The kleenex box


You may recognize this; Mom’s Kleenex holder; pictures of each of us as little kids. Of course, it’s easy for us to put names together with kid faces, we were there. It’s more entertaining to present the puzzle to grandkids and get them to make their guesses (once we get them to stop giggling about them).

Problem

We recharged all four of the batteries in question and now they all measure “good”. We’re not that easily fooled, though, so the suspects have been placed in isolation. They’ll have to wait there a few weeks then demonstrate that they can behave appropriately before reintroduction into the general population.

Backyard bird count

Friday’s lunchtime bird count. Number of Species: 15
All Reported: yes
Checklist:
Ring-necked Duck – 1
Lesser Scaup – 2
Brown Pelican – 8
Double-crested Cormorant – 1
Great Egret – 1
American Kestrel – 1
American Coot – 2
Killdeer – 4
Laughing Gull – 25
Ring-billed Gull – 10
Herring Gull – 3
Royal Tern – 1
Belted Kingfisher – 1
Savannah Sparrow – 5
Great-tailed Grackle – 6

Backyard bird count

Saturday’s bird count.
Habitat(s):
scrub
rural
suburban
salt water
Number of Species: 49
All Reported: yes
Checklist:
Blue-winged Teal – 75
Northern Shoveler – 50
Green-winged Teal – 25
Ring-necked Duck – 2
Lesser Scaup – 1
Eared Grebe – 15
American White Pelican – 10
Brown Pelican – 13
Double-crested Cormorant – 25
Great Blue Heron – 1
Great Egret – 1
Snowy Egret – 6
Tricolored Heron – 1
White Ibis – 7
White-faced Ibis – 1
Roseate Spoonbill – 16
Turkey Vulture – 3
Osprey – 1
White-tailed Hawk – 1
American Kestrel – 1
Common Moorhen – 1
American Coot – 6
Killdeer – 20
Black-necked Stilt – 50
American Avocet – 100
Greater Yellowlegs – 1
Willet – 30
Long-billed Curlew – 1
Ruddy Turnstone – 20
Sanderling – 75
Least Sandpiper – 100
Laughing Gull – 200
Ring-billed Gull – 50
Herring Gull – 8
Forster’s Tern – 12
Royal Tern – 35
Black Skimmer – 36
Rock Pigeon – 5
Eurasian Collared-Dove – 1
Belted Kingfisher – 1
Loggerhead Shrike – 1
Horned Lark – 15
Northern Mockingbird – 1
European Starling – 40
Yellow-rumped Warbler – 3
Savannah Sparrow – 1
Grasshopper Sparrow – 1
Red-winged Blackbird – 2
Great-tailed Grackle – 12

Port aransas

The Great Backyard Bird Count. Four days; starting today. It’s as easy as going outside for a few minutes, note the birds you see, and send it in. The entire country mobilized for a long weekend to provide data on bird populations. Anyone can do it. I worked all day today, but we took a walk at lunch and sent in a report for the birds we saw. Number of species: 15. Tomorrow is supposed to be stormy, but we’re planning on going to a wildlife refuge on Sunday. We’ll keep track of the birds we see there and send it in. http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/ Check it out.