Cinnamon is driving me crazy. She apparently is a little bored at home and has taken to a new hobby of climbing every piece of furniture in the house. The other night she climbed to the very top of our lazy boy, teetering precariously on the ledge. So I decided to pop on her leash and take her out for some light birding with me. She's actually not a bad birding partner (except when dogs come by). Standing on a path near some underbrush, I noticed that she suddenly became very focused in one particular direction, I bent down to her level and found a mixed flock of white-throated sparrows, white-crowned sparrows, juncoes and a lone fox sparrow! And here I only thought she was good for attracting buteos.

I wanted to take the time to test a new digital camera that I'll be using. This one is a Nikon Coolpix 7900. It's got so many bells and whistles, it's taking time for me to get used to using it. Without practice I wasn't quick enough to photograph the sparrows Cinnamon was watching, so I decided to focus on some wigeon and mallards instead. I need practice.

I have so much to do, I'm heading to the Midwest Birding Symposium Thursday. I just got word from some reliable sources that karoake parties are schedule for Thursday night and quite possibly Wednesday night. I'll miss Wednesday, hopefully that will just be a warm up session.