The pages listing where we've been and some of the numbers behind our year so far have been updated based on our recently completed trip. If you're viewing this on a mobile device, then check it out by tapping the "Home" link above. If you're on a desktop computer viewing the full web site, then just click the links above.
The page "Where We've Been" is a map of our travels, "Stats and Stuff" has some interesting numbers about our trips, and "Critter List" contains many of the animals we've seen.
Cheers,
Me
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Sunday, November 8, 2015
The Gods Must Be Angry
In the words of the immortal band Talking Heads, "My god, what have I done?"
Ah, how good were those Halcyon Days of Innocence. Those times when we believed new birds could be found around any corner, when our cache of Karma would see us through our trials and tribulations. Our list increased nearly daily, and Things were Good. But, that was Then.
In this new, crueler world, the Good Deeds of the Past have been forgotten by the Birding Gods. Did you help that rookie birder identify a sparrow? Bah. Did you pick up and properly dispose of carelessly discarded fishing line, preventing a bird from becoming entangled? Not good enough.
You see, Gentle Reader, we have been abandoned by those Birding Gods that once aided and supported us. The past week has been a Miserable Failure wrapped in a Waste of Time, as we have struck out on every bird we hoped to find in the Rio Grande Valley and a side trip to New Mexico.
As you already know, the pelagic trip into the Gulf of Mexico produced exactly 0 (zero) new birds. A guided field trip to several Rio Grande Valley hot spots? Nada. Three days of chasing Hook-billed Kite reports? We may as well have been looking for an Ivory-billed Woodpecker.
Plus, somebody bought my winning Powerball ticket and the weather was hot, humid, and foggy. Just look at what we had to deal with:
Thinking a change of scenery would be good for our luck, the past few days saw us chasing a report of a rare oriole in south-eastern New Mexico, and trying to scare up a late-season Lesser Prairie Chicken. FAIL and FAIL.
So, as a consolation prize, we took a side trip to visit Carlsbad Caverns National Park. It’s absolutely beautiful and amazing, and worth a trip if you’ve never done it:
But consistent with our week, the elevators were closed for repair. So, while our audio tour crowed about how wonderful the elevators were going to be, we enjoyed our 1.5 mile hike back up an incline as steep as 20% to reach the top. Sigh.
Tonight, we’re in Colorado, outside Denver. We’re taking two evenings to try for a Boreal Owl, which is going to be tough, but our spirits aren’t completely broken (yet).
Because Hope is a Thing with Feathers. Or a Thing that seeks Feathers. Or it Tickles you with Feathers. Whatever.
Things are gonna change, I can feel it,
Me
Ah, how good were those Halcyon Days of Innocence. Those times when we believed new birds could be found around any corner, when our cache of Karma would see us through our trials and tribulations. Our list increased nearly daily, and Things were Good. But, that was Then.
In this new, crueler world, the Good Deeds of the Past have been forgotten by the Birding Gods. Did you help that rookie birder identify a sparrow? Bah. Did you pick up and properly dispose of carelessly discarded fishing line, preventing a bird from becoming entangled? Not good enough.
You see, Gentle Reader, we have been abandoned by those Birding Gods that once aided and supported us. The past week has been a Miserable Failure wrapped in a Waste of Time, as we have struck out on every bird we hoped to find in the Rio Grande Valley and a side trip to New Mexico.
As you already know, the pelagic trip into the Gulf of Mexico produced exactly 0 (zero) new birds. A guided field trip to several Rio Grande Valley hot spots? Nada. Three days of chasing Hook-billed Kite reports? We may as well have been looking for an Ivory-billed Woodpecker.
Plus, somebody bought my winning Powerball ticket and the weather was hot, humid, and foggy. Just look at what we had to deal with:
 |
| I've never experienced fog when the temperature was 80F before. The air was so wet, we felt raindrops even though there were no clouds. |
Thinking a change of scenery would be good for our luck, the past few days saw us chasing a report of a rare oriole in south-eastern New Mexico, and trying to scare up a late-season Lesser Prairie Chicken. FAIL and FAIL.
So, as a consolation prize, we took a side trip to visit Carlsbad Caverns National Park. It’s absolutely beautiful and amazing, and worth a trip if you’ve never done it:
 |
| Tiny stalactites on the ceiling, a couple huge stalagmites growing up in the middle, and other formations on the far right. |
But consistent with our week, the elevators were closed for repair. So, while our audio tour crowed about how wonderful the elevators were going to be, we enjoyed our 1.5 mile hike back up an incline as steep as 20% to reach the top. Sigh.
Tonight, we’re in Colorado, outside Denver. We’re taking two evenings to try for a Boreal Owl, which is going to be tough, but our spirits aren’t completely broken (yet).
Because Hope is a Thing with Feathers. Or a Thing that seeks Feathers. Or it Tickles you with Feathers. Whatever.
Things are gonna change, I can feel it,
Me
From:
Silverthorne, CO, USA
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Notable November Naughts
Estoy tan cansado de barcos,
My friends, fewer than 60 days remain until the end of 2015, which would also (mercifully) happen to be the end of this Big Year.
As we wrapped up our Yellow Rail Fest, we interrogated the Festival Organizer for how and where to find an elusive Bachman's Sparrow (well, really we just asked nicely, as she was pretty cool). She told us about the habitat it preferred (grassy areas in pine forest), and her main tip for finding it at this time of year was, "Just zig-zag through the grass until one pops up". OK, that sounds like something I can do.
We drove about 90 minutes north into the Piney Woods of Louisiana, to the point on a forest road where the birds had been reported recently. Sure enough, the road was surrounded by pine forest (hence the name!) and knee-high grass interspersed with small islands of brush. Wandering randomly through the grass, a sparrow flushed within about 30 minutes and started yelling at us. As she gave us her opinion on how grossly offensive our presence was, we got one really good look at her perched on a branch and sure enough, that was a Bachman's Sparrow! Check.
So, now what? We had a whole weekend until our boat trip out of South Padre Island, and the drive there was only about 9 hours. [Note how twisted one's perspective becomes after a Big Year... a 9-hour drive is "nothing"!] No birds we needed had been reported along the whole Texas coast, so we decided to just take things easy for a couple days.
Given its proximity to our route, we made San Antonio our destination. Which, we discovered after making hotel reservations, was under a Flash Flood warning. The weekend turned out fine, and running to dinner in a dumping rainstorm was kind of fun, so all's well that ends well.
So, after a semi-relaxing weekend, we arrived in South Padre Island on Sunday night, and woke early Monday ready to check off all kinds of new birds on our last scheduled boat trip of the year!
Unfortunately, nobody told the birds.
On the entire 12+ hour trip, we found maybe 15 species of birds, most of which were seen in the first hour, and zero new birds for the year. This trip defined, "slow day". Bummer! So, we're still stuck at 674 for the year.
Next up, we'll attend some of the festivities at the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival here in south Texas, then take a field trip on Thursday, and then we're not sure. We have a trip booked to hunt for Lesser Prairie Chicken and Boreal Owl, but those are both going to be very difficult. We may rebook our trip to hunt for something else. My Excel script is crunching the numbers as we speak...
Crunch, crunch, crunch,
Me
My friends, fewer than 60 days remain until the end of 2015, which would also (mercifully) happen to be the end of this Big Year.
As we wrapped up our Yellow Rail Fest, we interrogated the Festival Organizer for how and where to find an elusive Bachman's Sparrow (well, really we just asked nicely, as she was pretty cool). She told us about the habitat it preferred (grassy areas in pine forest), and her main tip for finding it at this time of year was, "Just zig-zag through the grass until one pops up". OK, that sounds like something I can do.
We drove about 90 minutes north into the Piney Woods of Louisiana, to the point on a forest road where the birds had been reported recently. Sure enough, the road was surrounded by pine forest (hence the name!) and knee-high grass interspersed with small islands of brush. Wandering randomly through the grass, a sparrow flushed within about 30 minutes and started yelling at us. As she gave us her opinion on how grossly offensive our presence was, we got one really good look at her perched on a branch and sure enough, that was a Bachman's Sparrow! Check.
So, now what? We had a whole weekend until our boat trip out of South Padre Island, and the drive there was only about 9 hours. [Note how twisted one's perspective becomes after a Big Year... a 9-hour drive is "nothing"!] No birds we needed had been reported along the whole Texas coast, so we decided to just take things easy for a couple days.
Pro Tip: If you're going to make a last-minute trip to a city for a few days, check the weather forecast before you book your trip!
Given its proximity to our route, we made San Antonio our destination. Which, we discovered after making hotel reservations, was under a Flash Flood warning. The weekend turned out fine, and running to dinner in a dumping rainstorm was kind of fun, so all's well that ends well.
Fun Fact: Did you know that if the government issues a flash flood warning, your cell phone will start screaming an alarm? Even/especially if the warning is issued at 2AM? And if you have two phones, they both will go off?
So, after a semi-relaxing weekend, we arrived in South Padre Island on Sunday night, and woke early Monday ready to check off all kinds of new birds on our last scheduled boat trip of the year!
Unfortunately, nobody told the birds.
On the entire 12+ hour trip, we found maybe 15 species of birds, most of which were seen in the first hour, and zero new birds for the year. This trip defined, "slow day". Bummer! So, we're still stuck at 674 for the year.
Next up, we'll attend some of the festivities at the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival here in south Texas, then take a field trip on Thursday, and then we're not sure. We have a trip booked to hunt for Lesser Prairie Chicken and Boreal Owl, but those are both going to be very difficult. We may rebook our trip to hunt for something else. My Excel script is crunching the numbers as we speak...
Crunch, crunch, crunch,
Me
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