Die hard birding

Debbie and I felt like some die-hard birders yesterday when we went to the Ocmulgee Mound for some bird watching.  It was 38 degree outside and the cold wind didn't help.  I forgot my gloves and the binoculars felt ice cold in my hands at one point.
But, guess what, the birds were out and it turned out to be a pretty rewarding birding outing.  We even had a close look at two Pileated Woodpeckers busy in the trees.  A small flock of Canada Geese were resting from their migratory trip. They stood on one leg and tucked their heads under their wings. They were so tired they barely moved when we went by. 
There were many Northern Flickers around and these birds look quite colorful when you see under their wings.  Flocks of Robins were around as well as flocks of Red Wings hanging out with European Starlings.  Some birds have made their home here and we see them regularly like the Red Shouldered Hawks, the Great Blue Herons, the Red Headed Woodpeckers with several other Woodpeckers, Chickadees, Titmice, Cardinals, various Warblers and Sparrows. We can finally tell the different Sparrows apart.
However, it's nice to see a different group of birds hanging at The Mound when the seasons change.  The Cedar Waxwings have been around in large numbers recently and you can still see them, several Eastern Towhees are now here, Killdeer and some Plovers are back, and the Anhinga has been hanging around.
It's even nicer when you see a bird that you don't normaly see at a site.  In this case, we saw a female Mallard and a Ruby Crowned Kinglet. (No, they were not together).
As much as we're learning about birds, we still see and hear birds that we cannot identify.  Well, we may be braving the elements and appearing "die hard", but we still have a lot to learn (like forget your gloves when it's cold!).

New Year Eve get together

We had our New Year celebration with the visit of the Price family. 
What a way to kick off the New Year!
We all enjoyed some good food with great company. Of course we played some Rook games and everyone had fun no matter if you won or not. We also played some Pool games and Duane surprised everyone.  He is good!


This is Ms. Price (Mama) with some of her children: James, Debbie, Ricky and Connie. 



We all were thankful for the past year and are looking for a better 2010. There are a lot of things going on in the world today and it's nice to be together and see the smiles on everyone's face.

What truly counts is Family that's why Debbie and I always feel blessed to have family who care enough to visit. 




We wish everyone a great and prosperous year 2010!

The Year in Review

Another year is almost over.  The years seem to pass by faster and faster these days.  I don't know what they're in a hurry for.

I've learned new lessons this year.  We can get by on a lot less money than we think is possible; and be just as happy!  Some of the happiest moments in our lives, I came to find out, don't cost a penny.  Those moments are quite unexpected.  Think of a perfectly blue sky in the serenity of the woods on a camping trip amid an orchestra of singing birds.  While you're still relishing on the symphony of the day, you get rewarded with a beautiful full moon and you hear three different owls.  How about a flock of Wood Storks performing a ballet dance in the sky for you, or a Mississippi Kite hovering around your house.  In many regards, this year has been one of the happiest, reconnecting with nature again, living day by day, visiting with family, and family visiting with you.  Of course, I wish I had more money this year, but again I don't want to trade my situation with anyone else's problem.  I'll deal with mine with a thankful and contented heart for what I do have, not dwelling on what I can't have. 

The importance of keeping a journal hit home this past week end.  I've been keeping a journal of our birdwatching activities and transferred everything in an Excell format I've created.  Boy, was I surprised! I've gone birdwatching every single week of the year.  Sometimes, I'll leave the house very early, and do some birding before going to the office.  Usually, Debbie and I will do some birdwatching on the week end.  Since we couldn't take any "exotic" vacations this year, we went on a few camping trips (like last year!) and saw many new birds every time.  If someone were to ask me how many different birds we've seen this year I would respond guessing "oh, maybe 50 or so".  That's before I went through my journal.  In reality, I've seen over 120 different species of birds this year.  Some of them are quite beautiful.  And some of them sung beautiful songs for me.  I'm already getting excited about next year.  Once you get a good pair of binoculars, birding doesn't cost a thing except for a few Dollars in gas.  And it's fun.  I went through a lot of very good birding books that I just checked out at the library. 

More on the subject of happiness.  Sure, you have the obvious ones: be at peace with everyone, love with all your heart, have passion for life, and live in harmony with yourself.  That is to nurture your spirit and mental daily, and respect your body i.e. drink wine in moderation and keep practicing martial arts or whatever you do to exercise. I'm not preaching to you, I'm only sharing my experience of this year.  When you do the above, life will throw some bonuses your way.  In my case, my daughter Leah is getting all As in 12th grade and doing great on her stepping team.  They even won some competitions.  Kelly is very happy with her 2nd year in college and doing great too.  When your daughter is in 2nd year of college, you no longer ask to see her grades but I know she is doing quite well or she wouldn't be so happy.  Or, maybe she's a naturally happy person.  I can relate to that. 

Debbie did all the beautifull Christmas decorations at the house. 

Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday Seasons to you and your loved ones. 

Live with Passion and Love.

William Coquerel visiting Macon

William, my nephew, visited with us after Thanksgiving.
It was nice to see all these cousins interacting and intereting to notice how alike the Coquerels are. (Kelly, Leah, and William are cousins as you know).
We did our favorite things and William was good sport to join in and have fun. Yes, he learned to play Rook and got good at it too. He got a taste of birdwatching at the Ocmulgee National Monument. William is already used to the outdoors with plenty of camping under his belt in different States.
Looking at this picture it looks like everyone was pretty tired. Actually, it just seemed appealing to lay down on that Indian mound in a clearing that was quite peaceful. After we laid down, the birds sung for us. We had to get up or we would have fallen asleep.
Some of the birds we saw that day: 2 Anhingas, a Great Blue Heron, a White Egret, Phoebes and Eastern Peewees, Cardinals, Several Sparrows (White Throated and Swamp Sparrows), a Red Tail Hawk, Red Headed Woodpeckers, Mockingbirds, Blackbirds(Red Winged), European Starlings, ..., and best of all an American Kestrel that zoomed down and picked up a rodent. We also saw a big Water Moccasin.

Thanksgiving at Jacques'

All the Coquerels in the US met at Jacques and Claire's for Thanksgiving this past Thursday.
After sitting around and sharing with each other, we had a nice Thanksgiving dinner meal.
Sylvain and Jean-Sam wanted to get a soccer game going but the card players got their way and we ended up playing cards (first). I even taught some people how to play Rook. Emmanuel and William liked it. They are the ones who learned to play.
Jean-Luc taught a new game too: KuhHandel, a German card game with bidding and auctioning.
The day went by so quickly we didn't have time to do everything we wanted to do such as playing soccer and basketball after the card games then go for a walk in the park, and then have some more desert, tea and coffee while listening to the young Coquerels who are becoming piano virtuosos. Well, I guess there is a next time.

The year is almost over!

Is there one thing that you wanted to do this year that you didn't get a chance to do?  Can you still do it?  Well, concentrate on that one thing and just do it.  The year is almost over, but it's not over yet.

If you had no special goals to accomplish this year, then just enjoy the rest of the year and keep smiling.  let's spend time with each other the rest of this year if we can.  Family and friends are more important than money and material possessions (or the lack of it).  I bet houses, cars, stuff..., you see around you today were there 100 years ago.  And I bet what you see there today (material stuff) will be there 100 years from now.  While we're going through this plane (experience), let's value what's important i.e. the people (souls) we're here to touch and share with.

If you just read this, then post a comment.  Say what's on your mind.  Share a thought.  I'm just curious who bothers to read this blog.  I almost didn't post anything this month then I realize I've never missed a month since i've started.  But then, what good is it if nobody reads it? 

Take care, love life, smile a lot, be at peace, and don't sweat the small stuff. 

Birdwatching at the Bond Swamp

Debbie and I went birdwatching this Sunday afternoon at the Bond Swamp outside of Macon. I don't recall we've ever seen this much bird activities as we've seen this Sunday. Birds, birds, birds everywhere, and quite vocal too. Totally awesome!

This bank of the swamp was one of the spots we just sat at and watched, and enjoyed ourselves. There were a lot of Northern Flickers among other birds. A couple of Pileated Woodpeckers came for the "party" too.
We like the Bond Swamp, especially the Beaver Creek Trail, because it's very quiet and serene. We hardly ever see anybody here. It's almost like our own little secret birdwatching place.

Besides Deer tracks, we saw some wild pigs ground stirring activities. We didn't see any pigs though. They like to hide, I guess.

Besides birds and animal tracks, we saw something quite peculiar this Sunday. A car parked on the edge of the woods by the parking lot. You read earlier that hardly anyone comes here right? Well, we got curious and run the vehicle tag on the "stolen vehicles" website and sure enough, the car has been reported stolen on Saturday. The Bond Swamp is just inside Twiggs County so it took a few phone calls to get the authorities to go do their "job". Apparently, Macon Police and Bibb County Sheriff Office have no interest because it fell just outside their jurisdiction.

Quite a busy week-end including helping out at a Karate testing Saturday morning.