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Welcome to the Pine River Review. Our sight is dedicated to our little homestead located along the Pine River tucked inside the Chippewa Nature Center's 1400 Acres of wild in Michigan's lower penninsula. We love to share our pictures, video, comment, and our own homespun music. Step inside our world as we celebrate this beautiful nook!


Tuesday, February 1, 2011

World Bird Wednesday XI

                   We Won't Get Fooled Again!

      Suzanne and I were out at the local ponds this weekend looking for eagles and we did get a few really good looks but I was all thumbs with the camera and blew every chance. Humble pie was on the menu yet it is my belief that if you make the effort to go out into the world, nature will show you something special if you keep your eyes peeled and stay sharp. The hour was getting late and we were pulling away when I spotted a strange looking bird on the water. "Ah!" I thought, "Here is nature, and just in time." Suz waited patiently while I sprinted down the hill knee deep in snow to get a little closer. This time I didn't foul up the camera settings and we retreated to home for an early dinner. As the salmon baked away I checked out the days images and my excitement grew. I was sure one of my mystery birds was a Snow goose, a first for us, but that wasn't all. A second mystery bird was captured in the frame. I tried to remain calm. "I think we have a White Fronted Goose!" I finally exclaimed.
  "That's nice Dear," came the response from the other room. I am used to being patronised and the lash barely stings anymore. Already I was mentally preparing my WBW story and I wondered if I should contact Cornell University's Birding researchers. I tried to explain to Suzanne the significance of what we had experienced that day. "Take a little break Honey, dinners ready!" came her reply.
    Later that night as Suzanne slept next to me I found the fateful article that quickly let the air out of my bird watching balloon. And I quote, "Whenever I hear about a report of a Greater White-fronted Goose in upstate New York, I always want to hear a few details to assure that the observer (especially a novice observer) did not confuse a domestic goose. If you just look in most field guides and try to match plumage patterns, the only option for the following geese are White-fronted Goose. But they're not!"
     I learned much. To my sorrow the Snow Goose and the White-fronted Goose I now knew were impostors, domesticated farm animals escaped into the wild and not sojourners from the arctic. I turned off the laptop and looked over at the snuggled form next to me and said softly so as not to wake her, "They're domestic."

   A little voice came from under the covers, "So are we Honey, so are we."


            Now it's time for World Bird Wednesday XI!
 
This is the home of World Bird Wednesday. A place for bird photographers from around the world to gather and share their photographs and experiences as they pursue Natures most diverse and beautiful treasurers, the birds. The Blogosphere connects like minded people from around our planet like no other technology can do. World Bird Wednesday will be open for posting at 12 noon Tuesday EST North America through noon on Thursday.


You are invited to link your blog with other bird photographers in a weekly celebration of these most diverse and intriguing of Earth's residents, the BIRDS

                                                      

#1. Simply copy the above picture onto your W.B.W. blog entry. It contains a link for your readers to share in WBW. Or you can copy this link on to your blog page to share W.B.W. http://pineriverreview.blogspot.com/

#2. Come to The Pine River Review on Tuesday Noon EST through Thursday Noon and submit your blog entry with Linky.

#3. Check back in during the course of the next day and explore these excellent photoblogs!

      YOU don't have to be a Bird Watcher to join in--just enjoy sharing what you bring back from your    explorations and adventures into nature.




 
      The thumbnails below are links to our contributors blogs where you can view their beautiful posts. The idea of a meme is that you will visit each others blogs and perhaps leave a comment to encourage your compadres!


                 
                                                       Come on it's your turn!


28 comments:

  1. Smashing post.Rueful and humorous.
    I'm the same with wildflowers.

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  2. I've had similar experience with domestic geese myself. Thanks again for hosting World Bird Wednesday.

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  3. I'm pretty sure if I go back through my archieves I will find a photo captioned White Fronted Goose! We all make mistakes but we HAVE to keep looking-because when you least expect it.....BAM!
    I really enjoyed the "couples humor" in your story---I recall the day we had the car loaded for a trip and had driven only one mile from home and we passed a tree full of WOOD STORKS!! I was yelling STOP THE CAR...but my (now x) husband would not pull over for me to get a photo! I pouted for at least an hour...lol
    I will be back later with my WBW-

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  4. Thanks for sharing your story, Springman! Sorry to hear that it wasn't as interesting a find as you thought, but a nice shot all the same!

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  5. I hear you and I feel your pain.
    I was excited in Cairo to get Egyptian Geese,... nah, just house geese was the reply.
    Sniff ;)

    But hey, at least you got a great shot and some excitement :)
    And the remark 'That's nice dear' sounds strangely familiar ;)

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  6. LOL at 'the little voice'! Wonderful shot.

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  7. I have to laugh at your story. Once I was running around the house yelling "There's a grebe in the channel" (behind our house). My non-birding husband thought it was code for something but wasn't sure what.

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  8. Well I suspect many of us have to suffer those patronizing comments from time to time .. I know I do .. lol.
    At least you had a pic to fall back to even if the final Id wasn't what you hoped for.

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  9. Wonderful story!!! Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River.

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  10. Cool shots of herons nesting. Also, Slugyard is hosting I and the Bird this week. If anyone wants to participate, please email me your link to mike (at) slugyard (dot) com.

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  11. Great story it made me laugh. A lovely image also..

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  12. It's a great photo and a great story. Even domestic geese can be fun to look at and why should they be scorned just because they aren't "wild"? I really do like the photo a lot.

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  13. Springman -- I am soooo jealous of you - if you hadn't made me laugh out loud, I'd be really cross ;>)...you take beautiful pictures and you write wonderfully. Thanks so much for doing this meme, I am so glad I found it.

    I was especially happy that you had problems id'ing your birds, because I was wondering if it was OK to post my pictures this week when I wasn't sure what the bird was. (And I'm still not sure, but I wanted to share my pictures.) Thanks again for your blog and for the meme.

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  14. Welcome to World Bird Wednesday and a good Tuesday evening to you. I'm about ready to do some blog hopping and visit the early birds.
    A note of interest, Slugyard will be hosting the blog carnival, "The Bird and I" If you haven't participated in a carnival this would be a great opportunity. Here's the link!
    http://slugyard.com/

    or I have I and the Birds logo link on the side panel. Check it out!

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  15. I love your story Springman! BTW, do you want to let us in on your real name? I feel funny calling you Springman, unless that is your real name ;-)

    So, I can so identify with your story. Especially the line "Take a little break Honey, dinners ready!" My wife, usually around 11 pm asks "Do you know what time it is?"

    I also want to thank you fro starting up the meme. Your photos are great and so your pros.

    Nice photo of the domestic geese in the snow too.

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  16. I had the same experience a few years ago on French Creek behind our home. I spotted a lone goose on the creek , got all excited, thought it was a White Fronted, and later discovered that it was indeed a lost domestic!
    B.

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  17. I wouldn't have known the difference! LOL

    The picture is great anyway! And the birds are beautiful!

    I always get ticked off at Hubs when we're driving somewhere and he won't stop for me to take a picture of whatever bird I see. And, if he's walking with me, he frightens the birds away because he won't wait a darn minute. I've had to start leaving him at home. A lot. LOL

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  18. Great story with a humorous ending. I just love this meme.

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  19. A lovely 'domestic' story Springman. Put a much needed smile on my face.

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  20. Well, they did look a little like the geese in my pen, but who am I to burst your bubble. A bird is a bird and they are both very handsome birds and you got a dashed good story into the bargain as well as a lesson. So everything turned out on the plus side after all.

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  21. Well you win some and you lose some but you always learn something.
    Good shot anyway. MB

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  22. Nice photo - but it does look so very cold!

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  23. Excellent photos and lovely story. Arija encouraged me to post on your blog today. I'll be here every week, Internet permitting (rather slow in this part of Africa) Greetings from Jo, Kenya, East Africa

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  24. I`m sitting here giggling at your story.I was feeling your excitement!Nice photos even though...phylliso

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  25. I loved this post! I'm SO glad that the Doodles is a birder!

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  26. Hey everybody!
    I have been having a blast reading blogs today. I'm sitting at the Firehouse watching the "Storm of the Century" flake down. It looks like we missed the worst of it in Detroit. I'll be heading back "up north" tomorrow morning, as we say here, to plow out the drive way at the Pine River house.
    Jo,
    A special hello to you in Kenya, a country very close to my heart as I traveled there while wandering East Africa in the early 70's. Whoa, those were the days!
    HoldingMoments,
    Yeah, that's how this experience struck me too. I like to think of myself as something more than I am sometimes, delusional, but it doesn't take long to remember I am only the domestic brand.
    And Larry,
    You can call me Dave. Springman is my long time nickname from the Fire Department a take off on my last name of Springer.
    No relation!
    THANKS everyone for all the kind comments, I am overwhelmed!
    Now I'm going to dive back into the blogs.
    ;-)WBW

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  27. Thanks for popping over to my blog; I re-linked that post and you should be able to access it now. I spotted an amazing barbet in my garden yesterday. Took many photos but I was shaking too much (with excitement at this glorious bird?) I did post about it today. Thanks for this meme. I'll definitely add my Wednesday posts. Wow, Kenya in the 70's. I think you'd find that the big centres (Nairobi, Mombassa etc) are changed but here where we are in the Valley far from anywhere, it feels like 70's Africa. Have a great day and wrap up warmly. Jo

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  28. Oh, this post made me feel like I was home with you and Mom. Do you pull the "That's nice, dear," when she solders a new bauble?

    I nearly had a great bird picture yesterday. There was an audience of birds in the lilac tree watching me shovel the driveway. They were cheering me on, but after three hours of moving snow, I didn't have the strength to grab my camera.

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