Glad you found out what it was - the spots fooled me because every hermit thrush I've seen has been much more heavily spotted. Maybe local variations come into play here, or perhaps a young bird ??? FTM, your photos are wonderful. I feel like I can reach out and touch your bloodroots. The second to last one with the fern(???) coming up out of the dried leaves is a great shot. I did notice your bloodroots seem to have double blooms compared to mine. I can't believe your hepatica has already bloomed, I hope I didn't miss mine blooming. I actually used the Roundup concentrate on the cut ends of the honeysuckle and that didn't do it, and didn't help much at the local park which is what they did too. I've thought about cutting it down to a manageable size and spraying the leaves with roundup and then covering it with black plastic bags (which is what I had to do to get rid of some english ivy) but it will be tough to get very far that way considering how much I have. I have been digging some of it and then planting a bush in it's place but it's not feasible to do that with much of it. I am also hesitant to do too much until fall considering how many birds nest in the thickets. Too bad the emerald ash borer doesn't like honeysuckle instead ... big SIGH. That weed wrench looks like a handy tool though, and if it doesn't disrupt the ground as much as digging the bushes up than it might help in preventing new seedlings. I had a major explosion of gold finches this weekend. I stopped counting at 100 - they were fighting over the feeders so bad I did some serious ground feeding. And I think every one of them was singing and chirping, it was incredibly loud. And alot like the peepers, they would all suddenly stop and then one would start, and another and then all of sudden they would all be at it again. Very cheerful on a cold spring day. Also had 5 purple finches, all females and perhaps a young male just starting to show some color. And had a dozen chipping sparrows and three field sparrows, they make the fox and white-throateds look like giants! I was really hoping that I would get Number 100 this weekend with the cold weather but I guess I will have to keep watching.

There really is no one "best all-purpose" zoom. It all depends what you plan to photograph and how much you want to spend. One that will let you walk around all day without tiring you out is the 28-135 IS USM. The 70-200 f/2.8L IS USM is excellent for butterflies and birds that are not too far off. The 100-400 L IS USM is probably Canon's best zoom lens for birds. Both the 70-200 and the 100-400 are heavy and pricey, but they're excellent. I have photos on my site made with all three of those lenses. All the butterflies are with the 70-200. Here is a link that might be useful: My pBase Galleries

WTG, Claire! Good bird mother. That's a happy thrush. Glad your power stayed on. What a relief. I can't answer nhbabs's curiosity about why we Southerners only see Hermit Thrushes in the winter, but after checking my 'Thrushes' folder, yup, all the pictures are in winter. They must summer in NH and winter in the flatlands, I guess. Today is the first time I was able to capture a RB Woodpecker twice in flight after leaving the suet cage. Downloaded a free copy of GIMP, (a free rendition of Photoshop) and tried to superimpose the two pictures. I need practice, but here it is: Jane This post was edited by corunum on Tue, Jan 27, 15 at 16:29

Ooof, that looks serious, Doc. I haven't seen that before. This is from indoor light straight into sun? I mean, what conditions can do this to a haworthia? I've scorched some before but never quite that badly. BTW, Conny! I want #9. These wimiis are something else. Someone else will have to chime in for you, Michael. I've never bought haworthia seeds. They take too long to show proof of provenance, I'm not sure I'll want anyone's seeds unless I know them personally, as well as their pollinating practice. But Mesa Garden sells some! And you're one of those people whose haworthias look like dessert! I want that~ It's getting long so let us continue here: