Snapshot Chronicles

Susan Getgood's personal blog

Insane Hummingbird?

by //

IMG_4625

Hummingbirds are known to be a bit territorial. Both at home in Massachusetts and at our house in Vermont (where we are this weekend), when I put the hummingbird feeders out every year, we definitely see evidence of this. Two males vie for ownership of the territory and we get amazing displays of hummingbird flight.

But the guy above, who I photographed yesterday, gives new meaning to the term establishing territory. He’ll sit on the arm of the feeder pole for five, maybe 10 minutes at a time. Just daring any other males to try and eat from this feeder.

More pictures on Flickr.

Happy Birthday Snapshot Chronicles

by //

img_4138-1

It’s been two years since I first began (hopefully) entertaining you here on Snapshot Chronicles with my ramblings on travel, photography, birds, gender, politics, science fiction, dogs and entertainment.

Hopefully, in the sense that I truly hope you enjoy the posts here, which tend to be a little lighter than on my serious marketing blog. Except when I talk gender and politics.

Hopefully, in the sense that I try to look at the glass half full, even though sometimes — especially lately — it has been difficult.

The economy has hit my marketing & social media consulting practice pretty hard, to the point that I am now also applying for full-time positions as well as prospecting for new projects. Projects aren’t closing as quickly as they used to, and when they do, budgets are smaller. It didn’t help that one client last year and one this year didn’t pay their consulting fee, and we are still chasing them.

It also is increasingly hard for a sole practitioner to compete with agencies, no matter how good my advice or knowledge may be. I’m not whining (well,  okay, maybe a little). I love what I do, and plan to keep doing it. The form in which I do just may be a little different.

Finally, hopefully, in that I hope you’ll keep joining me here for my sporadic and sometimes spastic ruminations.

—

Eastern Towhee
Eastern Towhee

PS – The bird the other day that we thought might be a Baltimore Oriole was an Eastern Towhee, but I did catch a glimpse of a female Oriole Thursday morning.  We also saw (and heard) a Gray Catbird.

Spring fever for the birds

by //

I’ve got quite a few new birds at the feeders this year. So far I’ve spotted a Rose-breasted Grosbeak and a Baltimore Oriole. All the woodpeckers are still coming as well as the cardinal pair and the goldfinches. We also had two ruby-throated hummingbird males battling each other for the territory of the hummer feeder yesterday. I got some pictures, which I will post later this week. Made me wish I could get even closer than I do with my telephoto lens, so I am going to save up for a teleconverter to add to my kit.

TV Report: season finales of Fringe and Bones this week, then we’ll have a dry spell until the return of Eureka, Leverage and Burn Notice this summer. Unfortunately, other favorite Life was cancelled and still no word on Chuck.

This month, I’ll mostly be writing on the new blog Snapshot Chronicles Roadtrip and catching up on all the topics in queue for my professional blog Marketing Roadmaps so I may not be here for a while.

Unless of course I make it to the Star Trek movie, in which case I will DEFINITELY share my thoughts with you!