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The Good News Thread: I'm So Excited! And I Just Can't Hide It!


traceria

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4 minutes ago, Silverblade5 said:

Where in CO? We might be able to meet up.

Not entirely sure yet, Pike's peak is on the list for certain, and my dad is planning on moving to the Pueblo area when he retires in 2 years. So we'll probably do a little scouting down there as well. That and the direction we'll be traveling (roughly SE across the state) should open up a pretty decent swath of land for a potential meeting I think

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31 minutes ago, AngelEy3 said:

Not entirely sure yet, Pike's peak is on the list for certain, and my dad is planning on moving to the Pueblo area when he retires in 2 years. So we'll probably do a little scouting down there as well. That and the direction we'll be traveling (roughly SE across the state) should open up a pretty decent swath of land for a potential meeting I think

Pueblo? That area has a bit of a bad rep. Where the majority of our crime and homelessness is according to a coworker who used to live there.  Shoot me a pm if you find yourself in the Littleton area. 

Edited by Silverblade5
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8 hours ago, Sunbird said:

Ok, photos from Saturday!

Nesting Tree Swallows (2 photos):

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Papa swallow visiting the nest to feed hungry babies:

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Baby swallow peeking out of the nest-hole:

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Closeup of a cluster of teeny white flowers:

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Dusky Flycatcher:

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He's nothing spectacular to look at, but I had never seen one before, so I'm happy I saw him and got a clear, identifiable photo, even if it won't win any awards. :)

(Side note: Certain birds in the flycatcher family are notoriously difficult to identify, so getting a photo good enough for ID is a more significant accomplishment than you might think. XD)

Some type of small rodent, I think a ground squirrel:

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There were lots of these little guys scurrying around the parking lot of the first spot we stopped to look for birds.

Trout in the shallows of a lake:

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Cassin's Finch:

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This little guy sure was singing happily. I was very happy too because I'd never seen a Cassin's Finch before.

Milbert's Tortoiseshell butterfly (2 photos):

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It's unfortunate that this butterfly didn't pose for a photo with wings spread, because the top side of the wings was much prettier than the underside... Here's a photo from Google to demonstrate:

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Waterfall sparkling in the sunlight (2 photos):

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A wider view of the same waterfall:

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Maybe I just haven't been paying attention in the past, but these pictures are particularly pretty today. :wub: 

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8 hours ago, AngelEy3 said:

Not entirely sure yet, Pike's peak is on the list for certain, and my dad is planning on moving to the Pueblo area when he retires in 2 years. So we'll probably do a little scouting down there as well. That and the direction we'll be traveling (roughly SE across the state) should open up a pretty decent swath of land for a potential meeting I think

If you go to Pikes Peak be sure to take the train up. Unless you are a adrenaline junkie, and if thats the case, you can drive up the mountain; I have never done it but I have made a similar drive of narrow roads, limited visibility, and the lane ends (on the side) with a straight drop off a cliff.

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2 hours ago, Sunbird said:

@Delightful Aww, thanks! You've been plenty busy with wedding planning lately, so I'm not surprised if a few things here on the Shard escaped your notice. ;)

Ive kinda sorta quit my job and its complicated but basically today for the first time in I don't know how long I was busy all morning and a lot of the afternoon, and then I came home and relaxed and had a perfectly normal evening. I still have a ton to do but the normalcy was just so danged nice. No stupid work hours to muck everything up!!

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3 hours ago, Delightful said:

I still have a ton to do but the normalcy was just so danged nice.

I read that as

3 hours ago, Delightful said:

I still have a ton to do but the allomancy was just so danged nice.

I know there's no such thing as "too much Cosmere" but I think I need to switch my interests for a time and go dig in Selish WoBs.

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7 hours ago, Delightful said:

Ive kinda sorta quit my job and its complicated but basically today for the first time in I don't know how long I was busy all morning and a lot of the afternoon, and then I came home and relaxed and had a perfectly normal evening. I still have a ton to do but the normalcy was just so danged nice. No stupid work hours to muck everything up!!

I'm glad to hear you don't have to deal with that mega-stress anymore. It sounded like it was making you totally miserable.

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7 hours ago, Delightful said:

Ive kinda sorta quit my job and its complicated but basically today for the first time in I don't know how long I was busy all morning and a lot of the afternoon, and then I came home and relaxed and had a perfectly normal evening. I still have a ton to do but the normalcy was just so danged nice. No stupid work hours to muck everything up!!

Quitting a toxic job is a wonderful feeling! I did it after 7 years as a corrections officer. I work in a group home now for half my old pay, but I couldn't be happier, and being nice to people is so much easier on the spirit than being a fascist was. 

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I found a family of crows on campus this week and got some decent photos of them. This might be an unpopular opinion, but I really like crows. They're super smart and social, and these ones were playing with each other, bouncing around on the lawn and playing tag. It was pretty cute and funny to watch. :)

(4 photos in the spoiler)

Spoiler

IMG_1585_Am_Crow_Lighten.thumb.jpg.f1a3b459dacda73e303dfa7ad098c8cd.jpg

^ That's one of the adults. The youngsters kept coming over to pester him (her?) and making whiny "feed me" caws. XD

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^ I'm not entirely sure whether that one's an adult or a juvenile. The fledglings start out with blue eyes when they leave the nest, but their eyes eventually darken to black as they get older.

IMG_1614_Am_Crow_Crop.thumb.jpg.9834e99e786378b4a316c26459ee3c93.jpg

^ Pretty sure that one's a juvenile. I really liked his (her?) pose in this picture, like he's strutting down a catwalk in a fashion show. :P

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Looking for something tasty in the grass.

 

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9 minutes ago, Sunbird said:

I found a family of crows on campus this week and got some decent photos of them. This might be an unpopular opinion, but I really like crows. They're super smart and social, and these ones were playing with each other, bouncing around on the lawn and playing tag. It was pretty cute and funny to watch. :)

(4 photos in the spoiler)

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IMG_1585_Am_Crow_Lighten.thumb.jpg.f1a3b459dacda73e303dfa7ad098c8cd.jpg

^ That's one of the adults. The youngsters kept coming over to pester him (her?) and making whiny "feed me" caws. XD

IMG_1600_Am_Crow_Crop.thumb.jpg.ab45053230aa0da35010d9ed9a3bddc0.jpg

^ I'm not entirely sure whether that one's an adult or a juvenile. The fledglings start out with blue eyes when they leave the nest, but their eyes eventually darken to black as they get older.

IMG_1614_Am_Crow_Crop.thumb.jpg.9834e99e786378b4a316c26459ee3c93.jpg

^ Pretty sure that one's a juvenile. I really liked his (her?) pose in this picture, like he's strutting down a catwalk in a fashion show. :P

IMG_1616_Am_Crow_Crop.thumb.jpg.643c9feb796802762ab5e2ad2f6387a2.jpg

Looking for something tasty in the grass.

 

Crows are awesome and anyone who says otherwise is birdist. 

I had some friends as a kid who had a pet crow. I was young enough not to wonder exactly how that happened, but it's wings weren't clipped or anything. 

It just hung around and flew to follow us playing. Crows are really smart. It was the coolest pet ever. 

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2 minutes ago, Calderis said:

Crows are awesome and anyone who says otherwise is birdist. 

I had some friends as a kid who had a pet crow. I was young enough not to wonder exactly how that happened, but it's wings weren't clipped or anything. 

It just hung around and flew to follow us playing. Crows are really smart. It was the coolest pet ever. 

That's so cool! My grandpa grew up on a farm and told me about a magpie (in the same familiy as crows, Corvidae) that was friendly enough with people to come and accept treats from them. It also loved to tease the farm cats. It would sit on a fence and say, "Heeeeere, kitty kitty kitty," and the cats would come running and then look around, baffled, when there was no human calling them and offering food. And the magpie would just sit there and laugh. :lol:

Also, studies have found that crows are capable of recognizing individual humans by their faces, remembering those faces, and holding grudges against people who harass them.

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4 hours ago, Sunbird said:

I found a family of crows on campus this week and got some decent photos of them. This might be an unpopular opinion, but I really like crows. They're super smart and social, and these ones were playing with each other, bouncing around on the lawn and playing tag. It was pretty cute and funny to watch. :)

(4 photos in the spoiler)

  Hide contents

IMG_1585_Am_Crow_Lighten.thumb.jpg.f1a3b459dacda73e303dfa7ad098c8cd.jpg

^ That's one of the adults. The youngsters kept coming over to pester him (her?) and making whiny "feed me" caws. XD

IMG_1600_Am_Crow_Crop.thumb.jpg.ab45053230aa0da35010d9ed9a3bddc0.jpg

^ I'm not entirely sure whether that one's an adult or a juvenile. The fledglings start out with blue eyes when they leave the nest, but their eyes eventually darken to black as they get older.

IMG_1614_Am_Crow_Crop.thumb.jpg.9834e99e786378b4a316c26459ee3c93.jpg

^ Pretty sure that one's a juvenile. I really liked his (her?) pose in this picture, like he's strutting down a catwalk in a fashion show. :P

IMG_1616_Am_Crow_Crop.thumb.jpg.643c9feb796802762ab5e2ad2f6387a2.jpg

Looking for something tasty in the grass.

 

You have to be kidding me... Lol, I was thinking that I wanted to ask you about trying to get some crow or raven pics cause they are way cooler and more majestic than what one thinks at first thought. But I didn't say anything cause I didn't want to be that guy.

Also, I'm out of upvotes again. You might be able to get some residual energy from looking towards @Ammanas or @Calderis though cause that's where they all went again today. 

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19 hours ago, AngelEy3 said:

You have to be kidding me... Lol, I was thinking that I wanted to ask you about trying to get some crow or raven pics cause they are way cooler and more majestic than what one thinks at first thought. But I didn't say anything cause I didn't want to be that guy.

Hahahaha. I wouldn't've minded being asked, but for the most part I can't get photos of specific kinds of birds on demand. I can visit places that have the habitat they like and bring my camera along, but actually finding the particular bird and having it cooperate enough for photos is very much hit and miss. :P Some birds are just really hard to photograph because they're tiny and hyperactive and don't sit still for more than a second, and others are difficult to photo because they're super shy and fly away as soon as you look at them, let alone point the camera their direction. XD These crows were very cooperative yesterday, though. I'm glad the photos made you happy. ^_^

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@Sunbird one of my favourite travel moments was seeing several hundred thousand puffins in the Arctic Circle, off the Norwegian north coast. That was a Braize to photograph though – with a decent zoom you could be lucky enough to get a nicely framed shot but then you miss the awesomeness of an endless swarm of them. Wide angle, and all you can see is thousands of little black dots in the ocean. Below is the only remotely decent one I got.  My point is…I love puffins.

FB_IMG_1500614678068.jpg

Edited by Extesian
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6 minutes ago, Sunbird said:

@Extesian SQUEEEE! I'm so jealous! I love puffins too, and I've never seen one in the wild, only in zoos and aquariums and so on. I also find it utterly adorable that the babies are called pufflings. Is that not the cutest thing ever??

Yeah they're so perfect, I went to Iceland at the wrong time to see them but immediately booked the puffin excursion when I was on a cruise of the fjords. I mean, it's a toucan that catches fish. Too good. And I love how they all leave for migration on exactly the same day every year.  

Hehe and yeah pufflings is even better than the name for baby echidnas - puggles :D

Edit - and I've attached a photo of a puggle. I was extraordinarily lucky to get up close with the first puggle born in Perth zoo in years, and 3 months before they publicly announced its existence:)

FB_IMG_1500615387926.jpg

Edited by Extesian
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10 minutes ago, Extesian said:

Yeah they're so perfect, I went to Iceland at the wrong time to see them but immediately booked the puffin excursion when I was on a cruise of the fjords. I mean, it's a toucan that catches fish. Too good. And I love how they all leave for migration on exactly the same day every year.  

Hehe and yeah pufflings is even better than the name for baby echidnas - puggles :D

Edit - and I've attached a photo of a puggle. I was extraordinarily lucky to get up close with the first puggle born in Perth zoo in years, and 3 months before they publicly announced its existence:)

FB_IMG_1500615387926.jpg

All I can think right now is that Knuckles was a weird looking baby. 

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