It's A Beautiful Day

Viewpoint from over the bend in the San Juan River.


Four images of the river, stitched together.
See the camera location on a Google map.

How I Walk To The PO

Facing east on the San Juan River Walk (see my head at the bottom of the frame?) -- walking toward downtown Pagosa Springs, from the deadend of Durango Street.

See camera location on a Google map.

Morning Strike

With stars & bug stickers, plus hawk stencils. Shot from feeder.

Self-Portrait

Warhol inspired.
'inClouds with theAndes.'

Country Road

Snow, out my front window.

Camera location on Google map.

Grosbeak Strike

Offending window, minutes after hit.

Sheltie at Feeder

Sophie snarfed sunflower seeds.

Pagosa's South(ern) Park

Looking north along the San Juan river.

Camera location on a Google map.

Evening Walk

Hard day. Nice place.

Self-Portrait

Vermeer inspired.

A lamentatious Mother's Day to me; I'm estranged frommy kid.

Sheltie in Dappled Light

Sophie's sunny siesta spot.

Ending Bird Strikes

Hawk silhouettes, shot from inside.

After marking recent bird strikes with blue painter's tape, I stenciled hawk silhouettes on the outside of my living room window (which is directly east of the bird feeders). I'm not sure if the bird-of-prey shape is as important as simply disrupting the reflective surface of the glass, but the shape should be on the outside of the window.

The shape I used is based on a Window Hawk design by Visible Ink. I'd bought a pair of their clingFilm window stickers years ago, from an Audubon Society store in Oregon. Other hawk shapes to base stencils on are available online from The National Wildlife Federation (Make a Hawk Silhouette), and Hawk Mountain bird refuge (Helpful Hawks -- a particularly nice publication, in PDF).

UPDATE: 15 January 2015

None of the objects I place on this window ended bird strikes, least of all the Audubon Society's predator-bird silhouettes. New research suggests that hanging vertical cords may be the better answer: see Field tests show parachute cords deter bird-window collisions. The researchers note, “The effectiveness of vertically hung parachute cords to deter bird collisions is attributable to the critical spacing (3.5") between cords, and also as important is the placement of the cords over the surface facing the outside.”

[Thanks to "BirdSaver" by Henge on the Instructables website.]

Net Ball!

Tennis ball tied in veggie netting: an accessible throwing aid for arthritis sufferers.

(Shot from over my shoulder with a Verizon Samsung Gusto.)