Monday, May 07, 2007

Madtown Monday

Our beans went out on a "photo walk" Saturday, taking pictures around Madison. This is their second "photo walk". Here are some of our favorite pictures... ~Charcoalie

The UW Arboretum is a wonderful place for birding, hiking, bird watching, walking, seeing birds, and listening to frogs and birds. The beans went there April 15 - a gorgeous day!
There are many wild turkeys in the Arboretum - this one flew away (Yes, wild turkeys can fly, just not well).
Wild Turkey
Mom barely caught this Bluebird; they move fast and she's not the hunter we cats are. You can click to see any of these bigger in Flickr, and once there, click All Sizes to see them at maximum size.
Bluebird
I said these are our favorites, not her favorites or her best... but as cats, only our opinions really matter. She hasn't figured out what this bird is... but we don't care, as long as it's tasty!
Bird 2
These are a pair of Northern Flickers... but not for long.
Flickers for Flickrs
This is the one on the left, who got away.
The One that Got Away
This is the one on the right, who didn't get away.
Northern Flicker (but not for long)
This is the hawk that caught the one on the right.
Hawk
It surprised Mom, so she got confused and messed up the camera and didn't get a good shot of it. She's still not as good a hunter as a cat. Or a hawk.

She also shot some things that won't escape so easily. See this bush? It must be dangerous; they've caged it (We're not a political blog, but if we were...).
Caged Bush
This bridge was pretty... the marsh was full of frog song, but Mom didn't spot a single one of them. I bet they'd be fun to play with.
Boardwalk
This week, the weather definitely wasn't as nice. The beans met at the Monona Terrace, which is in Madison, not Monona. It's on Lake Monona; there is no Lake Madison, but maybe Mendota, the bigger lake, means Madison? Uh, yeah. They were all named by beans... go figure.
Logo
That's a rug. With a symbol for the Terrace. Why she shot that, I don't know.
This is the capital building, which is visible from the terrace. I think it's getting flooded or washed or something.
Dome
Now for the MOST IMPORTANT photos of the day... Mallards! Not the Madison Mallards but mallard ducks... and ducklings...
Mallard Family
See, the beans were standing by the water, and Mom looked down to discover a momma duck and her ducklings. Well, Momma Duck took one look at the beans, rounded up the ducklings, and said, "Come along, kids, it's time to go." Too bad about all the trash that washes up here.
Go for it!
They're good little duckies; followed their momma right away and stayed in a tight bunch (there were 11).
They were so little, they were pushed back easily by the waves. Now they're right behind Momma...
Ducks
And now they've been washed away...
Riding Waves
The momma took them far away before Mom could grab one for us. I mean, 11 is a lot; she'd be doing the ducks a favor...
Ok, next were the group of males. One is different - maybe a cross between a Mallard and a Black Duck??? How about Peking Duck?
Male Ducks
Now here's a restaurant for cats! Table for 3 please? Near the window.
Sardine
And here's a lion guarding a downtown building. His partner had lost his fangs, poor thing, but still looked fierce.
Roar
Finally, no feline trip to Madison would be complete without a visit to Mad Cat Pet Supplies; they have 3 locations and a unique truck. Each shop has at least one resident cat to try out all the merchandise. Morty and Lucy are on speaking terms with Mom.
Mad Cat Truck
The truck says "No Kill," a message for shelters and that stoopid law a few years ago that would have made it legal to shoot feral cats in Wisconsin. Luckily, that law was "shot down".
Mom took lots more pictures and you can see them on Flickr. But for those of you who really, really need a cute cat picture...
Charcoalie
Here I am!

25 comments:

  1. jus wunderin vic an bonnie,
    did yer beanz come across da north american noo york jeterbird wile dey were on dere nachur walk? he hazzen't been arownd an i thought dat maybe he went to madison.
    i espeshullee like da pikshur uv da cute cat at da end. it lookz surprizinlee like mi own squillion, laffin an laffin.
    luv--yer frend--jh

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  2. THem little baby duckies look yummy...um, we mean...fun!

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  3. You have a really neat collection of pictures there. I also especially liked the ones of the baby ducks.

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  4. Mmm, all those birdies look tasty, er, we mean pretty....

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  5. Terrific photos! :) Those baby duckies look very cute! My mom says that arboretum sounds a lot like the one at her Alma Matter, the University of Guelph. Thanks for sharing the photos!

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  6. I lurve the pikshurs of the baby ducks and the building getting a bath. I haf nefer seen those befur. I REALLY need to get out more!

    ~Bombay

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  7. I liked looking at your pretty pictures (and I saw the video of the hawk, too!). I was just a little scairt of the hawk. The baby ducks were cute!

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  8. These are such beautiful pictures.

    How are we supposed to get the floating birdies...?

    The flying turkey is very impressive and BIG

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  9. Momma was funny--she thought UW meant Washington! That is a furry pretty arboretum!

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  10. did your mom bring you any souvenirs? like any of the birdies? drat!

    fun pictures!

    love
    --suz

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  11. How cool! Loved the duckies!

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  12. Baby Duckies! I love baby duckies!

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  13. What nifty photos! I like those little duckies, too. They looked like they'd be fun to, erhm, play with, hehehehe.

    Kittyhugs and purrs from MaoMao!

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  14. Charcolie- that was a wonderful foto essay. Those baby duckies looked furry tasty. OOPS, I mean cute. yeah, that's it cute. - Sammy

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  15. Dearest Victor, you are in the longtime friends list - under ‘The Spin Doctor and Bonnie.’

    No hiding needed and NO TICKLE TOES!

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  16. Ohhh, lots of fevvers including baby fevvers.

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  17. Very nice photos! I'd LOVE to eat at a place called Sardines!

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  18. Wow lovely pix. The Woman always likes pix.

    That hawk looks big and strong. I'm glad we don't have too many of them here.

    ~Chocolate

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  19. They really had a great adventure! Those little duckies are CUTE! Maybe they are related to my friend Thomas the goose. Though maybe not.

    Kaze

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  20. Fantastic pictures. What a great day you had. FAZ

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  21. yur mom takes lots of cool pikshures. maybe next time she goes bird watching she can take yus along to help "catch" them birds.

    yuki & kimiko

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  22. Victoooor where are you?
    Esta enojado con Luna?

    ●๋: ●๋:
    ´´´´´●๋: ●๋:
    ´●๋: ●๋: Luna Spain ●๋: ●๋:
    ´´´´´ ●๋: ●๋:
    ´●๋: ´●๋: ´●๋: ´●๋:

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  23. Very nice pictures. You have a nice blog. Nice to meet you.
    Samantha

    I like the ducks. I have a duck friend named George.
    High5 paw,
    Tigger

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  24. Wowee! A virtual vacation for us! Thank you for sharing your wonderful pictures.

    Luf, Us

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