Birds (and other beasties) of Monterrey
It's spring and bird-love is in the air. We have regular coo-fests and squabbles among the doves. I've heard the clay-colored robins (this site has the distinctive call they term the "mono-duet" that I hear frequently) this year, and seen a few, but apparently they've elected not to nest in my yard, which is fine by me. (See last year's problems here, under "critter updates.") I've heard, but not seen, what I believe to be Great Kiskadees, which we saw and heard last year. We also have what appear to be Golden-fronted Woodpeckers, or a very similar species. They don't nest in our yard, but do in our neighborhood somewhere. I also saw what I think was a pair of crows this morning, which is very unusual. I see plenty of great-tailed grackles, which are black, and buzzards, but no crows. Perhaps they're migrating?

We see a gecko on our front porch nearly every night and we've spotted several anoles this season (one in our yard, one in our neighbor's, and one the neighbor found on a plant in their house - they moved him outside).

In a case of extremely poor timing, a little hummingbird started building a nest in a tree in my yard last Thursday, while I was discussing tree trimming with the gardeners the landlord sent. I asked him not to cut that particular branch, but I guess all the trimming and activity was enough to scare it away. I saw it pop by a few times when things were quiet, but I've only seen a hummer back feeding on our lantana since. The few tiny twigs and bit of windblown insulation are the only signs that a nest was imminent. I tried to get a picture of the hummer on the branch, but it was too skittish. Here's the best picture of the (barely-started) nest I could get:



Today I spotted what appeared to be a Yellow-tailed Oriole in our neighbor's Jacaranda tree and also perched on a power line outside our bedroom window. It was feeding amongst the numerous purple blossoms. It would make a great picture, if only the bird wasn't so skittish and/or I had a better camera. (Note: if anyone has any digital camera recommendations, please let me know.) Nice pallet: light green foliage, light gray-brown bark, purple blossoms, and a bright yellow and black bird. You'll have to settle for a shot of a jacaranda branch, followed by two partial shots where I've circled the bird in red.




I also spotted one of the local hummingbirds (probably a broad-billed) and the local bumble and honey bees in the same tree. I'll try to get a shot of the bumblebees one day. They're large and solid black, unlike the black and gold we have back in the States.

I also spotted a migrant in our yard: Danaus plexippus, a Monarch Butterfly. Here's a picture I managed to catch of it feeding on our lantana bush.

A few quick updates
Travel - My trip back to the States went well. Visited with family, participated in my mandatory on-campus BIO lab, and did a little shopping. Watched the Transformers movie on DVD with my brother. It was okay, but it was a bit mature for the market for which they design the toys. Overall, I still prefer the cartoons.

Scary robot
Slashdot referred me to this YouTube video on Boston Dynamics' "Big Dog" robot. All I can say is... creepy. If I encountered that thing alone, particularly in the woods portion of the video, I might freak out a bit. Just a bit. :-)

Here's the video:


Weather update
Perhaps I'll post more about this later, but yesterday was a bit rough. I went to the Consulate in the morning to take an exam. That went fine, but when I left to catch my bus home I found that the pollution level had increased dramatically. Buildings less than 100 yards away were blurred. The hill that divides Monterrey from San Pedro, Loma Larga, was nearly invisible at a distance of maybe half a mile. You could smell and taste the pollution. The wind had picked up a little and it was gusting grit and dust everywhere. Altogether an unpleasant day was had by all. After catching my bus home, I did have one small high point. Walking from the bus stop to the house, I heard a distinctive tsk-tsk-tsk noise I've come to know well: hummingbird. I looked up and a small, dark green hummer with a bright red bill was perched in a tree overhead, looking decidedly unhappy over the increasing winds. Trash, leaves, and trashcans were blowing down my street. I managed to get our trashcan out to the curb just a few minutes before the trash truck picked up, and then quickly grabbed the empty can before it blew away.

We lost power briefly several times over the next two hours, with numerous flickers and dimmings, and then lost power completely around 1:30 PM. Power was restored about six hours later. Anyone know how long food is good in a refrigerator/freezer if the door is left closed? Guess I'll Scroogle it. Anyway, once Emily arrived home (had to manually open and shut the garage doors) we set about finding candles and flashlights. We baked a frozen pizza and ate it by candlelight.

As of 9 AM this morning, our cable TV still isn't working. That means we missed Jericho last night, as well as the opportunity to see if the Warner Channel carried the new episode of Big Bang Theory which we missed on Monday (Darn the revised Daylight Saving schedule! We're still an hour behind!).

With internet and power back and stable, I have lots of school work to finish (it's about mid-term time). Back to the salt mines.

Travel update and sad news
First off, I'm headed back to the States for a week. For part of that time I'll basically be unavailable by email (the horror!) since I'll be visiting my folks in the valley. I have to head back to do an on-campus lab in Alexandria. I'll also get a new student ID, maybe try to sell a few old books back, and take an exam. (I tried to take one here yesterday and the Blackboard system went down.)

For the sad news, I just heard that Gary Gygax has died. I never met the guy, but he and the other authors of D&D had a profound influence on me. D&D was a staple, along with SciFi/fantasy books and films, both a source of wonder and a good way to stay out of trouble. I credit D&D with vastly increasing my vocabulary and sending me off on many a fine quest to find more information on the origin of a particular mythos. Rest in peace.