Shortly after purchasing our new digital camera, Rusty and I took a ride around the neighborhood one snowy morning. In our travels, we took pictures of houses that we liked and such. I remembered there was a house that I really liked, so we head on over.

We pulled up and I got out of the car and while fiddling with the camera, I saw the shadow of a large bird pass overhead. Figuring it for yet another seagull, I glanced up and found this hawk sitting on the chimney of the house I wanted to photograph. I got so excited, I ran back to the car to get the zoom lens and got three pictures before he took off. This was the best one.

In the past year or so, my interest in birds has grown. I’ve taken up photographing them wherever possible and added a new category to the GreenGallery, aptly named Birding.

I also bought my Dad a book on identifying birds, as he sees a lot more than I do! My parents travel through the winter in their “rig”; a 34 foot luxury trailer that they hitch on to the back of their truck. I’m hoping to see some videos from this year’s trip. They will be back up North for my cousin’s wedding on the 16th.

If you want to learn more about birds, or see some great pictures, visit: Birding Forum at Nature.net. They are a very nice bunch of people from all over the world.

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The little girl, the hot dog bun, and the duck.

Whenever possible, I like to take candid shots of people. I don’t like being found out because then people act funny, or might get upset that I’m photographing them.

During this first visit to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, I found a shady spot to stand in at the Japanese Garden because it was over 95 degrees. What posessed me to choose July 4th as a good day to go, I have no idea.

Anyway, I was standing in the shadows looking around and saw this little girl eating her hot dog bun, watching the ducks. She had no idea what affect bread has on ducks and she soon had a bunch of them following around. This female mallard was the first to find her.

The little girl just stood there looking at it for a while, munching on pieces of her bread. Then she accidentally dropped the piece of bread in her right hand. The duck quickly snatched it up, much to the girl’s dismay. She leaned over and ripped the piece out of the duck’s mouth, and that’s when I snapped this picture. I was glad I got the picture when I did because after she angrily stuffed the bread in her mouth, I was laughing too hard to take any more pictures.

Her Dad, who was standing just out of the shot, tried to stop her but she wasn’t about to have that bread taken away again.

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Ever notice that internet communities are a lot like High School?

No matter what the forum, bulletin board, or newsletter, if it gets a good amount of traffic, the cliques are there. And if you don’t notice, you are probably a member of the “popular” clique.

Think about it. When you’re outside the group, people tend to ignore you. Only the nicest of people respond to your questions or posts on a regular basis. But since they respond to everyone, they are not a good indicator of whether you are “in” or you are “out”.

So how do you get on the inside? Pick out the leaders and flatter them. Take their side in a debate, tell them they are right (even if you KNOW they are wrong). Respond to their posts, compliment them, ask them questions about themselves. Everyone’s favorite subject is themselves, after all.

A better idea is to forget all the games and crap you dealt with in High School and just enjoy it for what it is. There will always be people who think they are better than you, people who like to be mean to make themselves feel important.

And every once in a while, you find someone who is true to who they are. And you can be unpopular together.

Trish

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