I liiiiiiiive! Again. Life's been either supremely boring or really distracting lately.

X-Files rewatch continues! We've finished season six now. Dear lord, I loved that season. How the Ghosts Stole Christmas? Triangle? Arcadia? The Unnatural? SO MUCH LOVE. (I had Jesse L. Martin's rendition of "Come and Go With Me To That Land" stuck in my head earlier) Also, after rewatching "Tithonus," I get curious again about how Scully is supposedly going to live forever. So, do any of my equally-nerdy X-Files friends know of any fic that has Scully dealing with that? 'Cause that would be fascinating. And sad. Angsty fic opportunity, right there! Also as part of my X-Files kick, I gave Mulder and Scully some colored pencil love.

I'm picking up on the running a bit! Been doing speed work over the summer, and I can definitely feel my endurance picking up. I'm gonna get myself registered for some of the fall races at Disney and get into the swing of it!

The World continues... they took PAC away from Frontierland. :( Main Street does it all now. And they suck at it. Oh well. Splash has been quiet. Mad props to the CM who put together a GIANT coloring book and brought it in with colored pencils and put it in the break room. It's like going back to kindergarten and it's awesome. I've been training a lot, although for the next couple of weeks I'm just in rotation. Sadly, no guest!win or guest!fail really sticks out in my mind this time around. :( I did get to Star Wars Weekends once and OMG LOVE. Darth Vader dancing to "Can't Touch This"? EPIC WIN. Photos from that here

Birding has tapered off for the season, alas, because the evil mosquitoes of doom have arrived. Oh, and it's a wee bit warm. Details. I've gotten a couple of trips in lately, though...

( Shingle Creek Trail 5/10/09 )

( Canaveral National Seashore 6/02/09 )

I also went back to Shingle Creek earlier this week, but more just to sit and chill than anything. I did see a procession of turkeys walking around - with their babies! It was adorable! I got pics, but I'm still going through them. For the record, baby turkeys rival baby sandhill cranes for cutest birdie fuzzballs around here.

And books! ( May 2009 books )

Yes, I still live!

Really not much going on. Work, sleep, work, sleep, work, sleep. I need to go grocery shopping today. Glamorous, no?

Celebrate a Dream Come True 2.0 debuted a week or so ago... better than the first version, but it's still pretty shoddy. We just need to junk it altogether and start over. :P Stitch's Supersonic Celebration is now open in Tomorrowland. It doesn't sound spectacular, but I may head for MK tomorrow to check it out, maybe make a photography day out of it. Oh, and now that Space Mountain is closed until November, morning Extra Magic Hours at in Frontierland. Opening Splash at 6:30 am once a week? ICK. In any case, I just applied for a Conservation Education position at DAK... so fingers crossed!

I did do some birding in the last couple of weeks! As always, lifers are marked with an '*' and non-avian species are italicized.

( Split Oak Mitigation Forest, 4/28/09 )

( Tosohatchee Wildlife Mangement Area, 5/5/09 )

I also started using Global Twitcher to keep track of all my lifelists! I've got my bird and mammal ones handy, but now I'm trying to think of everything else I've seen over time. :P Anyways, if anyone's interested, here's my profile link there. Not sure if you can see that without registering, though. I'm still finding quite a few species missing, but they're being added all the time. Oh, and saw the most adorable thing EVAR this past week on the way to work: baby sandhill crane. SO CUTE AND FLUFFY. I'm also going back and looking at pictures to try to learn plants. I really need to learn to identify those anyways. (miwasatoshi! And help is greatly appreciated!)

And some guest!fail for you:
(woman walks up and starts to duck under the ropes in the queue rather than going around to the actual entrance)
Me: Ma'am, the entrance is actually up that way.
Her: (nonchalantly) No, I don't feel like walking an extra quarter mile today. (continues under rope)
Me: ... no, really, the entrance is up there. You need to go around.
Her: (in my face) You're gonna make me walk all the way up there?!
(my note: it's maybe 30 yards)
Me: Yes, ma'am, just like everyone else has to. The ropes are there for a reason
(woman storms off toward the entrance)
(she comes back around and gets in my face again)
Her: There. You happy? (scrutinizes my name tag) Let's see... what's your name?
Me: (pushing my nametag forward) Kirsten.
Her: Okay, I'll remember that.
Me: Okay.
(she leaves)
(And I really wanted to tell her, "ma'am, you look like you could use the extra walk anyways." Alas, I value my job.)

But on the flip side, we have guest!win!
-Overheard on the parade route, from one guest to another - "You smell like you just douched or something."
-The Make A Wish family that came to Photocells last week. Mom didn't want to ride, so she waited outside while I chatted with her. Cheerful, chatty, and a great conversation. Their whole family was so awesome that as they came back out I asked if they wanted to ride again, and then sent them right back on, no wait. Awesome like that deserves reward. :D

Aaaand, I have April books! ( April books! )

So today I got up at the ass-crack of dawn (before it, actually) for more hiking and birding! Today's site was the Orlando Wetlands Park, up in Christmas.

DUDE. Bird photography for today, FOR THE WIN. Good things happen when I get un-lazy and actually carry my tripod. XD

Early this morning... my first pileated woodpecker! WOO! And OMFG, fuckers are HUGE. I picked him out from 100 yards without binoculars, even.

I also got my first bittern, an American bittern. That made me happy, 'cause I've been looking for one for awhile. :D

Still waiting on my damn purple gallinule, though!

I also got this photo, which confuses the snot out of me. It looks like maybe a starling, but the red on the face throws me. I also thought maybe a red-winged blackbird, but it was too small, and again, had that red face. I also thought maybe a Cape May Warbler, but there's no yellow at all on it. Confused Kirsten is confused! Mystery solved!

Alligators. I have a healthy respect for them, but I'm not afraid of them. (Seriously, how could anyone who's truly afraid of them LIVE in Florida?!) In fact, I think it's really cool to see them in person. However, coming around a corner not knowing it's there and practically tripping over it? O HAI MISTER ALLIGATOR. That happened to me TWICE today. They were both small ones, maybe 5 feet at the most, but it's that element of surprise that I hate. They were both awake and alert, too. Probably not looking for breakfast, as there were a million and one coots and moorhens swimming around them that would have been an easy snack, but they were holding their heads up and had their eyes open. Probably desperate for any warmth they could get, really, because it was frickin' freezing and super-windy this morning (I had a t-shirt, sweatshirt, jacket, wool cap, and gloves on and I was still dying!). But still... DUDE. Don't STARTLE me like that!

I also found my first rabid raccoon. I was going down a small, heavily-wooded trail, and heard a rustling in a small palmetto. So naturally I stopped and waited. Soon I see this tiny raccoon (not a baby, but thin) slowly climbing up. And I mean he was having TROUBLE. Practically tying himself in a knot as he climbed, almost disoriented. And every 20-30 seconds he was stopping to rest. Now, if you know palmettos, there's plenty of handholds for ANYONE, let alone a raccoon. He should have been up that in a heartbeat. Then when he got about 6 feet up, he turned around and started coming down, having just as much trouble as he had going up. So I figure he's going to bolt as soon as he hits the ground, because he saw me long ago. (I was only 6 or 7 feet away - I wasn't exactly hidden) But he doesn't - in fact, he looks like he's struggling just to walk and control his rear legs in particular, almost falling over. And eventually he just flops, flat-bellied, onto the ground and lays still. And he's looking up at me with the most pitiful face. And at that point I actually stopped taking pictures because I felt so bad for him. It almost felt like I was exploiting his pain for photo ops. And then I realized that he was probably rabid, and moved on quickly. I actually called the site manager after I got home and reported it - apparently they've had a few reports of that lately but hadn't been able to find him yet.

Also... I'm curious who compiled the data for their site checklist, because... sandhill crane? "Accidental"?! Really?! They're all over the place here, and the list says they've been seen no more than five times in the last few years? I find that hard to believe. I ran into them twice today alone.

Anyways, here's the day's list! ( Orlando Wetlands Park, 3/03/09 )

Photos are all up here! Will probably editing some for DA and birding sites, too. Yes, there are lots of red-shouldered hawks, savannah sparrows, great blue herons, and swamp sparrows. They posed pretty, I couldn't help it. :D

(And the obligatory helpme!unknowns:
#1 - The aforementioned quandary Red-Winged Blackbird
#2 - The same species as #1???
#3 - Palm warbler in funky lighting?)

( Some straight-off-the-camera faves... )

...I live??

I called in sick today. Mental health day. I didn't get my last break at work yesterday, and consequently was stuck for hours in the most stressful, upsetting position for hours with no break. Kirsten got cranky. Kirsten picked fights. Kirsten took Ativan. Kirsten doesn't remember anything after coming home from work last night until her alarm went off this morning. Thus, Kirsten called in. Kirsten may also call in Wednesday and give herself a 4-day weekend, because she has a crappy-ass shift that day and hasn't called in since last September anyways. I do have my first official trainee scheduled next weekend, though. He's an ICP... hopefully language barrier is not an issue. :P

Let's see... what's up since my last post...

My parents came to town! YAY! :D It was good to see them again. And to get free food. :P MMmmmm... steak... We went to Animal Kingdom together, too, and I geeked out over wild birds there, like this red-shouldered hawk by the Theater in the Wild that could care less that we were standing ten feet away. (I had to take my tele-extender off my 400mm lens just to get that much of the bird in the frame, he was that close!)

Been birding a couple of times, of course!

( Merritt Island NWR, 2/10/09 )

( Three Lakes/Prairie Lakes WMA and Joe Overstreet Road, 2/17/09 )

...and that's really all I've been up to. Isn't life interesting? :P

I'm thinking I'd love to get more into overnight hiking. I just wish I could afford gear! :(

...update! Yaaaay!

I started shadowing trainers this week, and love it. I think I'm gonna have fun training!

That's about as exciting as life has been for me. :P

Super Bowl Sunday was fun, we had a few people from work come over. Good times! I also put my name in for one of those free 7-day Universal tickets, because it's 15 minutes away and that would rock. :P

I did head back to Shingle Creek last week for a little afternoon birding! A fairly successful afternoon, with a couple of lifers to boot. ( Shingle Creek Trail, 1/26/09 )

And it's been awhile since I've updated this. I haven't gotten as much reading done lately as usual... ( December 2008 and January 2009 books! )

So birding happened again today! Wooo! I met up with miwasatoshi in the morning and headed out birding for the day. The weather wasn't the best - cloudy and dark - but at least we didn't get rained on! In the morning, we went to the Disney Wilderness Preserve. It's a Nature Conservancy-run preserve in Poinciana on land that Disney purchased as a mitigation site. Beautiful landscape, and we pretty much had the place to ourselves. After that, we met up with ladyseiryuu for lunch, then all went out to Brinson Park/Lake Toho for some afternoon birding.

It was a very productive day, with some great lifelist additions for me! Unfortunately, I lost my notepad with my list for the morning, so I'm trying to do this list from memory. (miwasatoshi, if I'm forgetting any, let me know!)

As always, lifers are marked with an asterisk.

( Disney Wilderness Preserve list )

( Brinson Park/Lake Toho list )

Took plenty of photos, as usual, and got quite a few good ones!
Disney Wilderness Preserve
Lake Toho

So I made it back to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge! Of course, it's a) winter break, and b) winter migrant time, so it was PACKED. Had a great day of birding, though, and a chance to try out my 1.4x extender. Got some great shots, and picked up a few lifers while I was at it! This time, I did Peacock's Pocket Road, the Visitor's Center Boardwalk, Black Point Wildlife Drive, and Cruickshank Trail.

Peacock's Pocket Road
Very narrow gravel road that took me a few extra minutes to find because it's not even marked. Well, I lie: it is marked, but not by the road name, only by a sign saying "Waterfowl Hunter Access." In any case, a nice little road! Some highlights: red-shouldered hawk, glossy ibis, lots of shorebirds and gulls, tricolored heron heaven, and an osprey with a snack and a desire to pose for the camera. Also home to the mourning doves with No Fear. I almost ran them over before they got out of the road. Also, can I reiterate how much I hate gravel roads with a big grassy hump in the middle of the road? I'm always paranoid that my car will ground out. (Total time: ~2 hours)

Visitor's Center Boardwalk
Short, and packed with people. This is like the Trail For Visitors Too Lazy To Actually Walk. Not much in the way of birds, and really, a gator or two got more attention from the guests. I did pick up a couple of woodpeckers here, though. (Total time: ~15 minutes)

Black Point Wildlife Drive
Wow, it was, like, rush-hour! Lots and lots of cars this time. And the migrant waterfowl are here! Woo! Lots of American wigeons, northern pintails, northern shovelers, blue-winged teals, and a few hooded mergansers to boot. Quite a few shorebirds, too. Last time I did this one, the water level was MUCH higher, so it's interesting to see the difference this time. And there were more gators this time, too - at least 4 or 5 that I saw. Finally found the bald eagle nest, too! The stop on the road is marked, but I wasn't sure where to look last time I was here. This time, I asked around a bit and found it - with one of the occupants hanging out in it! (Total time, including Cruickshank Trail: ~4.5 hours)

Cruickshank Trail
So I didn't exactly intend to do the whole five mile loop on this one. I just kind of did. By accident. I started walking. I did what I often do when I walk, and started zoning out and pondering life. And before I knew it, I was passing the 3-mile marker. Might as well go all the way at that point! Lots of yellow-rumped warblers here, and quite a few common yellowthroats and tree swallows. Also spotted a sora hiding in the reeds near the parking area, probably one of my favorite lifers of the day. I got lucky on that one, too, it was hard to spot, and I just happened to glance over at the right moment. (Total time: ~2.5 hours)

( Merritt Island NWR, 12/30/08 list )

Photos happen here!! There's quite a few unidentified, so if anyone can help me out on those, I'd love it! I'm getting better with songbirds, but I still suck ass at many shorebirds. As always, corrections are always appreciated! Or any species I missed in those mass group shots!

( A few of my fave photos of the day... )

Some random observations:

Belted Kingfishers: Guuuuuuh, I love them. They're gorgeous birds, possibly my favorite. But dear lord, they're spazzy! You can't go within a hundred yards without them taking off, flapping and screaming at you. Just sit still, dammit!

Yellow-Rumped Warblers: OWN the Cruickshank Trail. And OMG, they pish up like nobody's business. I felt like the freakin' Pied Piper.

Other People: As busy as it was, that kinda rocked. As I walked around the visitor's center, I heard lots of families talking. And it wasn't just "that place that mom and dad made us go on vacation," it was kids getting really into it. One dad was teaching his son how to identify anoles. Another was teaching his kid about habitat edges. It's just neat to see kids not just enjoying the scenery, but getting excited and learning about it. Also, lots of birders is great. The winter migrants attract a crowd, so I had people to chat with while I watched - confirming species, pointing out birds, etc. And hey, if you see a lot of cars pulled over, it's like a neon sign saying "look here!" ;) I had an older lady grin at me and tell me, "I'm so glad that people your age are into this, watching and identifying birds." Yes, kids, birding is alive with the younger generations. :P

I had my last Candlelight shows for the year last night. But OMG, what a show to end on!

Edward James Olmos? Freakin' best Candlelight narrator I've ever seen! He was so passionate, so comfortable up there, and he really put his heart into it. What's more, he was so incredibly gracious, and clearly just happy to be there. As we filed into the wings just before the show, he stood there, grinning, shaking hands with every single cast choir member, and sincerely thanking us for being there. He's the only narrator I saw this year to do that - most hang out in their dressing room. During the show itself, I really loved that he repeated a lot of parts in both English and Spanish. While the show narration is generally English-only, there's so many guests that speak Spanish as their first language - and for many, that's their only language. So it was really neat to see that group of guests really be included. And his introduction and closing comments were some of the most heartfelt I've seen. He was cracking jokes at the cast choir during the second show, about how we could never hear him at the top of the tree (OMG, the fans are so loud there I can't even hear myself sing). And the choir responded to his enthusiasm... we really had a fantastic 8:15 show. At the end of the Hallelujah Chorus, he turned around and looked at us, wiping tears from his eyes. That sort of praise was just incredible. :D

I also put his family/friends on Splash during the afternoon yesterday. I wasn't really paying attention - I was chatting with a first time guest who was waiting to come through our wheelchair entrance. A Guest Relations person came up and flashed the purple PEP pass, and I waved his group through and went back to the conversation I was having with the guest. At the time, I happened to be suggesting the Candlelight Procession to them as one of the Epcot highlights, giving them tips, telling them about it. When I sent them on into the station, I turned around to chat with the Guest Relations guy, and found that Edward James Olmos had been standing a few feet away that whole time, chatting on his cell phone while he waited for his group to get off the ride (they went twice anyways). Too cool! :D

For the second time in a week, Splash went down two minutes before opening today. :P We had it "parked," and no logs had moved in about 5 minutes. I was the tower opener, so I was just chillin', listening to the morning track talk, and waiting. Well, everyone gets up to go to walkdown, and all of a sudden the console alarm goes off. I turn around... "...WTF?! For reals? NON-RESETTABLE!!!" Oh, Splash. :P It goes down for refurb on the 4th, and I think Bubba (the computer) is telling us he wants it already. :P Maybe that means I'll actually get scheduled Bears for once. :P

I also saw a wood stork at Shades of Green on my way home tonight. Another lifer! Rock!

I kept noticing a sign nearby for the Everglades Trail Nature Site "Shingle Creek Trail," right down the street. So I headed over there today for a bit of hiking and birding... and by a bit, I mean I walked about 7-8 miles round trip (took about 3.5 hours). :P And it was WELL worth it! A great diversity of birds, and great photo ops - right in my backyard! I've split up my list by section since I walked there... birds I saw along the street on the way, birds I saw around the middle school (at the trailhead), and birds I saw actually on the trail.

( Shingle Creek Trail, 12/22/08 )

Lulz... loved that there was a 7-8 foot gator sitting in the pond right behind the middle school. Welcome to Florida! The otter was adorable, too. It kept giving me the stink eye, which you can see in the pics. :P

The birds were posing all pretty for me today, too. I was able to walk up as close as the trail would allow to the hawk, the vultures, and I got pretty close to the shrike and sedge wren, too. Close enough for easily-cropped photos! And omg, the swarm of tree swallows was insane! I was kinda surprised to see killdeer there... they were all sitting in the middle of the soccer field at the school. I wish I'd been able to get a pic of the cranes. They just breezed overhead before I could get my camera up.

And that's just what a novice birder could pick out, and moving at a quick pace to boot. There's plenty more there - birds that were too hard for me to identify quickly or get a photo of, birds I heard but didn't see (I suck at birding by ear). More experienced birders could probably get more out of it.

All of my photos for the trip are up here! And oh, lordy, did those birds want to pose today!

Okay, so I got off my lazy butt and went birding yesterday! I went to a couple of places, and spend a relaxing day wandering! I spent the evening at the Studios, but I'll make a separate entry for that once I get photos uploaded. :p

( Kissimmee Lakefront Park )

( Tibet-Butler Preserve )

So that's it... pics from Kissimmee Lakefront Park here... and only this one from Tibet-Butler.

You know what's win? Going to Best Buy to get the new X-Files movie on DVD. But you know what makes the trip even more win? Walking into the store and seeing Eragon DVDs on sale for $5. It may have been a crappy-ass movie, but baby Saphira is so worth $5. (And the cashier geeked out when I brought the XF DVD up to the counter :P)

(and in Library!Win, I found both The Alchemist and Water for Elephants on the shelves... and then totally geeked out over a book about the evolution of Pacific coast marine life)

And I did indeed get off my lazy butt and go to Brinson Park last night! It was a successful little trip, and I added a few lifers to my list (marked with an asterisk)... ( Brinson Park birds, 12-1-08 )

So I decided to keep a running tally of my birding lifelist here. I've included common name, scientific name, first recorded date and location seen (if I have a specific date, otherwise that's blank). They're also organized taxonomically by family.

Current Count: 176
As of: 11/18/09

( My birding lifelist... )

So I finally got out to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge this week! OMG LOVE. It was bird heaven. Added lots of birds to my life list, and saw more ospreys than I could count. I stopped at the visitor's center to get a map and some tips. The staff there was AWESOME, and I chatted with the guy there for about fifteen minutes. He was extremely knowledgeable about the bird life there, and eager to share. ROCK.

So then I set out for the Black Point Wildlife Drive, one of his first suggestions. It's a 7-mile road along a dike with lots of bird viewing and a couple of side trails. So much there I spent 2-3 hours driving it! There were a few gators, but there was one HUGE one. Easily 12+ feet - bare minimum. After that I headed down the road to the manatee observation deck, where two manatees were hanging out. I hadn't seen wild manatees in years! Then on to Scrub Jay Trail, which featured - what else? - Florida scrub jays! I got the impression that people had been feeding them, because they came looking for handouts... and they were not shy about it! Made for some fantastic photos, though. :D

( So the list I saw there... )

Anyways, bird people, if you're in the area, go! Well worth it. The place is HUGE, too. There's so much I didn't have time to do. If you go, though, bring insect repellent. I am COVERED in mosquito bites on my arms. :P And it smooshed right up against Kennedy Space Center, too (you can see the Vehicle Assembly Building from the refuge) so it's convenient to touristy stuff. :D And in a month or so the migratory waterfowl species will be here... yaaaaaay!

If you want to see my pics from the day, they're all here!

So last night I spent three hours putting together my birding life list on this site here. That site owns my soul. Bird peoples, if you join, add me! I'm xfkirsten there as well. (My current count is 90, and that's just the ones I remember as an absolute positive. I need to try and get ahold of my old records from my Vertebrate Natural History project surveys.) I also uploaded a few of my better photos that I have so far for general use. :D

I've also started keeping track of bird sightings on Disney property (not counting the ubiquitous common grackles, mallards, house sparrows, etc.) for my own dorkiness. I think the nature on Walt Disney World property is all too often overlooked, and there's some fantastic birding there! I'd love to put together a website geared towards birding on Walt Disney World property (identification guide, sighting records, where to look, etc.). If anyone ever wants to come birding with me, let me know! :D

Just called in my new schedule bid this morning. And while I waited on hold and listened to the Disney music, they played the Doodlebops version of "Under the Sea" from this CD... and daaaaamn, I really liked it. :P (They also played the Ralph's World Mickey Mouse Club March, which I also loved.) Basically kept my bid the same as it has been. Virtually the only thing I changed was that I added log wash shifts as a preference.

Next week rocks for me, though. Four days off, because I'm using my floating holidays, one log wash shift day, one tower opener shift day, and one 7:30 day. WIN.

And the 50% merchandise discount is official! WOO! It runs through November 16. Time to go shopping!

Also? It's flippin' COLD out. DO NOT WANT. Big Ass Ugly Jacket goes to work tomorrow.

I got out birding again yesterday, since it was so gorgeous! I went back to Marymoor Park with my camera. As I was heading back towards my car, the birds suddenly lost their shyness! :D Three bald eagles this time! Two adults and one juvy. One of the adults had REALLY beat-up feathers. ( Birdie Report and Photos )

Today was zoo day! ( Zoo stuff! )

Came home and got to work on the latest SGA jacket incarnation - Weir's this time! This one is SO rocking my pants. I found the perfect fabric for the shell and lining, and the pattern I'm modifying is working out really well so far. I'm getting to the part I hate most, though - sewing together all the little pockets and flaps and junk, and the velcro, which is Pure Evil. Ah, well, it's worth it. And I'm keeping track of how much this one costs me and how long it takes me to make it. If it works out well, I may start taking commissions on making them. :)

Oh! And OMG, I finally ordered a tablet! *runs in circles* I ordered a Wacom Graphire 6x8 off Amazon, and it should be here Monday! Yaaaaaaay! I'm so excited to play with that. I'm glad I don't work on Tuesday, so I can just sit around all day and draw on it. :P

I've been cleaning my room today. It's taken all day. :P I should have done before and after pictures, because the mess on the floor was about as bad as it's ever been in my life... and that says a lot. :P I can see the floor again!

We went out tonight and saw "Meet the Robinsons." Really good movie! It started out fairly slowly and it took me awhile to really get into it, but as it got closer to the end, it really picked up. And (without spoiling anything) the last moment of the film is the perfect touch. :) The villain totally stole the show for me - he's an absolute riot! The animation felt rather slapdash, almost sub-par for Disney, but I also have an extreme bias towards traditional hand-drawn animation. Pixar it's not... but I definitely recommend this one! And they have a classic Mickey Mouse cartoon ("The Boatbuilders") beforehand, so it was awesome to see some vintage 1930's Mickey!

I also got my bird photos up! On the way home from Vancouver on Saturday, I stopped at the George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary west of Ladner, BC. Wow. Just wow. I could have spent HOURS there - there were so many birds! There were at least 6 or 7 individual bald eagles - when I first got there, they were all circling in one area together! They have a bazillion mallards that are really tame, and they'll actually follow you around. I'm sure I only saw just a small fraction of the species there, since I spent so little time. ( The list and the links... )

ETA: Eeeeeee! The Disneyland Secrets, Stories, and Magic DVD that was promised and never came will finally be getting a release!!! *bounces around*

So the man in the Great Brown Truck came today and made life win! XD Spent the afternoon at Marymoor Park, playing with the new lens on bird photos... and OMG!LOVE.

( 400mm f/5.6L pics and review under the cut! )

Bottom line? This lens owns my soul.

ONE WEEK LEFT TIL MY LAST DAY OF SCHOOL...EVER!! OMG, it feels weird. I mean, I really don't think that it's entirely hit home yet. I picked up my cap and gown on Monday, got graduation tickets today, and on Friday night is the senior biology party. But I don't think it's hit me that a week from today may very well be the last time I ever attend a class (barring the future decision to go to grad school).

I was a good girl today and spent the morning doing an assignment... okay, so GW was down and I didn't have anything else to do. Shut up. :P Wrote that paper, then to reward myself for being a good girl, I went out to Lake Murray to go hiking. Oh, man, I love that place. If you like birds of prey, that's the place to go. They have ospreys and turkey vultures regularly. I always at least see one or the other, and today I saw both. They don't have super-strict regulations on where you can and can't walk, and in fact if you wander off the asphalt path there's a TON of nifty little trails through the brush.

( The bird report! )

( Tagged! )

Felt like wandering after class, so I went down to the Mission Bay Flood Channel for birdwatching and such! It's been awhile since I've been there. Dear lord, the tide was way out. Even after all the time I spent there when I did a research project there for Vertebrate Natural History, I never saw it that far out.

Had a blast with my camera! Here's a few of the pics I liked best:
Desert Cottontail - BUNNY!! He was frozen in place, just a few feet away from me. Sat there while I took photos, too! I probably traumatized him or something.
Duck Fight - Duck fiiiiight!
Unknown Ducks - Okay, I can't for the life of me identify the species. They were hanging out next to some ruddy ducks. They look like female buffleheads, but I saw no males. Cyber cookies to anyone who can ID them for me!
Little Blue Heron in Flight - LOVE the color on these guys! Their only known nesting site in the San Diego area is actually at SeaWorld (just behind me)
Little Blue Heron in Flight 2 - Another, 'cause they're so damn pretty
Osprey - HELL. YES. I saw something big in my peripheral vision and turned to see this big beautiful osprey soar RIGHT over my head!
Snowy Egret - They're everywhere, they're brave, I have lots of pics of them.

Lots of pics that came out meh, due to bad lighting (cloudy and dark and icky today) and a cheap 300mm lens. Ah, well, they'll be good reference for drawing, at least. I REALLY need a 400mm+ lens. Anyone want to buy me one? C'mon, you know you want to!! I think once I have a job and bills/rent are covered okay, I'm gonna save up for one. But if I'm spending that much money, I'm gonna do it right and buy an L-series lens. *drools at the thought* Buuuuy meeeee leeeeeeeennnsssss! Pleaaaaaase?!

Anyways, here's the full species list for today ( under the cut... )

Been watching The Outer Limits on SciFi. The episode last hour had Marina Sirtis. Wheee! The characters were trying to get to a place called "Snoqualmie." That made me giggle, every single time they said it. My immediate thought was "Dear god, why would you want to go there? They don't call it the 'best concrete in the Northwest' for nothing. Go to Crystal or Stevens or Baker instead!" Why yes, I am skiing deprived, thank you! And now, Torri's episode of The Outer Limits is on! Hooray! I've seen it before, but I love it. Kind of a predictable ending, but Torri's character is SO nervous and shy and un-Weir, it's fun to watch. And the lead guy is really hot. ;)