Do Ostriches have External Ears?

Posted on August 30, 2013August 30, 2013 by Dusty Roads

I like birds, big, small and in-between. They are fun to watch and challenging to take pictures of, at least good pictures. A friend said “why do you photograph birds?”. My reply…because they are there. 🙂

Anyway we were at the Franklin Park Zoo and the female ostrich was right up close to the fence. She seemed to be trying to catch little bugs that were landing on the wire fencing so we got a good up close look at her and I saw something but I’m not sure what.

It looks like she has ears! Other birds have smooth heads. I’ve never noticed ears before. I tried looking it up online and got lots of scientific papers about they way birds hear but nothing about a real, external ear flap.

I’ve been working days this week so my time to research this has been limited so I’ll ask you…Do ostriches have ears, real external ear flaps.

If not, what are those things on the side of her head?

The Other Cape

Posted on August 25, 2013August 25, 2013 by Dusty Roads

No Not Robin’s , not even Batman’s. It’s not a style of home. I’m referring to the less famous cousin of Cape Cod, Cape Ann.

What makes a “Cape” anyway? In geography, a cape is a headland or promontory of large size extending into a body of water, usually the sea. A cape usually represents a marked change in trend of the coastline. Their proximity to the coastline makes them prone to natural forms of erosion, mainly tidal actions. This results in capes having a relatively short geologic lifespan. Capes can be formed by glaciers, volcanoes, and changes in sea level. Erosion plays a large role in each of these methods of formation.

Cape Cod’s coastline is constantly changing and eroding when winter storms come through. A great example is Monomoy Island In Chatham. Not so long ago it wasn’t an island, it was a peninsula. A “wicked” Nor’easter came through a couple of years ago and washed away part of the barrier and now it’s an island.

But today we’re talking about Cape Ann, the north shore “cape”, the neglected cousin.

On that bright blue day a couple of weeks ago I took a water tour around the cape. I was feeling really nostalgic as Cape Ann was home to most of the dives I made in Massachusetts while I was certified. Cathedral Rocks and Folly Cove being my favorites.

Looking at the dive map above I am amazed at the number of beach locations now. I didn’t know of all those places back in the 70’s. Back then getting access to the water was never easy. Many of the entries were blocked by private land.

But back to the harbor cruise. We boarded at the town landing in Gloucester and headed across the harbor. In spite of a slight haze we could see the skyline of Boston all the way from here!

As we motored through the harbor we passed all types of fishing boats from the classic lobster boat to the various trawlers. The captain explained each type of fishing as we passed .

We got a glimpse of the Turret of Hammond Castle on our left and the Annisquam river Bridge which is where we’d be returning.

We passed motels and million dollar homes hugging the rugged coast.

We slowed down as we passed the mouth of Folly Cove.

I could see the restaurant where we always had lunch after diving.

We hardly realized when we left the ocean behind and entered the estuary that is Annisquam River.

As we got further into the river we had buildings on both sides. The properties to our left were very rustic with no electric or other utilities. To our right were more gorgeous homes.

A Spanish style home was reported to have sold for over 2 million dollars yet the captain said the interior was totally trashed and would have to be rebuilt! Location, location, location!

We passed under an old railroad bridge and then waited for the draw bridge on the next bridge.

There were cute little house boats but unless you are “grandfathered” you can’t put one in anymore. 🙁

Someone thought the lovely scenery wasn’t enough and painted some rocks to look like a frog family. I guess a little whimsy never hurts.

Following the shoreline of the inner harbor we passed the Gloucester Fisherman then spotted a young man trying to master the round pole.

Every spring this pole is greased and contestants dress up in costumes and lingerie and try to make it to the end before they fall off. This fellow better not bother to try when they grease it. He had enough trouble because it’s round!

Approaching the dock at the end of our tour we spotted a little harbor seal. Unlike the seals of Chatham this little guy was not going to hang around for a photo shoot.

All in all a perfect way to spend a late summer day.

The Butterfly Place

Posted on July 28, 2013July 28, 2013 by Dusty Roads

The Butterfly Place in Westford, MA is located at 120 Tyngsboro Rd. It’d been a long, long time since I’d been there. From where I live in Taunton it’s about 70 miles and should take about an hour and 30 minutes to get there, depending on traffic.

I was making good time until an RV and an SUV decided to mix it up at the junction of RT 90 (Mass Pike) I was about 2 miles from the “Pike” when traffic stopped. The WB ‘copter floated overhead so I had an up to the minute report. According to them we weren’t going anywhere soon.

I shut off the car and open the windows and doors. Soon everyone was doing the same. People wandered around at the side of the road or up and down between the cars. Several ambulances and tow trucks went by but I didn’t see any Med flights so that was a good sign.

The hour we waited actually passed pretty quickly and I arrived at The Butterfly Place at 2:30 instead of 1:30.

The rules are simple, No Touch, No Talk, No Eye Contact..no wait, that’ the Dog Whisperer but it was similar. To protect the fragile inmates there was a no touch policy. If you are caught trying to attract a butterfly to your hands you are asked to leave.

It’s smaller than the Magic Wings venue in Deerfield but the principle is the same. There’s a coi pond, paths through greenery and little benches. Butterflies are everywhere. This is a family owned business so I don’t know if the staff was family or “hired help” but they were very nice and quite knowledgeable. They laughed when I told them I wanted to take pictures (Turns out so did everyone else) and challenged me to get a picture of one of the blue butterflies showing the blue. When they land they close their wings and look like a drab , brown butterfly.

They were the challenge, for sure. When they lit on the ground they did spread their wings…for a second and in spite of trying forever I couldn’t time it right so imagine my surprise when one landed right next to me and spread its wings as if to say “take it now, you only have one chance.”

Although we finally had a pleasant day outside, it was 80+ and humid inside. Just the temps the butterflies love.

You’ve already seen my favorite pictures on Wordless Wednesday.

Like Magic Wings, there were little Quail running every where. You had to be careful not to step on the tiny birds. The attendant called them Chinese Painted Quail.

Don’t let the small size fool you. They are fully mature. More than one pair were intent on making little quail. I got a chuckle when I heard a small voice ask his mother “What’s Mating?”.

I also spotted a pretty little bird. I couldn’t place it but something was tugging at the corner of my mind so I asked. It’s a Zebra Finch. I must have seen them at a pet store as they are domestic birds. She said there are 3 but the most I saw at once were 2 and I couldn’t tell them apart.

Butterfly wings closes at 5pm so about 4:30 I picked up the camera and headed home. The timing would put me right in rush hour traffic but it was worth it. It was a great way to spend an afternoon.

Norris Reservation

Posted on July 26, 2013July 26, 2013 by Dusty Roads

I love learning about little hidden gems of protected areas. Green spaces in the heart of urban Massachusetts, always a surprise, always a treasure.

I guess it’s true that you can take the girl out of the country but you can’t take the country out of the girl. I grew up in the Adirondacks exploring the woods and fields and then I became “urbanized” , exploring the concrete jungle, museums, aquariums, zoos. As I’ve grown older I’ve been increasingly draw back toward my roots. I’ve tired of traffic and gas fumes and crowds. I look for quiet places, woods and steams. I thrill to the sight of a hawk or osprey, a great blue heron or an egret; the flick of a white tail’s flag , a parade of baby geese.

I follow the news of great white sharks off Cape Cod or the rescue of a baby harbor seal.

So I was thrilled to learn of a little place called Norris Reservation in Norwell, MA.

The day I was introduced to this little island of green was one of the hottest, most humid days we have had in this summer of hot, humid days. But even with the uncomfortable conditions I met plenty of other walkers.

Norris Reservation is small, only about 2 miles of easy trails, but it wasn’t crowded. There are board walks and well groomed trails covered in pine needles.

Lovely stone benches along the way let you pause and contemplate the quiet beauty of the natural surroundings.

I only explored about 1/2 of the trails on this, my first visit. I didn’t get to the tidal marsh or the bend in the North River.

The literature speaks of a boat house and picnic areas that I still need to discover.

My direction took me over a little bridge to a boardwalk around a pond. I heard something splashing in the water but I couldn’t see what it was. I sat on a bench and watched the fish rise and dragon flies zoom from flower to flower.

In the distance I could hear children laughing and splashing…maybe a back yard pool?

All in all not a bad way to spend a hot , summer afternoon.

A Rainy Vancouver Morning

Posted on May 26, 2013May 26, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada is living up to it’s reputation for rain. Vancouver is Canada’s third most rainy city, with over 161 rainy days per year! Even so we were determined to get in a bit of time exploring Stanley Park.

Stanley Park is Vancouver’s first, largest, and most beloved urban park. We stopped at the front desk for directions and to find out where we could leave our luggage until we left for the cruise ship.

Continuing in the friendly tradition I mentioned yesterday the desk tagged the luggage for us and placed it behind the desk. That way we could check out, they could get the room ready for the next guest and we could call for our luggage later.

The clerk also told us we were just steps from Stanley Park. I’m not sure if we went in the wrong direction but we ended up in a park that followed the water front. We didn’t get to the normal Stanly Park attractions like the Totem poles, the botanical gardens , or any monuments. I believe that we ended up following the Seawall.

The Seawall is a scenic 22 km path that lines Vancouver’s waterfront. We got caught up watching the birds that seemed to be everywhere, mostly herons and ducks.

There were also plenty of dogs jogging with their owners.

In spite of the cool weather, the landscaping was well underway.

Our walk started with a sculpture of laughing men.

A bit of research identified the sculpture as A-Maze-ing Laughter by the Chinese artist Yue Minjun. It is well named as it had us both smiling as we explored the bronze statutes.

The huge sails that dominate the waterfront were built for the 1986 World’s Fair . These sails are Vancouver’s equivalent of the Sydney Opera House or the Empire State Building. Located on Canada Place you can’t miss them.

We also passed a sculpture that looked like it was right out of Stonehenge.

This is an inuksuk which is a stone landmark or cairn built by humans. Such monuments were used by the First Nation People of the Artic Region. An inuksuk was used as the basis of the Vancouver 2010 logo and the construction of inuksuit around the world have led to increasing recognition of them.

The time passed quickly and before we had even scratched the surface it was time to get lunch, retrieve our bags and get a cab to the main event….the cruise ship. The friendly desk clerks helped us gather our bags and even called a cab for us.

The time had come for the adventure to really begin.