| Black-throated Blue Warbler  
 One of the first birds I saw the first time I visited Point Pelee National Park was a black-throated blue warbler. I was amazed and awed. Conservationists have recently made a profound discovery while obseving these birds as they nest. Males of this species sing, not only during courtship and nestbuilding, they sing throughout the summer as well duing the time they are raising their young. Single males who are not paired with females stop singing after failing to get a female. However, these males spend the rest of the summer observing what successful pairs have done right. A conservationist decided to play courting songs of these birds in areas that had poorer habitat choices. The next year several pairs nested in that area. The amazing conclusion was that these warblers, and perhaps many other species, choose nesting sites, not based on habitat selection, but on the approval of site choice by other pairs who have raised young there. Good sites in habitat did not necessarily yield observations of nesting. Only those sites which had had singing pairs before. Most incredible!
 Another favorite of mine is the hooded warbler. I observed a pair of hooded warblers a few years ago in our local wildlife reserve. I was excited beyond belief as it was uncommon to see them at all in that place.
 
An aerial view of Point Pelee national park in southwestern Ontario. (CP file photo)
This is the way I remember the tip of Point Pelee (seen here from the point, facing the peninsula).
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 I have camped at Pte. Pelee many many times, before moving to the East. This is where I learned the bulk of my repertoire of songbirds. Point Pelee is the southernmost tip of Canada, and about 40 miles southeast of Windsor, Ontario and Detroit.
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| No offense to any Chinese people, but I couldn't resist this tidbit from "PRAVDA". (they're the Russians, if you don't know)
China to stop eating dogs for August Olympics (this is a link) |
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| HeartOfPandora is in the running for Miss XangAmerica. I know, I know. I have others friends running as well. You can take your pick. However, Pandora is my old friend Blondie
and lovely through and through and I'd like to see her make the final cut. [she is a different Blondie with other connections - this one is in Minnesota]
 
@ theblackspiderman Please hit this link and vote for your choice: Kestral is also running. thx
JtheP
If the links fail to work, please just look for theblackspiderman on xanga and connect that way. thank-you |
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| Recent books I've read, reading or will read // Bozo
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The Lower Depths by Maxim Gorky
Tug of War (a Love Story) by Brendan M Carson
Pushkins's Children (Writings on Russia and Russians) by Tatyana Tolstoya
God Is Dead by Ron Currie, Jr.
On Writing (a Memoir of the Craft) by Stephen King
The Suicide Club by Robert Louis Stevenson
Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon
Russka by Edward Rutherford
Maps by Nuruddin Farah |
RIP Bozo! What! Bozo??
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| Ribbon Gymnastics - Beijing, can't wait!
Spanish gymnast Anna Paula Ribeira in full flight at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championship in Baku
6 months ago: Malaysia's Lim Wen Chean performs in the Rhythmic Gymnastics ribbon final at the SEA Games in Nakhon Ratchasima December 15, 2007. Lim won the gold.
 Biba Golic living in Chicago and from Yugoslavia... 
PHOTO: Adam Levin Adam Hugh serves during his match at the USA Table Tennis Olympic Trials.
 Tan Xue, China's fencing star.
Luan Jujie: Asia's First Olympic Gold Winner in Fencing
Updated：2008-04-07 By：
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| Luan Jujie [File photo: ynyd.gov.cn] |
Luan Jujie was the first Asian fencer who won an Olympic gold medal. She, at the age of 25, claimed the title in women's foil individual for China at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
Equestrian Steeplechase:
  
AND BADMINTON:
   
Beijiang, I can hardly wait!
 Comic icon and counter-culture hero, George Carlin. RIP
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