Jim Seaman – web log

In this mini-depression lots of folks are out-of-work, others are enduring hour and wage cuts. Many of these people are facing the time limit on receiving unemployment payments. But there is money out there just waiting to be claimed by anyone.

Individuals, companies and government agencies are all offering incentives/rewards for all sorts of things. Check out this list that I put together:

NASA is always offering up challenges for new ideas:
Nasa.gov
There is a $50,000 reward for locating a woodpecker:
ibwo.org
Microsoft is offering up $250,000 (that’s right, a quarter million) for info on the a-holes that unleashed a virus on the world:
Microsoft.com
Or you could report your ex-employer for software piracy – the reward is up to $1,000,000 (one million):
bsa.org

And if you hang out with the wrong crowd there are always lots of rewards offered up to help solve crimes. Some are offered by the police others by those that were wronged.

Nelly offers up $10,000 reward to catch burglers
US Fish and Wildlife offers $10,000 for info on shooting of Whooping Crane

With my ongoing battle against squirrels taking advantage of food intended for birds I thought that this little video was hilarious! I have a feeder that spins when a squirrel tries to get to the food (they have learned to just stay away from it).

BTW … my capture and release program is still doing great. There are only a couple of tree rats that still come around and they remain on the ground rather than climbing up on the feeder.

Just a quick comment on pesky squirrels – I don’t hate them – they’re cute – but they chase away the birds when they take over the feeder. They are not welcome on the feeders! It’s time to get rid of them!
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It has been a record year around my house for Ruby-throated Hummingbirds! They have been busy trying to keep the feeders empty and challenging anything and anyone who even approaches the feeders.
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A couple of years ago I had a white woodpecker hanging around the yard. This year there is another one among the young birds. It appears there is a breeding pair in my neighborhood that has the right genes to trigger leucism in their offspring.
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Just a quick note for now to say I’m back from a trip to South Dakota – attended a family reunion and visited the Badlands and Black Hills while there. More to come along with lots of photos.

For the last couple of days I’ve been installing and customizing a new feature here on my website. It’s called Exhibit Engine and it allows for displaying my photography in various ways. It’s built around MySQL and PHP and with it visitors can create photo galleries on the fly based on different categories.

I’ve only uploaded a few dozen photos so far and created a few static galleries. I’m still learning all that it is capable of and there is really nothing fancy setup yet. Give it a try: HERE and see what you think.

Last Saturday was my birthday (Gabino’s as well since we share the same birthdate) and we went on a vacation to Florida. We played the parts of typical tourists and went to the typical tourist sites. This was a quickie trip, we left here Tuesday night and got back on Saturday night. Half a day in St. Augustine, 2 days at Disney World and half a day at Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge and the beach.
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For the last couple of years I’ve taken part in a study of bird populations. This count takes place across the US and Canada in February of each year and is performed by members of the general public. It’s sponsored by the National Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and this year will be taking place on February 17-20. In last year’s count, over 50,000 checklists were submitted, over 600 species seen, and more than 6 million individual birds counted. Why count the birds?
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Today marked 6 weeks since my heart arterial bypass operation. It is also the outside date of the “4 to 6 weeks” originally given by my surgeon for when I would be “back to normal”. Don’t believe a surgeon!
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Today, as I often do while using the computer, I was listening to random songs from my mp3 collection and happened across one from over 30 years ago that appeals to me perhaps more than it did when it was current. The lyrics just seem to catch my mood so well. From the group, Three Dog Night the song is titled “Out in the Country” a portion of whose lyrics are below:

Whenever I need to leave it all behind … I feel the need to get away.
I find a quiet place far from the human race … out in the country.
Before the breathing air is gone, before the sun is just a bright spot in the nighttime.
Out where the rivers like to run, I stand alone and take back something worth remembering.

We took a day trip down to the beach last weekend and came back with some photos!

Last Saturday, Gabino and I decided to go down to Sunset Beach (south of Wilmington, NC). We went down mostly to chase a few birds and enjoy the beach a little. We managed to at least see, if not photograph, most of the birds that we sought.

We started off with a quick pass by the Battleship North Carolina that is anchored as a memorial in Wilmington. From there we went on to Sunset Beach. Midday we went into Calabash and had some seafood for lunch – great stuff! After lunch, a pass by the lakes to see the Wood Storks that roost there. Then it was back to the beach for a while.

A gallery of the photos from the trip can be seen HERE.

On my recent vacation to Xalapa, Mexico I did manage to get in a few days of birding photography. I basically did my birding in 2 areas, a park right in the city and in a couple of spots either side of the airport.
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I’m back from a 5 day vacation in Xalapa, Mexico. Xalapa (or Jalapa) is the capital of the state of Veracruz in southeastern Mexico. Its located in the mountains and has a wonderful, moderate climate. Links to more photos of the trip are at the end of this blog entry.
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I’ve been trying to get some nice photos of hummingbirds this summer and have been somewhat frustrated in getting them to pose for shots. So I decided to do something about it!
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Ok … this isn’t your usual post. This is a post in progress. It will get updated on a fairly regular basis and bumped to the top of the posts. It is your gateway into the bird photos section of this blog. WARNING — While all photos have been cropped or resized, some of these links will get quite graphics intensive – if you are on dialup, consider yourself warned!
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Yesterday we took a quick one day trip down to the beach and while there saw what is perhaps the most brightly colored bird in the world.
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Just thought I’d share my bird feeder arrangement with everyone. It is a bit different than most and works great for photography as well.
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Last weekend we (Gabino and I) went on a little vacation to Wilmington, NC. We drove down on Saturday morning and went straight down to Kure Beach. We drove back up to Carolina Beach and caught a cruise boat out on a tour to see the breeding birds on Battery Island. What a waste of time!
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Last Wednesday (the 30th) was looking like it was going to be a super nice day, so I decided to go out and do some birding. I loaded up the car with the scope, cameras and tripod and headed over to nearby Jordan Lake to check out some Bald Eagles off highway 751. It simply wasn’t meant to be.
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