A week

Birding at Raccoon Creek State Park

 It is a week until I leave the country, and what have I been up to?

• Reading The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
• Birding
• Duck Banding

Pretty fun! The Hobbit was a recommendation from a coworker from Shaver's Creek. He said I would like it because of the adventure.

In the birding world, I am tied for 11th place in Allegheny county.
http://ebird.org/ebird/top100?locInfo.regionCode=US-PA-003&year=2012&locInfo.regionType=subnational2 (will change as time goes on).

Lastly, I visited Abby doing her job for the Game Commission, tackling deer and banding ducks. Unfortunately no deer, but definitely some ducks! 

I am still waiting on my visa. It has to come this week, or I will not be able to leave the country. I hope it comes this week, either wise it means changing my plane ticket.

Where I will be staying is still a mystery. I have a feeling that I will be staying with my professor, probably in the attic. Then I could be called the American in the Attic!

Abby and I duck banding

Camera Crazy

Song Sparrow

Too many buttons! Too expensive! Too hard to use!

That is what I thought about those fancy cameras. I was very content with my point and shoot Canon. Then, my camera died. So with my camera non-operational and with my up coming studies in South Africa, I decided to get one of those fancy cameras.

I got the Canon Rebel T3, as recommended to me by a few people. It cost almost as much as my plane ticket to South Africa! Needless to say I am going to keep good care of it. After charging the battery and reading all the manuals (yes it came with more than one), I went to the field with it.

With my 75-300mm lens, I captured some moments of a Song Sparrow's life. I noticed that while trying to get a good picture, I watched to bird more intently, paid closer attention to behavior, and loved the feel of wildlife photograph!

Song Sparrow foraging in the garden.