Golden Oldies...

I apologize for being M.I.A. lately, I've been out and about doing Short-eared Owl and Northern Harrier surveys and trying to catch up on some "home tasks" that have been nagging away at me... 

For example, I've been meaning to scan my old hard copy, pre-digital photographs into my computer for years.  I figure if I scan just a few every day, I might be done by the time I die.  My fears of having the originals get destroyed without having backups makes me feel kind of ooky and makes it clear to me that I have fully moved into the digital age, despite my lacking a smart phone...

While I wish I could say that I've been birding since I was a wee chitlin', I actually didn't become a full-blown bird nerd until my mid-twenties.  But I can say that I've always loved critters, whether furred or feathered, and have always found joy in animals, be them wild or domestic.  If you ask me, being more comfortable with animals than people is a classic sign of a future nerd.  Here are a couple of "prophecy shots" from memory lane that I couldn't help but share...

And this one is especially for Jen, the Florida/early 90's/fanny-pack/macaw parallel is just too uncanny...I am still laughing out loud...

 

Thanks for joining me in a little reminiscing, I promise the next post will be more current!

Niagara Falls, finally...

It seems like I've driven by Niagara Falls a million times on my cross country adventures but have never stopped to oooh and aahhh over the grandeur of our nation's oldest state park.  Luckily I was deployed, if you will, for some bird surveys in the region and finally took the chance to go see the spectacle for myself...

Needless to say, the falls are crazy.  Any place where 675,000 gallons of water/second gush over a dropoff that high couldn't help but inspire awe and make you feel small.  Apparently Nikola Tesla discovered the alternating current system in Niagara, making the area the birthplace of commercial hydro-electric power.  Sweeeet.

And I found this pretty wild - in 1969 the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) (I like to pronounce the acronym so it rhymes with Versace) actually stopped the flow over the falls to study erosion.  Visitor numbers to the dry falls apparently broke records.  It's worth Googling a picture of...

But it didn't take very long for my attention to be diverted to the hundreds of Bonaparte's Gulls swirling below over the turquoise waters where Lesser Scaups and Common Mergansers were loafing on the shores amongst Common Goldeneyes and more bobbing bath-toy Bonaparte's.  Of course they were all just too far for photos...

 
Huge rafts of Common Goldeneye were floating on the Niagara River, but unfortunately these massive rafts were not conveniently located in the waters adjacent to the pull-off where we could get pictures.  New Yorkers certainly have a certain style of highway driving, and I didn't feel like risking my life to get a photo.  Plus it was raining and we were pressed for time on this whirlwind tour.  

I really think these pull-offs should be everywhere - but I found myself imagining birders clogging the roadsides and the town building this in an effort to keep the crazy fowl lookers contained in one place...maybe this road needs a bird lane...

These unreserved Mallards of course posed for photos...

While these Common Goldeneyes played it cautious and peeled out immediately...

A highlight of the visit, and something I've never seen before, was this melanistic Eastern Gray Squirrel.  These black beauties are interestingly common in the Toronto and Ottawa, Ontario regions...yeah, these photos aren't going to win any awards either, but the documentation is there and the thing was adorable...

 
And how about the knobbly knees on this Ring-billed Gull?

 
Or the speckled head on this fella'...

What a cool place Niagara Falls is, with an interesting history and awesome birds!
 

Moments of Bird Joy...

I've been fortunate enough to count birds in some pretty cool places.  Be it by air, by bog, by sea, by mountaintop, or by marsh - I am usually enraptured by the avian world I find around me...

I readily admit to many moments of talking to myself, exclaiming to myself, and laughing out loud by myself.  These nerd fits can be triggered by anything from a nasal laugh of a Fish Crow on the beach, to a spectacular dive from a Northern Gannet, or a particularly friendly flock of Dark-eyed Juncos.  Although I would likely be embarrassed if a stranger were to witness one of my moments of complete avian-induced joy, I love the feeling where you know you are the only human witnessing something awesome.  Whether it's a visit from a Horned Lark tinkling it's migratory bells...

  

Or a Brown Creeper skulking about overhead...

Or a Common Yellowthroat whichity-whichiting away at your elbow...

There always seems to be a little extra something to appreciate somewhere nearby.

I recall some feverish moments of pajama-clad hilarity last winter when Bohemian Waxwings converged upon our yard to gorge on berries.  In a bird-induced stupor I counted 60 one morning as they fluttered around like moths...

 

I also recall whole moments of grinning like a fool while flocks of mixed-species warblers suddenly descended from migration and happened to forage around me.  Beaming on mental overload as my mind tried to file all the different field marks, postures, colors, sounds, and behaviors.  Some people may think this is madness, to be so enthralled by moments of avian chaos.  To find sheer joy in what you have yet to learn.  But it's these moments that fuel my birding fires and keep the drive alive for me...

Fortunately, generations of birders before me have paved the road to 'nerdvana'.  I can submerge into one of many field guides and satiate my hunger for more information.  This means moments of bird joy can be found not only in the field but also behind a book...what a wonderful thing it is to be 'addicted' to birds!

Happy New Year...Here's to a birdy 2012!

If there is one thing I have found in life, it is that years are like birds - they just keep flying by...

Out with the old, in with the new.  2012 brings with it hopes of making further progress on this old house in the form of a kitchen overhaul, and of course seeing lots and lots of birds. 


I started the new year with a little rare bird chase.  As I've mentioned before, I don't often trek many miles for a locally spotted rarity, but a Yellow-breasted Chat hanging out in Portland sent me over the edge.  I had to try for it.  Strike 1.  But we happened into the gentleman that had originally found it (and who had seen it again that morning!) and he told us about a Greater White-fronted Goose just down the road hanging with some Canada's...BINGO, quick and simple lifer to start the new year right!  While no one likes a chain link fence background, we were urban birding and took what we could get...

Still suffering terribly from Snowy Owlitis, and having been repeatedly skunked by them in 2011, we went for the two Snowy Owls that have been sighted regularly on small islands off of Biddeford...strike 2.  But we did see some pretty cool seaducks and these Wild Turkeys...

 
I'm just happy to have started the year of two-thousand-twelve with a small bird adventure. 

Looking back on 2011, I smile at the memories of the juicy lifers I checked off my list.  I totaled 52 lifers for the year, which brings me up to 350 total species on my Life List.  These are some paltry numbers compared to some other Really Serious Birders I know, but I am pleased with my progress nonetheless.  That breaks down to one new species a week! 

A few highlights of 2011 included: 3 new hummingbird species (Allen's, Anna'a, and Costa's), 3 new raptors (Swallow-tailed Kite, Snail Kite, and Short-tailed Hawk).  I also had a Sayornis closeout with a Black Phoebe spotted at the Salton Sea.

Nemesis birds that I finally got included BOTH American Bittern AND Least Bittern (the latter was right behind my house!), Black-necked Stilt, Black Skimmer, Wilson's Warbler (also a backyard lifer), Vermilion Flycatcher, Greater Roadrunner, Red-cockaded Woodpecker, and Clapper Rail.  All those lifers and other than the photos from FL, the only "decent" (and I use that word lightly) photo I got was of this Vermilion Flycatcher...

By far, my favorite lifer experience of 2011 had to be the Greater Roadrunner.  This guy approached us not once, but twice on the front patio at my friend's house in Southern California.  The roadrunner proceeded to communicate by clapping it's bill and flaring it's crest at us from 2 feet away for at least 3 full minutes.  It was awesome - one of those bird moments that I'll never forget.  I was lucky to have at least had my cellphone on me and was able to capture some grainy photos of the Greater Roadrunner Experience...

As the years slip by and the Life List grows, I know it will be progressively harder to see so many new birds in one year.  So here's to a birdy 2012, may it be full of adventure and lifers!