OK, I'm back shortly. Mark, Paph schoseri is one I couldn't get for blood nor money, unless I paid a lot of money, when I was collecting species. I maybe saw it available twice, for wads of cash. This guy is little, but way stupid cheap, and I figured why not. I don't think it's a jacked-up hard to bloom thing (and I've dealt with those). Too much on-topic. Joaquin is a fantastic kitten-child and makes me very happy. The bitey thing is going away as he grows up. He retains his spotted gorgeousness. He's ever so smart (I refrained from swearing here so as not to get tossed off the forum, but really...). And not to be too off-topic on-topic (that kid of mine), what are we reading lately? I could start a new thread, but I don't wanna. I'm reading 'Tieta' by Jorge Almado, and not being thrilled by it-a bit ponderous and too many interruptions by the author to drop in his comments...I don't know. I'm liking the story but not the telling, and it may just be the translation. I had a lovely break in the tale with the 'Brokeback Mountain' short story (borrowed for a friend from a friend, and of course I read it first). A dandy story. You should probably all know that I get drunk and loaded (some of you may know what the loaded part is about, aside from the drunk) before these little sillinesses get written out. Chemicals happen. It's not always a bad thing. In fact, sometimes it's pretty good. At any rate... I'm off. Love you kids. -O-

I had a bumper crop today! I could hardly believe it! I think it was at least partly because it didnÂt get above freezing all day, and I always have water available for them. I think at least 30 of your blackbirds made it over the Divide, Bonnie! I spent half the day chasing them away from my feeders! They eat all my expensive seedÂand scare away all the birds I WANT to see! In addition to the blackbirds I had: My usual 2 to 3 dozen House Finches About a half a dozen House Sparrows that show up and eat a little suet every now and then My usual 2 Northern Flickers My usual 2 Hairy Woodpeckers 2 Blue Jays that show up every now and then 2 Eurasian Collared Doves And I even saw 1 of my much-watched-for chickadees today! Some day IÂll get a good following of them at this house! AND Â I still can hardly believe this, but I had every Robin in Denver in my backyard! There were at least 14 of them, and I think there were more, but that was as many as I could count at the same time! A couple times there were up to 10 on and around my bird bath at the same time! It was incredible! It seemed like my whole backyard was filled with themÂand it WAS! Usually the most I see at one time is 4Âsometimes 6 Â but NEVER that many at the same time! IÂm convinced now that I WILL have a pair in the nest on top of my electric box again in spring. IÂll be watching again tomorrow, but I donÂt think thereÂs any chance at all that IÂll see as many as I did today. Anybody else? Skybird

WOW..I should be so lucky! The only Flicker nests I've seen have been deep in the woods on steep ridges. They take a bit longer than song birds; about 25-28 days to fledge from the time they hatch. But if you can hear him, he must be older by now

Claire, It was lovely here today as well, up into the mid-50's. I went for a walk near one of the oxbow ponds and although the water still had ice on about half of the surface, the birds were enjoying the entire area. Ravens and gulls walking on the ice, geese, ducks, and 2 kinds of mergansers in the water, and chickadees and a mockingbird in the shrubs on the margins. There was also an eagle overhead, but I didn't have a camera with me. Do you put the lawn dragon in the same spot each season or does he migrate around a bit? Jane, your chipmunk looks about set to pop with all that seed in his cheeks. I love the kestrel photos. Kestrels are another favorite bird of mine; they are quite common in Ohio, and their rarity here was one disappointment when I moved to New England. I love the feather patterns for both sexes, and also like watching them fly - they can hover to look for potential prey.