The [online] diary of a college birder

¡Vamonos a Honduras!

2012-01-05T10:26:00.003-05:00

A little over 17 hours from now (at 4am!) I will be embarking on a new journey: to the Caribbean! After a couple hours on a plane and a few hours on a bus, I will be spending the weekend in Honduras before another bus ride, another short plane ride, and just under two weeks on the island of Roatan.

This isn't quite a vacation though -- the trip is part of a short term study abroad program through my school, where I will be learning about tropical marine environments of Roatan. Along with my class, I will be attending lectures, going on field trips, and snorkeling at least once day around the coral reef to conduct a research project.

I'm not sure how much time all this will leave for birding, but I will certainly be keeping a keen eye out for Honduran avifauna whenever I'm not underwater. In Copan, we are supposedly visiting a bird park at the beginning of the trip, so hopefully I'll be able to get a good idea of what to look out for.

Once I get back to the states in a few weeks, I expect it will be pretty busy. I'm teaching a beginning birding class the weekend after I return, plus I will be finishing research for my class project, studying for senior exams, and applying for post-graduate jobs. Yikes!

But, one day at a time. Until next time,

Happy birding!

In the holiday spirit

2011-12-24T09:23:00.000-05:00

It's Christmas Eve and for some reason I'm cleaning out old files on my computer. However, I came across this timelapse painting I made some years ago -- must have been during the holidays, because I put it to Tchaikovsky's Russian Dance. Kinda quirky, but hopefully it'll put you in the holiday spirit too. :)

Enjoy, and happy birding!

One more lifer

2011-12-23T09:43:00.001-05:00

Just when you think the year is about over and your chances of seeing any new birds are dwindling... surprise! Life birds have such a peculiar habit of popping up when you least expect them.

On my way back from visiting relatives this week, I spotted a pair of Whooping Cranes in someone's yard! I was super excited -- this has been one of my nemesis birds that I've been wanting to see forever, and there's no reason I haven't been able to see one up until now; just birder's luck, I guess.

Peace of Mind

2011-12-16T15:47:00.000-05:00

There are few things in the world that I can think of more wonderful than gliding downstream a river in a canoe. (The only thing that might be better is a kayak, but that's besides the point.)

Well, a few weeks ago I got to do just that with a group of friends along the aptly named Peace River. The area is well-known for its excellent fossil hunting opportunities, so armed with shovels, nets, and sieves, we rented canoes from a local outfitter and set out for a day on the water

Experimenting with black and white photography

There wasn't much in the way of birds, besides the usual selection of vultures, belted kingfishers, wading birds, and cormorants, but it was quite the photogenic day nevertheless.

The canoe run was short -- perhaps only 4 miles, but we made the most of our time by stopping at different points to excavate fossils of all shapes and sizes. Some of our finds included ancient manatee ribs, shark teeth, various vertebrae, sting ray mouth plates, turtle shells, gator platelets, and even a piece of a mammoth tooth.

View from the bridge

Just as the sun was beginning to lower in the sky, we came across an old rusty railroad bridge arching beautifully across the water. It was too cool to pass up, so we beached our canoes and scrambled up the bridge to take in the views.

Old railroad

Sunset over Peace River

Alligator bones

We were just about to leave when I spotted a pile of white rubble on the other side of the railroad tracks; my first thought was that it might be a turtle skeleton. Upon closer inspection, a friend pointed out that it was, in fact, an alligator skeleton. It was quite an exciting find, just as much so as all the fossils we'd collected that day.

I must say, for as difficult as this semester has been, I've managed to get out on some pretty cool outdoor adventures. Now that school is over for the holidays, I'll be focusing on studying for my senior comprehensive exams in the spring, as well as more birding whenever I can. I'm also teaching a short "Birding Basics" class in January, for which I'm beginning to prepare.

So that's the latest on my life! Until next time,

Happy birding!

Reconnecting with Nature

2011-10-29T22:16:00.002-04:00

As I have probably lamented before, birding in college is almost nonexistent. Senior year has taken off with full force and day after day I find myself swamped with homework, research, my jobs, and extracurricular activities (like gardening and running clubs). If I didn't love all this, I wouldn't do it -- but I guess I've sort of hit that mid-semester lull where I'm just tired of it all.. It seems like ever since I got back from my internship over the summer, school hasn't been the same. I get so restless being cooped up inside and I'm itching for adventure.

Fortunately, fall break was last weekend, and, while it didn't quite satisfy my brain's need for some rest, I was able to get outside and reacquaint myself with the outdoors once more.

Cattle drive

For break, I co-led a camping trip for my school's outdoor club. On our way up to our camping spot (about 2 hours north of school), we stopped at a little roadside farmer's market, where the shopkeepers informed us of a Florida cracker festival going on down the road. Lo and behold, a few minutes away we found the cracker fest, stopped for some lunch, and within the hour we found ourselves in the midst of a small cattle drive.

Local police stopped traffic for the drive

Period covered wagon

It was a rather random event to stumble upon, but quite enjoyable and a very "Florida" experience.

After that we all decided to scrap our backpacking plans and just go road-tripping, rolling with whatever happened. It was a good thing we did too, because things proceeded to go completely opposite of what we planned on, but turned out to be more fun than I ever could have hoped.

When we arrived at the primitive campsite, it turned out to be already occupied. As we were hiking the trail to find an unoccupied spot we came out to a beautiful river overlook, but were distracted by a putrid smell.

"Look at that big bird!" a freshmen pointed out to me. Ever the birding snob, I started to correct him that it was in fact, a black vulture, when we all realized at the same time what the vulture was sitting on: a 10 foot long dead alligator!

It didn't appear to have been shot (unfortunately such is the fate of most large gators around here), but it was otherwise impossible to tell the cause of death since it was floating with a patch of lilies in the middle of the river. Nonetheless, it was one of the biggest alligators in the wild I have ever seen, and quite a shame it was dead.

Our campsite

After gawking at the gator for a while and finishing the hike (finding no open campsites), we drove to the next closest camp ground, which wasn't as primitive, but was fortunately completely deserted; we had the whole place all to ourselves.

My tent :)

It was a fantastic night. We cooked a big pot of soup over a camp stove, hiked around, hung out, and eventually settled down for a chilly night on the soft ground listening to the call of insects and nighthawks and the distant rumble of air boats on the river.

The next morning I was wide awake hours before anyone else got up. I wandered the campsite watching the birds, counting cardinals, phoebes, blue-gray gnatcatchers, Carolina wrens, common yellowthroats. I accidentally surprised a juvenile raccoon at one point, and followed it into the woods where it disappeared behind a tree.

Once everyone else got up, we ate a quick breakfast and headed back south to go visit a nearby cave. I hadn't been to these caves in almost a decade, since I was a kid, and they were quite different than I remembered.

Physically the cave was the same -- I vividly recalled the magical entry through the roots of a dead tree into the limestone caverns of the giant sink hole -- but unlike 10 years ago, today the caves are literally crawling with people.

Crowded cave

Tour groups, families, and campers were flowing in and out of the cave tunnels like ants in an ant hill. Although the plethora of spelunkers took away a little bit from the experience I remembered as a kid, it was still fun to squeeze through the tiny passages and come out in big caverns lit only by our flashlights.

Yours truly, coming out into the main cavern

We spent a couple hours exploring around in the caves before heading back to campus and watching the sunset over dinner. Although this marked the end of the camping trip, my fall break outdoor adventures were not quite over.

Kayaking

On the last day of break, my roommate and I decided to spend the morning sea kayaking. It was a chilly morning at first, and we were the first ones at the waterfront. We launched out kayaks and were quickly off through the creek and out into the smooth waters of the bay. We made it out to the nearby island and wildlife refuge, and spent a couple hours meandering around the mangroves, watching mullet hurl themselves out of the water, yellow-crowned night herons squawk and take off clumsily from their roosts, and brown pelicans glide serenely over the gentle waves.

By the time we decided to head back to school, the sun had warmed the air but the wind had picked up as well. At some points it seemed I was paddling in place, the wind was so strong. Nevertheless, we made it back to campus safe and sound, if not slightly exhausted.

And so ended my fall break. I cannot express how great it felt to be outside again, not worrying about school or life for a few blissful days. But now that it's all over I'm freaking out again, wondering how I'll ever catch up with everything. Alas.

Well, until the next time I get a break from the stresses of school, happy birding!

Volunteering for the birds

2011-09-26T22:53:00.000-04:00

Feeding the shorebirds

It's 8 o'clock in the morning on Saturday, but temperatures are already rising into the humid upper 80s as my friend and I are arrive at the local seabird sanctuary. We know we're in for a long day -- it's our first day of what will be a 40 hour volunteer project over the semester for our senior class. I couldn't be more excited though. The seabird sanctuary is the largest wild bird hospital in the country, admitting around 8,000 birds each year.

Although we won't be working directly with the hospital, we do get to work closely with the rehabilitated birds in the public area of the facility. As soon as we arrive, a staff member puts us to work with scrub brushes, soap, bleach, and rakes, assigning us several enclosures. I get to take care of the owls first -- 4 screech owls, a barn owl, two barred owls, and a great-horned.

It's a little different than the work I did over the summer; these birds for the most part are not trained to work with humans, so they are a lot more nervous each time I get near them. Nonetheless, they remain fairly calm and only eye me disdainfully as I scrape droppings off of perches, drain pools, and rake the soft beach sand at the bottom of the enclosures.

Once I finish, I help my friend clean an enclosure housing some crows, followed by a kestrel, and then some blue jays. The jays are a lot more feisty than the others, and one even lands on my head for a moment when I first walk in to hose off its food dish! We also work together to clean a large enclosure housing a group of vultures and peregrine falcons.

Cleaning duties are finished around 10:30am and we move on to food prep. Most of this work takes place in one wing of the hospital building, a workshop-like room with a large tank full of dead fish, as well as sinks, counter space, refrigerators, storage areas, etc. Even without air conditioning, it's still the coolest place at the facility, aired out by a giant fan in the corner wafting away some of the harsher odors.

My friend and I are put to work sorting fish by size, and soon find ourselves up to our elbows in the red-tinted water of the big tank, trying not to get jabbed by spines and barbs. It's an oddly satisfying task however, and contrary to what you might think, it wasn't really as "gross" as you would expect!

After a lunch break, we return to work to fillet the fish we sorted, cut them into small strips, and divvy out diets for each of the bird enclosures. The staff members show us what each bird eats and where to place the dishes in the enclosures, but I know I'll never remember it all! Next we find ourselves cutting up more fish in big chunks (yum!), and then hauling the remaining fish out of the tank and dividing them into buckets that will go out to the pelicans and gulls.

By the end of the day I smell positively delightful and am covered in a delicious smattering of fish guts, sand, and bird poop. It was totally exhausting, and certainly not the most glamorous job, but after talking to many of the staff members and volunteers I could really see why it was important that we were there. The sanctuary runs as a nonprofit, so all their money comes straight from donations, meaning they have very little to go around. Most of the dirty work is done totally by unpaid volunteers. It's incredible that the facility remains one of the largest in the country, considering how few people are doing so much work.

So this will be my every weekend for the next couple months. Eight hours down, 32 more to go. It's rough work, but I'm happy to be doing it; I've already learned a lot more about birds and can't wait to become more familiar with the place and the people there.

Summer in review

2011-08-31T14:15:00.001-04:00

I guess you know it's a good summer when you don't have the time blog about it. But unfortunately the fact that I am now writing about it means that for the most part, it's over. Needless to say, it will be impossible to retell it all in a single post, but I'll do my best to give a short recap of the highlights.

I mentioned in my last post that most of my summer job consisted of working as a camp counselor, which was an experience in and of itself. Although insanely difficult at first, throughout the summer things got easier as I learned how to work with kids and became more comfortable with my own abilities as a teacher. It was such a great feeling to spend every day outside and watching kids gain a new appreciation for the natural world, even if only in a small way.

Appalachian Blue

But the summer was full of other opportunities to improve my own naturalist skills as well. From periodic bird walks with the experienced staff members, to citizen science projects like butterfly counts, I tried to take advantage of as many of these opportunities as I could.

Silver Spotted Skipper

Handling the Barn Owl for the first time

One of my favorite jobs was working with the birds of prey at the raptor center. Although cleaning their enclosures wasn't always that much fun, I was able to spend a lot of time handling the trained birds for weekend raptor shows and traveling road shows (TRS's) to educate people on birds and wildlife. I was actually surprised how little people know about birds, but it was a good experience to teach them and I ended up learning a lot, myself.

Sunrise over the Catalina Mtns

About three-quarters of the way through my internship, I took a week off to travel to AZ for a conference for a scholarship I won earlier this year. It was a pretty big deal -- all-expense paid trip, funding for my last year of school, and the opportunity to network with 80 other student environmental leaders from around the country. Although much of this involved sitting inside conference rooms attending workshops, I spent the early mornings out on the hiking trails.

White-winged Dove

I didn't see a large number of birds, but most of them were new to me, as an Easterner. I was delighted by the abundance of Anna's hummingbirds, white-winged doves, Gila woodpeckers, cactus wrens, and other desert specialties that flourished in the hostile environment.

Cactus Wren

Gila Woodpecker

Costa's Hummingbird

On one of the last days of the trip, the scholarship foundation took us to the Desert Museum, a 21-acre outdoor natural history museum and botanical garden. Although it was insanely hot (temperatures pushing 110 degrees!), it was also incredibly unique and enjoyable. I only wish we had had more time to explore it! By far, my favorite exhibit was the Hummingbird House, a small aviary literally buzzing with hummingbirds! It was great for photo ops, but also a good look at many of the local specialty species I wasn't able to see in the wild on that trip.

Female Anna's hummer

After a whirlwind tour of southeast AZ, I flew back east to central PA for the final 3 weeks of my internship. If you've never tried to teach a week of summer camp while jet-lagged, believe me: it's not easy! But I got through it, and spent the final weeks working around the center and with the raptors some more, trying to soak up each moment as best I could.

Holding the Golden Eagle!

By far, my proudest moment of the final week was holding the Golden Eagle. I spent the summer working my way up to each species: the screech owls, the barred owl, the broad-winged hawk, the great-horned owl, the red-tailed hawk, the barn owl. All that was left was the big girl, the mother-of-all-raptors, the Golden.

Weighing in at nearly 12 lbs, standing 3 feet tall, with a 7 foot wingspan and an attitude, I'd been itching to handle this bird all summer. On my last day, the raptor intern (a great friend) asked if I'd like to try. I was game. That is, until I pulled on the glove. As we opened the door, I changed my mind; the bird was shifting around in the cage like a madwoman, ready to hop on my arm.

"I... think I'm good. I don't want to do this," I stammered, sliding into the safety of the back room.

"Are you sure?" She asked, clearly disappointed. I was disappointed in me too, but my heart was racing and I felt almost light-headed. She offered to tire the bird out first, so I agreed.

Quickly and smoothly, the other intern had the raptor up on her arm without a hitch. I agreed to try again. She coached me through it. "Just walk in quickly and present your arm," she said.

The Golden knew exactly what to do; after a little coaxing, she stepped on and I immediately felt the tight grip of her talons and weight of her body. My friend handed me the wooden staff used to keep your arm up under the intense weight.

It's a slightly painful experience with the strain on your arm, but the adrenaline rush distracts you in the moment. I have very rarely ever felt that same tangle of emotions - fear, respect, admiration, awe - towards an animal, but it was pretty special and an amazing way to end my summer.

Sunset on the last day

Greetings from PA!

2011-06-25T13:58:00.002-04:00

It's been a while, but I'm still here! I have just finished the 3rd week of my summer internship and finally have some time to myself to take a break and update everyone. The long and the short of it is, I'm living in the Pennsylvania woods and working at an environmental education center to teach summer camps, work the visitor's center, take care of raptors, and generally do awesome things outdoors.

Yours truly, rappelling

This is easily the most difficult job I have ever had, but it's also the most rewarding, fun, and eye-opening job I could ever hope for! In the 3 weeks I've been here, I've done bird of prey shows, gone rock climbing and rappelling, taught a week of summer camp, hiked through the valley, gone brook trout fishing, and gotten to know some of the coolest people I have ever met. On top of that, my birding skills are quickly improving, thanks to the boundless knowledge of above mentioned cool people. :-)

I think the greatest part about this internship is that everyone is so passionate about what they do, and so interested in the world around them. I can already identify about a dozen more songbirds by ear than I could 3 weeks ago.

Many of the birds here are similar to what I see back home, with the exception of a few lifers and many year birds. Scarlet tanagers are pretty common out here, as well as red-eyed vireos, cedar waxwings, indigo buntings, and American goldfinches in their brilliant summer plumage.

Flying squirrel visits my birdfeeder

I've been endlessly entertained by the plethora of other wildlife here as well; it's so refreshing to see deer almost every day, in addition to groundhogs, chipmunks, red squirrels, flying squirrels, black rat snakes, milk snakes, salamanders, newts, and little brown bats.

Deer (about a half second before it bolted!)

The trail I walk to work

The creek

Red spotted newt (?)

Some parts of work aren't so glamorous; cleaning bird cages and defrosting dead chicks and mice takes a strong stomach, and working with little kids all day is exhausting. But at the same time, every day of work is totally different and exciting. I don't think I have ever smiled and laughed so much in a 3 week period as I have this month!

Turkey chick we found!

Scarlet Tanager

Barn swallow nesting under a bridge

So, that's where I'm at right now. I don't have internet where I'm living (I'm currently sitting in a Wegman's grocery store, using the free wifi at their cafe since I was in town anyway to do laundry!). It has been such an interesting experience adjusting to both the new lifestyle of essentially "camping" in a little house in the woods, and working an intensive job.

Next week I'm teaching camp again, and after that I have a week of working in the raptor center!

I'll try to post updates in a few weeks. Until next time,

Happy birding!

New bird sketches

2011-06-02T16:32:00.001-04:00

It's been a long time -- and I mean a LONG time -- since I've drawn anything so I figured today it was time to break out the pencils and reconnect with my inner artiste.

Not too shabby for not having drawn in about 5 months! This was sketched from a photo my mother took of a Hairy Woodpecker nesting in our neighbor's pine tree. The chick is just about to fledge, and has been poking its head out when the mother comes to feed it.

This was drawn from a photo of an Eastern Screech Owl in my NWF Field Guide to Birds of North America. I'm really happy with how it came out, for the most part. It took a good 2 hours or so to finish.

Happy birding!

Where to next?

2011-06-01T16:45:00.000-04:00

Approximately 96 hours (that's four days!) from now, I will be in Pennsylvania if all goes as planned. I've landed myself an internship at an environmental education center up there for the summer. My main duty will be as a camp councilor, but I will also be working with live animals and helping run the nature center among other things.

This will essentially be my first time in the state (I don't really count driving through it as "being there"), and my first time working as an intern, so I am really looking forward to the change of scenery and experience. Although I expect to keep busy working most of the summer, I am also looking forward to the opportunity to spend time outdoors and get to know the local birds of PA while I'm there.

Not sure how often I'll be able to post over the summer, but I'll try to keep this updated as much as possible. It's bound to be an adventure, whatever happens! Wish me luck!

And until next time, happy birding!

Long overdue report

2011-05-25T11:39:00.000-04:00

I realized today that I haven't actually posted any birding trip reports since January, and it may seem as if I shirked my rightful birding duties these past few months. But do no be fooled, reader, though I do apologize for my failure to keep up this blog regularly.

This semester I actually managed to get in several good birding days, a few thanks to some new birding acquaintances I made at school. Unfortunately, since I'm so backlogged, I think pictures with short descriptions will have to suffice to recap the last 4 months.

Ospreys are still nesting all over campus; this one has taken up residence over the baseball field and the garden. Several nests were successful this year, and the chicks should be fledging about now.

About a month or two ago, I got my lifer Red-breasted Merganser on a hike near the beach. There were two of them, floating around in the waves. Very exciting!

Also got my FOY Black-bellied Plover the same day, in the same area.

On another birding trip, I tagged along with a friend to a local suburban park. Although we never found the Virginia Rail we had come to look for, the park was bursting with birds in the early morning.

There were tons of Red-winged Blackbirds. This one wasn't at all afraid of us, but instead rather cantankerous and tried to chase us off the boardwalk.

Got some nice views of Woodstorks as well, foraging in the pond.

Loggerhead Shrike

*Yawn*

*Scratch*

By far, my favorite bird in the park was the Limpkin. There were 3 residents there at different ponds, which isn't something you see too often around here.

As we were leaving, my friend spotted a raptor up in one of the trees. It was pretty far away, but we managed to ID it as a Cooper's Hawk, another FOY for me.

During a few less-busy days at school, I got out to hike around the preserve areas on campus. Never saw anything out of the ordinary, although I was very excited to see this group of wading birds all foraging together at one of the ponds! I've never seen 3 different species hanging around so closely, but they seemed very content.

So now the school year is over, and I'm back home for about another week and a half before I fly out to my next adventure. Details to come, so stay tuned!

Final Days in Puerto Rico

2011-05-20T19:39:00.001-04:00

Finally finished with school for the semester and wanted to post a few more pictures from my final days in Puerto Rico last month (wow, was it already that long ago?). Didn't see any new birds really in the final 2 days, but I did become very accustomed to the regulars -- scaly-naped pigeons, stripe-headed tanagers, tons of hummingbirds, wrens, and yellow-shouldered blackbirds.

After finishing work on our second-to-last day, we spent the afternoon hiking in the waterfalls. These falls were about a 15 minute trek from the Hacienda into the jungle, and were comprised of a narrow, rocky stream that ran down from the mountain top. I also found out on our last day that this was the source of water we had been drinking for the last week! No filtration or processing, just pure mountain water piped straight to the house. It tasted delicious, and no one got sick from it so I guess it was clean enough!

Climbing down (I'm in the purple hat)

We literally followed the stream for hours, climbing up waterfall after waterfall after waterfall. It was seemingly endless. Some were small and needed only a short step up, and others were taller than I am and required some intense finessing to get up. Coming down again was a whole other ordeal!

On our last day, we packed up again and headed off in the sketchy red van, with more people than there were seats bouncing around as we hurtled down the mountain. It was another gorgeous day, and I couldn't help but feel reflective and somewhat melancholy as we left the pristine jungles for the coastal city.

As if a testament to the urban growth slowly taking over the island, we passed this gigantic overpass that cuts straight through the rainforest from Ponce on the coast to Utuado inland. For a rainforest that had made me feel so small, insignificant, and very much at the mercy of nature all week long, this bridge turned the tables completely, dwarfing the mountains and throwing nature at the mercy of humankind.

Cool sand sculpture

Once we got into Ponce, we had the whole afternoon and half the night to enjoy the city before heading to the airport at midnight (hooray for budget flights!). We wandered the central street market, browsed the shops, and had dinner at a fancy restaurant for our last meal together.

The city contrasted sharply to the jungles that surround it. Although it's fairly old and retains the classic Latin American style of architecture and layout, it's a very different world from the lives led by those who live in the mountains.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the trip. Like all travel, it was immensely eye-opening to the ways other people live, and a fantastic opportunity to visit one of the few biodiversity hotspots left in the world today. I hope to return to the Caribbean islands and Latin America someday soon and see what else there to see!

2011-05-04T10:32:00.024-04:00

Ginormous millipede

On Thursday of spring break week, we got a day off from working to take a trip to some local caves. Our faithful guide accompanied us, but before taking us to the caves he wanted to show us a local cultural center. I was skeptical at first, but it turned out to be a really interesting archaeological site.

The Caguana Indigenous Ceremonial Park is an ancient Taino (native Puerto Rican) site dating back to 1200-1500AD, full of petroglyphs and plazas. The plazas were apparently areas used for civic and religious activities, as well as a ball game known as batey. The petroglyphs portray animals and human faces, thought to represent leaders of the tribes. I was really excited to see this, especially since I’m taking an archaeology class right now and got to geek out on some of the concepts I’ve been learning about.

Petroglyphs -- the middle one is one of the most famous images in PR

Bird petroglyphs!

After spending some time at the site, we drove about another hour or so on windy roads, before parking at a gas station. I was a little confused at first, but it turned out the entrance to a cave we were visiting was accessible by a small, steep trail leading up a densely jungled and rocky mountain behind the gas station.

There were a couple small caves along the way, but our guide assured us that the cave we were looking for was much larger.

And indeed it was! We followed a set of natural, steep steps down into a large cavern, switching on our headlamps and flashlights as the light from outside quickly diminished. It was clear that the cave was heavily used by people, but it was definitely an “off the beaten path” sort of place — not ropes, railings, lights, signs, or any sort of safety regulations you might find in a cave that size in the States!

Bats

More bats

The photos above are deceiving, but even with flashlights, the cave was pitch black once we got away from the opening. You could only vaguely make out the ground a couple feet in front of you. When we shined lights up at the ceiling, we could see bats swooping in and out.

After a few long minutes of picking our way through the darkness, light began showing at the end of a wide tunnel. When we came out to it, I realized we were hundreds of feet above the ground with a sheer drop down, looking out over the misty landscape. It was absolutely breathtaking.

As we sat there taking in the view, a rainstorm swept across the mountains, shrouding everything in fog. It’s impossible to even describe, but it was just beautiful. It was by far one of my favorite days yet, and a good end to a week of service work, fun times, and many new perspectives.

White-winged Dove

Service Learning in Puerto Rico: Part 3

2011-04-30T10:29:00.000-04:00

While the first couple days of our trip were pretty laid back, the real work began on Monday when our site host arrived to put us to work. As all of our days would begin from then on, we rose with the sunrise and hiked up the steep mountain trail. Before we began that day, our host showed us some of the other trails and told us about the preserve and the work we would be doing. He showed us the plantains and coffee groves, and the sacred trees of the forest. Unfortunately I forgot most of the names of the plants he showed us, as they were mostly in Spanish.

Most sacred tree in the forest

One of the most interesting plants were the sacred trees in the old growth forest near the top of the mountains. They had a thick, gooey sap that smelled like Vicks vapor rub, and were used medicinally for the same purposes (to help with colds and to clear sinuses). You could see healed-over scratches in the tree’s bark where people had harvested some of the sap. After showing us all this, he had us all stop for a moment and pray to it; he felt a great affinity and spiritual connection to this part of the forest.

View from the mountain

We hiked back partway down the mountain and split off into different work groups. Some students stayed on the mountain to help the site host’s worker dig drainage trenches on the trail while the rest of us went down to clean out the guest houses on the plantation.

Giant cane toad (and Nana the white fluffy dog)

It wasn’t at all glamorous work. Unfortunately, the site had fallen into some state of disrepair over the past few months, largely due to lack of upkeep and probably not enough people to help, so the task before as was tremendous. We had to scrub the walls and stairs free of mildew (thanks to that warm, moist rainforest climate!), haul away rusted farm equipment and car parts, and generally organize the plantation complex.

There was also a small organic garden next to the main house that we recovered, clearing away weeds and harvesting ripe vegetables. We found peppers, tomatoes, and even ginger root flourishing in the overgrown weeds.

Awesome caterpillar

Once we got to the inside of the main guest house, it got even worse — The kitchen and library rooms needed to be organized, gutted, scrubbed, dusted, and otherwise scoured from top to bottom. It took us the majority of the week to get it all done, but the end result was quite an improvement.

Even though the work was exhausting, messy, and not always fun, that was exactly the reason we needed to be there volunteering. The fact that we were able to help out, even in a small way made the trip that much more fulfilling.

Puerto Rican Stripe-headed Tanager

So that was how we spent most of our week: up to our elbows in dirt or dust or any number of other unpleasant things, but having a great time doing it (for the most part!).

The last couple days of our trip would be a little more exciting… so stay tuned!

Service Learning in Puerto Rico: part 2

2011-04-12T18:40:00.000-04:00

Partly from exhaustion and partly from the symphony of coqui frogs outside my open window, I slept like a baby during my first night in Puerto Rico (zipped up tightly in my sleeping bag for fear of insects crawling in!).

We awoke with the sunrise and met our van in front of the guest house to take a day trip to the Arecibo Observatory, the largest radiotelescope in the world. After a harrowing 1 1/2 hour ride down some more treacherous mountain roads, we drove up a steep mountain, parked, and then hiked further up the steep mountain to the tiny observatory museum.

After wandering around, watching a short movie (which was in English, surprisingly!) we exited out the back door and found ourselves looking down into a massive dish that encompassed the entire valley.

It was one of those things that is really too big to even comprehend. It dwarfed the mountains and rain forest that surrounded it, like a giant bowl set into the earth.

We gaped at it for a little while, took some pictures, enjoyed the view, and then trekked back down the steep mountain. Our guide wanted to show us more of Puerto Rico, so we continued on to the city of Aricebo, on the northern coast of the island.

Just as we were close enough to see the waters of the Caribbean in the distance…. BANG!!!! … With a jolt and the sound of a gunshot, our right back tire blew out in the middle of the road. Our driver pulled off to the side by a chain link fence and an old car lot, and we dutifully filed out to evaluate the damage.

The thing was ripped to shreds and our hubcap had spun off about 40 feet away. After retrieving it, and trying to jack up the van, the driver and guide discovered the jack was too small. We tried several variations of propping it up with wood and rocks, but to no avail. Eventually the driver called a friend who had a larger car jack, and we waited another 30 minutes out in the sun for him to arrive. Eventually they got the donut on and we were well on our way again, disaster averted.

When we arrived at the beach, we found ourselves amidst a cacophony of blaring Latino music and roar of waves breaking on the brown sand. We found a quieter place along the beach and headed into the waves, clothes and all. I discovered the hard way, however, that the waves in Puerto Rico are nothing like those on the gulf coast. Once you walk out to about waist-deep, the current is so strong it literally pulls you in across the rock bottom and then throws back at shore again, completely whipping you off your feet. It was kind of exciting at first, until waves got big enough to pull me under — not so fun anymore.

I had a blast, though. Once everyone got back, we rinsed off as best we could, piled in the little van, and sped off back to town for lunch at a crowded local BBQ joint. The food was delicious — we enjoyed meals of yellow rice, beans, beef, chicken, fried potatoes, and plantains, all cooked to perfection.

Yellow-shouldered Blackbird

Upon returning to the house late afternoon, I spent the rest of the day relaxing on the porch and exploring around the nearby trails. Tons of birds were around, as always, their calls, chirps, and whistles echoing through the mountains.

Multiple species of hummingbirds and Puerto Rican Todies flew right through the porch to taste the plantain blossoms that grew around the building. They were way too fast to photograph though.

Mystery bird?

I also managed to get a shot of this little guy, but I'm not sure what it is. Any ideas?

Stay tuned for part 3 in the next few days!

Service Learning in Puerto Rico: Day 1

2011-04-06T22:15:00.000-04:00

It’s 3 o’clock in the morning, Saturday, March 26th, as our plane lands on a small runway in the pitch darkness. Tired and groggy from traveling all night, I haul my backpack and sleeping bag out from the overhead compartment and file out of the plane onto the tarmac with 11 other students. We are in Ponce, Puerto Rico, for a spring break service trip.

Let me just start by saying, service trips are not for the faint of heart. After snagging a couple hours’ sleep crammed into 2 hotel rooms, we were awoken by our trip leader (a fellow student) at 7:30am and told that our bus had arrived. And by “bus” I mean the sketchiest looking, beat-up, stripped-down 12-passenger van you can imagine, packed tightly with 14 people total (the 12 of us, plus the driver and a guide)! Two people had to sit on the floor for the 2 hour ride up windy mountain roads into the rural interior of the island.

Never having been to Puerto Rico, I was really somewhat surprised. The area where we were, at least, seemed extremely poor and rundown, especially as we left the main city. I couldn't believe we were in a territory of the United States — it felt like we were in some developing country. Abandoned cars and houses crumbled on the roadside, while stray dogs and chickens wandered about.

View from the mountain

The drive into the mountains was spectacular though. My ears popped as we climbed higher and higher into the jungle, the humid air whipping through my hair from the open windows, wafting in smells of cooking food, exhaust fumes, and rich, organic aromas. It was also slightly terrifying. Although most of the roads were 2-way, there was only 1 lane, so the driver would honk before careening around a blind turn on the edge of a cliff, or veer off to the side to avoid head-on collisions. Definitely a good way to get an adrenaline rush at 8 o’clock in the morning!

After stopping at a local supermarket in Utuado to buy our week’s worth of groceries, we drove about another half hour up a mountain and finally made it to our destination, a local Hacienda.

The Hacienda

The Hacienda was a series of 3 buildings on a plot of several hundred acres of preserve land. We were assigned one of the guest houses, which basically consisted of a bunch of bedrooms with triple-high bunk beds, a couple little bathrooms, and a tiny kitchen, with a gorgeous back porch overlooking the mountains. After settling in, our guide took us on a hike down one of the short trails and explained a little about Puerto Rico and Hacienda Verde.

Poisonous flower

Our guide was an indigenous Puerto Rican with a flamboyant personality and an obvious passion for his culture. He took us up the mountain, showed us and banana and coffee groves, and the coops where they raise chickens and pigs for food. He explained some of the things we should be careful of, as well: local drug dealers, a poisonous flower (see above), thorny plants, and apparently a virus spread by rats that gets on the bananas that could kill a man in 24 hours (this really freaked me out for the first few days!).

Hiking into the jungle

Tropical tree ferns

Chicken coops

Yellow-shouldered Blackbird

Afternoon thunderstorms

Scaly-headed Pigeon?

On our first day, the bird diversity there was overwhelming to me. All day long, exotic chirps, tweets, songs, calls, and whistles echoed throughout the mountains. Yellow-shouldered Blackbirds would hop right up onto the front porch of the guest house and rustle among the banana trees, while White-winged Doves and pigeons (Scaly-headed?) perched on the power lines that provided limited electricity to the house. There were also tons of hummingbirds, which I was never able to photograph!

Overall, our first day was really fantastic. It was a great time to learn about the area, and to adjust to the change in culture and environment. It was clear that this was bound to be an incredible week!

Stay tuned for Part 2!

¡Vamos ir a Puerto Rico!

2011-03-24T16:01:00.001-04:00

Volunteer site in Puerto Rico

So tomorrow is the day -- Travel day, that is. I can't believe it's come up so fast, but it seems spring break is finally upon us.

Tomorrow night is going to be long. After a couple hour drive to the airport, a couple hour wait, and a couple hour flight down south, we have to spend the next 5 hours or so in the Puerto Rico airport waiting for a bus!

The only thing you can expect in travel, is the unexpected. Original plans to sleep that first night at a church fell through, and our bus driver apparently hiked up his prices, throwing our plans and budget off slightly. But we seem to have a great group of students, so we've all agreed to sleep in the airport until the bus arrives in the morning. Wheee!

Once we get through all that, we'll be driving out of the city and into the mountains and national forests of PR, 2,500 feet above sea level. Our week will be spent doing trail and building maintenance around the eco-preserve, with a couple side trips to visit local area.

That said, I have no idea what to expect, but I'm sure it's going to be great no matter what. I will be MIA for the next 10 days or so, but I'll try to post pictures and my travelogue when I get back.

¡Hasta la próxima! (Until next time!)

Destination: Puerto Rico

2011-02-20T22:11:00.001-05:00

When I was living in England last year, a professor told me something that kind of stuck in my mind. She something to the effect of, "If you want to spend your life traveling, you will."

I had always thought of traveling as somewhat of a luxury (and I suppose it still is). My family used to save up for a few years, and then go on a trip somewhere -- usually a national park, or an interesting city in the US. Although I still consider it a privilege, something I have to work towards, travel is becoming an important and regular part of my life.

After saving up for the last 10 months or so since I got back from Europe, I am about to embark on my next trip "abroad."

I'm heading to Puerto Rico for spring break in just over a month. It's a service trip, meaning I will spend the majority of the time volunteering. However, we will be working at a private ecological preserve, supposedly doing a lot of "physical" and "outdoor" maintenance work, which should be a good challenge.

Obviously, I can't wait to see all the new birds and wildlife. There are apparently almost 350 species of birds on the island, most of which will be lifers for me. It will be my first trip to the tropics (or anywhere south of Florida for that matter), and my first time in a Spanish-speaking country (better start brushing up on my skills!).

All this is to say I am extremely excited for this trip, and can't believe it's coming up so soon. If my professor was right (and I believe she was), this is only the beginning of many more adventures abroad.

Law school is NOT in my future

2011-02-12T09:56:00.000-05:00

I've been on somewhat of a hiatus the last couple weeks mainly due to the fact that school has taken over my life (and I've been sick as a dog with some kind of flu/bronchitis-like bundle of joy).

I have also been working on a major project for my Wildlife Policy class, on the topic of international migratory bird policies. Let me just start off by saying I know absolutely nothing about law, nor did I realize how complicated it could be! Now, assuming that most people are like me (terrible assumption, but let's go with it), I'm going to guess that the average Joe doesn't know the first thing about the laws, policies, treaties, and conventions that protect bird species in the US and abroad.

So, I thought I would give a brief overview here, translated into plain English what I had to decipher from a lot of legal jargon in my research.

I think most of us birders are familiar with the federal law that you can't capture, kill, or take any part of a migratory bird (including bones, feathers, or other remains). Believe it or not, this law is from a treaty passed in 1918, known as the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, signed by the US, Canada, and Great Britain to protect species that pass between our countries.

Simple enough, right? But wait, there's more! How do you protect species that migrate between the US and other countries besides Canada and GB, you ask? The answer is simple: sign more treaties.

There are actually five major ones. Before the MBTA, in 1916 the US, Great Britain, and Canada drafted the Convention for the Protection of Migratory Birds, which is implemented by the MBTA. In 1936 the US signed another treaty with Mexico (the Convention for the Protection of Migratory Birds and Game Mammals), in 1972 we signed one with Japan (the Convention for the Protection of Migratory Birds and Birds in Danger of Extinction, and their Environment) and finally in 1976 we signed one with the former Soviet Union (the Convention Concerning the Conservation of Migratory Birds and their Environment). Whew!

Basically, all these treaties and conventions say more or less the same thing: You cannot "take," kill, capture, or harm in any way any migratory bird. There are, of course, special provisions requiring permits for scientific research, establishing hunting seasons for game birds, and exceptions for indigenous subsistence hunters. But for most of us, violating any of these acts will result in hefty fines and/or time in prison.

A major part of my research for this project was in finding specific, related court cases that have been influential in clarifying the treaties. For instance, the issue of "unintentional" baiting came up in a case in 1939, where the defendant argued that he did not mean to attract birds with scattered grain around his agricultural fields -- the court found him guilty anyway, on the grounds that intentionality does not matter under the terms of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

Another issue came up with regard native Alaskan subsistence hunters in the 1980s. In the end, it was found that although the treaties do not allow hunting even by indigenous groups, the Fish and Wildlife Service is under no obligation to enforce the rules (and so they don't!). It was later written into the treaty that native subsistence hunters may, in fact, hunt for migratory birds for personal uses such as food and clothing, so long as they don't sell the birds or bird parts, and respect the nesting seasons for certain species.

There are a lot more cases like this (dozens and dozens and dozens and dozens), but I think you get the point. I'll admit, it's kind of interesting stuff, but more than anything I find it rather frustrating to read about debates over the minute wording of laws, or the conflicting interests of people trying to get around these laws.

One thing is for sure at this point, law school is not in my future. I'll leave that stuff to the experts.

Winter term birds

2011-01-29T12:20:00.000-05:00

Despite my life becoming totally consumed by ichthyology this month, I've actually been able to add a bunch more birds to my year list and even get in some local birding now and again. I have a lot to catch up on though, so bear with me.

About a week and a half ago I saw an email from a professor about a pied-billed grebe in one of our campus ponds that was tangled in soda can plastic, and they were looking for students to help corral and capture it. The plan was to get about 10 students or so in the pond to "herd" the pair of grebes into a large seine net, where one person (a student who also works as a wildlife rehabilitater) would detangle it or take it to the local seabird sanctuary if it was injured.

Unfortunately, only about 7 students showed up -- not nearly enough to keep the wily little grebes from slipping past us. We came close at one point. The grebe actually swam into our net while we were all on the other side of the pond, but by the time we got enough people over, it had somehow disappeared. We waded around, shivering in the pond for about an hour (it was around 45 degrees out), and finally had to give up. Hopefully we'll try again in a couple weeks if the grebes are still around.

Other than the attempted grebe rescue, I managed to get my birding fix over the last few weeks with the plethora of migratory and resident species present on campus this time of year. There are tons of palm warblers, tricolored herons, lesser scaups, blue-winged teals, and mottled ducks around the ponds. The usual for this time of year, but fun to see nonetheless.

Last week my class took a trip to the University of Florida's fisheries department up in Gainesville. The fish were cool, but I was really surprised by all the birds in the area! While we were seining, a pair of great egrets put on a spectacular courting display. I took a ton of pictures, but unfortunately they didn't come out too clearly because of the distance and low afternoon lighting.

By far my favorite birds of the day were the bald eagles hanging around the lake. There were one or two adults and at least one juvenile that I spotted multiple times swooping low over the water, hunting. It was spectacular! I've never seen a bald eagle hunting before, but it was quite a sight to behold. Around sunset a juvenile landed in a tree right over where we were working on the bank of the lake, making for a great photo op.

Now winter term is over and I'm about to return to the usual grind of a full class schedule. Yippee! So who knows when I'll be able to post again, but until next time...

Happy birding! :-)

FISH!

2011-01-14T16:48:00.000-05:00

This is a bird blog, I know. I shouldn't be writing a blog titled "FISH!" but alas, this is what my life has boiled down to in the last two weeks. Fish. Lots, and lots, and lots of fish.

I'm taking an ichthyology class about local fish species right now. Unfortunately I've already taken my school's one and only ornithology class, so I figured the next best thing would be to learn about a new animal this year. Well! Let me just tell you, there is more to know about fish than I ever would have imagined!

I should have known; it's hard enough learning all the bird species, much less trying to identify an animal that lives in the water, doesn't make much sound, and to the untrained eye like mine, looks pretty much like all the others around it. But don't be fooled. There is nothing alike about any of the fishes we have to learn. There are blennies and gobies and wrasses and basses. There are scorpionfish, squirrelfish, cardinalfish, surgeonfish, parrotfish, triggerfish, filefish, sunfish, pinfish, angelfish, boxfish, damselfish, tilefish, jawfish, bluefish, tonguefish, ladyfish, dolphinfish, needlefish, cornetfish, and trumpetfish to name a fraction of the families we have to learn. That doesn't count the cat sharks, dogfish sharks, angel sharks, mackerel sharks, ground sharks, requiem sharks, hound sharks, electric rays, whiptail rays, butterfly rays, eagle rays, skates, chimeras, and other elasmobranchs we have to know as well.

Not that I don't love this class, and think that it's totally fascinating (I do, and it is!) but... holy mackerel, all I can think about is FISH! (oh dear god, there we go again...)

So that's what I've been up to lately. When I'm not up to my eyeballs in flashcards, class notes, and homework, I've been slowly racking up my year list. I have close to 35ish right now -- all the usual local winter species. I was hoping to go out and see the Kelp Gull that was reported in Anclote this weekend, but it seems that it may have moved on before I could get to it.

Oh well, we'll see what happens. I'm currently enjoying a quiet (albeit homework-filled) weekend and will try to get out birding at some point.

Birding year in review

2011-01-01T10:37:00.000-05:00

A poem.

Another year has come and gone,
So here we are again.
Looking back at all we saw
In the year two-thousand-ten [2010!].

It started with the locals:
Palm warblers and Sandhill Cranes
Halfway around the world in back,
The year ended with just the same.

49 lifers from 4 different countries
Left much to be desired,
But between rooks and redshanks, ravens and wrens,
The journey was awe-inspired!

From guillemots to grey wagtails,
Europe showed me some new birds.
Red-crested pochards and chaffinches
Left me at a loss for words!

With 27 species total,
From England, Ireland and Wales,
After four months abroad,
I returned to the US trails.

In the Golden State for a month,
I learned my Western species,
From bushtits to Brandt's cormorants,
To California towhees!

31 was my California total,
With 17 life birds in all,
My favorite was the pigeon guillemot,
And the Heerman's gull.

Finally back in the Sunshine State
For school to start again,
It was back to the usual species,
Like the Carolina Wren.

But on breaks I saw some year birds,
Like harriers and wood-pewees,
And then I got a whole bunch more
On the local CBCs.

An old barred owl was my last bird
For the year 2010,
With 164 birds in all,
The year finally came to an end.

But I beat my goal of 150,
So I'm happy as you can see!
Good wishes for birding in 2011,
Hope it's as great is it can be!

Happy new year to all!

Camping trip, last day

2010-12-28T18:03:00.002-05:00

Our final morning in the woods dawns cool and damp -- no rain during the night, thank goodness, but everything is covered in dew and the air hangs heavy with clamminess.

As we warm up by the fire during breakfast, the forest is alive with birds. A huge pileated woodpecker sets up shop right above our tent, hammering away at an oak tree. Downy woodpeckers "peep" to one another all around, and my mother, while taking a walk down by the river, photographs a yellow-bellied sapsucker! I'm not going to lie -- I'm jealous!

In addition to the woodpeckers, there are also the usual Eastern phoebes and towhees that have claimed our campsite as their territory. The phoebe tries to fight its reflection in our car window for a little while, before losing interesting and flying away. The towhee on the other hand is more interested in eating the old corn grounds in the bushes.

In late morning, once our fire has died out we take a long hike on one of the upland trails that follows the path of the river. Compared to the trekking we were doing over the uneven terrain the last two days down by the river, this flat trail is a piece of cake to walk.

I'm amazed by the habitat diversity in the area. We go from pine flatwoods, to centuries-old oak groves, to cypress swamps, to fields of grass.

In the more open areas, I find mixed feeding flocks of pine and palm warblers flitting across the path. Also along the river I find a pair of common ground doves, a species I rarely see.

Although my photo didn't capture it well, a brilliantly colored blue-gray gnatcatcher spent some time in an oak tree along our way as well.

Not far past the gnatcatcher, two black-and-white warblers scale the oaks with skillful agility. I love these guys -- they're so much fun to watch, and so well disguised!

Reindeer moss

We make it back to camp in early afternoon, and, perhaps with some reluctance, pack everything up and cram it into the trunk of the car. It was quite honestly the best camping trip I have ever been on, even despite the first cold night. below is my bird count for the three days:

eastern towhee
northern cardinal
black-and-white warbler
carolina wren
chipping sparrow
common ground dove
american crow
black vulture
turkey vulture
bald eagle
eastern phoebe
pileated woodpecker
downy woodpecker
palm warbler
pine warbler
mourning dove
red-shouldered hawk
carolina chickadee
tufted titmouse
great blue heron
anhinga
blue-gray gnatcatcher
ovenbird

Until next time,

Happy birding!

Camping trip, day 2

2010-12-27T13:34:00.000-05:00

I spend most of the first night half-awake, curled up at the bottom of my sleeping bag, shivering. Temperatures have dropped into the 30s, and with only 3 people in our big family tent, our body heat does little to improve the conditions. It's so cold, not a cricket chirps, nor an owl hoots. The only sound is far off traffic from I-75 some miles away, the occasional snarl of a raccoon, and hunting dogs baying in the distance.

By 4am, we are all significantly chilled to the bone and sleepless. We agree to push our sleeping bags together to try and warm up, and then get up in an hour for a pre-dawn hike. Somehow though, as soon as we huddle up together, I finally drop off to sleep and don't wake up for 3 hours until I hear my mother exclaiming that it's 7am. So much for that early hike, but at least I finally got some sleep!

After an interesting (and as I'm sure you can guess, extremely graceful) contortionist act, I manage the challenging task of changing my clothes without ever leaving my sleeping bag. It isn't until I pull on my shoes that I realize I can't feel my feet. At all. Fun!

As I'm gathering firewood so we can make breakfast, I find the river is blanketed with mist hovering just over the surface. It's beautiful in the early morning sun -- the camera doesn't even capture the full effect.

After breakfast, as I'm sitting by the fire defrosting my feet, I idly look up at the sky. By chance, there are 3 bald eagles soaring overhead! They're waaaaaay up high, but my camera is handy and I manage a couple pictures before they fly away, calling out as they disappear over the tree tops.

Around midmorning we take a hike down the river, the opposite direction we had hiked the day before. The trail is a little more difficult here -- in fact, it's not really a trail at all, but simply a series of animal trails, river bank, and cypress knees to climb over. At one point, we come across an anhinga sunning itself in the sand. It takes off as we approach.

Cypress along the banks

After lunch, we drive a few miles down the road to Silver Lake, a recreation area we found on the park map. We hike the trails there for a little while, finding two red-shouldered hawks, and more of the usual birds I've been seeing around camp.

Silver Lake

Once again, the scenery is just gorgeous. The fall colors are at their brightest, the sky is clear, and all sorts of birds and wildlife are out and about.

We return to camp in late afternoon to start the fire again and boil water for a spaghetti dinner. I slip away for a while to climb up into a tree leaning out over the riverbank, and watch the sun set over the Withlacoochee.

The temperature is dropping again, but not nearly as unbearable as the last night. Crickets are singing again, and I can hear raccoons, squirrels and rabbits rustling around in the bushes. Thick clouds roll in and it looks like it's going to rain, so before bed we hide our firewood under the car just in case.

Although it's still chilly, it stays dry all night and I manage to sleep this time! Tomorrow is our last day and we're in for a long hike and some good birding before heading home just in time for Christmas.

Check back later for day 3!

Christmas Bird Count

2010-12-26T14:06:00.002-05:00

It's another early morning for me! At 5am my alarm startles me out of a deep sleep and after downing a quick breakfast, I throw on my jacket and drive out into the cold darkness of pre-dawn for the annual Christmas Bird Count.

After meeting up with the other two birders in my group, we drive out to the access road marking the start of our 4.3 mile route -- the same route I did last year, and I'm hoping this time we won't be flooded up to our knees! The prospects don't look good however; the weather forecast calls for a wet cold front with rain and violent winds all day.

As it turns out, the terrible weather does make for difficult birding. It's still almost pitch dark as we pick our way down the trail, but there is not a single owl or whip-poor-will to be heard above the roaring wind. We take our time until the sun begins to rise and before we know it, hundreds of robins are erupting out of the palmettos.

The three of us are caught off guard suddenly when not one, nor two, nor three, but FIVE huge birds of prey fly towards us just over the tops of the pines. It's still dark outside so they are silhouetted against the dark blue sky, but they're definitely hawks of some kind. It makes no sense. Hawks never fly in groups of five!

None of us can figure out what they are in the few seconds they're visible through the clearing. From what I can tell, there is some kind of mottled coloration under the wings: a darkish head, and black/brown and white patches all over the underside. But it's still dark outside and impossible to know for sure. We are totally dumbfounded! It's frustrating, but after looking at all the "hawk" possibilities in Sibley's Guide, it gets light outside and we can't spend anymore time scrutinizing.

We trudge on ahead as the temperature drops and the wind picks up, tossing sprinkles of rain in our faces (why is the CBC always on the coldest, nastiest day of the year??). We count a few hundred more robins, and dozens of yellow-rumped warblers.

To our surprise, 2 of those mysterious hawks fly over again back from the direction they were flying before! One of them calls out, a short, high-pitched kind of cry, not like anything I've ever heard before. It was sort of eagle-like, but not quite. They are only visible for a couple seconds, and audible only for a fraction of a second. We still could never figure out what they were, despite seeing them so closely and even hearing the call. (If anyone has any suggestions of what kind of hawk might fly in groups and fly low in the trees, let me know!)

The rest of the hike goes surprisingly well, despite the conditions. We count more yellow-rumped and pine warblers, carolina wrens, downy woodpeckers, and even three ruby-crowned kinglets blowing around in the trees. A couple tufted titmice and blue-gray gnatcatchers are spotted as well.

My favorite find for the day shows up about two-thirds of the way through our route -- we have just gone through a relatively dead zone when out of the corner of my eye, I notice a woodpecker land at the top of a tall pine tree. I point it out, thinking it's a red-bellied woodpecker, a bird we haven't counted yet.

But no, its colors are all wrong through the binoculars! Dark patterned wings with a bright white stripe, yellowish-brown belly, striped head -- it has to be... a yellow-bellied sapsucker! There's no doubt about it. It's a lifer!

For the rest of the hike, most of the birds are about the same. We find a red-tailed hawk at the very end, flying in place against the gusty wind. After counting up the list, it appears we have a total of about 20 species, not counting the unidentifiable hawks. That's actually WAY better than I thought we would have, and only a few less species than we had for the same route last year.

It was a great CBC, once again, even with the uncooperative weather. Below is a list of the birds I could remember off the top of my head (I'll have to get the actual tally later).

American Robin
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Downy Woodpecker
Tufted Titmouse
Carolina Wren
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Red-tailed Hawk
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Laughing Gull
American Crow
Red-shouldered Hawk
Pine Warbler
Northern Cardinal
White Ibis
Hairy woodpecker
(And a couple more I'm forgetting)

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T19:29:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas and very happy birding in the New Year!

Off to a CBC tomorrow, so stay tuned for updates. I'll also resume my camping trip report later this week. :-)

Camping trip, day 1

2010-12-24T11:32:00.000-05:00

3:00am. I was woken suddenly by the annoying beeping sound of my cellphone alarm, but after fumbling with it in the dark for a moment to shut it off, I jumped down off the bunk bed, threw on some boots, and ran outside. Before I even got out of porch, I could already tell the glow from the full moon had turned everything a rusty red.

The full lunar eclipse early Tuesday morning truly was spectacular, and apparently the first one on a winter solstice since 1638, and the last one until 2092. I watched it for a while, snapped some pictures (this was the only one that came out well), and then eventually went back to bed to get a few more hours of sleep until we headed off to go camping that morning.

By the time we got to our campsite, it was about midday. The weather and the scenery were spectacular, and the first thing we did after setting up camp across from the crystal clear river was to take a long hike along the bank.

The trail was narrow, and eventually petered out to little more than an animal trail winding in and out of the hugest cypress knees I have ever seen. It became pretty challenging at some parts, where the only way to proceed was to climb vertically or horizontally through the trees so as not to fall in the river!

The fall colors -- well, winter by this point I guess! -- were spectacular.

At one point my sister found this tiny little bird skull along the bank. No other bones around it, but it appears to be some sort of passerine maybe (anyone good at IDing birds by their bones?). I didn't keep the skull since it's illegal to possess dead songbirds, but I took a few record pictures to look it up later.

We made it back to our campsite mid-afternoon, so I spent the rest of the time looking for more birds. I found several ovenbirds, tons of cardinals, chickadees, and chipping sparrows.

There was also a rather large rabbit hanging around the area, nibbling at the bushes not far from our site.

We managed to start a fire where we made roast potatoes, and venison steaks my sister had gotten from her last deer hunt a couple months ago. 'Twas delicious! As night fell, the moon rose (white this time -- no more eclipse!), the temperatures dipped down into the 40s as soon as the sun was gone. Although our trip was off to a great start, we were in for a very long, cold night...

Check back later for Day 2!

Outside again

2010-12-20T10:25:00.000-05:00

Fence Lizard

Well, I'm finally home on winter break from school for a couple weeks -- the longest I've been home in about 6 months! And of course we know what a break from school means: I get to play outside! :-)

On Friday my family and I took a little hike through Withlacoochee Forest, which was aglow with fall colors (well, as much fall colors as we get down here). The weather was a perfect 70 degrees, the air crystal clear. Red-shouldered Hawks called through the woods, while Pine and Palm Warblers flitted around in the treetops.

The river was exceptionally low, which meant little islands around the cypress stands were exposed. My siblings and I hiked and climbed and clambered around the cypress knees to our hearts' content. I felt like a little kid again!

Hog wallows

Unfortunately as we were hiking, we found much of the area was torn of up by wild hogs. It seems that in the last few years, the "wild" boar population (of course, as most know, they're actually feral and quite destructive) has skyrocketed in Florida, and the evidence is quite clear.

It has been great to get outside again these last couple days. The weather has been lovely -- a brisk 40-something degrees today and the feeders around the house are filled with Chipping Sparrows, Tufted Titmice, and Carolina Wrens.

Tomorrow my mother, sister, and I are going on a 2-day camping trip. I can't wait!

Front Yard Birds

2010-11-27T11:43:00.000-05:00

Just thought I'd post a couple pictures I took today of birds on the front yard feeders at my house. Although this season has been one of the warmest we've had in years, I've seen more birds in the last few days than I have in a long time.

The carolina wren was flitting around as they always do, and I was lucky enough to get a couple shots before it flew off.

Also sharing the feeder was a large flock of chipping sparrows, along with some tufted titmice and carolina chickadees (the latter two were too quick for me to get a picture!).

Fall Break, part 2

2010-10-31T11:49:00.001-04:00

It's Sunday afternoon, and after having gotten back home around midnight from my trip to the panhandle, I'm exhausted. But the fun has only just begun -- I'm camping for the night at Ft. Desoto State Park with some friends from school.

We spend the afternoon relaxing and exploring along the coast of the island, wading in the cool water and looking for various critters. We find crabs and fish, various worms, and other strange creatures of the bay.

Our coolest find is a skate, laying lethargically in the shallows. It is unusually docile and allows us to examine it for a few minutes before it swims gently away.

As the sun begins to set, the shorebirds begin to emerge seemingly from nowhere. A Least Sandpiper scurries across the beach, while a Great Blue Heron lands not too far away.

The view from our campsite at sunset.

As soon as the sun went down, the raccoons came out. We could see them in the shadows and hear them chortling or growling at one another just out of sight.

The next morning, I rise with the sun and take a leisurely walk down the beach. The water is like glass, the stillness broken only by a few manatees splashing and rolling lazily in the distance.

Semipalmated plovers scurry about on the mudflats that have been exposed in the low tide, and more herons, egrets, and sandpipers forage nearby.

At one point I see an odd-shaped fin cutting through the water out in the distance. I snap a picture, thinking it might be a school of fish breaking the surface, but upon later review, my friends and I conclude it's a black-tipped reef shark!

The manatees continue to laze about all morning.

[Contrary to my original thoughts, this is actually a Black-bellied Plover -- thanks Heidi and Nick! -- not a lifer anymore, but still a cool bird!]

I also find a lone Ruddy Turnstone as well as another Least Sandpiper.

After packing up our campsite, we head to the beach for a few hours before making the drive back to school. I must say it was one of the best fall breaks I have ever had. It gave me some much-needed time outside, as well as a life bird to add to my list.

Now school is back into full swing, but I'm going to try and get outside more often when things slow down a little. Between applying for summer internships, TAing, working, and classwork, this semester is crazy busy. But we're over halfway done, and I have Christmas Bird Counts to look forward to over winter break!

Fall Break, part 1

2010-10-26T19:17:00.000-04:00

It's 5 o'clock on Saturday morning and I'm riding in the back of a car, on a 4 hour journey up to the panhandle of Florida with my sister, her friend, and another friend. We're headed up to see the annual butterfly migration that takes place at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge every fall.

I'm not sure what to expect at first -- I've heard of them migrating in the tens of thousands, but I'm glad I didn't get my hopes up too much because when we finally arrive mid-morning, it's clear that most have already migrated through the area and moved on.

Nonetheless, there are still impressive numbers of Monarchs, Viceroys, Queens, and Gulf Fritilary butterflies swarming flowers and bushes along the trails by the St. Marks lighthouse.

It's a beautiful day -- perfect for butterfly watching, birding, and hiking. The wildlife refuge is holding an event to celebrate the butterfly migration, and the park is packed with families, retirees, photographers, and other wildlife enthusiasts.

Among the other wildlife we see are alligators, thousands of fiddler crabs, and tons of birds.

My favorite sighting at St. Marks is a Northern Harrier flying low over the marsh. It's impossible to get a picture though, as we're bumping along a dirt road and the raptor quickly disappears from sight.

Once we find where the butterflies are congregated, it makes for some gorgeous photo ops.

After a quick lunch, we leave St. Marks to head off to another hiking destination, but not before stopping to check out some more cool birds. Two bald eagles stand guard around a ginormous nest, not far from where a red-shouldered hawk is perched on a sun-bleached snag in the middle of the marsh. I'm super excited to see these birds, even if they are fairly common!

Once we manage to pull ourselves away from the fantastic wildlife of St. Marks, we take an hour or so drive to Tate's Hell State Park, further west along the panhandle. We plan to hike a total of 6 miles roundtrip on the High Bluffs trail, which is accessed by an obscure forest road.

The trail is one of the easier ones I've been on, although slightly hilly due to the fact that we're in North Florida, and hiking up and down sand bluffs. The ground is soft with sugar sand, and mid-afternoon sun beats down on us; the trail has very little shade.

The terrain changes every mile or so, sometimes offering us high up views of the Gulf of Mexico, and sometimes we find ourselves in lower areas on the outskirts of a cyprus swamp, or an area of dry brush, or a dead forest of snags and undergrowth, marking remnants of old hurricane damage.

As we near the halfway point of mile 3, someone in our party points out a bear track! It's small, apparently a bear cub, but as we proceed we find fresh bear scat and more tracks -- larger tracks. There are also wide animal trails leading off the main trail.

We follow one of them, but it leads us into a bog of squelchy mud, thick with saw grass that slices easily through our legs and leaves a stinging, burning sensation for the remaining duration of the hike. Needless to say, we turn back and finish the hike on the main trail.

By now it is getting towards late afternoon and birds begin to sing and call. I hear cardinals, Carolina wrens, pine warblers, mockingbirds, tufted titmice, and blue jays calling through the sparse pine flatwoods. My favorite is an Eastern wood-pewee that shows up right before we get back to the parking lot.

It was an incredible day. It felt so good to spend the entire day outdoors, hiking until exhaustion, and spending time with my sister and others who enjoyed the experience just as much as I did. And that was only the start of fall break! The next day I would be in a totally different part of the state, camping for the night by the beach...

Stay tuned for Part 2!

Kayaking around

2010-10-03T17:25:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to post a few pictures that I took yesterday while kayaking with a friend around school. Haven't had much time to get outside lately, but yesterday was an exception. Fantastic fall weather coming in, beautiful day out, and the water was a still as could be -- perfect paddling conditions! Saw lots of wildlife and the usual birds, so it was a lovely afternoon. Hopefully I'll be getting outside more in the next few weeks!

Happy birding!

Fascinating lecture on birds

2010-09-27T09:19:00.000-04:00

Once again I've fallen shamefully far behind on my blogging. This semester has been insanely busy so far. Junior year is kind of a big year at my school, mainly because we have to turn in a writing portfolio before we can take comprehensive exams and graduate. On top of that, I've become involved in a number of extracurricular activities and I recently changed to a double major, so long story short -- my life is taking over my life!

After next week though, things should slow down, and I'm looking forward to getting back to birding. Fall migrants are starting to come through, and it's driving me crazy to be stuck inside studying or running meetings or going to class!

But back to the point of this post -- this lecture is totally fascinating! Tim Birkhead is a professor at the University of Sheffield and gives an enthusiastic look at the history of bird studies and behavior.

Enjoy, and happy birding!

A couple passerines

2010-07-30T13:19:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I went on one last walk down the local trail to get some fresh air and see what was out and about. There wasn't a whole lot, besides the usual California Towhees, a Spotted Towhee, and Bushtits, but at one point I stopped to look down over the side of the creek bed and a Lesser Goldfinch landed a few yards away.

It sat quite cooperatively on a high vine, cocking its head this way and that, seeming to examine me with mild curiosity.

I put my backpack down as slowly as I could, not taking my eyes off the little bird lest it would fly away, and pulled out my camera. I managed to snap a few shots, although it was slightly backlit.

Eventually the goldfinch darted off to join a small flock of its kin in a tree guarded at the top by two House Finches. These too, posed well against the vivid blue sky and colorful foliage.

They hung around for a few seconds before quarreling among themselves and scattering.

Beautiful little birds though! I will miss them when I go home, although with fall migration starting up soon, we should be getting our own fair share of colorful songbirds through the area.

Until next time,

Happy birding!

A growing list

2010-07-28T16:40:00.000-04:00

With three days left in California, today I tallied up both my trip list and my overall year list so far.

If you've been following the blog for a long time, you'll probably know that every year I try to get my year list to at least 150, and every year I fall just short. My first year of birding in 2007, I ended with 123 birds (that was with a trip to Maine). In 2008, my total dropped to 104 -- understandable, as that was my first year in college. Last year I came close, and ended with 141, partly thanks to a trip to the Great Plains.

So it's now the middle of 2010 and I wanted to see how close I am to reaching my annual goal. The answer? I've surpassed it! My year list so far is at 152. Granted, that's counting the birds I saw overseas as well as here in California, but hey, I made it! And it's only July!

I feel kind of silly getting all excited over a meager number like 152. But for me, it's not so meager considering I've actually spent very little time bird watching in between school, traveling, and various other unforeseen circumstances that have occurred in the last few months.

The fact that I've seen 152 birds in my spare time is reassuring to me. Birds will always be there for me to count, to study, to admire, to appreciate, and to enjoy. Part of me wants to be one of those Big Year birders, racking up hundreds of species and learning them all by heart. But the other part of me knows that it's not practical in my life, for the other things I want to do and accomplish.

And that's the ultimate beauty of birding, I think. It can be as much, or as little a part of your life as you make it. Birding gives me something to do, a way to focus my energy when I need it. It's something familiar that I can do almost anywhere. And I love it.

So here's to another five months of successful and happy birding!

Shorebirds galore

2010-07-17T21:25:00.000-04:00

This morning my brother and I biked up to the shoreline area I've been exploring this week, only this time we rode all the way to the park proper, about 10 miles round trip (before today I had only been in the preserve area by the sloughs).

I had no idea how many birds we would find there! First of all, the rolling lawns were covered in Canada Geese -- hundreds of them. They all strutted around, bickered with one another, and terrorized small children. Following the path though, we found ourselves rounding several lakes and more shoreline/mudflat/marshy areas.

I totally geeked out when I saw this bird as we rounded a bend and came into view of a wide slough -- my lifer American Avocet! There were actually hundreds of them, at least as many avocets as there were geese, off in the distance. This one loner was foraging close to the walkway, and looking quite picturesque.

Also in the vicinity were Willets, Snowy Egrets, tons more Barn Swallows, White Pelicans, and Mallards.

The sheer numbers of birds there were quite amazing to me. Of course it was nothing astronomical, but certainly more than I expected for a relatively crowded park on a hot, midsummer day.

Mud flats

More Avocets

Snowy Egret

Once I finished admiring all the avocets, I turned around and noticed the little building behind me was swarming with Barn Swallows. It turned out they had dozens of nests under the overhangs and would periodically all explode out and swoop around for a while before coming back in to cling to the shingles or hide in their nests.

White Pelican coming for landing

My second most exciting find was a little area full of Black-necked Stilts. This is a bird I've wanted to see for a long time in Florida, but now I've seen more of them here in than I ever thought I would. I think they're adorable, although they weren't too active this morning.

This little bird puzzled me for a long time. It spent most of its time running around in the tall grasses by the path, darting out for bugs and little bits of seeds. I could not figure out what it was for the longest time, until I realized it must be a juvenile Brown-headed Cowbird. Correct? It's the best I can come up with, based on the bill shape, body size and build, and its behavior. Sure threw me off though!

Still having a great time with all these new Western birds and the great parks and wild places around here. Two weeks down, two more weeks to go in the Golden State.

Until next time,

Happy birding!

Birding the marsh

2010-07-14T17:04:00.003-04:00

Song Sparrow

Equipped with a borrowed mountain bike, today I rode up the local bike trail all the way to its northern-most point, where it ends at a preserve area on the bay. The habitat is mostly marshy grasslands, but this made an ideal environment for practicing my very rusty sparrow IDing skills.

Barn Swallow

There were also mass quantities of Barn Swallows in the area, nesting underneath the few footbridges that crisscrossed the water. They would all explode out from the grass when anyone approached, and swoop around you chattering irritably until you left.

Savannah (Belding?) Sparrows

For all the sparrows that were hiding in the grass, it appeared that they were mostly Song Sparrows (with the exception of the questionable pair above), although I could be mistaken. Like I said, my sparrow identification skills are severely lacking in some areas.

Red-tailed Hawks

There were also these two raptors waaaaaaay far away on a power line.

Aside from the numerous swallows and sparrows, I also got a glimpse of a Common Yellowthroat! Beautiful bright yellow male, but barely got a glimpse and picture before he disappeared in the grass.

Heeey, another sparrow!

Above is a pretty good representation of what most of the area looked like -- lots of dense grasses, some dry brush, and a muddy stream. The birds loved it, as did the ground squirrels in some of the drier areas.

It was a fantastic park, and I will certainly be returning very soon to explore some other spots I didn't get to this morning.

Until next time,

Happy birding!

More birds in CA!

2010-07-13T01:18:00.000-04:00

California Towhee

This area of California has turned out to be much "birdy-er" than I thought it would be. Just through general observation (as opposed to hard-core birding) I've managed to see close to 30 species in the last few days, many of them lifers.

Above is the view of the mountains from where I'm staying. On clear days you can see a lot more hills, but in the mornings it's usually pretty foggy as seen above.

Mystery hummer

One of my biggest personal challenges out here is to identify all the hummingbirds I've been seeing! This is only the second picture I've managed to get, and I still can't tell for sure what it is. My money is on Anna's Hummingbird right now, but I haven't been able to get a good look at the crown.

Black Phoebe

Black Phoebes are also common near the creek. This one was catching little things off the water for a long time while my brother and I watched, over the weekend.

What am I?

So, I know what these little birds are, above, but do you? They're dirt common out here once you know what you're looking at. ;-)

House finch

Another fairly common bird is the House Finch, almost nonexistent where I live in Florida, but a daily sighting out here. I was particularly proud of this shot I got!

Western Gull

Yesterday we went to San Francisco to visit some friends and tour around a bit. Got my lifer Western Gulls and a possible Heerman's Gull (although I don't know if I'm going to count it yet...). Also got a lifer Brandt's Cormorant at Pier 39, while musing at the infamous sea lions there!

Reservoir in the foothills

Today I met with another friend who took me around some of the area into the foothills of the mountains. We saw a surprising amount of wildlife, including several deer (young bucks with their velvet antlers and 3 doe's), a tiny little rabbit and my lifer California Quail! It was a lot of fun, and I must say, CA has some excellent hiking trails.

I'll have to tally up my CA list later, but it's growing fast. Looking forward to the next few weeks here for sure!

Until next time,

Happy birding!

First day in the Golden State

2010-07-04T21:58:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was spent mostly in the air on the 9 hour long transit to California, but it was surprisingly quite enjoyable. After a short layover in Chicago, we began our journey west, over Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and finally the Golden State.

As would be expected, the Rocky Mountains were drop-dead gorgeous from the air. Crisp, white peaks jutted into the blue haze, accenting the green landscape.

I was surprised by the amount of snow still in the mountains, even in July. But, anyone who knows me knows I am obsessed with snow, so I had a fun time photographing the scenery during the long hours of the flight.

After settling in at our hotel, today my brother and I took a long walk on the local bike/pedestrian trail that cuts through town. It is incredibly beautiful here. Even for being a relatively urban/suburban area, the trail seems quite secluded and forested in, running along a deep creek bed.

The trail is home to a host of birds and wildlife, one of which especially caught my eye: a Black Squirrel! I have never seen one of these before, but I find them fascinating. Wikipedia says it's a melanistic (dark-colored) subgroup of the Eastern Grey Squirrel and found in a few areas of the US.

Another exciting find were a couple of hummingbirds! Unfortunately, both individuals I spotted happened to be silhouetted and only offered a few seconds' glimpse, so I wasn't able to ID them. I'm hoping to see more tomorrow and get a better picture. Regardless of what they are though, they're definitely lifers, as all of the species here are new to me.

In a particularly fast-flowing area of the creek we found a few Mallard Ducks and 3 ducklings. Needless to say, the babies were adorable. :-)

This interesting bird was also flying around by the ducks -- it's apparently a Black Phoebe (Thanks for the correction, Chris!), the same as my next photo. That's another lifer!

Another Black Phoebe! Yay!

Among the other species I've identified are Western Scrub Jays, Stellar Jays, American Robins, Chestnut-backed Chickadees (I think), Dark-eyed Juncos, and Snowy Egrets. Lots more birds than I expected to find, considering I was hardly looking!

Until next time,

Happy birding!

Hungry Hawk

2010-06-30T14:04:00.000-04:00

I always seem to find the most interesting things in nature when I'm not even looking for it. Yesterday I was wandering around outside, when a Red-shouldered Hawk flew into an old oak tree, carrying a frog. It either didn't notice me or didn't care, but I was able to photograph the entire process of it eating the frog from about 25 feet away.

If what they say is true -- that a picture is worth a thousand words -- then I'll end the post here and let the photos do the talking. Enjoy! And happy birding!

Wrens' day at the spa

2010-06-28T13:38:00.001-04:00

Yesterday evening when it was getting dark, my mom made an interesting discovery outside my brother's window. A small group of Carolina Wrens were taking a dust bath under the bird feeder. Eventually my whole family (including the dog who you can hear whining in the background) came around to watch the spectacle.

I've never seen anything like it before, although I've heard that birds will do that to get the sand under their feathers to smother parasites and soak up oils on their skin. I must say, it was very entertaining though.

Happy birding!

It's travel time again!

2010-06-27T08:37:00.000-04:00

Take a look at the picture to the left. Any guesses? It should be an easy one. Sea lions... distinctive city... blue skies... It's.... California!

That picture was taken during my last trip there in 2002, but in a rather sudden turn of events the past week or so, it turns out I'll be going back! My younger brother was offered an internship in Silicon Valley (he's a tech guy) so he and I will be spending a month there, starting next week.

I can't wait to add some Western birds to my list! Not sure how good the birding is in the area where we'll be, but I'll see what I can scrounge up.

More updates later.

Happy birding!

Fishing trip... and wildlife rescue?

2010-06-21T17:03:00.000-04:00

So today I went with my family and grandfather on a fishing day trip on the Gulf. We had high expectations of catching some "big stuff" but alas our hopes went unfulfilled. Nonetheless, we managed to have a fantastic time, as we always do, and I, of course, had a great time birding in between fruitless efforts to catch fish.

The morning dawned warm and breezy when we arrived at the pier at 6am. The sun was casting the sky in a pastel wash of colors, and only one other fisherman and a host of herons and egrets were present for the first hour or so.

As the sky grew brighter, the bird species became more plentiful. Joining the wading birds and Least Terns were Double-crested Cormorants, Brown Pelicans, Boat-tailed Grackles, Laughing Gulls, and even a Magnificent Frigatebird at one point.

Around mid-morning, things started to get interesting. First, my sister found a pelican that had become caught in some fishing line wrapped around one of the pilings of the pier. After some unsuccessful efforts to free the bird by snagging the line with another hook, the pier attendant called the local bird sanctuary to come rescue it. Thankfully, before they arrived the pelican managed to free itself, completely unharmed.

But that wasn't the end of our wildlife adventures for the day.

Several people started noticing this sea turtle floating around in the water some distance away from the pier. It didn't seem to concern anyone, and after checking it out with my binoculars, it was clear the sea turtle was dead. It also didn't float away the entire time we were there, so we concluded it was caught on something underwater.

There wasn't anything anyone could do about it, but around late-morning a man from FL Fish and Wildlife showed up and was talking with a woman who had also seen it. I loaned them my binoculars so they could see it better, and they also concluded it was dead and phoned some more biologists to come with a kayak to pull it out.

Meanwhile, however, they called over a couple of guys who were snorkeling nearby and asked if they could help. After a few tense minutes, they were able to untie the line and swim the sea turtle up to the pier where some fishermen hauled it out with a net.

It turned out to be a Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle, the smallest and rarest species in the Gulf of Mexico. They concluded its fin had been caught in fishing line and it snagged and drowned. It was very sad, but also special to get to see such a beautiful species at all. Fish and Wildlife took it back for autopsies.

It was certainly an exciting day, but unfortunately also a reminder of the consequences of irresponsibility -- a price that was paid by the Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle we found.

I certainly don't mean to end on a sad note. It was overall a great day out on the water with a few good catches and lots of cool birds.

Until next time,

Happy birding!

Slow, hot summer

2010-06-14T15:19:00.000-04:00

So far, my ambitious plans to go birding all summer have been foiled by this dreadful hot weather and the resulting lack of my own motivation. Yes, I know. Tragic on all accounts. By pure dumb luck though, I have managed to add a few more birds to my year list without even trying.

The first was a pair of Red-tailed Hawks I saw from the road last week. Surprisingly I hadn't seen any yet this year (or had failed to record it). More exciting for me, however, was my first-of-the-year Ruby-throated Hummingbird yesterday! I only saw it for a few moments, but it was just long enough to realize what I was looking at.

It hovered for a few moments around a bush of blue pentas, before zipping down to feed. In the time it took me to get from the window to the front door, however, it was gone. Too bad. I only rarely see hummingbirds where I live, so it's always a treat.

Well, that's about the highlight of my last 2 weeks. I'll try and get myself outside sometime soon, if not for my own sanity then for something more interesting to post about!

Until next time,

Happy birding!

No Show for Red-Legged Thrush

2010-06-02T17:45:00.000-04:00

After keeping an eye on the listserves all day, it looks like the Red-Legged Thrush has disappeared just as quickly as it showed up. My suspicion is that it's long gone by now, although I will continue to monitor the lists in case anything changes.

Oh well, hopefully there was enough documentation with the original sighting for the bird to count as a record.

I'll be sure to post if anything changes!

Red-legged Thrush? In Florida?

2010-06-01T17:30:00.000-04:00

Supposedly there is a Red-legged Thrush in Brevard County, FL, found yesterday. If you're like me (that is, a bird enthusiast but rather lacking in any knowledge of rarities), you'll be interested to know that this would this be a first time record for the whole of North America, as it is normally native to the Caribbean -- Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Bahamas, and surrounding areas. It has never been seen on North American land before, and here it showed up in my state!

All of this is very tentative right now, though. The original report of the bird on the local listservs suggests that the person who found it wasn't aware of how special the RLTH really is. From what it looks like, a few birders have gone out today to see if they can find it, so right now I'm sitting back and waiting to see if this is a legitimate finding, or a one-time sighting that will result in several months of debate in the birding community.

More updates to come for sure!

Happy birding!

"Do not Molest the Alligators"

2010-05-30T15:55:00.001-04:00

Ah, yes, the familiar message of so many signs around Florida lakes and ponds: "Do not feed or molest the alligators..." and other variations. Such was the familiar scene when I went down to Moccasin Lake Nature Preserve for a morning hike yesterday.

It was a beautiful day, destined to be scorching hot come noontime. Very few birds out, except for the common species like Downy Woodpeckers, Cardinals, Carolina Wrens, Mockingbirds and Ospreys.

Nonetheless I had a lovely time wandering the trails, avoiding early-morning spiderwebs across the paths, contemplating nature, and all that fun stuff. Not much luck on the birding side of things, but then again, it's already summer here by most standards so I don't expect much.

Now we're at that time of year when thunderstorms hit every afternoon at 4 o'clock, last for about 30 minutes, and then disappear just as quickly as they came, giving way to a steamy hot evening. Oh, Florida. How I missed thee!

Happy birding!

Quest for the Bahama Mockingbird

2010-05-19T16:26:00.000-04:00

Today I went down to Ft. Desoto to see if I could find the Bahama Mockingbird that had been reported there since last week on the local listserves. It's not every day a rare species shows up so close, so I figured it would be a good opportunity to check a rarity off my list and get to the beach for a bit.

Following the instructions that had been posted, I found my way to the general area, but realized there were 2 possible paths that went into the woods. I took one of them, but it turned out to be fairly short and opened up to the beach again. I ran into another birder there however, and inquired about the elusive Mockingbird. He said it was on the other trail (of course!), and to look for the privet bush with an orange peel on it and lots of purple berries. Easy enough!

I hiked around a while longer but didn't see anything beyond a few Great-crested Flycatchers, Fish Crows, and this Great Blue Heron. So, I turned back and headed down the other trail.

Here I found the aforementioned privet bush with the orange peel and berries, but... no Bahama Mockingbird. Another birder was walking down the trail and confirmed this was where it had been seen, but I stayed for a while and it never showed up.

I wasn't too disappointed though. I'm glad I got out for a bit, and afterwards enjoyed a leisurely walk along the beach, watching pelicans and turnstones along the shore. Boy is it great to be back!

Until next time,

Happy birding!

Home again

2010-05-18T08:43:00.001-04:00

It's been over a month since my last post, but I am now back on US soil after nearly 4 months abroad. It's kind of strange to be back, but I must say it's a welcome change of pace from the chaotic city life.

Although I didn't really do any serious birding in the UK, I was surprised to find just now when I tallied up my list, that I actually saw nearly 40 species during the time I was there! It's a small number by most standards, but considering I wasn't even focused on birding, I'd say it's not too shabby. Here's the list, in no particular order, as I wrote it up mostly from memory:

1. Magpie
2. Rock Dove
3. Black-headed Gull
4. Wood Pigeon
5. Chaffinch
6. Great Tit
7. Coal Tit
8. Long-tailed Tit
9. Grey Wagtail
10. Mallard
11. Grey Heron
12. Red-crested Pochard
13. Mute Swan
14. Song Thrush
15. Tufted Duck
16. Blue Tit
17. Robin
18. Hooded Crow
19. Rook
20. Raven
21. Redshank
22. Brent
23. Guillemot
24. Great Black-backed Gull
25. Green Woodpecker
26. Canada Goose
27. Great-crested Grebe
28. Coot
29. Northern Shoveler
30. White-fronted Goose
31. European Starling
32. Eurasian Jay
33. Great-spotted Woodpecker
34. Common Moorhen
35. Cormorant
36. Wren
37. Carrion Crow
38. Buzzard
39. House Sparrow

There are probably a couple more I'm missing, but that's most of them.

Now that I'm back in the states, I definitely need to get back into the swing of birding again. It looks like my summer is getting a kick start this week though with the Bahama Mockingbird that showed up in Ft. Desoto! So I'll be heading down there this week to go find it, keeping my fingers crossed it hangs around for another few days.

More frequent updates to come! Until next time,

Happy birding!

Bird photos

2010-04-14T06:31:00.000-04:00

London is keeping me quite busy, but I figured I'd post a few photos this morning before I run off again. I'm working on a group project on Kensington Gardens, so when I visited the park a couple days ago I had a little fun with bird photography.

Most of the birds I found were near the Peter Pan statue by the Serpentine Lake, including this male Mallard.

While I was taking pictures of the ducks, this Gray Heron flew over posed for some nice pictures.

The head-on view is my favorite. ;-) Beautiful pattern on the underside of the neck!

Further along the lake I found a few Red-crested Pochards.

There was also a pair of Mute Swans near the Pochards.

That's about all I have for now, so enjoy the photos! Spring break starts next week and I'm heading out for a short backpacking trip around England and Wales. After that, I have 3 more weeks and then it's back to the states where I'll try to get back to blogging more regularly over the summer. This has been a rollercoaster last few months!

Northern Ireland

2010-03-31T14:07:00.001-04:00

As promised, here are the rest of my Irish birds from my recent backpacking trip. It occurred to me as I was uploading these that they were all taken in the same place -- at Colin Glen Forest Park. I did see many of these birds in other place, but I happened to photograph them all in the same place. The park, by the way, was excellent for birding!

Grey Wagtail. I was super excited to find this one -- it was foraging around in the fast-moving water for the longest time. Very cool bird!

Chaffinch. These were fairly common, although not easy to photograph. Neat looking little birds though.

Coal Tit. This was the only one of its kind I saw (or was able to ID at least!). More common were Great Tits and Blue Tits.

Wood Pigeon. These were *everywhere* and quite annoying too. Everytime I thought I saw a new bird, it was another Wood Pigeon...

Song Thrush. This bird offered us a great view, as it sat alone on a branch happily singing along to itself.

Not as many new birds in Northern Ireland as there were in the Republic, but it was a fun trip anyhow. Both countries were absolutely gorgeous, very friendly, and provided an overall totally amazing experience.

Now as spring is finally moving in to the UK I'll hopefully start seeing more things around London. I'll be visiting a few parks over the next few days, and in a few weeks if all goes as planned I'll be headed up into the mountains of Wales for some spring break backpacking.

Until next time,

Happy birding!

Republic of Ireland

2010-03-26T19:35:00.001-04:00

I am terribly overdue for another blog post. My only excuse for my long hiatus is that I have been off on random adventures around Europe. The latest of these adventures consisted of backpacking around Ireland for a week, where I picked up some fantastic birds. So many, in fact, I've broken it into 2 blog posts -- one for the Republic of Ireland, and one for Northern Ireland where I spent 4 days each.

If you want to read about the trip itself, check out my other blog. But since I'm lazy and it's late here, for now I'm just going to post pictures and a few captions of some of the birds I saw in the first 4 days of my trip.

Tufted Duck, St. Stephen's Green

Mallard, St. Stephen's Green

Mute Swan, St. Stephen's Green

Blue Tits, St. Stephen's Green

Robin, Merrion Square

Hooded Crow, Phoenix Park

Long-tailed Tit, Merrion Square

Coal Tit, Merrion Square

Redshank, Howth

Brent Goose, Howth

Guillemots and various gulls, Howth

Greater Black-backed Gulls, Howth

If I have more time later, I may try to post more commentary, but for now the photos will have to suffice. And this time I will try very hard not to take a month and a half before my next update!

Cheers from London and happy birding!

Across the Pond

2010-02-10T14:41:00.001-05:00

London is full of surprises. Just yesterday I was wondering when I'd ever have time to go birding, when little did I know that today I would find myself strolling through Hyde Park. Spontaneity is the name of the game here; at home I'm usually fairly organized and know what I'm doing from one day to the next, but here you kind of just throw a dart at a map and go.

As it were, today was one of the coldest days since I've been here. A few snow flurries here and there, but by midday it was just frigid and sunny out. I saw a bunch of the usual birds -- Pigeons, Magpies, and a Blackbird -- until we got closer to the lake, when I saw what looked like a woodpecker on a tree.

It was far away, but after snapping a few pictures, it was unmistakeable: a Green Woodpecker!

There were also tons of Black-headed Gulls, and some familiar North American waterbirds as well, including Canada Geese, Mallards and Moorhens.

Another fun lifer was the Great-crested Grebe. There were only a few of these in the pond, but they were very noticeable.

There were lots of these Red-crested Pochards as well, along with Tufted Ducks, Coots, and Northern Shovelers.

There were plenty of White-fronted Geese as well.

And FINALLY a European Starling in its native region! I've seen plenty of these back home, but it's far more fun to see them here in Europe where the belong.

Hyde Park has no shortage of birds, for sure. I also got to see my lifer Great Tit and Pied Wagtail there, too, unfortunately both of which were too quick and shy to allow for a photo. By then, I was also completely frozen and ready to get back into the warmer tube station and head home.

It was a wonderfully refreshing day though, and a nice escape from the bustling city for a few hours.

Until next time,

Happy birding!

Hello from London!

2010-02-09T06:33:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I last posted so I figured I owe the blog a little update. This is day 9 of my excellent adventure in Europe and so far it has been completely mindblowing. I honestly haven't done any birding, because there is just too much else to see and do.

That's not to say I haven't found any new birds though! Although London in the middle of winter is definitely not the place to be if you're looking for wildlife, I've managed to add a few species to my "world list."

First bird I saw here was a pigeon in the train station. They're everywhere here. Second bird was a Magpie, third was a lifer Black-headed Gull at Trafalgar Square on my second day here. I've also since then seen a Pheasant, Herring Gulls, Carrion Crows, and a Wren.

I guess I've been spoiled growing up in Florida, but it's definitely a lot harder to find and identify birds around here. In the coming months, I'll be traveling outside of the city more, so hopefully I'll get to see more species.

Besides the birding (or lack thereof) my experiences here have been nothing short of life-changing so far. I've never lived in a big city before nor traveled on my own, and now both of these things have become the rhythm of my life. And it's wonderful; every day holds something new.

Yesterday on my birthday I got to see snow for the first time. On Saturday I traveled with a couple students to Dover to explore the castle and see the white cliffs. And almost every afternoon after class is spent exploring some corner of the city.

I've said it many time before, but I'm going to say it again: life is amazing!

Cheers, and happy birding!

End of one journey, beginning of another

2010-01-27T16:31:00.000-05:00

The past few days kept me busy out in the field as I finished up my final research project for Field Ornithology. Given the short amount of time we were allowed to do our research, I chose to compare species diversity and abundance at one of our ponds in the morning vs. the afternoon.

It wasn't all that hard to do, and mainly entailed hiking around the pond twice a day to count birds and inevitably led to some good photo ops, including the above 3 pictures (Great Blue Heron, Anhinga, and Pine Warbler, respectively).

On Tuesday we took a field trip to another local nature preserve where I added a good number of birds to my year list.

Photo quiz! Can you tell what this little headless guy is?

Some of our findings included a Caspian Tern (somewhat rare for this area), Black-and-White, Palm, and Yellow-rumped Warblers, Green Heron, Red-winged Blackbird, Red-shouldered Hawk, and Belted Kingfisher among others.

For all the birds we saw, there seemed to be just as many aligators. The above one is just a baby -- take a look below!

Now THAT's an aligator.

Northern Mockingbird giving us a close look

And thus, my fabulous 3 weeks of Field Ornithology have come to a close. The final exam was today, along with our research project presentations which all went surprisingly well.

The lovely thing about the end of one adventure is that there is always another waiting just around the corner. My next one starts in 3 days when I head off to the UK. I'm not sure what is going to happen then, if I'll be able to keep up my blog, or if I'll even get to go birding. I'm bringing the binocs just in case, but I've heard so many different stories about peoples' experiences through the program I'm going on, I have no idea what to expect anymore.

We'll see what happens though! I'll definitely try to keep posting and give you the scoop on the birds of London whenever I can.

So until the next adventure,

Happy birding!

Birding from beach to pond

2010-01-22T20:35:00.000-05:00

On Thursday, my Field Ornithology class took a trip to Ft. Desoto to look at shorebirds. As luck would have it (and as luck apparently did have it for the last 4 years in a row!) it was THE windiest day we've had this month.

Once we made our way across the windblasted beach, we quickly became aware that there were a lot more birds out than one would have expected. The first picture is of a Black-bellied Plover (defying its name in its winter plumage) and above are a bunch of Wilson's Plovers on some low dunes. Also present were Semipalmited Plovers, Willets, and Western Sandpipers.

I had two highlights for the day. The first was the above Reddish Egret in the whitish morph! We even got to watch it do its fishing dance. I got a video, but it was so windy and far away, the camera was too shaky. It was a lot of fun to watch though -- I wish we could have stayed longer.

My second favorite was my lifer Dunlin. I'm actually surprised I've lived here so long and never seen one, but there it is.

Today we took another field trip to the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary. Although it's sandwiched in between towering condos and shopping centers, the facility takes in literally thousands of birds every year. It was great to see the work they're doing and get close-up looks at some of the birds we've been studying this past month.

I never thought about what a baby pelican would look like, but now I know! The little Brown Pelican chicks sitting under their mother reminded me oddly of little dinosaurs...

In addition to the plethora of rescued birds, there were also dozens of wild birds that had taken up residence in the trees and rooftops of the sanctuary, including this Black-crowned Night Heron.

After the field trip, I went birding at my usual spot on campus, and found a wide variety of species despite the somewhat unfavorable weather. Above is a juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk that I chased around for a bit trying to ID.

In addition to the usual wading birds and ducks, there were also some friendly passerines flitting around who were (for a change!) not so camera shy! The above Pine Warbler came down to check me out while I was looking for the hawk, and below, a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher went on about his business foraging in a small tree.

It's been a great past few days. More birding to do this weekend and studying for the final.

Until next time,

Peace out!

Field Ornithology | Catching up

2010-01-14T20:57:00.000-05:00

I have a bit of catching up to do on my posts... falling down on the job here! But for good reason -- Birding, class and work have all kept me busy these past few days.

After the cold snap, the birds were very happy. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the thousands of dead fish that washed up on our shores, shocked to death by the sudden cooling of the gulf waters, but it certainly made for some very happy scavangers and shorebirds.

The top picture is of a Spotted Sandpiper I found on the seawall, a bird I have never seen here on campus before. The bay was also full of avifauna -- Roseate Spoonbills, Ibis, Cormorants, gulls, terns, and even a large flock of White Pelicans! The below picture is only a fraction of the flocks that were both circling overhead and floating placidly in the waves.

The next two days, our homework was to complete point counts in the on-campus palm hammock, which I found to be a whole lot of fun. It was kind of like a birding scavenger hunt. Our professor had set up 10 points in the preserve area that we were to stop at for 5 minutes each and record all the birds we could see and hear.

Technically the count should only have taken an hour, but of course I brought along my camera and spent about 15 minutes trying to get the perfect picture of these Palm Warblers that were flitting around one of the points. In the end, I managed to get some pretty cool shots, much to my own amazement.

Today was another big birding day. Class was spent at a local beach documenting the shorebirds for a SEANET (Seabird Ecological Assessment Network) survey. Despite the gorgeous weather, there wasn't much out. We concluded this was partially because the wrack line had been raked away to make for a more picturesque beach, for the tourists who stay in the quaint beach town on the other side of the dunes.

We did manage to see several different species however, including various gulls and the Black Skimmers above.

After class, I went birding for another hour at one of the ponds on campus and came back with a grand total of 25 species. My favorites for the day? The Prairie Warbler, pictured above, and a juvenile Bald Eagle! Based on Sibley's guide, I'm guessing it's a 2-year-old (although I'm no expert and could be completely wrong).

So that's the briefing on my week so far. I have to bird for 3 more hours this weekend so keep your fingers crossed that some cool birds show up!

Until next time,

Happy birding!

S'no place like Florida

2010-01-10T09:33:00.000-05:00

Driving to our field trip destination, the air temperature was a comfortable 60 degrees, but the sky was quickly darkening as a cold front moved in from the north. We were headed to the Tierra Verde ponds, a location well-known for its impressive migratory duck populations.

I wasn't sure what to expect -- I knew I'd passed these ponds many a time and had never noticed anything spectacular about them. But I had never passed them during wintertime before.

Upon arrival, everyone gasped with surprise. Easily half the surface was covered by a mass of ducks! I couldn't even capture the scale of it, and by the time I took the above picture they had all flocked together, covering a much smaller area.

Most of the ducks were Redheads (we estimated 600 total) but there were also Ruddy Ducks, Lesser Scaups, Pied-billed Grebes, American Coots, and apparently a couple American Wigeons mixed in. I was a little dissapointed I couldn't find the Wigeon, but by the time it was spotted, it was starting to rain and the group was hightailing it back to the cars.

The site was still impressive though. Several other birders were visiting as well, all with their binocs and scopes trained on the flocks to pick out every species they could find.

On our way back to the car, I noticed in a pine tree a large bird that hadn't been there before. Stepping out of the walkway so as not to get trampled by the people behind me, I raised my binoculars, hardly daring to wonder if it could be an eagle. The professor noticed I had stopped, and she looked too, soon followed by the rest of the class. It was, indeed a Bald Eagle, apparently scouting out the nest sitting below it on the tree.

After class, I spent another hour birding, but by then the weather had really taken a turn for the worst.

Saturday morning, temperatures dropped to the mid-30s and didn't rise the whole day. Around mid-afternoon, we began to hear reports from friends and friends-of-friends that it was snowing in some parts of Florida! Even as nearby as an hour away, many of the inland towns were experiencing snow flurries.

Sadly though, I never got to see any (why am I always in the wrong place at the wrong time?). Pictures on Facebook and in the local paper showed people holding tiny snowmen in the palms of their hands and a dust of snowflakes falling from the early morning sky. I couldn't help but be a little bit jealous. Almost 20 years old and I've still never seen snow, even when it practically falls in my own backyard!

Oh well, I can still say I was here during record low temperatures. This morning there was ice outside, and the puddles on the roof of my dorm are frozen solid. It's 36-degrees-feels-like-27 according to weather.com.

Until next time,

Peace out!

Field Ornithology | Day 3

2010-01-07T21:47:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I skipped a day of posting, but the birding today was way better than yesterday. Temperatures actually warmed up to close to 60 degrees today, and the birds seemed almost as happy about it as we were.

Homework today was to visit 5 ponds on campus for 10 minutes each and record the data on eBird. My hopes weren't too high as yesterday had been a pretty slow birding day, but when I arrived at the first pond I was wowed by a beautiful pair of Roseate Spoonbills.

Besides these and a small aligator sitting on the opposite bank, I also saw large numbers of Double-crested Cormorants, Mottled Ducks, a flyover Bald Eagle and 4 Blue-winged Teals, a species I haven't seen since last spring.

After a lengthy trudge across campus, I visited the remaining ponds where I found a Tricolored Heron that looked almost exactly like a Little Blue Heron (below) and other common wetland birds.

At my final pond, I ran into several other classmates who were also birding around campus. One of them pointed out something on a small island in the middle of the pond. I couldn't tell what he was indicating at first, but bringing my binoculars up, I realized there was a pair of otters romping around in the foliage!

Otters are not exactly mammals you see every day around here, so it's always exciting to see them once in a while. Unfortunately, I couldn't get any pictures, but I did manage to photograph a couple of Wood Storks who were also sharing the water.

It was a fun day. Warm, for once, and once I tallied up my list, I had seen a total of 22 birds at the ponds (not counting the various species I saw along the way).

Tomorrow we're headed out on a field trip to find ducks. I'll let you know what we see!

Until next time,

Happy birding!

Field Ornithology | Day 1

2010-01-05T20:56:00.005-05:00

Today was the first day of my winter term Field Ornithology course. It's definitely geared more towards beginning birders, but I think it'll get more challenging as we progress.

Day 1 mostly consisted of an introduction to the course and how to identify common backyard birds. For homework, we were assigned to go birding on campus for an hour. Fantastic, right? Sorta, except for the fact that the temperature never got much warmer than about 45 today (so much for living in the "sunshine state!").

Regardless, right after class I started off by checking the ponds. To my surprise, despite the frigid temps there were significant numbers of Cormorants, Anhingas, Woodstorks, and Pelicans.

Further down the road, I found a pair of Mottled Ducks, a flyover Roseate Spoonbill, and a single Palm Warbler boncing through the grass.

As I neared the sea wall at the back of campus, I noticed there were huge flocks of gulls and terns swarming over the bay. I made my way out to the edge of the wall, where the wind was buffetting hard against the shore, trying its best to chill me to the bone (it didn't succeed -- I was already warmed up from the long walk!). I counted several more Laughing Gulls, a few Pelicans, some Royal Terns, and a couple more Anhingas.

Continuing on towards the boathouse, I found a massive flock of mixed shorebirds huttled against the harsh wind. I couldn't count these in the data I was collecting for class, as they were a little far out, but I made sure to count them for my own lists.

From what I could tell, there were more Laughing Gulls, lots of Willets, a few Black Skimmers, and possibly a couple Godwits, although it was really hard to tell under the conditions.

To my surprise, while scanning the mudflats I also came across a raccoon fishing with the birds! The picture didn't come out too clearly (a testiment to the distance from which I was trying to photograph) but you can tell it is, indeed a content-looking raccoon. :-)

Over all it was a good day. Tomorrow we have our first ID quiz and then I believe we'll be taking part in Project Feederwatch. Should be interesting!

Until next time,

Happy birding!

A Look Back on 2009

2010-01-01T10:08:00.000-05:00

Before I started this post, I took a look back at all my posts from the year 2009. It wasn't the best year I've ever had, but I was actually quite surprised to see how much I really did in the last 365 days.

By the end of January last year, I had already added close to 70 birds to my year list, thanks to a CBC and some incredible birding luck that month. In February, I participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count and March marked a month of some fun local explorations.

May was pretty exciting too. In somewhat of a spur-of-the-moment decision, I took off across the state to go chase mega-rarity Greater Sand Plover that had showed up in Jacksonville. Turned out to be great fun and I added a few lifers and year bird to my list.

In July and August, my family and I flew out to the Great Plains for a few weeks, where I came back with nearly 30 lifers and some once-in-a-lifetime experiences. I saw more wildlife in CO and SD than I think I have ever seen on any other vacation.

For the rest of the year, school took up most of my time. It was a tough semester, with a more than full courseload of 5 classes. Thankfully though, I finished them all with high grades, much to my own surprise.

In December, my life list reached 202 species, with the last one being a Winter Wren seen on the local CBC last weekend.

2009 was a good year, but I'm not too sad to leave it behind. I have a feeling that 2010 is going to be better. After a month of Field Ornithology (starting this Tuesday!) I'm shipping off across the pond to England for 4 months.

So here's to hoping that 2010 will be a good year for all of us. May your birding be successful, your days be happy, and your life be all you've ever imagined this year!

Happy New Year, and happy birding!

Christmas Bird Count time!

2009-12-27T15:44:00.000-05:00

We started off as the early morning sun began to illuminate the overcast sky, three birders armed with binoculars and shivering slightly in the 48 degree dawn. The morning was kicked off spectacularly; as we opened the gate to the access road we would be covering in our route, a coyote stood in plain view right in front of us! Not a mammal you see too often down here, despite reports that their population is growing in the area.

On top of that, once we started hiking we came across a plethora of common warbler species.

"Yellow-rump!"

"Palm!"

"Pine!"

"Black-and-White!"

We called out, marking down the numbers. One of the members of our group had never done a CBC before, but the other member was quite experienced. I had never met either before, so it was fun to get to know them. Together, with our combined keen eyes and ears, we managed to find nearly a dozen species of birds right off the bat.

The first part of the trail was quite easy. It was little more than a wide access road with a few deep puddles that were easy to walk around. However, as we got deeper into the woods and turned off onto a less straight-forward route, the terrain got a little more difficult -- and wetter.

After about a mile of trekking, we found ourselves in the heart of the swamp. The deeply rutted trail had been transformed into a winding creek, identifiable only by the orange blaze markings on the trees and its distinct trail-like shape. Eventually, there was no dry ground in sight, and we had no choice but to get our feet wet.

It was cold. Oh boy, was it cold! And the further we walked, the deeper it got. We had also reached a "dead zone" of birds -- not a sound or a flutter of wings in the vicinity. Knee-deep in freezing cold swamp water, we sloshed along for a several hundred yards before finally reaching "dry" ground again. By now, "dry" was a relative term; the trail was soggy and squelchy, and most parts were flooded with a few inches of tea-colored swamp water.

We managed to add more birds the list. Titmice, robins, tons of catbirds, more warblers, and chickadees.

About half way through our route (about 2 miles in), we were nearly scared to death when the birder in front of me almost stepped on none other than an American Woodcock! It burst up from the palmettos peeping loudly and flew right over our heads, close enough to get a fantastic look at the strange creature. We were all ecstatic! It was a lifer for the other two birders, and a year- and state bird for me.

We hiked through about another half mile or so over water-logged trail. It was beginning to get shallower, which was quite the relief, because the air temperature had decidedly topped out at about 50 degrees for the day and we were all a little cold by now.

We stopped at one point to count a flock of butterbutts and titmice, when a different bird caught my eye. It was a vireo for sure, with distinct markings, but I couldn't come up with the name. One of the other birders whipped out a field guide and asked me what it looked like. There it was exactly: A Solitary Vireo! I felt a little silly for not having remembered the name, but then again, it was a lifer.

After that point, the trail was much drier. We headed out to the powerline corridor where we saw a bobcat (lifer mammal!) and a bunch of deer. We also heard some Eastern Towhees here and managed to find a Winter Wren in the marsh grasses.

We were almost on the home stretch by now, with about another mile to go. We still hadn't seen a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, one of the species we were expected to find in this area. The whole rest of the way we searched, but to no avail.

All in all, however, we found a grand total of 27 species. Not as big as the counts I did last year, but we managed to get some good birds (like the Woodcock) which count for something, at least in my book. :-)

It was a fantastic morning. 5 1/2 hours of hiking, about a mile of which was through the water. It was by far the coldest and wettest CBC I've ever been on, but definitely one of the most fun.

Until the next adventure,

Happy birding!

Pictures Perfect

2009-12-24T13:48:00.003-05:00

Finally got a new camera! Still learning how to use it, but so far I'm pretty impressed. Took it to the park the other day to test it out... didn't see any good birds, but I had fun playing with the camera before the batteries died. :-)

Merry Christmas and happy birding!

Small milestone for the life list

2009-12-12T10:45:00.000-05:00

I haven't tallied up my birding lists since summer. I have all the totals scribbled down in my old travel log, so it didn't take long to transcribe everything into my (somewhat unkempt) Word docs and organize everything again.

I was quite thrilled to find that my year list has reached 136 (my best year yet) and my life list has finally reached -- and surpassed -- 200! It's actually at 201, to be exact. My 200th bird apparently was the Gray Jay I saw in SD last August, and the 201st was the White Pelican (seen over my college campus last month).

After the CBCs this year, I may have one or two more for the life list and probably a good handful more year birds. I'm pretty happy right now though. The list is growing, slowly but surely!

Until next time,

Happy birding!

Return of Hog Island!

2009-12-03T18:11:00.005-05:00

I was delighted after a long day of school and work to open up my email and find the following message in my inbox:

Great news!

You can sign up—now!—for summer 2010 ornithology programs at Hog Island Audubon Center.

As you know, a committee of Audubon and Maine Audubon staff has worked with expert consultants for nearly a year, envisioning options for the island consistent with its celebrated environmental education history and potential. The work continues, and while it does, the two organizations have agreed to re-establish programming in 2010.

Audubon’s internationally recognized Project Puffin Seabird Restoration Program will lead five distinct sessions of bird-loving bliss, working with a team of dynamic instructors, including Kenn Kaufman and Pete Dunne:
Maine Seabird Biology and Conservation (May 30-June 4)
Field Ornithology I (June 13-18)
Field Ornithology II (June 20-25)
Maine Coast Birding Studies for Teens (June 20-25)
Maine Seabird Biology and Conservation (September 12-17)

Get more information and download registration forms at: http://www.projectpuffin.org/. Or e-mail projectpuffin@audubon.org.

We hope that, like us, you see this as good news, and will spread the word.
These are the only programs the historic center will offer in 2010, and space is
limited.

As our committee continues its work, we want you to know that we share with Hog Island’s loyal alumni, past instructors, and supporters the desire for long-term arrangements that will continue Hog Island’s historic service to conservation. Toward that goal, we hope you will help us fill our 2010 sessions with enthusiastic participants.

Thank you for your continuing support.

I am ecstatic! If you've been following my blog from the start, you'll know that Hog Island is the reason I am a birder. I was devastated last year to hear that they had closed it down, but now that it's back I highly recommend you support it any way you can and especially attend their summer programs.

Just wanted to pass on this fantastic news!

Happy birding!

In Dreams Awake

2009-11-09T11:29:00.005-05:00

Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake.
- Henry David Thoreau

I think Thoreau was right. Perhaps our truest life is, indeed, when we are living our dreams, but the real trick is making those dreams come true.

Thus far I have found no magical formula for turning aspirations into reality, but, not for the first time, I am finding myself waking to an incredible adventure -- two, actually!

My first bit of news is that I got into my school's Field Ornithology class for winter term (which spans for the month of January). The class had filled up before I could register, but after a short letter to the professor about why I should be in the class, I was admitted on the basis that I "showed strong interest."

According to the class description, we'll be learning about bird identification, natural history, and threats to their persistence. We'll also be studying bird behavior, taking field trips, and doing research. I can't wait!

After winter term, something even bigger is happening. I will be spending 4 months studying abroad in London!

For as long as I can remember, I've wanted to travel the world -- and now it's actually happening. It's a little scary, I'll admit. I've never traveled on my own before, much less even been outside the US. But, you have to start somewhere.

New sights, new sounds, new environment, new experiences -- and new birds! I have no doubt this will be one of the craziest adventures of my life so far. I say, bring it on!

Until next time,

Happy birding!

A morning of birding

2009-11-08T10:32:00.003-05:00

It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.
- Henry David Thoreau

I went out birding today with little more than the expectation to get some fresh air and see the usual resident species. Indeed that's about all I got -- but in fairly large numbers, to my surprise.

Around 8:30ish, I set off on my bike to my usual birding spot on campus. The winds were a little high, but it was early enough in the morning that many birds were out and the big snag was still heavy with roosting vultures.

Two Pied-billed Grebes ducked bashfully beneath the placid water of the pond, and as I scanned further out, I realized there were a ton of Double-crested Cormorants. Binoculars up, I counted 1... 2... 3... 14... 15... 16... 20... 22... 23! I've never seen so many in one place -- especially there.

Across the pond were Wood Storks, a Great Egret, and a Tri-colored Heron. Two Eastern Phoebes flitted around in the vines hanging off the nearby overpass; bright yellow Palm warblers and dull brown Pine Warblers darted around nervously as I approached.

Once I had birded the area out, I decided to cover the other "wild" areas and see what else I could find.

Around towards the front of the campus I pulled into an empty parking lot, to find myself right in front of a big Cooper's Hawk eating something in the grass. It considered me for a moment before taking off out of sight.

Following the road around towards the palm hammock, I found more Wood Storks, tons of Mourning Doves, and as I neared the bay, an enormouse mass of gigantic white birds loomed in the sky out from behind the trees.

What in the world? My first thought was a massive flock of Wood Storks, but that didn't seem right at all, besides the coloration of the wings. I circled slowly in the road on my bike beneath the ebbing flock, floating seemlessly, peacefully on the seabreeze. Are those...? Could it really be? "...White Pelicans?!"

Indeed they were. The mass of birds, easily 50 strong, split off and about 15-20 formed into a big V while the others followed, circling, ebbing, floating in slow motion on the air.

Once they were about out of sight, I decided to check out the palm hammock. No luck there, and after managing to get myself lost for a few minutes, I found my way out and rode out towards the waterfront.

Cycling down the beach, I came across a couple Belted Kingfishers and a Willet feeding in the shallows, but nothing more.

Overall, I had had 25 species for the morning, including the 50+ White pelicans, 30+ Black and Turkey Vultures, 20+ Double-crested Cormorants, and tons of Anhingas, Palm and Pine Warblers, a few Loggerhead Shrikes, and about 20 Mottled Ducks.

I'd say it was a successful morning, and quite refreshing to get outside for a bit.

Until next time,

Happy birding!

Quoth the Raven

2009-10-31T10:50:00.000-04:00

In light (or dark?) of All Hallow's Eve, I'm posting my all-time favorite Edgar Allan Poe poem, The Raven. I always think of Halloween when I read it, so I thought it would be appropriate to share on this special spooky day.

Enjoy!

The Raven, by Edgar Allan Poe, 1845

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore-
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"'Tis some visiter," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door-
Only this and nothing more."

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow;--vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow--sorrow for the lost Lenore-
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore-
Nameless here for evermore.

And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me--filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
"'Tis some visiter entreating entrance at my chamber door-
Some late visiter entreating entrance at my chamber door;
This it is and nothing more."

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
"Sir," said I, "or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you"--here I opened wide the door-
Darkness there and nothing more.

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, "Lenore?"
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, "Lenore!"-
Merely this and nothing more.

Back into the chamber turning, all my sour within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping something louder than before.
"Surely," said I, "surely that is something at my window lattice;
Let me see, then, what thereat is and this mystery explore-
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore;-
'Tis the wind and nothing more.

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore.
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he,
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door-
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door-
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then the ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
"Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou," I said, "art sure no craven,
Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore-
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!"
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning--little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door-
Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as "Nevermore."

But the Raven, sitting lonely on that placid bust, spoke only
That one word, as if its soul in that one word he did outpour
Nothing farther then he uttered; not a feather then he fluttered-
Till I scarcely more than muttered: "Other friends have flown before-
On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before."
Then the bird said "Nevermore."

Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
"Doubtless," said I, "what it utters is its only stock and store,
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster
Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore-
Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore
Of 'Never--nevermore.'"

But the Raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and door;
Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore-
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking "Nevermore."

This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing
To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core;
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o'er,
But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o'er
She shall press, ah, nevermore!

Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.
"Wretch," I cried, "thy God hath lent thee--by these angels he hath sent thee
Respite--respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore!
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!"
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil!--prophet still, if bird or devil!--
Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate, yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted-
On this home by Horror haunted--tell me truly, I implore-
Is there--is there balm in Gilead?--tell me--tell me, I implore!"
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil!--prophet still, if bird or devil!
By that Heaven that bends above us--by that God we both adore-
Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore-
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore."
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

"Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!" I shrieked, upstarting-
"Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul has spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken!--quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!"
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming
And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadows on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted--nevermore!

(From: http://www.online-literature.com/poe/335/)

Happy birding and Happy Halloween!

One more hike

2009-10-27T11:29:00.003-04:00

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns." - George Eliot

Alas, Fall Break is ending today, and I'll be heading back to the busy college life once more this afternoon. I try not to wish I was at home, while I'm at school (what good does it do to yearn for somewhere else when you could be enjoying where you are now?) but fall always makes me think of home anyway.

Florida fall is nothing like it is up north, but live here long enough and you'll come to know and love the signs of the changing season.

This morning, I wanted to go birding one more time before I head back to the coast. The park my sister and I wanted to go to was closed, so we headed down the road a little further to another trail in the same nature preserve.

It had changed a lot since I had last been there, over a year ago. The once grassy marsh area had been completely flooded and grown in. A doe and fawn sprung over the trail in front of us on our way to the observation deck, but there weren't as many birds as I had hope to see. Regardless, we managed to see some Great Egrets, Red-shouldered Hawks, American Crows, and an Eastern Phoebe.

Beyond the marsh area, we followed the little-used trail back into the woods, through forest, pine flatwoods, and finally to the creek. By this time, it was around 10am, and most of the morning activity had settled down.

We turned around and headed back the way we came, enjoying the warm breeze and subtle fall colors. At one point, we came across a large flock of Pine Warblers and Tufted Titmice. I tried to get some pictures with my sister's camera (since I still haven't replaced my poor Olympus), but they didn't come out well enough to post.

Back passed the marsh again, the Eastern Phoebe was sitting closer this time, so I managed to get a just-barely-adequate picture of the little bird. There was also a large flock of Ibis across the clearing, and a couple Cardinals seep-seeping their warning calls to us as we walked by.

It was a lovely morning, and I only wish it could have lasted a little longer. :-)

Until next time,

Happy birding!

Back on the trail

2009-10-24T18:22:00.005-04:00

"In wilderness is the preservation of the world."
- Henry David Thoreau

Yesterday was fantastic. True, it was overcast, breezy, threatening to rain, and I didn't get out of the house until mid-afternoon, but it was one of the most wonderful days I've had in a long time -- it was the first time I've been able to go birding since school started at the end of August.

My sister and I took off in the afternoon for our favorite local park, and embarked on a 2 1/2 mile hike around the lake. The temperature was a perfect 75ish degrees; it was a little windy for birding, but I couldn't have been happier. Everything becomes so much clearer and simpler and peaceful when you spend a little time outside.

Fall migration seems to be taking its time this year. There was a greater variety of birds than I saw over the summer, but not nearly as many of the passerines I would expect to be seeing this time of year.

Nonetheless, I managed to see/hear a fair number of resident species, including Catbirds, Cardinals, Blue Jays, a Sandhill Crane, a Great Egret (pictured above), a Red-bellied Woodpecker (pictured below), a Common Tern, and a little Pied-billed Grebe.

Along our hike, my sister and I had fun looking for different signs of wildlife. We found the sun-bleached remains of a huge turtle shell, different kinds of animal scat, and signs of wild boar and armadillos.

I didn't get many birds out of the hike, but it was quite the enjoyable experience. I still have 2 more days of Fall Break, so hopefully I can scrounge up a couple year birds before I have to go back to school.

Until next time,

Happy birding!

Recent sightings

2009-10-20T18:47:00.002-04:00

This semester has been a total killer so far -- I'm busier than I've ever been in my entire life, it seems (as you can probably tell by my infrequent blog postings). Nonetheless, in between running to classes, work, meetings, doing homework and studying, I've managed to watch the slow progression of fall migration creeping in.

Saturday temperatures dropped into the 60s, so I took some time to hike a little, but not much had showed up yet. There were a ton of Cormorants and Anhingas around the ponds, but little else besides the resident species. After Sunday though, I started seeing more passerines show up. Today I got my first-of-the-season Yellow-throated Warbler, along with a Palm Warbler and Blue-gray Gnatcatcher outside my window.

Fall break starts this coming weekend, so I plan on taking some time to go birding for at least a couple days while I'm home and see what else the season is bringing in.

Yesterday my roommate and I observed a gorgeous Bald Eagle flying really low over campus on our way to class. We got a fantastic, although brief, view of the bird. I haven't seen a Bald Eagle in our area in a long time, so it was a nice surprise. I've been keeping my eye out for it again, in the hopes that it may be living in the area.

Well, enough procrastination for now -- better get back to homework.

Happy birding!

Ornithological research, anyone?

2009-09-25T12:29:00.004-04:00

Still no birding news to report, but I have, however, finally uploaded my bird research paper from Environmental Biology class last semester.

Before you read it, please be aware that some changes have been made to protect privacy that may look a little funny (i.e. I removed the name of my school, specific locations, etc). Also, the formatting on Google Docs squished it up a bit, so it looks significantly shorter than it is in print.

Nonetheless, all my research is there, as well as the tables and graphs with the data. If you're familiar with research papers, mine will not look very impressive but I will emphasize again that this was a learning experience in every sense. :-)

So, check it out here. And until next time,

Happy birding!

A quick hello from college

2009-09-14T11:30:00.003-04:00

Just a quick update to say I'm still here! I know it's been a couple weeks since my last post, but I'm back at college now and have had no time for birding or blogging.

The good thing is that I'm staying busy though, with a more than full load of 5 classes. In the little free time I've had so far, I was able to get my year bird Black Skimmer, which was a nice treat.

I'm going to try to post my bird research paper from last semester sometime. I finally got my grade back on it, and was quite pleased to see that I got a 98%! Honestly, with never having written a scientific paper before, I couldn't help but be a little bit proud of myself. :-)

Well, not much else to report on at the moment. Hopefully when things slow down a bit I'll have more interesting birding news to share.

Until next time,

Happy birding!

SD Saga: There and Back Again

2009-08-28T09:24:00.007-04:00

"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." - T. S. Eliot

The final days of our trip were spent packing, prepping, and driving.

Even though our touring around had ceased, I still managed to see one last life bird on our final day in South Dakota: a Gray Jay! It landed outside our cabin to snatch a piece of stale bread we had thrown out. I couldn't believe my luck! It hung around just long enough for me to get a good visual and identify it quickly, before it disappeared into the ponderosa forest once more.

The next day at the crack of dawn, we loaded up the car and bade farewell to our cozy cabin for the last time.

I had mixed feelings about leaving South Dakota. In one respect, I was happy to be heading home; the traveling life had taken a toll on all of us I think. But in another respect, I knew I was going to miss the Black Hills. I really loved the mountains, crystal clear creeks, hilly meadows, vibrant wildflowers, and clean, pure air. There was something about the Hills that seemed so rudimentary and wholesome.

Back across the Great Plains we drove, through the monotony of golden grasses, down the ribbon highway that stretched all the way to the horizon, and through tiny two-bit towns.

At one point, we passed the town of Lost Springs, WY, whose highway sign reads: "Lost Springs. Elevation: 4995 ft, Population: 1." (A quick internet search later revealed that there are actually 3 people in the town as of this year. Go figure!)

About 7 hours after leaving SD, we made it back to the Colorado Rockies. Although it was mid-August, little patches of snow could be seen from afar on the tops of some of the peaks.

We had a couple hours to spare, so we headed into Eldorado Canyon. It was a gorgeous park, and apparently a popular hub for rock climbers, as well as almost every other kind of outdoorsman you could think of.

We hiked around for a bit, checked out the visitor's center (where I got a really close look at a Broad-tailed Hummingbird at a feeder!) and then finally headed to our hotel in Denver.

That was about the point where I lost my camera. We had gone to dinner at a restaurant near the hotel, and I shoved my camera under the seat in the car, as I usually do to keep it out of sight when I'm not taking it with me.

Well, it had been a very long day as you can imagine, and when we got back to the hotel I completely forgot to pull it out again. When we were packing up at 4am the next morning, I assumed it was already in my backpack, and even thought I felt the strap when I reached in.

Around 7pm that night when I got home and settled in, I went to upload my pictures and you can guess the horror when I realized it was gone. My beloved Olympus SP-560uz 18x Optical Zoom, 8.0 Megapixal digital camera that I got for my 18th birthday was no more.

After a week of calling the rental car company (during which time our car was rented out twice) they finally searched it and did not find the camera. So, someone somewhere has it. All I can say is, I hope they're enjoying it.

Well, I may be camera-less, but the memories from the trip live on. As I finished the last entry in my travelogue, I closed it with an open mind.

Life is amazing. Hard sometimes, but amazing. I love this world, and to have the opportunity to explore even a small corner of it is a true gift.

Until next time,

Happy travels and happy birding!