The Flight of the Hummingbird

I have always enjoyed birdwatching. I have peppered my backyard with bird feeders. Despite my constant frustrations due to fighting off squarels, the feeders are a wonderful way to attract a wide range of birds. I live in an old wooded area that has been turned into a housing development. Thankfully the developer knew the importance of keeping trees. Annually I can attract the typical array of finches, jays, cardinals, and redbirds. I even have a redheaded woodpecker who visits for the peanuts on a weekly basis. But my pride and joy is my ruby-throated humming bird. Today he finally appeared. I periodically visit the web site that tracks the hummingbird's migration from the South to the North (http://www.hummingbirds.net/map.html) just so I know when to begin putting out my feeder. This year I kept watching and watching. I was beginning to lose hope, when suddenly this morning a male hummingbird appeared. His fast moving wings that produce a stillness while sucking nectar out of the feeder is one of the most amazing natural paradoxes for me. His grace, speed and beauty is captivating. This year I was particularly blessed as I visited San Francisco in early March. My trip took me to a hotel near a park that was blooming with spring flowers. And there, I saw my first hummingbird of the 2008 season. These are the moments that take my breath away.

There is No Place Like Home (Bird Watching: The Mallard)

Upon arriving home after a spring break trip I breathed a sigh of relief - I'm home. After falling into bed and a wonderful, fitful sleep I awoke to a light dusting of snow - of course - spring in the Midwest. As I left my front door to sleepily walk to get the paper I noticed a wood duck staring at me out from under a bush next to the house under my front window. "No Way!", I thought. While we were gone this little duck "adopted" our home. Clearly she was not moving from her nest. As I wandered down the drive way I kept wondering how long she had been there. Clearly she had, had the past week to make herself at home. And at home she now was. As the day wore on I kept checking on my "house guest". She was faithfully there on her nest huddling behind the bush as light snow fell consistently through out the day. Days turned to weeks. She continued to sit on her nest day and night faithfully guarding her eggs and protecting them from the weather. Periodically she would wander away, generally at night. Once off the nest it was clear eggs were present; but how many was not known. After a couple of weeks I gazed out at her to suddenly see six heads poking out from under her body. She had finally given birth. Her brood must have contained at least 11 eggs. Within days she began leading her newly hatched ducklings to the pond. A proud mother who for a few short weeks faithfully stayed at home. In time, this mother and the father decided that home was not so bad. Once our pool was opened, the duck family returned to their home. This time, rather than nesting in the front yard below the window near the foundation of the house, they decided to take up residence in the pool.  I'm glad to know that our backyard has become a sanctuary for God's creatures.  To learn more about the mallard, click here. 

Let the Training Begin

Finally spring is here. The Sunday ride was awesome. Today was my day to focus on my riding. There is riding to ride and riding as training. Today I'm training. At Christmas, during a trip to Chicago, I visit the Garmin store - mistake (not according to Garmin). I was in awe of the wonderful technology that allows us to map everything and to use those map to lead us anywhere and everywhere. And now.....to help us train. Garmin has developed a GPS, Heart monitor, speedometer et al. that can help the serious athlete train. But wait, I'm not a serious athlete! Nooooo, but I am a "gadget girl". And the more precise the better. So 30 minutes later I walked out of the Garmin store and down Michigan Avenue proudly holding my Garmin bag with my new GPA "watch" for bicyclist, runners, triathletes, and probably much more. So, today was my day to focus on the benefits of this new Garmin. Today I decided to ride less and focus on my cadence and keeping it consistent. This Garmin can record information and transfer it to my computer and let me "study" my training data. My daily job lets me work with data and now I can take that passion and transfer it to my "hobby". So after a shorter 15 mile ride over 45 minutes I downloaded my "data" and looked at my cadence. Sure enough - it was much more steady than my first ride. I loved the little gadget as it keep me focused on my goal because rather than guess at whether or not I accomplished my goal a graph would pop up on my computer after my ride and I would see it, as recorded. I'm looking forward to this bicycling season.