The Observation Deck

michael gill wrote:There should be a Golden Nature Guide to Lakewood, put together using one of those online, on-demand book services, representing the diversity of animals in Lakewood. There could be pictures of Jim O'Bryan, Mike Summers, Suzanne Metelko, and all the members of the genus "Classus of Seventy-Two-us." There could be other Lakewood wildlife, too.

I just have to smile.

I post a photo of new born morning doves, and their little one day old babies. So cute!

And the response is a slam on Lakewood Schools and the class of 1972.

Now I will admit, they probably should be laws about class of 72 holding any positions of power. But to think
this is what pops into a person's mind at 8:30 am on a Monday morning.

And I am the negative one.


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But Jim, there is nothing negative going on here.

I have always thought that the LHS Class of 72 was every bit as cute as baby mourning doves!

And they are far more diverse in their plumage.

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Found this today:



Looks like it's been in a fight. The tail is tattered.

Cool colors.

Can anyone identify?

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it is a moth - actias luna

Getting ready to leave the nest.



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Buzzards are back, lots of them circling daily over the Emerald Canyon.

I think we might have more than Hinckley, time someone in Lakewood jumps on the Buzzard bandwagon.



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Squirrel with mange




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Caught these two taking a stroll in my front garden! Trolls on a stroll! (I am so sorry they are nude!)
Happy weekend everyone!!!

A Blue Jay stops by...






Well I guess no time to stop for any longer.

Yesterday I saw another Great Blue Heron in the tree that is sometimes occupied by the Bald Eagle that visits this end of the Emerald Canyon. So, not learning from my fall a week ago, I climbed down for a couple photos.






All to quickly he was gone.

More photos is my photoblogs, isn't it time you started yours?

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We found this moth at CVS today, waiting for someone to open the door for him so he could get the Sunday Plain Dealer.



It was actually bigger than it is here. I think it's the biggest moth I've ever seen outside of the Cleveland Botanical Gardens.

Betsy Voinovich

Wow Betsy, that's incredible. I don't think i've ever seen a moth that big. Thanks to all that post pics on here. This is my favorite thread.

We had one of these in our yard a couple of days ago. I think it is a Polyphemus.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antheraea_polyphemus

It was definitely the biggest moth I've ever seen.

Female, Double Crested Cormorant.

Pretty rare around here I believe.



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Jim O'Bryan wrote:
Female, Double Crested Cormorant.

Pretty rare around here I believe.



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It's a cormorant, all right. But it may be an immature bird. Hard to tell. Cormorants are not all that rare, though. They are common enough on the Bass Islands to be a problem and I saw them pretty regularly while fishing on Lake Erie. I remember a project in which researchers were painting cormorant eggs on one of the islands with cooking oil so they wouldn't hatch.

Down on the Virginia Peninsula, where I live now, they are quite common, an everyday site on the water.