K-Squared Ramblings » birds

No Fishing Allowed

Kelson — Tue, 31 May 2011 14:00:34 +0000

“Gee, I hope this doesn’t apply to seagulls, too!”

Office Park Ponds

Kelson — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 04:49:42 +0000

Office Park Ponds (2/3), originally uploaded by Kelson.

There are still a few empty lots in the Irvine Spectrum office park area, and the recent rains have turned them green…and for the first time I remember noticing, filled hollows with water to create temporary ponds. There were even a half-dozen ducks milling about while I took these pictures.

Update: I went back a month later, after the rains had stopped, and took some more photos.

Man-Eating Birds, Algae-Powered Cars, and Googly Androids

Kelson — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 06:30:00 +0000

Fossils linked to Maori legend of man-eating bird. # The giant Haast’s Eagle, which died out at least 500 years ago, was originally thought to have been a scavenger, but new analysis of fossils indicates that it was a lion-level predator…making it the probable basis for the Maori Te Hokioi legend.
Top Cyber Security Risks 2009. # Operating systems are becoming less and less of a problem, as attackers focus on client applications like Adobe Reader, QuickTime, and so forth.
Odd headline combo: “The algae-fueled Prius hits the road” and “Flesh-eating bacteria hit the beach.” (ZDNet newsletter) #
I like the sound of “Googly Android devices” #
Not sure what this song is, but what I can hear of it sounds like the chorus from Gethsemane – over and over and over. #
WTF? Allergy recall of “Fannie May Milk Chocolate & Almonds” due to undeclared almonds. How is that undeclared? #

Pop-Up Design, Bird Buzz, and What is…the Thing?

Kelson — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 07:59:59 +0000

Running system restore on my Windows box at work. Just how I wanted to spend Monday morning. #
Dear HaloScan users: Please do not use the Javascript-only pop-up for your comments links. I can’t open that in a new tab. #
Grr. Dialog boxes should not pop up while typing. I hate accidentally saying OK or Cancel. Who runs only one app at a time these days? #
Just got buzzed by a bird on the way to the car. #
I don’t know why yesterday’s Real Life is so funny. #

Swoop Warning

Kelson — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 22:29:23 +0000

Well, that’s encouraging. I mean, nothing makes lunchtime better than worrying you might be about to star in a Hitchcock remake.

Nene Xing

Kelson — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 07:34:58 +0000

The Nene (roughly nay-nay), a.k.a. the Hawaiian Goose, is Hawaii’s state bird. It’s also endangered. There’s supposed to be a (comparatively) large population in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, but we didn’t see a single one all week. All we saw were a zillion of these signs warning us to avoid hitting them. Maybe it was the wrong time of year, the wrong time of day, or they’re all hiding away from the road.

They warn you not to feed the Nenes either. The concern is that it will encourage them to hang out near roads where they’re more likely to be killed. This reminds me of another bird we did see a lot of. Whatever it was, they were either very stupid or very confident in drivers’ abilities to avoid them, because they would just amble across the road, pausing occasionally, making no effort to dodge the cars zooming at them at 35, 45, or 55 MPH. It was several days before we saw one actually bother to fly a few feet!

Ducks… er, make that Geese

Kelson — Fri, 03 Sep 2004 06:16:05 +0000

There’s a park just past the corner of Elrond and Ridge Route, and as I left that intersection I spotted a flock of about ten rather large ducks (Edit: it has been pointed out to me that most of these are actually Canada geese) walking across the park. I pulled over to start taking pictures, and realized that there were actually dozens of them, wandering around near the small (presumably artificial) lake that gives the park its name, Village Pond Park.

Trekking across the park.

Look! Water!

Crossing the pond.

Turtle Ducks?

I didn’t see any fish in there, but that didn’t deter this guy. And the ducks (and geese) must eat something other than duck food from the local 7-Eleven.

I really should have gotten some more wide shots to show just how many ~~ducks~~ geese there were. Sure, it had nothing on the infamous pigeons of Trafalgar Square or St. Mark’s Square, but I’m used to seeing less than five ducks together in one place, so 50+ (there were quite a few still out on the grass) seems like quite a lot.

Oh, yes, about that duck food:

Quack Snacks? *sigh*