For The Birds

Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 1:37 pm

Trekkin' and Birdin' Did you see the hummingbird? Did you get any pictures of the hummingbird? Did You have hummingbird on a stick for lunch?

Details we need details.

Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 4:14 pm

Tomorrow. Patience, Grasshopper! [ Wink

] Today, between a vet appointment and getting our son to the eye doctor, I drove all over Fillmore and Houston Counties trying to find a non-flood damaged way to get to a cache in the Vinegar Ridge forest.

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 9:54 pm

I spent two hours enjoying this exotic little beauty this afternoon. Way cool. I took photos, which probably suck, but I did take some. There's this whole "ethics" thing about taking photos when lots of people are looking at rare birds, so I didn't get in as close as I'd have liked.

But I saw it do all kinds of wonderful things. And I picked up 11 caches in my travels, two of them earthcaches. So now I'm officially a bronze earthcache master!

Top it all off with that gorgeous harvest moon rising on the Wisconsin River as I crossed it at Highway 60/61 and it's hard to beat a day like this! Thanks for asking.

Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2007 7:52 am

You had a Harvest moon down south? We did not up here near Green Bay.

It was whitish here. I believe that technically a harvest moon is a orangish or yellowish color. Perhaps next month.

Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2007 8:40 am

I thought a harvest moon was the first full moon after the autumnal equinox.

Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2007 9:09 am

I thought the "Harvest Moon" was a Neil Young album.

Zuma, a little help here.

Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2007 9:17 am

Shine on, shine on harvest moon up in the sky.
I ain't had no lovin' since January, February, June, or July.
Snowtime ain't no time to stay outdoors and spoon, so shine on,
shine on harvest moon for me and my gal

Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2007 9:19 am

Hi,

Here is the official NASA explanation of the Harvest Moon:

"The Wolf Moon, the Snow Moon, the Worm Moon, the Pink Moon, the Flower Moon, the Strawberry Moon, the Buck Moon, the Sturgeon Moon, the Harvest Moon, the Hunter's Moon, the Beaver Moon, and the Cold Moon.

They're really all the same Moon, of course, but long before the advent of modern calendars people named the full Moons of a year to keep track of time. These fanciful names have been handed down through the generations and they are still a part of modern Moon lore.

The Harvest Moon is no ordinary full moon; it behaves in a special way. Throughout the year the Moon rises, on average, about 50 minutes later each day. But near the autumnal equinox, which comes this year on Sept. 22nd, the day-to-day difference in the local time of moonrise is only 30 minutes. The Moon will rise around sunset tonight--and not long after sunset for the next few evenings.

That comes in handy for northern farmers who are working long days to harvest their crops before autumn. The extra dose of lighting afforded by the full Moon closest to the equinox is what gives the Harvest Moon its name. In the southern hemisphere, this week's full Moon behaves in exactly the opposite way: there will be an extra long time between moonrises from one evening to the next."

And of course "Harvest Moon" is the title of a great Neil Young record, the second of his Harvest trilogy of acoustic folk rock albums, the first being his best seller in the 70's, "Harvest", and the last being "Silver & Gold," which I am listening to right now.

zuma

Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2007 11:34 am

The blue moon is two full moons in one calendar month too.
TE

Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2007 7:41 pm

Wow! See, I learned something today. I just thought a harvest moon was kind of orange, which it was when it was rising last night--for me, reflected in the waters of the Wisconsin River as it runs along a bluff face.

Aaah!

WGA Member Joined: 2004-05-19 Posts: 730

Ah, but if you pay attention, the moon as it's just rising is an orangish color...thanks to the thicker layer of atmosphere near the horizon. As the moon appears to rise higher in the sky, the atmosheric scattering is less and we get the white moon everyone is familiar with.

This is also the case of a thin cresent moon that sets early in the evening. As it approaches the horizon, it will take on an orangish color....

So the orangish color is not something symbolic with a particular moon.

Here is a orange cresent moon taken in Baltimore mid-September...

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