Yippeee!..Featured “Bathrobe” Bird Blogger of the Week

Howdee all,

I thought the addition of Yippee in the title suited that silly Puffin up there.^^^

I am excited though, I found a new blog recently..well, several months ago..and I am in love. I am in love with my featured bloggers writing…I sometimes feel I am at a crime scene, reading a captivating novel, or sitting there in her Maine living room…in my…ahh…..Bathrobe seeing what she sees, smells, hears….and… I learn about birds. This blog is informative fun, engaging, silly at times and always a pleasure to read…….I suppose I should let you know who I am talking about…This is about as suspenseful as my non-writing abilities can go…I am sure ~Robin Robinson of The Back Story – My controlled Chaos~ would have woven a more suspenseful intro…

If you have not read Robins Blog..well, you must start…Robins blog is a real treat to the senses! Robin is not just a writer but wonderful photographer as well..Check out Robin Robinson’s Maine at Smugmug There you can peruse her photos and buy one or two if you wish.

~Robin Robinson of The Back Story – My controlled Chaos~

Read more about Robin and why she birds in her Bathrobe …..

Robin R Robinson is a writer, photographer, gardener and birder living in Phippsburg, Maine with her husband, a dog and a cat. Her two children have grown and successfully fledged the nest. Having the good fortune to live on the rocky, Atlantic coast, Robin enjoys the natural world every day. The Robinson home sits atop granite ledge with a clear view out to sea. The grounds are surrounded by elaborate, perennial gardens which Robin

Robin Robinson

tends. As an avid gardener for more than twenty years, Robin has a rich knowledge of flora, both native and cultivated. A greenhouse filled with colorful, ornamental plants fills her need for growing things through the winter months. If this were not inspiration enough for a writer, the birds abound in the gardens and on the water. Phippsburg is a peninsula jutting twelve miles south into the ocean; sea birds are ever present and the migratory bird varieties astounding. Robin often counts as many as 30-40 species of birds daily from her living room windows.  Describing herself as a “lazy birder,” she is usually still in her bathrobe with camera in hand when she captures amazing images of birds for her series “Bathrobe Birding.”

Barred Owlet

Robin’s interest in birds began nearly thirty years ago when she lived on a salt marsh, where egrets, heron and bitterns wetted her appetite for other birds. Check lists in field guides inspired her to find more, see more and then, through photography and writing, to tell more. When her children were young and interruptions many, she began photographing birds with a film camera. Ten years ago, she acquired her first digital camera. The rest is history and tens of thousands of images later. Though Robin photographs hundreds of common and rare birds, she likes to say that she will photograph anything that can’t outrun her. The fantastic landscapes of Maine, its birds, animals and flora are all fair game for the shutter. Robin began writing while serving in the Peace Corps as a registered nurse in Paraguay over thirty years ago. She was inspired to pursue a degree in poetry from Goddard College on returning to the United States. To write about gardening, birding and the world around her was a natural development. Robin combines photography and writing today in “The Back Story – My controlled Chaos,” an autobiographical natural history blog. The Back Story is a quirky blend of original essays illustrated with stunning photographs. Filled with rich factual details, Robin uses humor and sometimes heartbreak in her self-revealing, innovative approach to her writings about the world of natural science.

Please enjoy these featured posts…click on the links to go to the original post.

Monday, February 28, 2011

The Redpoll Riot – Bathrobe Birding

“Depending on who you talk to, there are either one, two or six species of redpolls. This is because birders like to argue. Actually, it’s because there are so many variations that without DNA samples, redpolls are hard to nail down. One of the species lives in Finland, so if I tell you I’ve seen one here, you’d better check my pulse and cut off my bar tab. The other two that are known to occur here are Common and Hoary. Hoarys are a little bigger with a smaller bill. They have a frosted look, thus the name “hoary,” which is not a misspelling of slutty behavioral traits. I know what you were thinking!”

Dawn Says….Some of Robins birding is “Bathrobe birding”…read this very informative post~no bathrobe seen here:0

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Butchies’ Mom – Bald Eagle Details & Feeding

“Last evening, this Bald eagle swooped in landing on the rocks just in front of our house. It was a great beast of a bird. I’m guessing she is the mother of The Butchie Boys. I was in my bathrobe, blissfully drinking a glass of wine as supper was cooking. The sweet scents of cooking Sock-eye salmon glazed with vinaigrette and mushrooms wafted around my house. I use apple cider vinegar and Dijon for this, of course with EVOE as the emulsifier. I like apple cider vinegar for dark meat fish as it’s sweeter but not overpowering as balsamic can be. Oh, but I have digressed.”

Dawn Says…What a sight to see in ones own front yard~What a meal…for Robin and for the Bald Eagle “Butchies’ Mom” Go to this post to see what was for dinner…Ughh….I’ll take the salmon thank you.:)

Saturday, September 4, 2010

The Seamy Side Of Charlotte’s Web – Hummingbird Caught In Spider’s Web

“The Ruby-throated hummingbird had become ensnared in a spider’s web. I happened to find her on my deck. Fearing she was dead, I picked her up, then felt her quiver. Gingerly, I picked away the web. By weight, the web had the strength of steel. The bird could not have been worse off had she been bound up in duct tape. Hummingbirds can die of strokes and heart attacks when frightened badly enough, so I worked quickly.”

Dawn Says…OH MY…poor hummer…check out the post for more details…and to see if the little silk trapped hummer survives.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Birds, Beasts & Bon Bons – Bald Eagle, Buffleheads & Harbor Seal

“The Butchie Boy loped across the sky, skirting the tree line. The birds were nervous and when he dove for them, they panicked lifting off the water in a flurry of wings and salt spray. The young eagle must be hungry by now. It’s late in the winter and months into slim  prey pickings. Ice has narrowed his hunting grounds forcing him to open water. Though there are hundreds of waterfowl, he’s an unseasoned hunter. Even an experienced eagle gets less than twenty percent of the birds he intends to dine on.  If he hadn’t been so self absorbed, he could have asked me for a handout. I would have thrown him a hot dog from the freezer, or perhaps one of the dehydrated, lost HotPockets hidden in the back. Though the wind was bitter, I stepped out the door to photograph some of the action. Naturally, I was wearing my bathrobe. This is where a  writer given to overwriting would say that the folds of the robe licked up around her legs, further exposing her. She’d say “frigid air bit into her tender flesh.”  But, I have way too much self control for that.”

Dawn Says…..hee hee…More Bathrobe birding…I do wish Robin wouldn’t use as much self control…how about you?…Check out the post to see what Bon Bons have to do with birding…

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Pop Quiz! White-Winged Crossbills, Accipiter Hawks & Northern Hawk Owl

“I love pop quizzes, but most of the people I know hate them. I think that’s because people don’t like being put on the spot. They like lots of advance time to study and prepare answers so they don’t look stupid. Me? I’m quite willing to look stupid without any advance notice required. The images above are of Sharp-shinned and Cooper’s hawks, a Northern Hawk owl and White-winged crossbills, pre and post mortem. Do you know what they all have in common? And don’t say “Ya, the one on the bottom is dead.” That would be just stupid. The hawks and the hawk owl are three species of predatory birds that eat other birds. They all eat White-winged crossbills when they can find them. The Northern hawk owl isn’t a hawk at all, though it does behave like a hawk. And, the owl and the White-winged crossbills have more in common than the hawks or the owl. Don’t you wish you had studied for this exam?”

Dawn Says…Go inside this post for the exam you didn’t study for…:)..guaranteed you will learn allot.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Bon Voyage, Clarise And The Kids!

“What are any of us besides the impressions that we leave behind? The indentation of a body on a sofa, a hastily scrawled note, a voice mail – or an empty nest, literally. Some people leave huge impressions in the form of art, writing, recorded music, political offices and more. Some, just a dent in the couch which to the mother, means everything.”

Dawn Says…Ahh…the bittersweet feeling when the chicks leave the nest…..:(

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

“POOF! There Go The Puffins!” Atlantic Puffins

“Now that I’ve bared my soul on that matter, I’m going to put another one out there. I did not back up the data. You heard me. Now, before all of you smug, techie types jump out of the bushes with your finger wagging admonishments, I want you to know that I thought I had backed it all up. I had however,  been sloppy about where I did my back ups.  Suddenly, one morning a full terabyte drive quit. Within twenty-four hours, while I was trying to figure out what had happened, a second drive quit. And poof went all the puffins, once in a life time Bald eagle shots, mink, otters, my children………shall I go on? Hands shaking, palms sweating, I started making phone calls to my techie friends. They all said two things. And, because I can read minds, I know there was a third thing they were thinking, but did not say. What they did say was, “Don’t panic!” And, “Where are your back ups?” The unspoken thought, which to me was loud and clear, was “Phew! Glad it isn’t me!”

Dawn Says….Read this post! from Jpeg to Raw to the most important of all~BACK UP YOUR DATA! oh..and more awesome Puffins!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

“Waiter! There’s A Fly In My Soup!” – Barn Swallows Feeding Young

“These are Barn swallows. I took these photographs in Phippsburg while sitting in my car. I could have watched them all day, but did not. I realized that sitting on the side of the road, though not  talking on a cell phone made me look like a stalker or a cat burglar casing homes. I didn’t even have a cell phone with me, nor lunch, nor anything else that could explain what I was doing had I been asked. I only had a suspicious looking camera with a long lens and a couple of waterproof field notebooks. All together, it was an assemblage of possibly circumstantial looking evidence that did not look good for me. So, I moved on.”

Dawn Says….No, Robin wasn’t arrested…she moved on~You might want to move on and read this full post for some great info on Barn Swallows..

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Give Me The Night Life! The Mickey Mouse Stalker: Black-Crowned Night Heron

“This Black-crowned Night Heron is a good example of why it sometimes pays to be a late in the day birder, as I am. It’s not a bird one would be likely to see in the middle of the day, but rather at night, as its moniker suggests. It’s mostly nocturnal, like me. After all the other birds have gone to bed and said their prayers, this one starts hunting. It hangs around in shallow ponds, standing for long periods waiting to skewer frogs and fish.”

Dawn Says…You must read this post to find out why Robin thinks Night Herons are “barfly thugs of the night.”

Saturday, July 24, 2010

What’ll It Be – Carrion Or Mink? Bald Eagle & Mink

“This is as close to a critter cam as you could get, I’m sure of it. I took these shots less than an hour ago. I was sitting in my underwear at my computer reading email. Suddenly, a dark shadow loomed over swinging around from my left shoulder. “EAGLE!” I screamed to my husband and out the door I ran. The Butchie Boys mom was back! As you can see, the seal carcass is still there, boding well for my planned skull recovery. It’s wedged tightly into the rocks. Madame Butchie has to use the full force of her wings and neck muscles to pull morsels from it. She yarns out  hunks then nibbles away quite daintily at the tidbits on the rocks. Before I crept across the deck and down the stairs for closer shots, my loving and attentive husband whispered from the door, “Would you like your bathrobe?” I whispered back, “Ya, and another camera battery, please.” He had already brought coffee and breakfast to me in bed. What a guy. Other women’s husbands hate it when I tell stuff like this because they look like marital slouches by comparison. And, unless they are obliging their own queens in these ways, they are. Tighten up your acts, boys!”

Dawn Says…From Bathrobe birding to underwear birding? Robin shows off her….Loving husband:) …..Read on to see if the Eagle prefers Carrion or Mink…

I hope you enjoyed Robin’s blog and visit often…

Please keep those emails coming with suggestions of Birding Blogs you would like to see featured here. Nobbiecat(@)gmail(.)Com

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Happy Birding!

All permissions for this post and photos were given by Robin Robinson