The Pelican Whisperer

Ha roo, pups and cool cats, it's me - Zim!  Since I was such a very, very good guy last week when Mom took me to Tuttle Creek State Park - guess what?!?  That's right!  I got to go again!  I was on my very best behavior this time, too, plus ... I was able to work a little bit of my magic and make some new friends!  Today, I'll tell you about one of them.

When we first got to the River Pond, I checked out the AO pretty thoroughly.

"Not much going on here ... how about down that way?"

"I sense something down in the open part of the River Pond!  Let's go down there!"

Mom wasn't sure if I heard birdies out that way or sensed that there was something going on, but she let me take the lead.  I suggested we go down the road a bit, then head to the open part of the water!

"Down here, Mom.  Trust me!"

We got down to the water's edge and had a good look.  Mom thought she saw something interesting about 500 yards out, and used the camera's telescopic lens like a telescope!  I took a look myself.

"Can you see that white dot out there?  Just at the narrow part of the water."

Let's look through Mom's camera lens!

Oooh!  A pelican!  Mom wanted him to come closer ... so I started sending out my signals!   You know - my special gift of getting other animals to trust me?  I used all of my Zen of Zim powers to get him to swim our way.

In this next shot, you can see he's getting closer and is checking me out.

You can tell he's intrigued, can't you?

Here he is, heading our way!

"That's it!  Come closer, my friend!  Come closer!"

That white dot's getting closer!  He kept coming and coming.  He swam over and Mom got some good shots (I'll post them tomorrow!) ...

"Follow me, Mr. Pelican!"

... then I asked him to follow me back over to that branch of the pond I was at in the second picture up there.

"Ha roo, Mr. Pelican!"

He did some posing for Mom, then flew off, back over to where he was when we first saw him.  It was so cool communing with him!  Imagine - a Siberian Husky and an American White Pelican friends!  How wonderful is that!?!  I'll show you my other new friends tomorrow!

Have a great day, everyone!

Play bows,

Zim - AKA The Pelican Whisperer

Photo Finish Friday!

Woo, everypup and everycat.  It's me, Dave, here with Photo Finish Friday.  Ready to take a look back at the week?  Actually, it's a look back at yesterday ... but whatever.

Here is a shot of me and Zim out on our afternoon walk:

As you can tell from Dad's coat and gloves, the wind was blowing like crazy out of the north and made it very cold out!  Check out Zimmie's fur in this next pic:

Me checking out Zim's fur

Crazy, isn't it?

Zim wanted to go down into the cul-de-sac again, to see if his kitty-cat friends were out.

"Ha roo?  Is anykitcat home?"

His graffiti artist friend was there!

"Yo, Zim.  'Sup?"

Zim said it's not really graffiti art, per se, it's more like how WWII flying aces marked victories on their planes.  He has a way to go to become an ace.  Ha woo.

On the way home, Mom took an artsy shot of my feety-feet:

She was going to take a shot of Zim's, too, but then Zim spotted something and stopped.

"Ha roo, bug!  You're not too cold or anything, are you?"

It was a bug with tons of feety-feet!

It reminded us of a joke our sister Ammy told us.  Click here for a good one!  That never fails to make me laugh!

Here's Zim once Mom and Dad told him the bug was fine where he was.

I hope you all have a great weekend!  We're expecting a big Winter storm... which is odd, given that it's Spring.  Hmm.

Luv,

Dave

Friends!

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  It's me, Zim!  There we were yesterday, on our regularly scheduled "after lunch" walk.  We rounded the corner and headed into the cul-de-sac to see if anything was going on.  It was then that I spotted them!

"Hey, kit-cat pals!  It's me - Zim!"

Can you see them down there, in front of their porch?  Let's get closer!

"Ha roo, you guys!"

It was two of my kit-cat pals, hanging out, enjoying the afternoon together!  Mom zoomed in for some close-ups.

"Whatever."

I don't think he felt quite like posing.  Oh.  And I did mention two of my friends were down there?  (Pan to the right, Mom!)

"This is ridiculous!"
"La la la la la la la!"

Yeah.  I think my friend on the left just drew a little mousie on the steps with chalk.  He must be a kit-cat graffiti artist!

I asked Mom if I could go down and hang out with them, but she said "no" -- perhaps because Dave, who doesn't quite share my fondness for kit-cats, was with us.  Anyway, I'm not sure my friends felt like visiting.

"I'll check back with you another time, kit-cats!"

I sure hope I get to see them again soon.  And that they want to visit!

Play bows,

Zim

Wordless Wednesday

Play bows,
Zim

The Question Is ...

"Hey, Zim.  Those aren't birds up there, are they?"
"Dave!  Shh!  Don't say the 'b' word around Mom."

Ha roo roo roo.  Just kidding.  But I do believe we've had enough birdie pix for a while, don't you?

Play bows,

Zim (and Dave sends his luv!)

Army of Birds Digest, Post Number 3

Ha roo, pups and kit-cats!  It's me, Zim.  OK.  One last day of bird pix, then it's back to business around here - promise!  When we last tuned in, our mom was somewhere in Tuttle Creek State Park with her friend and a pair of Border Collies...

We have no idea what that is, but it seemed like a good place to start the post.  We all know my mom's sense of direction ... or lacking thereof.  Let's hope those BCs were able to herd her in the right direction.

Anyway ... back to the birds!  Here's a pair of those ducks with the cool hairdos -- Mergansers!

That female looks like she's walking right across the water!

Overhead, a Red Tailed Hawk was circling!

Isn't he cool?  I love hawks.

Mom and her friend also saw a little pack of Coots!

As I said when Mom and I saw some Coots together one day, they look like adults, but aren't necessarily "old Coots".  Ha roo roo roo!  I crack myself up.  Here's a closer look:

There was a Cormorant perched out on a tree sticking up out of the water:

He was surrounded by lots of different ducks!  Here are a bunch of them that were over by the bank:

If I'm not mistaken, there are Gadwalls, Northern Shovellers, and a Coot or two in there!  (Editing to add Redhead Ducks!)  Here's another look at the Shovellers:

Mom had never seen those before!

Here are the Redhead Ducks (I thought they were Gadwalls, but I'm editing!):

I wonder if it's the same couple that were hanging out at the Kansas Ocean a while back?  I have to think they would have told my mom to say "QUACK" to me, if they were.

Gotta love a redhead, don't cha?

There were lots of Canada Geese around, too.  Mom was able to get a couple shots of some in flight!

Mom has a special spot in her heart for flying geese.  For the full story, please click here.  The short version is that they remind her of our great-brother Booter.

So, yeah.  Mom had a great morning birding with her friend!  And me and Dave?  Home alone, hard at work!  Yep, as members of the Working Breed, it is our duty to be "on" at all times!  In fact, Mom snuck into the house when she got home and snapped a couple iPhone pix of us guys hard at work on Guard Duty.

Here I am:

Breakfast Room sentry post

Yep.  I had the Breakfast Room covered!  And Dave?  He had an even bigger mission!  Keeping the Living Room safe!  Check him out:

Dave's Guard Post in the Living Room

I know.  We deserve extra treats, don't we?

We didn't post all of Mom's bird pix here, so if you'd like to see more, please visit our FlickR set of Birds! at this link.

Tomorrow, our blog will return to normal.  No more birds.  Really.

Play bows,
Zim

Serene Scenery Sunday: More Birds

Woo, everypup and everycat.  Zim was right - this whole weekend IS for the birds!  Mom's still processing her photos - can you believe that?!?  She must have taken 3.7 million photos.  I thought today we'd cover the Great Blue Heron, the American White Pelicans, the gulls, and a couple incidentals.  Then ... yes, we'll give her another day for the birds tomorrow.

Is that OK with everybody?  OK, let's get to the photos.

Apparently, when Mom and her friend pulled in and parked, Mom jumped out of the car right away and ran down to the water.  Why?  Because she saw this guy swimming by:

American White Pelican

You know, since that's what she was hoping to get to photograph, you'd think she could have just come back home to me and Zim ... 

Mom and her friend went into those cool woods Zim showed you the other day, in search of other birdies.  They didn't find the ones they were looking for, but they did see this little guy:

Eastern Bluebird

Yep.  The Bluebird of Happiness!  So ... they turned to head back the other way and Mom stopped to take another shot:



Umm ... is it just me, or are those not birds?  In fact, they look an awful lot like Border Collies to me!  Hmm ...

Moving right along ...

Mom and her friend moved down to another area and were thrilled to see this guy:

Great Blue Heron

Isn't he cool?  Let's just sit back and look at some of the pix Mom snapped of him:

♩"... Wade in the water ..."  ♫

OK... sorry.  Shh!

He posed for a while, then flew off -

Speaking of flying ... here's a pelican in flight!

They got as close as they could to the secret Pelican hangout.  Or something like that.

The pelicans share that area with some gulls.

Let's go in for a close-up!

There was one pelican off to one side, just hanging with the gulls.  Check them out:

Zim and I like the gull in the center of this next shot:

The one in the water, to the left of the log.  He looks like he's cracking up over a joke somegull just told him!

Back to that one pelican!  Here he is with his (wait for it...)

A pelican and his ... gull friend

... his gull friend.  Ha woo.  Get it?

I don't think other gulls would mess with that gull while the pelican is around!

Here they are again:

"I ❤ my gull-friend!"

That's all I've got for you today.  Tune back in tomorrow to the Army of Birds Digest to see more birdies!

Have a serene Sunday, everyone!

Luv,
Dave