Swan Point Cemetery, Providence, RI _ May/15/2012 _ 6:55-10:00am _ Sunny - 50` http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S10749552

I know I'm pathetic: here I am posting stories that should have been up on your screen in mid May and now when I finally get around to it in late July! We've had a great time recently.  Earlier in the month we were up in Stowe, Vermont and we just got back from Cape Anne, Massachusetts. Our next expedition will bring us through the northern mountains of New Hampshire and will continue along down east Maine.  Anyway, here's a stale post for anyone interested.

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May 15, 2012 - Swan Point Cemetery, Providence, Rhode Island, USA - 6:55-9:58am

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S10749552

We took the usual route through the cemetery today. Starting at the North Woods where quiet reigned supreme. From there we made our way down to the water where some of us were called away to chase a Yellow-throated Vireo and never actually reached the river (although others in our birding party did and came up empty handed). 

Our galavanting after the vireo was at first fruitless despite the directive song of the bird: "Here I am _ where are you? _ over here...". 


When we again met up with the main group of binocular wearers we (aided by the number and skill of these bird watching machines) were able finally locate the vireo. We would locate the bird by its song but then not be able to see it hidden among the fresh green leaves. Then all would then fall silent from up in the tree where the golden throated bird had just spruiked from only to hear it give away its new location now another fifty feet down the road. We finally decided that there were at least two birds Yellow Throated Vireos singing and there could have been as many as five. We finally found one in the end.


Other highlights near the river included Northern Waterthrush and Rose-breasted Grosbeak neither of which I saw but both of which I heard.

We then made our way back up to the Blackstone Boulevard side of the cemetery. One birder thought she heard an Alder Flycatcher which caused a brief stampede of shuffle-running birders. We shuffle-run as opposed to gracefully dash due to the groups average age of over fifty and the extremely expensive optics that coat us. The Alder was not heard again although the Alders identical twin, the Willow Flycatcher, was easily visible on a sapling by the mulch piles. To add to the year bird Willow we were gifted a brief look at a black-capped Wilson's Warbler. 

After that we spent thirty minutes listening to a bird which everyone hoped and thought was a Worm-eating Warbler (and which everybody wanted even more to be a Prothonotary Warbler which sings a song nothing like a Worm-eating Warbler but would be way cooler). It turned out to be no more then a slightly deranged Chipping Sparrow.   

This waste of precious birding time was made up for by another Wilson's Warbler and a Canada Warbler which was identified by it's distinctive chip before each bout of song.

After that most of the birders left the cemetery for Miantonomi Park in Newport with hopes of seeing the Summer Tanagers and Blue Grosbeak along with a load of other great species. We had just seen our first Summer Tanagers a few days before on the cemetery grounds.  Miantonomi is a place my mother has vowed to burn to the ground when next  the opportunity appears; her dislike of it's dumpiness and it's distance from our disheveled abode

We were left to fend for our selves and chase the high pitched voices of Blackpoll Warblers around, praying that one of them might turn out to be a much needed Bay-breasted Warbler which none of the Blackpolls sounded anything like.

Petersham, MA - May/26-28/2012

This weekend, being a day longer then usual, we were able to spend an extra night with our grandparents up in Petersham, Mass. This vacation may have been the most exciting one - nature wise - that I have taken in this peaceful little town. We arrived on Saturday afternoon and in less then two hours I scored both a Black-billed Cuckoo and a year bird Alder Flycatcher. Both of these handsome birds I found in the North Common Meadow across the street from our house. I believe that both are nesting there. I know that the flycatcher nested there last year.

The next day my brother and I were up at 4:30am planning to walk down East Street at least as far as Maple Lane. Having not calculated the distance I was unprepaired for the long walk. It turned out that it was (only) a 5.2 mile stroll.

The first robin's cheery song filled the still dark air at 4:15am. I had awoken at four to start our walk as early as possible but considering the dark I decided it would be better to wait for the sun to rise and the birds to wake. In the fifteen minutes that I spent waiting on the porch I heard at least four Barred Owls calling and a Tree Swallow flying over head.

Starting down the road we took a short cut through the North Common Meadow. Here we picked up a few singing Bobolinks, a peenting woodcock and the Alder Flycatcher from the day before.

The trail joins up with East Street, no bush-wacking required, and we continued down the street. Our next stop was the East Street Cemetery. It is a small cemetery protected on the eastern side by thick pine woodlands and on the northern side by a beaver filled pond.

Here the only animals present other then the nesting Tree Swallows were four large beavers returning home to the lodge after a hard nights chewing.

Continuing down the strip of pavement, listening to the singing Ovenbirds and Veery we were confronted by a large stallion who followed us in a trot as far as his pasture stretched down the road. Occasionally he would stop to stare at us, quite menacingly if you ask me. I was thanking God for the fence between us.

We turned right at Browns Pond, a fairly large, mud, snake and Snapping Turtle infested swimming pond, and started up the hill. Having mounted the steep hill's summit we started down the other side passing a few houses and lots of woodlands. At Maple Lane and it's large farm fields we took a right but feeling kind of uncomfartable about walking down this road which we knew dead-ended in a private residence, we soon decided to turn around. It was with lucky chance that we did for among the numerous Bobolinks that flew over those fields, spilling out their rapturous burbles, up went a small sparrow who whizzed across the road and briefly landed deep in the bushes on the right hand side of the street. It was all but hidden from view and then it winged away again to land in the small trees surrounding a house where it was instantly swallowed by greenery. But in that flash of time we were able to pick out a few details; mainly the bird's long tail, apparent greenish tinge to the back, yellowish sides and rapid wing-beat. Although half of these field marks, the greenish and yellow ones specifically, can be placed on no sparrow, the other two can. Seeing that one of our goal birds for the walk was a Grasshopper Sparrow, and ignoring it's longish tail, we decided that the only option was a Grasshopper (a life bird). No matter how weak our identification I was amazed to find that, in the thirty seconds the bird had spent hidden in the bush, my brother had managed to take an awful but ID-able photo of the ave. Indeed it was a bird - past that nothing could be certified! I decided not to count it on my life list.

We continued on down the road, turning down Quakers Lane for a brief and failed search for Louisiana Waterthrush along a fast flowing stream. We did however bag a modestly plumed Swamp Sparrow.

In the end we hiking all the way down to Glasheen Road where one of our numerous pairs of aunts and uncles reside. Across from this street and justly barely visible was a marsh which swarmed with Red-winged Blackbirds. Closer to hand sang a few redstarts, Yellow and Chestnut-sided Wablers, a Baltimore Oriole, yet more Bobolinks and a couple of Least Flycatchers.

On our way back up East Street our only highlights were a few Wood Ducks.

The next day we took a similar walk at a similar time but this hike turned it into a slightly longer loop by going up Quakers Lane which meets up with Rt. 122. We walked up hill a little way until we came to South Street which we followed back to Petersham center.

The birds were pretty much the same as before, but we had a few nice species including Louisiana and Northern Waterthrush, probable Ruffed Grouse (a whir of wings from the branches of a pine where all we got from this bird), possible (although unlikely) Worm-eating Warbler singing on South Street, and a bird that sounded kind of like an Orchard Oriole on South Main Street.

Other interesting finds included two nesting Snapping Turtles; one on the bridge over the fast flowing stream on Quakers Lane and another by Browns Pond.

It was a extremely enjoyable weekend and one that I hope can soon be repeated.

RISD Beach, Barrington, RI _ June/01/2012 _ 2:05-3:13pm _ Sunny 83' http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S10893014

The sand crunched beneath our feet as we made our way down the beach. Today was the first of June and I was desperately trying to bring my eBird month list up to the month of May's numbers (141 submitted checllists of at least 150 species).

I had already found a few nice birds including the usual “Semi's” of both families: Sandpipers and Plovers, a few Least Sandpipers, a Black-bellied Plover, a couple o' Killdeer and a year bird White-rumped Sandpiper (the first one I have seen in breeding plumage!).

A Green Heron

I spotted a Killdeer perched on the bank of a stream that flowed from the bay into the marsh with the incoming tide. I tried to snap of a few photos of it but my shutter-pressing finger was outpaced by the bird's wings which eased it into the air. 

We continued down the beach scanning the water of the Narragansett waiting for a Common Tern to whiz by. Our scanning of the waves was quite rudely interrupted by screams only feet from our feet. “Killdeer-killdeer” said the black-necklaced bird eying us from below. It was the same Killdeer whom we had seen on the bank of the stream. It was quite obvious that this bird was nesting somewhere quite close by. Photographic interests possessed me and I hunkered down and was able to take some eye-level shots of the bird. I didn't even need to zoom in (although I did so anyway). After taking a few amazing shots (if I do say so myself) I backed off a little way as did the bird    who retreated back a few birdy-paces to it's nest on the barely discernible mini-dunes. 

Peering at the bird from a more reasonable distance, taking a good long squint at this beautiful creation, I was able to make out four rock colored eggs sandwiched in between her grey legs.

The Killdeer

See her four eggs?

I can only pray that an unsuspecting beachcomber doesn't turn this vunerable scratch in the sand into a pan for sun frying squished eggs.

White-rumped Sandpiper

A Saltmarsh Sparrow

Upon returning back down the beach it was with amazement that I saw the small flock of shorebirds fly-in. It was the largest gathering of White-rumped Sandpipers I had ever seen, in addition to the WRSA who continued its wild poking of the marsh, they evened out to a smart "time-step" (look it up) of ten. Adding to that they were extremely tame, as many shorebirds in a flock often are. I was able to get to within 6-feet (more or less) to the handsome birds. What an awesome way to end a walk - ten White-rumps; any one of which I would have been quite pleased to find on any given day!

I ended the walk with 33 species although I did miss some quite common species like Common Tern, it seems to me that my average number for a list is ever rising. Last year at this time I would have been quite proud of myself for hitting this number in a single walk as usually at that time my list would tended to hover around 23 species. Now 33 is common. I believe it is mainly due to my new and improved ear birding skills.

I think that spending the month of May walking with the mighty experienced ones at Swan Point really helped me learn the songs. They are able to pick out a Waterthrush a mile away despite their constant moaning about their collective deafness. I am still trying to hear the Black-throated Blue which can call from the bushes an arms length away.

May 6 in Petersham

The grass was damp from the early morning dew. From down the grass covered hillside blackbirds, warblers, and sparrows screeched, whistled and jingled. Bobolinks' black and yellow heads peeked up from the green depths of the meadow. It was May and I was loving it!

I was standing on the top of a slope, below me was a meadow behind which was a three tree apple orchard, a small lily pad covered pond and a thick woodlands filled to overflowing with Ovenbirds and Pine Warblers. I was accompanied only by Theo (the dog of the family).

As I started down the hill my mind flipped through the photos I had recently captured. Most were of Blackburnian Warblers (of which I had seen at least ten in the last couple of days) but other species were featured in my mental playlist, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Wood Thrushes, Chipping Sparrows and scores of other species.

I was distracted from my internal photo album by the burbling of a House Wren which was joined by a Gray Catbird and a pair of Black-and-white Warblers. None of the birds showed themselves but I didn't mind - their songs were enough for me. I looked up as a pair of Scarlet Tanagers flew over calling. The male in a vibrant red suit, the female a dull olive yellow.

A Chestnut-sided Warbler sang from my left "very pleased to meet cha" and was answered by a Common Yellowthroat "witchity-witchity-witchity witch" (I thought that was rather unfair to the friendly Chestnut-sided who's never deserved such a harsh label).

A Wood Duck flew up from the pond and whizzed overhead wings whirring, vocal cords vibrating to form the classic squawk of the woodland dwelling duck.

I momentarily stopped scanning the skies, although I kept my ears peeled, to photograph my beautiful surroundings. The pond, the grass and the flowers that surrounded me.

I was unable to find some of the main species we had seen the day before, mainly Least Flycatcher and Eastern Meadowlark, so I decided it was time to try a different spot. 

Here's a full list from the North Common Meadow http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S10653755.

I returned to headquarters (my grandparents house, but headquarters sounds way cooler) after about an hour of birding. It was now 6:30 am. I entered headquarters only briefly to return the pup then I started out into the back woods.

I didn't get far before stopping to listen to the roar of birdsongs; Ovenbirds, B.T.Green Warblers and American Goldfinches were everywhere. With them I could hear catbirds, robins, crows, jays, sapsuckers, woodpeckers, Blackburnians, Black-and-whites and Chestnut-sided Warblers. The woods echoed with their songs.

Finding a pair of Ovenbirds by the path that leads deep into the Harvard Forest I stopped and decided to try to call them in close using recordings. My ploy was successful and I was instantly confronted by the male bird, hackles raised he flitted by my head chipping and then landed in a tree where he sang his informative song "teacher teacher teacher".  He flew to another tree where he sang again. Around and around the handsome bird went. Determined to best this unseen rival aka my ipod. Twice he flew to within five feet of me only to fly from his perch seconds before I had my camera focused.

The male Ovenbird protecting his territory fearlessly 

I spotted the female meandering under the fallen trees and over the fallen leaves. Sneaking after her, careful as to not get too close I was able to snap off a few shots of this shy little bird.

The female Ovenbird watches the camera warily as her mate sings

I was happy to hear a Great-crested Flycatcher calling in the distance, along with the Blackburnians this was a new yard bird.

A male Blackburnian Warbler

I spent two and a half hours out in the woods watching and photographing the feathered ones before returning back tick coated and starved to headquarters for lunch. 

Here's a link to my eBird checklist from the walk http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S10654266.

Later that day on a run through the Harvard Forest I picked up a Northern Waterthrush singing somewhere in the midst of a small beaver city. 

Da Mink on da log!

On the return trip back to Providence in the afternoon we stopped by Wells State Park in Sturbridge where we found yet another Northern Waterthrush (also in a small beaver city), a Prairie Warbler and a Blue-headed Vireo along with a Mink!

Petersham is not the only place that has given us some awesome Spring species, with our daily, early morning forays to Swan Point Cemetery we have picked up such species as Wilson's, Tennessee, & Canada Warblers, Swainson's Thrush, both species of Cuckoo, Eastern Screech-Owls, Least Flycatchers and a bunch of other great birds such as Blackburnian Warbler and Northern Waterthrush. Disappointingly we've missed a Kentucky Warbler and an Olive-sided Flycatcher and I managed to miss (though my brother got them) a pair of probable Mississippi Kites.

Well done to anyone that ID'd the Wood Duck in the last photo quiz. Here's your next quiz:

This one was taken this April at RISD Beach. It should be easy but good luck anyway.

A Birding Update

The leaves have returned to the branches and with them have come the migrants. The Avian gods whoever they might be seem to have favored me these last few days. I have managed to see and photograph two or more year-birds every day. This post will be composed of a few brief summaries of the last few twenty-four hour periods, along with photos and links to my eBird checklist from each location. 

April/16/2012 RISD Beach, Barrington, RI

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S10466566

We had but one first of year (FOY): a flock of six Dunlin, all exceedingly tame.

Other highlights included 1 beautiful Greater Yellowlegs, 4 Tree Swallows, 2 Purple Martins and 22 Double-crested Cormorants. 

The beautiful Greater Yellowlegs, This bird was an extremely brave individual and came to within only ten feet of me, a distance that would have made an average yellowlegs tremble with fear. 

One of a small troop of Dunlin putting RISDs lovely marsh to good use.                                                                              

Another photo of a docile Dunlin. This one was less then five feet from the lens of my camera!                              

April/17/2012 Talbot's Point, East Sandwich, MA

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S10479285

This walks two year-birds came to us at the very end of the walk and if a flock of crows had not alerted us to the larger of the pair, both their names would be lacking from my list.

The bigger of my two FOYs, a Great Horned Owl

And the smaller of my year birds,  one of a pair of Red-breasted Nuthatch. 

April/17/2012 Sandwich Boardwalk, Sandwich, MA

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S10479396

Again a two year-bird walk the first species being Laughing Gulls and the second a pair of Piping

Plovers. 

And yes, although this Laughing Gull is obviously monstrously gigantic, it is still just a Laughing Gull.

                                                       An endangered pied piper.


April/18/2012 RISD Beach, Barrington, RI
http://ebird.org/ebird/ybn/view/checklist?subID=S10483646

A short walk at RISD Beach yielded nothing more exciting then FOY Least Sandpiper, 1 Dunlin, 4 Killdeer and 2 Greater Yellowlegs.

The Least Sandpiper dark colors blend in perfectly with its mucky surroundings. 

April/19/2012 Swan Point Cemetery, Providence, RI
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S10489044

Among the trills and whistles of Chipping Sparrows and Yellow-rumped Warblers my ears picked up the buzzing of what I initially mis-ID'd as a parula but after seeing the bird my original ID was withdrawn to be replaced by a Black-throated Green Warbler. My embarrassing identification was made up for in part when from a nearby tree came the song of the parula.

"zh-zh-zh-zheeeeee-up" says the Northern Parula

       While the Black-throated Green sings "zee zee zee-zoo zee!"

My binoculars are currently in their death throes. The left eye piece will now not focus and the right eye piece has gone all funny. So, here I once again humbly beg anyone and everyone who has a spare minute to post a brief recommendation suggesting me to the Bird Watcher's Digest judges who are giving Leica binoculars to a lucky young birder. You have a few days to do this because the deadline for entries is May 18th. I have explained the steps to follow in a past post linked here.

Here's the link http://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/leicagreatleap/index.php. 

I would really appreciate it. Spring migration is here and I can't see anything!!

                                

Napatree Point, Westerly, RI Apr/15/12

My fingers clasped the pencil tightly as I scribbled my essential notes (date, time & location) into my moleskin notebook. We were at the moment bouncing down a dirt road one side of which was lined with shops, the other a sheltered harbor. Hunched forms rested on buoys bobbing at the surface of the harbor - I would tally 150 of these Double-crested Cormorants before the walk was through. 

Hopping from the confines of our car I was greeted with the formidable task of making my way through a swarm of beach goers without jabbing anyone in the eye with the pointed feet of my tripod on which my spotting scope was kept steady. Above the moored boats which lined the edge of the harbor a lone Barn Swallow flitted, just newly arrived back from its vacation in the South, having escaped the crowd of sand covered bipeds who were enjoying the far side of the beach (the side that looked out upon the open ocean and not towards Connecticut).

A few small groups of Red-breasted Mergansers sailed through the water, their tufted heads and slim red bills giving them strange almost punk-like appearances. Black legs dangling, a Great Egret soared over the water standing out from the gray clouds which nearly blocked out the sun's golden rays. The beach was NOT lined with Black-bellied and Piping Plovers, Dunlin, Sanderlings and oystercatchers as I had hoped but instead with a few Herring Gulls and dog walkers. In fact the only shorebirds we saw were a pair of distant flyover Oystercatchers easily identified by their unique and comical "wheeps". 

Although the nest area had already been cordoned off, the Piping Plovers seemed not yet to have arrived.

Walking down the beach too, far we were forced to take an unused trail to the other side of the dunes. The trail lead us directly under an Osprey nesting platform on which rested a pile of sticks and an alarmed Osprey. This white bellied raptor was soon joined by its mate who, as we watched spell bound swooped in and landed easily upon her back, where he stood and calmly stared down his hooked beak at us, then leaping back into the air he circled the nest twice then landed on a side beam where he stayed.

We were now on the ocean side of the beach and could see small distant flocks of Northern Gannets passing off shore. Closer to land scooted a large rolling mass of black feathers which with a quick scan through my scope transformed into White-winged Scoter. Bobbing just past the surf floated Horned Grebes, one of which, after close inspection, my overly imaginative mind turned into an Eared. The bird was the size and shape of a Horned Grebe, lacking the rounded head of an Eared - really the only thing that was at all Eared-like were the golden tufts on the sides of the black head. These tufts appeared smaller and more loosely feathered, the bird was probably just developing its summer plumage. At first I was almost certain of my preposterous identification but by the end of the walk I was losing hope fast, and by the time we had arrived back home I had lost all confidence and was now almost certain I was wrong. I put the photo I had taken up on Flickr and it was confirmed as a Horned almost instantly.

Above top a flock of Horned Grebe and above below my "Eared Grebe"

The walk ended with a total of 24 species. A full list is below:

2 Brant 

30 Whit-winged Scoter

15 Red-breasted Merganser

1 Red-throated Loon

2 Common Loon

17 Horned Grebe

0 Eared Grebe

21 Northern Gannet

1 Great Egret

2 Osprey

2 American Oystercatcher

80 Herring Gull

11 Great Black-backed Gull

3 Fish Crow

2 Northern Rough-winged Swallow

1 Barn Swallow

1 Carolina Wren

1 American Robin

5 Song Sparrow

1 Northern Cardinal

2 Red-winged Blackbird

1 Common Grackle

6 Brown-headed Cowbird

12 House Sparrow

04/03/12 - RISD Beach, Barrington, RI - 11:45-12:50pm

I was overjoyed yesterday to see, while submitting a list to eBird, that the list of likely birds in the area at this time of year now includes at least 8 warbler species, 2 vireos, 3 flycatchers, 1 swift, 1 whippoorwill  and a hummingbird along with a number of shorebirds. My brain is now filled with dreams of Swan Point and warblers. I can hardly wait for May but in the meantime I am appeased with some more early migrants.

Today we took yet another trip to RISD Beach and were delighted when the walk turned out to be even more successful then the last. Although the walk started out slowly we and it soon picked up speed after reaching the bottom of the hill. It sped up because at the bottom of the hill was the salt marsh and we, as a result of the force of gravity pushing us down the slope.

As the marsh came into view I was both taken aback and delighted to see not one, not two but four Snowy Egrets in full breeding regalia wandering about the marsh on golden shod feet. Accompanying the egret was a dirty white Mute Swan and a flock of Mallards and American Black Ducks (including one hybrid of the two species). Song Sparrows jingled merrily from all sides occasionally joined by the melodious warblings of a House Finch.

             The young Mute Swan and three of the Snowy Egrets.

Overhead the shabby black forms of Double-crested Cormorants went over in small flocks breezing northwards. Below them flitted a few newly arrived Tree Swallows many of them checking out the houses put up for them.

From the golf course, which is adjacent to the beach, came ringing forth the clear cries of Killdeer. Moving down the beach while watching gulls and Brant passing by offshore a Killdeer's call came from directly in front of me. The plover hopped out from behind a small sand dune and landed on the golf course among the littered golf balls, any one of which might actually be the egg of the Duffer Shank (reference: Another Field Guide to Little Known & Seldom Seen Birds of North America). The Killdeer continued calling even after hitting the green grass of the golf course.

Hoping to get a good photo I snuck closer and was excited to see not one but two Killdeer. The birds standing only a foot apart. They were suspicious of me and my camera and after carefully studying the wild-eyed, greasy-haired teen peering through a thin curtain of brittle Phragmites they began to wander off. They did not, however, go far and after walking a mere ten feet one of the pair plopped itself down onto the grass while the other bird moved to stand protectively over it's mate.

Presumably the sitting bird had below her a nest but I kept a respectful distance and couldn't determine the status of the nest positively.  I watched the pair for a few minutes before having to run back through the marsh to the beach to catch up to my quickly escaping family.

                        One of the Killdeer shows off its striking tail.

                      One of the Killdeer deciding if I can be classified as just smelly or smelly and dangerous.

                                                    The Killdeer on the nest.

After that the walk was pretty slow and nothing more of interest showed its beak, not even a Kentucky Fried Warbler damn it. Yeah, that was a really lame joke.

Here is a full list of all 22 bird species seen:

Brant 50

Mute Swan 1

American Black Duck 8

American Black Duck x Mallard 1

Mallard 9

Double-crested Cormorant 12

Snowy Egret 4

Killdeer 5

Herring Gull 40

Great Black-backed Gull 2

Mourning Dove 2

Blue Jay 1

American Crow 4

Tree Swallow 5

Black-capped Chickadee 2

Carolina Wren 2

American Robin 12

European Starling 8

Song Sparrow 8

Red-winged Blackbird 2

House Finch 4

American Goldfinch 1

House Sparrow 4

Good job to anyone who ID'd the Turkey Vulture in the last quiz. Here is your next puzzle.

This photo was taken this April at Blackstone Park in Providence, RI. Good Luck.

The results for the Young Birder of the Year Contest came in on the first and I am delighted to say that I have now won a place in this contest three years in a row. I was the first place winner for the field notebook module in my age group and second place winner in the writing. Both these places I won last year too.  Last year I won first place in photography module, oh well, we can't have everything.

Check out the results for the contest here http://www.aba.org/yby/win.html.