If you're on the internet, or watch the news, you know that this July's been Potter-mania. Between the new movie (Order of the Phoenix) and the new book (Deathly Hallows), we muggles have been laboring under a shower of Rowling's magic. Ultimately, it's not a bad thing!
I really enjoyed the new OotP movie. I think it's the second best of the movies, yet, after Prisoner of Azkaban. The pacing feels a little funny, but the story is portrayed well, and the fights are awesome. It was even more enjoyable on a second viewing! I think that's because you get over the differences with the book, and enjoy it for the adaptation that it is. The absolute best moment in the movie is the confrontation in the Hall of Prophecy. I love the way the Death Eaters are shrouded in darkness as they surround the children. I also loved Neville's lines. Bellatrix: "Another Longbottom! How are your parents?" Neville: "Better now they're about to be avenged!" Helena Bonham Carter was the right choice of Bellatrix Lestrange, without a doubt. She's terrifying.
More exciting than the new movie, however, was the new book. Deathly Hallows finally relieved us of a long felt anticipation, and did it well. I think the best thing that can be said for it is that it answered all of our questions well. We know what happened, now, and why, and we know about Snape, and we know about Harry, Dumbledore and Voldemort. It was also as exciting as could be anticipated.
It's far from perfect. Some of the details are overly confusing in a bad way (feels mushy), and there's a stretch of the book that's just boring and just not fun to read in a way not one of the other books ever was. It picks up really nicely right afterward, though, so that's forgiven.
My worst complaint is that now that the books are over, there seems to be very little about them to think or talk about. Great literature can be enjoyed for long after you are done reading the book - the Harry Potter series just isn't great literature. It's good, and there are some nice over-arching themes that are well expressed, but it doesn't have the kind of subtle insights into our condition that the greats have.
I did really care about the characters, though, and was happy to see how they turned out in the end. Goodbye, world of Harry Potter, and thanks for the ride!
Monday, July 30, 2007
Monday, July 23, 2007
Summer Travels, (Without Pictures) Part III
Where can you find the best birding in the western U.S., daily thunderstorms, and oppressive heat? Monsoonal southeastern Arizona, of course, our most recent summer trip destination.
If you're a regular reader of our little blog (our apologies), you might remember we visited Arizona in April (click on the month to see the first of that posting series). It was much the same in August, and we visited many of the same places. However, it was somewhat hotter now (though partly cloudy skies in Sierra Vista actually kept it below 90 - it was broiling in Phoenix and Tucson), and much, much greener. Fields that were brown in April were green and tall in August. The birds were different, also. Early April is too soon for many of the specialty migrants in Arizona, and quite a few birds wait to breed in this "second Spring" brought on by the regular rain.
Boy howdy does it storm there! Our first night in Nogales was brightened by regular, intense lightning. I've never seen anything like it. One bolt started far away on the horizon and surged toward the middle of the sky, branching into innumerable red forks until it filled half of the sky. It was intense, but it only sprinkled on us. The next day we talked to some English birders from Norfolk that had been in the midst of the hail. It was apparently golf ball sized and accumulated in the road to the depth of six inches - pockmarking their rental! When we were in that area, we saw that the trees had been torn apart. Leaves and branches covered the ground, and hung broken from the trees. There was literally a carpet of newly lain green leaves over everything.
Anyway, we'll probably post an exhaustive list of the birds that we see later, but in the meantime on to some of the avian highlights:
The neat thing about Arizona is that most of the birds we saw were birds we'd been admiring in our guidebooks since we first cracked them open. These are the kinds of birds about which we'd say "Wouldn't you like to see that?" Sometimes when you see a bird like that, it's a little disappointing, but sometimes it's above and beyond what the pictures show!
The Elegant Trogon (see public domain image from Wikipedia below) was certainly the latter. This is a breathtakingly beautiful bird, and the colors are all exceptionally vibrant (the photo doesn't capture the beauty at all). It's the most northerly breeding species in the neotropical branch of the family - which is spread all around the world. They're in the same family as the fairly well known Resplendent Quetzal.
We actually saw four in the Garden Canyon Complex of the Huachuca Mountains. The first pair we saw was way up the canyon, and it was totally unexpected. We had been looking at a pictograph site, and were walking out of the woods to our car, when this brilliant flash of red took us completely by surprise. There was a male flying across the hill directly in front of us. We were both in shock. I was sputtering something about a Painted Redstart (thinking, red-breasted bird in pine-oak woodland, oh wait, that's enormous!) The male flew off, but the juvenile sat quietly in a bush for about 45 minutes while we watched and waited, hoping the male would return. It didn't, but we did hear the distinctive bark up canyon: these birds don't sing or chirp or whistle, they make the strangest bark you've ever heard. When we drove back down the canyon, we were able to follow the barks to another pair - this time male and female - in a picnic area that's well known for them, but didn't have any when we passed through on our way up.
The second best bird we saw was a White-eared Hummingbird. We knew where one had been regularly visiting a feeder, and we just sat there until it showed up. It's a very dramatic looking bird, with a striking white eyebrow.
To the right is a group of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks (public domain from Wikipedia and US Army Corps of Engineers), another bird that was exciting to see. We saw around 10 of these birds in Rio Rico, just north of Nogales. Don't these ducks look funny? They're very beautiful, though, especially in flight. The white line runs along the feathers in flight, and it contrasts with their black wings. The first one we saw was flying, and it was quite exciting as it rounded us low and headed off into a flooded field.
Other exciting new birds we saw were Yellow-billed Cuckoo (finally! After twice missing it at other locations we had visited for it specifically we heard a bizarre knocking kind of call coming from trees at the famous Patagonia Road Side Rest, and successfully sorted a cuckoo out from the trees! This image is public domain from Wikipedia), Yellow-breasted Chat (four! we've heard it around So Cal before, but this was the first time it's actually showed itself to us), Hepatic Tanager (looking rather like a dull Summer Tanager), Eastern Bluebird, Yellow-eyed Junco and a Thick-billed Kingbird (a juvenile, unfortunately). Some new birds were Arizona specialties, but not all that exciting to look at. We saw plenty of Buff-breasted Flycatchers up in Carr Canyon (but it wasn't as warm looking as in the book - maybe because it was cloudy), a couple of Greater Peewees (but we had bad looks, they were up on snags singing their distinctive song), Cordilleran Flycatchers and Tropical Kingbirds - which looked much like Western and Cassin's - sporting a forked tail and yellow breast.
We dipped on (birder slang for missing a bird you tried to see) several birds we really wanted to see. We didn't see any of the high elevation warblers in Carr Canyon that I was hoping for - no Olive, Grace's or Red-faced. Red-faced Warblers were especially disappointing to miss. We also didn't get any of the specialty sparrows (Cassin's, Botteri's, and Rufous-winged), though we didn't try for them very hard. There weren't any Harris Hawks at a place they're known to frequent in Tucson on our way in, so we braved 110 degree heat in vain as far as they were concerned, and Varied Buntings (image at right copyright expired - found on Wikipedia, again) continually eluded us. Actually, we probably saw a Varied Bunting fairly well, but it was silhouetted against the rising sun as it sang from a fence post and we couldn't see any of its distinctive colors, so we're not counting it, yet.
Well, we'll go back some day, and I don't have any complaints.
If you're a regular reader of our little blog (our apologies), you might remember we visited Arizona in April (click on the month to see the first of that posting series). It was much the same in August, and we visited many of the same places. However, it was somewhat hotter now (though partly cloudy skies in Sierra Vista actually kept it below 90 - it was broiling in Phoenix and Tucson), and much, much greener. Fields that were brown in April were green and tall in August. The birds were different, also. Early April is too soon for many of the specialty migrants in Arizona, and quite a few birds wait to breed in this "second Spring" brought on by the regular rain.
Boy howdy does it storm there! Our first night in Nogales was brightened by regular, intense lightning. I've never seen anything like it. One bolt started far away on the horizon and surged toward the middle of the sky, branching into innumerable red forks until it filled half of the sky. It was intense, but it only sprinkled on us. The next day we talked to some English birders from Norfolk that had been in the midst of the hail. It was apparently golf ball sized and accumulated in the road to the depth of six inches - pockmarking their rental! When we were in that area, we saw that the trees had been torn apart. Leaves and branches covered the ground, and hung broken from the trees. There was literally a carpet of newly lain green leaves over everything.
Anyway, we'll probably post an exhaustive list of the birds that we see later, but in the meantime on to some of the avian highlights:
The neat thing about Arizona is that most of the birds we saw were birds we'd been admiring in our guidebooks since we first cracked them open. These are the kinds of birds about which we'd say "Wouldn't you like to see that?" Sometimes when you see a bird like that, it's a little disappointing, but sometimes it's above and beyond what the pictures show!
The Elegant Trogon (see public domain image from Wikipedia below) was certainly the latter. This is a breathtakingly beautiful bird, and the colors are all exceptionally vibrant (the photo doesn't capture the beauty at all). It's the most northerly breeding species in the neotropical branch of the family - which is spread all around the world. They're in the same family as the fairly well known Resplendent Quetzal.
We actually saw four in the Garden Canyon Complex of the Huachuca Mountains. The first pair we saw was way up the canyon, and it was totally unexpected. We had been looking at a pictograph site, and were walking out of the woods to our car, when this brilliant flash of red took us completely by surprise. There was a male flying across the hill directly in front of us. We were both in shock. I was sputtering something about a Painted Redstart (thinking, red-breasted bird in pine-oak woodland, oh wait, that's enormous!) The male flew off, but the juvenile sat quietly in a bush for about 45 minutes while we watched and waited, hoping the male would return. It didn't, but we did hear the distinctive bark up canyon: these birds don't sing or chirp or whistle, they make the strangest bark you've ever heard. When we drove back down the canyon, we were able to follow the barks to another pair - this time male and female - in a picnic area that's well known for them, but didn't have any when we passed through on our way up.The second best bird we saw was a White-eared Hummingbird. We knew where one had been regularly visiting a feeder, and we just sat there until it showed up. It's a very dramatic looking bird, with a striking white eyebrow.
To the right is a group of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks (public domain from Wikipedia and US Army Corps of Engineers), another bird that was exciting to see. We saw around 10 of these birds in Rio Rico, just north of Nogales. Don't these ducks look funny? They're very beautiful, though, especially in flight. The white line runs along the feathers in flight, and it contrasts with their black wings. The first one we saw was flying, and it was quite exciting as it rounded us low and headed off into a flooded field.
Other exciting new birds we saw were Yellow-billed Cuckoo (finally! After twice missing it at other locations we had visited for it specifically we heard a bizarre knocking kind of call coming from trees at the famous Patagonia Road Side Rest, and successfully sorted a cuckoo out from the trees! This image is public domain from Wikipedia), Yellow-breasted Chat (four! we've heard it around So Cal before, but this was the first time it's actually showed itself to us), Hepatic Tanager (looking rather like a dull Summer Tanager), Eastern Bluebird, Yellow-eyed Junco and a Thick-billed Kingbird (a juvenile, unfortunately). Some new birds were Arizona specialties, but not all that exciting to look at. We saw plenty of Buff-breasted Flycatchers up in Carr Canyon (but it wasn't as warm looking as in the book - maybe because it was cloudy), a couple of Greater Peewees (but we had bad looks, they were up on snags singing their distinctive song), Cordilleran Flycatchers and Tropical Kingbirds - which looked much like Western and Cassin's - sporting a forked tail and yellow breast.
We dipped on (birder slang for missing a bird you tried to see) several birds we really wanted to see. We didn't see any of the high elevation warblers in Carr Canyon that I was hoping for - no Olive, Grace's or Red-faced. Red-faced Warblers were especially disappointing to miss. We also didn't get any of the specialty sparrows (Cassin's, Botteri's, and Rufous-winged), though we didn't try for them very hard. There weren't any Harris Hawks at a place they're known to frequent in Tucson on our way in, so we braved 110 degree heat in vain as far as they were concerned, and Varied Buntings (image at right copyright expired - found on Wikipedia, again) continually eluded us. Actually, we probably saw a Varied Bunting fairly well, but it was silhouetted against the rising sun as it sang from a fence post and we couldn't see any of its distinctive colors, so we're not counting it, yet.
Well, we'll go back some day, and I don't have any complaints.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Summer Travels, Part B
I haven't had an opportunity to post about our trips, yet, but I thought I'd like to record my own reflections and observations here, too. Libby's posts were really great, and I'm not really trying to add anything to them, just trying to give myself an opportunity to think about the trips.
Monterey was really cool. Libby had already been there twice, but it was my first trip. As you can see from her post, we took Highway 1 north. It was a long trip - including stops and traffic it was 12 hours - but it was totally worth it. The views are breathtakingly beautiful! I knew I would like the craggy coastline, but I was surprised to appreciate the more level country preceding it. It was neat to drive through the grass and flower covered slopes easing toward the ocean.
Ornithologically, I also really liked the strange combination of birds at that Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. I've never seen Wrentits and Steller's Jays at the same place before. That felt a juxtaposition of Mammoth and Southern California for me - the separation seeming to come down a little from between my two homes. There was also a Winter Wren. That was my first lifer of the trip, and it was really cool. I had walked up the trail a little from Libby in a redwood grove, and as as I was looking back at her and we were talking, one popped out into the sunlight right above her head and started singing. Winter Wrens songs are amazing, and I had heard a lot about it (in Ornithology, Libby learned they can sing multiple notes simultaneously - on average, a Western Winter Wren sings 36 notes per second), so to both see and hear it was a treat. Just for posterity's sake, my other lifers were Black Oystercatcher, Pigeon Guillemot and Pelagic Cormorant. Libby's new bird was the Black Oystercatcher. The Condors can't officially count, but that doesn't mean we enjoyed them less - seeing them was a terrific treat.
Mammoth was wonderful, like always. There is nowhere harder for me to leave.
It's really wonderful to go there with Libby every year, now. This was her fourth year! It's hard to believe.
This year was a little different than I expected because I came down with a cold the day before we left. It was really bad, and I considered not going, except that we had promised Aunt Carol a ride. We picked her up at 5 the morning of the 4th. She was kind enough to stop at Baker meadow (outside of Big Pine) to look for some Yellow-billed Cuckoos and Indigo Buntings. We found it a little less hospitable than I expected, and at 9:30 in the morning, it was already getting very hot. All we saw was a Black Phoebe and a Lazuli Bunting, and then we got back in the car and headed uphill.
We took it easy because of my cold, and spent a lot of time fishing and reading Thursday and Friday. Saturday we did some birding at Crowley and the Jefferey Pine forests there on the east side, as well as stopping in the Aspen Grove for some lunch. We picked up several lifers on the trip: the Pine Grosbeaks were a real highlight. I'd planned on hiking up to Arrowhead, where someone reported some Grosbeaks were nesting, but I wasn't really feeling enthusiastic about it because of my cold. Suddenly, as I was sitting watching the Sapsucker nest, I saw a fairly large bird fly into a tree behind Audrey's cabin. I looked, and it was a female Pine Grosbeak, so I ran inside and got Libby. While we were trying to re-find the bird, Libby saw the male fly into the same tree the female had just left. He is a really beautiful bird, and he obliged us by just sitting there for a long time. It was great. Our other lifers were: Red-breasted Sapsucker (Aspen Grove!, and the meadows below Hart Lake and above the Consolidated Mine camps), Sage Sparrow (off the dirt roads near Crowley), and Pinyon Jay (these were off the road to Benton that passes South Tufa off 395 - we couldn't find any on the main road, but we took a dirt road right before the forest that seems to skirt along the edge of the Jefferies, and some Pinyons, and they were right there probably 100 yards in).
It was great spending time with Aunt Carol, Grandma and Grandpa. Family is a big part of what makes Mammoth as special as it is. It's not just trees, lakes, and majestic mountains, it's love. Honestly, I can't help but see the mountains as an expression of Divine Love, either. This year, I was humbled by the consideration that the Word through whom all of the Sierras was created was the same God that assumed our frail flesh and dwelt among us. That unites the two loves - the love of man and the love of nature into the love of One who loves us completely and perfectly.
Monterey was really cool. Libby had already been there twice, but it was my first trip. As you can see from her post, we took Highway 1 north. It was a long trip - including stops and traffic it was 12 hours - but it was totally worth it. The views are breathtakingly beautiful! I knew I would like the craggy coastline, but I was surprised to appreciate the more level country preceding it. It was neat to drive through the grass and flower covered slopes easing toward the ocean.
Ornithologically, I also really liked the strange combination of birds at that Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. I've never seen Wrentits and Steller's Jays at the same place before. That felt a juxtaposition of Mammoth and Southern California for me - the separation seeming to come down a little from between my two homes. There was also a Winter Wren. That was my first lifer of the trip, and it was really cool. I had walked up the trail a little from Libby in a redwood grove, and as as I was looking back at her and we were talking, one popped out into the sunlight right above her head and started singing. Winter Wrens songs are amazing, and I had heard a lot about it (in Ornithology, Libby learned they can sing multiple notes simultaneously - on average, a Western Winter Wren sings 36 notes per second), so to both see and hear it was a treat. Just for posterity's sake, my other lifers were Black Oystercatcher, Pigeon Guillemot and Pelagic Cormorant. Libby's new bird was the Black Oystercatcher. The Condors can't officially count, but that doesn't mean we enjoyed them less - seeing them was a terrific treat.
Mammoth was wonderful, like always. There is nowhere harder for me to leave.
It's really wonderful to go there with Libby every year, now. This was her fourth year! It's hard to believe.
This year was a little different than I expected because I came down with a cold the day before we left. It was really bad, and I considered not going, except that we had promised Aunt Carol a ride. We picked her up at 5 the morning of the 4th. She was kind enough to stop at Baker meadow (outside of Big Pine) to look for some Yellow-billed Cuckoos and Indigo Buntings. We found it a little less hospitable than I expected, and at 9:30 in the morning, it was already getting very hot. All we saw was a Black Phoebe and a Lazuli Bunting, and then we got back in the car and headed uphill.
We took it easy because of my cold, and spent a lot of time fishing and reading Thursday and Friday. Saturday we did some birding at Crowley and the Jefferey Pine forests there on the east side, as well as stopping in the Aspen Grove for some lunch. We picked up several lifers on the trip: the Pine Grosbeaks were a real highlight. I'd planned on hiking up to Arrowhead, where someone reported some Grosbeaks were nesting, but I wasn't really feeling enthusiastic about it because of my cold. Suddenly, as I was sitting watching the Sapsucker nest, I saw a fairly large bird fly into a tree behind Audrey's cabin. I looked, and it was a female Pine Grosbeak, so I ran inside and got Libby. While we were trying to re-find the bird, Libby saw the male fly into the same tree the female had just left. He is a really beautiful bird, and he obliged us by just sitting there for a long time. It was great. Our other lifers were: Red-breasted Sapsucker (Aspen Grove!, and the meadows below Hart Lake and above the Consolidated Mine camps), Sage Sparrow (off the dirt roads near Crowley), and Pinyon Jay (these were off the road to Benton that passes South Tufa off 395 - we couldn't find any on the main road, but we took a dirt road right before the forest that seems to skirt along the edge of the Jefferies, and some Pinyons, and they were right there probably 100 yards in).
It was great spending time with Aunt Carol, Grandma and Grandpa. Family is a big part of what makes Mammoth as special as it is. It's not just trees, lakes, and majestic mountains, it's love. Honestly, I can't help but see the mountains as an expression of Divine Love, either. This year, I was humbled by the consideration that the Word through whom all of the Sierras was created was the same God that assumed our frail flesh and dwelt among us. That unites the two loves - the love of man and the love of nature into the love of One who loves us completely and perfectly.
Monday, July 09, 2007
Summer Travels, Part II
TRIP #2: Mammoth
This is a place that Jonathan has been visiting every year since he was born. In a lot of ways, it feels like Home to him. This was my fourth Summer going, and I have to say that I've also started to feel that no Summer would be complete without a trip up there. So, we took a long weekend for the 4th of July, and spent it up in this beautiful place.
We spent a lot of time on Lake Mary:
Jonathan and I bought a couple of 2-day fishing licenses, and spent some time fishing with Grandpa. I caught these two Rainbows on Thursday night, trolling flies. They're not Alpers, but they sure are the biggest fish I've ever caught.
We also spent a lot of time in the cabin, just relaxing....
And reading.
Another pastime was watching the baby Williamson's Sapsuckers that are living in a tree just outside the cabin. It seemed like they were always hungry, and the parents spent the entire day going back and forth bringing food.
While birding around the cabin, we saw this Pine Grosbeak: a lifer for both of us!
Jonathan found this Robin's nest nearby as well.
On Friday, we all took a drive up to the Minaret Vista point.
Here is a good lesson for all of us: if your roots don't go deep, you might just fall over.
Here's a good looking guy I found at Crowley Lake on Saturday.
Saturday afternoon, we went to visit The Aspen Grove where we got engaged.
We like it here. It's special.
One of the beautiful, tall Aspens has fallen in the exact (or as nearly as we can tell) spot where Jonathan asked me to marry him. Coincidence? I think not.
We drove back home on Sunday, but wish we could have spent a lot more time up there.
This is a place that Jonathan has been visiting every year since he was born. In a lot of ways, it feels like Home to him. This was my fourth Summer going, and I have to say that I've also started to feel that no Summer would be complete without a trip up there. So, we took a long weekend for the 4th of July, and spent it up in this beautiful place.
We spent a lot of time on Lake Mary:
Jonathan and I bought a couple of 2-day fishing licenses, and spent some time fishing with Grandpa. I caught these two Rainbows on Thursday night, trolling flies. They're not Alpers, but they sure are the biggest fish I've ever caught.
We also spent a lot of time in the cabin, just relaxing....
And reading.
Another pastime was watching the baby Williamson's Sapsuckers that are living in a tree just outside the cabin. It seemed like they were always hungry, and the parents spent the entire day going back and forth bringing food.
While birding around the cabin, we saw this Pine Grosbeak: a lifer for both of us!
Jonathan found this Robin's nest nearby as well.
On Friday, we all took a drive up to the Minaret Vista point.
Here is a good lesson for all of us: if your roots don't go deep, you might just fall over.
Here's a good looking guy I found at Crowley Lake on Saturday.
Saturday afternoon, we went to visit The Aspen Grove where we got engaged.
We like it here. It's special.
One of the beautiful, tall Aspens has fallen in the exact (or as nearly as we can tell) spot where Jonathan asked me to marry him. Coincidence? I think not.
We drove back home on Sunday, but wish we could have spent a lot more time up there.
Our Summer Travels...In Pictures, Part I
Well, the summer is well under way and Jonathan and I have already used the pleasant weather as an opportunity to take a couple of trips.
TRIP #1: Monterey
We spent a June weekend up in Monterey, but took the drive slowly, and stopped along the way. Our first stop was Solvang, where we bought some yummy pastries.
We also stopped for these Elephant seals. They're huge!
Next we visited Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park for this gem of a view:
And we couldn't just drive on through Big Sur without at least trying to find the California Condors. As it turned out, they pretty much found us. As we were coming around a corner, I spotted a HUGE bird soaring just off the side of the cliff. We pulled over and, at one point, counted nine total. We also met a nice hippy man and his dog during this stop.
Here's the nice little Bed and Breakfast in which we spent our two nights. It was a very pleasant place to stay. They make yummy chocolate chip cookies, for one thing.
And here is the main objective of our trip North: The Finest Aquarium On The West Coast.
This is our Sea Otter Friend.
Besides all the awesome exhibits inside the Aquarium, we also enjoyed just standing outside and looking at the Bay. From here we saw many different avian species, as well as Sea Otters and Harbor Seals. If you ever get a chance to go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, take it!
TRIP #1: Monterey
We spent a June weekend up in Monterey, but took the drive slowly, and stopped along the way. Our first stop was Solvang, where we bought some yummy pastries.
We also stopped for these Elephant seals. They're huge!
Next we visited Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park for this gem of a view:
And we couldn't just drive on through Big Sur without at least trying to find the California Condors. As it turned out, they pretty much found us. As we were coming around a corner, I spotted a HUGE bird soaring just off the side of the cliff. We pulled over and, at one point, counted nine total. We also met a nice hippy man and his dog during this stop.
Here's the nice little Bed and Breakfast in which we spent our two nights. It was a very pleasant place to stay. They make yummy chocolate chip cookies, for one thing.
And here is the main objective of our trip North: The Finest Aquarium On The West Coast.
This is our Sea Otter Friend.
Besides all the awesome exhibits inside the Aquarium, we also enjoyed just standing outside and looking at the Bay. From here we saw many different avian species, as well as Sea Otters and Harbor Seals. If you ever get a chance to go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, take it!
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