Looking for Red-cockaded Woodpeckers

Hello! Today was a beautiful winter day! It was sunny and around 60*F with a cool breeze.

Today, Tink and I drove up to Sam Houston National Forest to hike and bird watch. We stopped by the Red-cockaded Woodpecker Interpretive Site. It was really neat! The site provides and educational opportunity to observe the endangered Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Picoides borealis. There was lot of the characteristic nest of the Red-cockaded Woodpecker (RCW) all over the site. When we got there we heard one but couldn't see it. The pines are very tall there, some of the tallest I have seen, with very thick trunks. Many of them were swaying back and forth in the breeze. Im sure they provide the RCWs with lots of good hiding and feeding spots. We stayed for about a half hour and I took pictures of the nest holes. We will definitely come back in the spring when they are supposedly most active.

The trees with the nest holes have a lot of resin coating many feet above and below the nest hole itself. This makes it easy to find the nest, even though most trees with nest are marked by humans with paint near the base of the trunk.

Its a pretty attractive nest. I can see why many other species of bird and other animals like to take over the RCW nest holes.

The nest holes with the metal guard are kinda neat. I wonder what the RCWs think of them?

Versace F/W '10 Runway

The season is almost at an end but before it does I wanted to share with you a few pieces from the mens Versace fall/winter 2010 collection that I like.

Here is the first piece. Its very bright, which is kind of nice for dark cold winter days. This piece was used in the fall/winter 2010 ad campaign.

The back has this pattern in the center.

And another nice detail is this medusa near the back collar. Which the next piece has too...

I was hoping to get this piece exactly how it is shown here on the runway, but it was made into a long sleeve shirt like the one above. It would have been wearable as the fall/winter is still warm enough here in Houston to wear a sleeveless shirt, but the long sleeve version is more appropriate for most of North America.

The pattern goes over the shoulder to the back and mirrors the front.

The last piece I wanted to share with you is this sweater. I love this sweater. It has tons of detail and a great silver sheen to the yarn. This piece was also used in the fall/winter 2010 ad campaign as well.

As you can see, the three bans that protrude a little are actually stings of yarn going across each section. If you wear the sweater without an undershirt you can see skin in those sections.

Here is more detail of the collar and shoulder. Isn't the material great!? It remind me a little of metal armor.

Phalenopsis spikes

Hello! I hope you are nice and warm on this very cold winter day! Half of the country is covered in snow and even here in Houston, TX we had below freezing temperatures!

So Im sure everyone has there orchids in nice comfortable spots for the winter. I brought my all my orchids inside and spaced them all around the house. I have 3 different Phalenopsis on my office window and all 3 of them have flower spikes! The mini-Phal (which I dont think is actually in the Phalenopsis genus) is the farthest along. Hopefully there will be some nice blooms by Valentines Day! :D

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year! Im so excited its 2011!

I hope you have a wonderful year with much luck, good health, and lots of happiness!

Here's a picture of a female Summer Tanager - Piranga rubra in Florida, for a bright start to the new year!