feeling myself in "history mode", I gave the Presque Isle Pilsner a go.

The pour into the snifter glass was fine and all (I did not goof it as I have been know to do now and then). While the beer itself is a spectacular straw yellow, the head did not last long. A few bubbles on the glass remained. No real lacing or sheeting. The aroma for me was unmistakable: apples. Yes, apples. Not a "bowl you over" sort of smell, but it was there (at least to my nose). My first thought was "Wow! This is starting off really well."

The body was light (like I would expect with pilsner), while the malty palate was, at best, fair. I thought the carbonation was off, too. By the time I finished the beer, it was almost flat. The finish was all wrong. It struck me as being a bit bitter. Not hoppy bitter, mind you, but certainly bitter. But, at the same time, believe it or not, there was a watered down feel. Watered down bitterness. That is just not good....

All in all, this beer just did not do it for me. 3 out of 5 tops. Fortunately, I am in a good mood today. If I was in a bad mood, I might have given it a 2.

All that said, I wandered over to BeerAdvocate.com (after I rated it on my own) and people were not overly excited there either. Out of 54 reviews, it averaged a C+. In fact, a few were pretty ruthless: one fellow described it as "a sorry excuse for a craft beer" while another guy called it pure...well, you get the point.

Blue's Missing Clues

While I don't watch kid's television, I am familiar with a Nickelodeon program called Blue's Clues. Apparently, this blue dog, Blue (woah!), leaves clues for the show's host to ponder. By the end of the program, he (the host) sits in his "Thinking Chair" and attempts to come up with an answer. Basically, it is a puzzle and answer show that gives Sesame Street a run for the money.

Every now and then, a birder (at least honest ones like me) sees a bird they should know but can't place the name. During the fall migration, this is even easier to do as many of the birds look different than they would in the spring. For example, male warblers don't look as flashy. Their fancy looks in the spring are all about mating. Once breeding is done, their fancy colors are lost before they head south for the winter. (It might be likened to some guys nowadays. Oh sure, they shower, shave and keep the place clean, but once they get married, all that goes out the window!). Female warblers are, in some cases, pretty drab to begin with. (I'm not going there.) But during the fall, you now have young birds to contend with. In some cases, you can separate males and females even though they are only a few months old!

So what do puzzles and birds have to do with anything?! Well, everything!

I was birding at Lake Erie Metropark today. While I spent some time at the Hawk Watch, I opted to press on and see what songbirds I could muster. White-throated Sparrows were apparent and I scrounged up a Red-eyed Vireo, too. But one bird, left me looking around for my Thinking Chair.I am certain some of you are looking at this bird thinking I'm an idiot. (I'm also certain some of you think I'm an idiot anyways and this bird has nothing to do with it, but I won't walk that path either.)

The issue here I think is the old "zero in on one field mark to help you identify the bird "problem. It didn't take long to figure out I was looking at a warbler (the tweezer-like bill for nabbing insects is the key). I knew that is what not a adult male bird in fall plumage as my mental Rolodex flashed them all and nothing was a match. Okay, cool. Now I have to manage the females and young of the year.

So what is there? What sort of clues did I have? Well, it seems to have buffy tones underneath while the upperside is olive. The eyebrow (officially called the supercilium) is obvious as is the white crescent under the eye. You might say its lack of field marks is a field mark. Oh, it has to be a Black-throated Blue Warbler. A female, in fact. I can confirm it with the white patch on the primary flight feathers. It is....right.....

...wait a minute.....

There isn't a white patch on the primaries. All female Black-throated Blues have a white patch in the base of the primaries, right? Hmmm, no white so it can't be that. I spent the next 15 mintues trying to figure out what the heck it was.

Of course, it wasn't until I got back to my Thinking Chair (the drivers seat of my car) that I confirmed it. I looked at my photos on my camera (I shoot digital) and compared it with a field guide. Well, it turns out not all Black-throated Blues have white in the wings. Apparently, about 10% of the first fall females are missing the classic clue. Even then, I showed the photo to a few folks, and they confirmed it.

A first fall female Black-throated Blue Warbler. (In case you are wondering, the bird species is named after the male's breeding colors. You can see one here.)

Perhaps I am not too old for children's television after all.