Newt

  Part of the "Trail Critters" collection of sculptures placed around the rails-to-trails paths in our area.  "Located at Edwardsville Junction in Edwardsville, where the MCT Nature, MCT Nickel Plate, and MCT Goshen trails intersect, is Newt. An orange kitty standing 9-feet-tall and reminding all frequent trailgoers of their favorite small trail kitty."

Interesting, the sculpture was originally titled Nelson, presumably due to the general proximity to the N.O. Nelson complex.  I believe the name was changed in honor of an actual cat the was known for hanging out around the trail.

This is the first time I've photographed this one, photos taken 10/25/2024.

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In a motel, baby, like the Holiday Inn (0117)

  Another in the series of photos in and around hotels while travelling.  Today is January 2017.  Once again, the post title is from the old Elton John song:  CLICK.

Check out the TAG to see more from the series.

This was my room during a business trip to Bismark, North Dakota.  Who the heck goes to Bismark ND in January?  Ah, the joys of business travel.

Mondys, Ugh

 Pretty cool today, at least cooler than it has been.  And wet.  Make that wet, wet, wet.  Anyway, we noticed this scruffy bird at the feeder.  At first I wondered if it was some kind of sparrow, but what kind of sparrow?  It hung out on the feeder long enough for me to grabbed my camera and snap a few photos.  And then it continued to hand around while I opened the window and grabbed a few more, cleared shots.

Checking with Merlin photo ID, and several photos, it couldn't figure out a good guess.  I even tried Seek, which suggested something in the finch family.  So I went for the big guns:  Facebook and Reddit.  And the consensus is clear for Goldfinch.  Perhaps molting, perhaps having dunked its head in something....  But definitely looking worn.

Here's some photos.  It had just fluffed/shaken before that last one.:

Bad Bird Photos - Northern Flicker

 Sometimes a crappy photo is better than nothing.  Especially when trying to do identifications.

One of my favorite birds is the Northern Flicker.  And while my Merlin ap has heard them frequently, I haven't seen (or been able to photograph one since January 2024.  But I saw this guy in the back corner of my yard.  I knew it was too far away for a decent photo, but grabbed my camera to confirm the sighting. (I uve a zoom lens on my camera that I can use like binoculars).  

Anyway, yes it was a Northern Flicker, no doubt about it.  I thought I'd share anyway.

September Winners, BetterPhoto.com

 Better Photo has announced the winners of their August contest, and I had a second place, along with several Finalists, etc.  Always fun to get some recognition!

2nd Place winner:

Straight Lines - Post Techniques and Toy Camera Photography

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Finalists:

Carolina Wren

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Rattlesnake Master

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Against The Odds

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End Of The Day

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Staff Favorites:

St. Louis Skyline

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So, that's 1x Second Place, 4x Finalist and 1x Staff Favorite.  I also had 18x Editor's Picks, too many to post here.

Check out my photos HERE.  

Bad Bird Photos - Name that Hawk!

 Sometimes a crappy photo is better than nothing.  Especially when trying to do identifications.

This one is a Red Shouldered Hawk, taken during a neighborhood walk.  Actually, Merlin wasn't about to identify from this photo, giving 3-5 options.  But Red Shouldered was one of the top choices (Top choice for 1 photo, #2 for the other).  That said, I had previously used Merlin's sound-ID to positively identify it, so that's enough for me.

Tufted Titmouse

 I noticed this summer that the "little" birds (like chickadees and Tufted Titmouse) like to drink out of the ant-cup on our hummingbird feeder. So I left the cup out when I brought in the feeder. Here's a Tufted Titmouse drinking from the cup

Robin, Drinking

 We don't have a bird-bath per-se, but I have a couple of places where I put out water for the birds. This is the "saucer" that went under a flower pot, the pot got broken. I try and keep fresh water in it, the birds (and squirrels) like it. Here's an American Robin. SW Illinois, StLouis area.

Concert Review - Renaisance at the Wildey

 

Last night (Tuesday October 29), the band Renaissance played the first of 2 nights at the Wildey.  Pretty sure it is our first show of 2024, it's been a slow year (for us).  But when I saw Renaissance was coming, I decided to jump.

Renaissance has been around since the early 70's, generally lumped in with Progressive Rock, or "symphonic rock".  I actually discovered them through my wife, back when she was my girlfriend (in college).  Very possibly the only musical act she introduced me to... That said, they're a very solid 70's era prog/complex band built around a very impressive singer.  And although they have the standard issues with 50+ year old bands (age and turnover), they were outstanding.  Annie Haslam is 77, and not exactly spry, but her voice remains impressive.  She was engaging with her between song banter, and a solid leader.  The band was beyond capable, especially bass player Leo Traversa (but I'm biased towards bass players).  They put on a pretty lengthy set, with an intermission, at least 2 hrs.  I made a Spotify Playlist, it should be sharable.

And to make the night even better, they had a support act:  Janet Evra.  Sort off an odd pairing, a 3 piece Jazz band with samba feel, paired with a dense symphonic prog band, but it worked.  She's on Spotify and have a few things on youtube.  Check out her cover of Blondie's Call Me.  I picked up one of her albums at the mech table, she seemed like a nice person (and signed the disc).

I only took a few photos, prefer to be part of the event.  But here's a couple:

Renaissance

Janet Evra:

Cole

 Last week I posted "Jarvis" one of the Trail Critter sculptures around our rails-to-trails paths.  I was going through my archives and found a photo of another.

Cole:  Located at Glen Carbon Junction, in Glen Carbon, along the MCT Ronald J. Foster Heritage Trail at Main Street, stands this lively 12-foot-tall hot pink canary. A nod to Glen Carbon’s origins as a coal mining locale, and the significant role canaries played in the practice of coal mining.

In a motel, baby, like the Holiday Inn (2015)

 So, in the informal series of photos in and around hotels, I decided to look through some of my archives.  Here's a few appropriate shots from December 2015, from the Holiday Inn Express in Oak Grove, KY, USA.  These were posted at 365project back then. These three were taken from the back corner of the hotel's parking lot.  Check out all of the series at: TAG

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All of these were taken with my Nikon Coolpix P340, which was a great little compact-digital camera.  This was actually my 2nd P340, i had worn out my first one in January 2015.  When the second died, they were no longer available.  These days, the phone cameras fill that role pretty well.

Color Or B&W - Water's Edge

 Which do you prefer?  Taken at Watershed Nature Center

I shot this thinking Black and White , but was really happy with the original color.  But I decided to go on and do the conversion, and I rather like it, too.  Both are a bit subtle....   What do y'all think?

Old Water Tower

 

This old water tower sits along one of our rails-to-trails paths, in Edwardsville, IL. I presume it dates back to steam trains, although there may have been other reasons for rail-side water towers. Any experts w/ thoughts?

The Ultimate Adventurer!

 I've posted a few times (here) about the Weekend Adventurer / My Adventure Challenge thing.  They offer a series of hiking challenges; you log your miles, and they provide a patch.  It's fun, and there's a Facebook community.

Anyway, I started January 1, 2023, with the Hiker's 365 challenge, to hike 365 miles in 365 days.  This was a really good experience for me, inspired me to get off my tush and moving.  As I was winding that up, I started with the 4x seasonal challenges:  Winter 100, Spring Fling, Blazing Summer and Fall 50.  I completed the last of these recently.  The completion of these 5 challenges gets you another patch, The Ultimate Adventurer.  I received that patch today:

It's een a fun 22 months. and I plan to keep on going to finish a 2nd 365 miles for this year.  After that, I'll have to find some other motivation to keep going.

Meanwhile here's a few photos from yesterdays (short) hike at The Gardens At SIUE:

A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject

 A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject. - Winston Churchill (ascribed to)