Lambeau

I just had to share this picture of Lambeau from this weekend! The snow finally came and Lambeau and I ventured out to Rose Lake for some pictures.  I love this one :)

Trifecta of birding books

So, I managed to finish up my trifecta of birding books in May. Earlier, in April, I read A Supremely Bad Idea, which was a great book. At the end of April I started up Kingbird Highway and (ironically) was reading that book when I saw the Western Kingbird in Tawas, MI! I'm pretty sure the Kingbird showed up because I was reading the book :) Another funny thing happened while reading that book. I was just getting started reading it and I got an email from...none other than Kenn Kaufman! Granted, it was an email to one of the birding listserves I subscribed to, but it was still, an email from the author! Pretty exciting stuff :)

After gobbling up Kingbird Highway - very good book, makes me think about trying cat food sometime - I moved on to the third birding book, The Big Year by Mark Obmascik. This book is actually being made into a movie RIGHT NOW!

Check it out on IMDB http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1053810/

This was also a great book and I was surprised at the lengths the competitors would go to to see new birds. It was also mind-blowing that these competitors were all able to see 700+ species of bird in just 1 year. Especially surprising was that one of the guys was able to hold down a full-time job while doing all this birding.

Reading amazing books like these last couple always makes me feel like I'm such a slacker. It's a good thing I'm headed to ABQ next weekend so I can get my fill of some Western birds!

So far, I'm two books ahead of my '1 fun book per month' New Year's resolution - which is AWESOME :) I just started my June book, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. It's a doozie (600 pages)! Maybe I'll get some reading done on the flight to New Mexico :)

Tawas Point Birding Festival

I'm going to have a very difficult time putting into words just how wonderful the Tawas Point Birding festival was last weekend. It was quite possibly one of the best weekends, ever. Tawas and Lake Huron are gorgeous, the weather was amazing, the birding was remarkable and I was there, soaking it all in :)

I left work around 3pm and it was smooth sailing (with one little slowdown for construction) all the way to Tawas State Park. I rolled in around 5:30pm and was reunited with the great birders of the Grand Travers Audubon Club that I met on a previous birding trip to the UP in February. I don't have enough kind things to say about every member of that club. They are all great birders, friendly people, and a joy to hang out with.

The first task of the weekend was to pitch my NEW (used) tent (Mountain Hardware, LightPath 3). The wind made things a little tricky, but my first ever solo tent pitching went better than expected! Check it out!

TA-DAA!

The next order of business was to take a trip to Tuttle Marsh for views of the Purple Gallinule that was seen the previous day. We arrived hoping there would be someone there watching the Gallinule, but alas, no one was there, so we needed to work a little to spot the bird. After some searching across the water on the far shore, Carol, a fellow birder, spotted the bird bedded down in the grass, not TEN FEET from us! Like I mentioned, it seemed he was bedded down for the night, but moved his head around a bit giving us a couple good looks at his face/beak.

Probably the worst pic I'll ever post, but you can see the beak in this picture, it looks like a rainbow!

The other highlight of the trip to Tuttle Marsh that evening was getting a chance to see a Sora! Since I first heard the Sora call the night I saw woodcocks, I wanted desperately to see that bird. Light was fading fast, so I didn't get any pictures, but I got to see the little guy scurry out from one clump of reeds to another, then to another. Such a small bird to be making such a loud sound :) After views of the Sora, it was time to head back to the campsite. I cozied up in my tent and indulged in a little Kingbird Highway by Kenn Kaufman. What a perfect book to be reading while on a birding trip for the weekend!

Saturday May 15th will forever be known as the best day in my short birding history...that is, until something better happens ;) Twenty-two birds were added to my life list that day and I loved every minute of it. The day started with an alarm that wouldn't wake me up, I think it must have gone off for 20 minutes, but alas, at 5:30 I was up and getting ready and at 5:45, I was off with Leonard, my Grand Traverse Audubon (GTA) buddy. The plan was to bird til 7:30am, then we were supposed to take off to Tuttle Marsh again, so I didn't have my camera with me (poor decision in retrospect). Leonard and I headed out to the point and scanned for shorebirds while admiring the Caspian and Common Terns and Bonaparte's Gulls flying overhead. After spying a Piping Plover and several Short-billed Dowitchers, we birded our way back to the campsite. There were many warblers hanging out in the trees and singing away. A Northern Parula was perched an arms reach away and wouldn't stop singing. We saw Cape May, Magnolia, Palm and Blackburnian warblers, just to name a few.

Northern Parula from later in the day, when I had my camera

We were getting close to the campground and Leonard was joking that he was going to have to call in sick for the Tuttle Marsh trip, the birding on the point was just too good. Thankfully, soon after this we got word that we were going to head to the marsh later in the afternoon. We were free to enjoy all the warblers we could handle :) And, I was finally able to grab my camera!

Moments later a Michigan Audubon employee, Caleb, rushed passed us with a large group of birders, calling out that there was a Kirtland's Warbler singing by the lighthouse. Needless to say, we all hightailed it over to the lighthouse and were treated with some GREAT views of the difficult to see in migration Kirtland's Warbler. He had an incredibly powerful voice for such a small bird.

Kirtland's Warbler. Not the greatest pic, but you get the idea :)

Views of this Kirtland's Warbler made the weekend, for sure. This guy hung around all day on the point, singing like crazy. I think I got a chance to see him on 3 separate occasions :)

After the Kirtland's I was as giddy as a schoolgirl. As Caleb was leading his birding group out to the point, he stopped to ask Leonard if he'd heard about the Western Kingbird that was seen that morning on the point. Leonard hadn't heard about it, but they exchanged information as well as assurances to alert the other if the bird was seen again. As they chatted, I couldn't keep from smiling. A Western Kingbird? In Michigan? I also couldn't help but think I had something to do with the appearance of this bird by my selection of reading material in the tent the night before :)

The early morning sun persisted, it was a beautiful day. As we walked back out to the point, Leonard and I were racking up warblers. Indigo Buntings and Scarlet Tanagers were mere trashbirds by noon ;) Not finding anything new up at the point, we turned back to take the Sandy Hooke Trail on the east side of the point back to the campsites. This trail was where the Western Kingbird had been seen earlier this morning. All morning we'd been hearing Clay Colored Sparrows, but I had yet to see one. As we wandered up the trail, there was another Clay Colored calling. Leonard, Bruce (a GTA birder we'd picked up at the point) and I stopped to scan for the sparrow when my bins came to a stop at something else, gray on top, black beak, dark eyeline...and buttery yellow underneath!? "I-I've got it!" I stammered.

Leonard turned around and asked, "The Clay Colored?"

"No, the Kingbird!" Bruce and Leonard both got looks at the bird before it took of toward the end of the point. Just as it was taking off, we heard a shout just behind us on the trail. It was Caleb, calling out to his group where the Kingbird was. I don't think I stopped smiling for the rest of the day.

After a quick lunch, we caravaned out to Tuttle Marsh again. The Purple Gallinule was apparently being difficult to spot that day, but we were off looking for Bitterns and Rails. After some looking and listening, we flushed an American Bittern from just off the side of the road, back deep into the marshy grass. I was disappointed I didn't get a great look at the bird before he disappeared into the grass, but as we walked a little further up the road in search of a Green Heron someone had spotted, we flushed another from on pond to the next and I got a great look. I still have yet to hear them give their call, which is one of the oddest sounding bird calls I've heard (recordings of) so far. We also managed to get looks at this Virginia Rail before leaving the Marsh.

He came out from the reeds and swam across this open water before hiding in some more grass

The best birding day ever ended with good birding conversations while gorging myself on Chinese food and happily sipping (several) Oberons.

Sunday morning we were back at it. Leonard, Bruce and I were up and at the beach at 5:45am, scanning for ducks and shorebirds. Sunday wasn't going to end up being as great of a day for warblers, but it was a stellar day for shorebirds. Throughout the day I was able to see Ruddy Turnstones, Least Sandpipers, White-rumped Sandpipers, Spotted Sandpipers and a Sanderling among some others. Many of the same warblers from yesterday were back, but the warbler highlight for the day was a Blackpoll Warbler. I sat at a stand of pine trees, hearing the Blackpoll calling and calling, but not showing himself. Finally, after about an hour, I found him hiding in the shadows. He popped around and eventually made his way out into the sun for some nice looks.

And before I knew it, we had to pack up and head out from the campsite. My first migration birding trip was a whirlwind of life birds...34 when I left Tawas! I was hoping to make it an 'even' 35, so I stopped on my way home to check out a location where Yellow headed Blackbirds have been known to nest.

Look what I found!

What a wonderful end to a great birding weekend!

Sunset on Lake Huron

Tuning in to the sounds of the forest

My first attempt at learning bird songs did not go well at all.

After getting the songs uploaded to my iTunes, I just selected some of the groups of birds - like warblers or sparrows - and listened to all of them, retaining nothing only to get more confused.

For round 2 I decide to attack the task with more method to the madness. I asked my very patient birding mentor, Bruce, if he could get me a short list of some of the migrants that I might expect to see the following week. That way, I could try to listen to those calls, become familiar with them and potentially be able to pick them out in the coming week or two. Of the 21 birds that made my new and improved list, I felt confident in about 5 (!) of them when I took to the woods with Bruce that weekend. It turns out that knowing a song from a recording and *actually* picking that song out in a forest of chatty birds are two totally separate monsters. But, after just an hour or two out in the woods, I was beginning to feel more confident with some of the more common migrants with distinctive calls like yellow warblers and blue-winged warblers. And I also realized that cardinals and titmice are much too chatty for my liking :) Particularly frustrating in their similarity is the American Robin, Scarlet Tanager and Rose-breasted Grosbeak trifecta. I start to think I have these guys all figured out, then I hear one I'm sure is a Rose-breasted Grosbeak and it turns out to be an American Robin :(

Overall, I really like being able to listen to the forest and get some idea of the birds that are singing in the trees. Being able to make some time to get out in the woods frequently also gives me a chance to keep hearing the same birds over and over, increasing my chances of actually being able to recognize their calls when I hear them. I will admit I was *super* intimidated at the idea of being able to learn all the different songs of so many birds, but breaking up the calls into some manageable groups has proved to be very helpful.

The bottom line is that I am well on my way to being able to ID birds by sound (YAY!), and with a lifer list of 38 birds for this month (and it's only the 9th!), learning their songs is proving to be a very helpful way to keep all these new birds straight!

Happy Birding!

April is POURING books and Woodcocks

So, I've more than made up for the bit of slacking I did in February on my reading NYR. I already have 2 books down for the month of April and against my better judgement, I just started a third :)

Book 1: A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

I have nothing but great things to say about this particular book. Bill Bryson tells the story of his experiences hiking the Appalachian Trail with his buddy, Katz. Bryson is quite funny and is really able to capture the essence of the AT in his book. It made me get the itch to go hiking and camping, which is exactly what I'd hoped it was going to do :)

Book 2: A Supremely Bad Idea by Luke Dempsey

This is also an amazing book. I literally could not put it down and finished the whole thing in just 2 days. It's all about the author, Luke, and his two wonderful birding pals, Don and Donna, who are quirky to say the least. This book has humor as well as great stories of birding trips across the US.

Book 3: Kingbird Highway by Kenn Kaufman

I've reluctantly started this book against my better judgement. Not only is it near the end of the month when I'd like to start a new book when May begins, I also have final exams coming up next week and several large animal experiments finishing up next week (which means lots of work to be done in the lab). I know I probably need to keep focused on school and lab, but this book has been burning a hole in my backpack since the day I borrowed it. I'm a mere 20-something pages in and it has already captured my attention. There must be strict rules in the next several days regarding how much work I need to get done before allowing myself to dive into this book.

And now on to the Woodcocks!

Two nights ago I was privileged enough to watch the displays of some male Woodcocks not so far from my house. Growing up in Wisconsin, I know all about Aldo Leopold and have read many parts of A Sand County Almanac (though not in it's entirety, a book on my list for this year), including his essay on the Woodcock. We showed up at the spot, explored the fields a little and the sound of spring peepers (frogs, Pseudacris crucifer) was deafening. We kicked up a pair of Wood Ducks on our way across the field and focused some attention on the wet area in front of us. Someone in the group thought he had heard a Sora calling, so we played the Sora's call on an iPhone and waited. Then it called back! :) We weren't able to get a look at it, but hearing it respond to the taped call was very cool!

The sun was setting rapidly, so we walked back across the field and could hear the lovely Woodcocks peenting away. We located at least 2, maybe 3 and got some 'alright' looks of them flying up into the air. The sun was fading fast, so none of the looks were 'great', but I could see their silouette in the air as they flew by and up into the air. The most surprising thing to me was just how fast their little wings were beating! It looked like an overgrown hummingbird beating his little wings so quickly!

Another trip to watch the Woodcocks and hopefully spot the Sora is on my to-do list in the immediate future.

Birds and Books

Alright, a dual purpose blog post :)

Part One: Birds

The 4 owl day I was alluding to in the last post didn't happen...it was actually a zero owl day :( But, on the bright side, it was a Red-shouldered hawk day! :)

For that trip, I headed over to Shiawassee for some birding with Blobbybirdman and our friend Bruce. Due to time constraints and Blobby's inability to follow the directions on his Garmin :) we didn't make it to the second destination of the day which is where we'd hoped to see long and short eared owls. Not only were we able to see a Red-shouldered hawk (a lifer for both Blobby and myself), but I also saw my first Red-winged blackbird of the season. I guess this was 3 weeks ago and by now they are everywhere, but it was exciting at the time :) We also saw a massive group of white-tailed deer - at one point I counted 50 together in a field, but as we drove on and light was fading, there were bunches more. I couldn't even fathom a guess as to how many there were...

In other birding highlights this spring, I took my first trip to Maple River SGA - about 30 min north of Lansing - where I saw many lifers: N. Shoveler, Am. Widgeon, Blue-winged Teal, N. Shrike and Eastern Meadowlark, just to name a few :) And finally, just this past weekend, I got a great look at a Greater Scaup (male and female), Rusty Blackbirds and Brown-headed Cowbirds, all lifers! There are many Lesser Scaup hanging out on my lake and Bruce tried hard the previous week to find one that looked like a Greater, but couldn't find any. He gave me a call Friday night and said he had some in close that he'd been watching and thought they were Greaters. I headed over to where he was and once I took a look into the scope and watched for a bit, the male stretched out his wings and I got a good look at the white on both the secondaries and primaries - a sign it really was a Greater Scaup :)

Part 2: Books!

As a part of my NYR I wanted to read 1 fun book per month this year. I did a good job in Jan and Feb keeping up, but I'm lagging behind a bit this month. I've got about 160 pages left to go in The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. It's an absolutely amazing book thus far. I had heard about the book for several years, and knowing it was a part of Oprah's Book Club actually made me not want to read it. However, I got the book for Christmas, so I decided to give it a go. Despite my thoughts that it was going to be a preachy, feely, lets talk about feelings (let's face it, Oprah-y book), it has completely surpassed all of those expectations and is really the most well written book I've ever read.

The basic plot includes the Price family moving from southern Georgia to the Congo in order for Nathan Price, father and preacher, to spread the word of the Lord. The book is eloquently written in a manner no other author I've read has replicated. The Price family has 4 daughters and each chapter (thus far) is narrated by one of the four girls or by the mother. Kingsolver is impressively able to give each girl her own 'voice' that is both unique to that character, and gives different points of view on their experiences in the Congo. I cannot stress how incredible Kingsolver is at differing the writing styles and personalities of the girls. Several times, I have stopped reading in the middle of a chapter, only to pick it up later and be delightfully surprised that I can tell exactly who is narrating the particular chapter. With that said, I've got some work to do to get through the rest of the book by Wednesday night :)

PS - I started writing this blog post on 3.19 and came back to it today 3.29 to finish. I'm not sure why the post is dated the earlier date and it seems there is no way for me to change it?

Gramps

I've recently come to the realization that my grandparents that have passed away are not coming back, specifically Gramps, my mom's dad. This may seem like a silly thing to have just realized at 25 years old, but it's true. I'm not really sure why this is finally occurring to me now, but I have an idea that it's because...

birds...


and photography...


...have come into my life :)

Gramps was an amateur photographer and a bird lover. Photography was something that I'd always intended to take up, but I never took the step to actually embrace. There were always excuses of insufficient time, money, equipment and experience. I also thrive on being with other people and photography seemed like far too much of an individual activity to invest any time in. And birding? Well, he wasn't a lister or anything, he just liked filling the feeders in his backyard and watching the birds that came to eat. I remember learning about Baltimore Orioles from him and how oranges are their food of choice.

Fast forward to 2008 and things began to change. It was then that I decided I needed to take control of my life and the things I do in it. It's not that I was passively floating through life before, but I was working hard to try to get into medical school - so I skipped all the fun stuff in hopes of realizing that dream. Long story short, I didn't get into med school (which was for the best, in hindsight). It took a bit for me to pick myself up and decide what to do next. In the fall of '08 I got the chance to move to MI for grad school and it was then that I decided to 'take life by the horns' so to speak.

I was realizing that there were many things I 'wanted' to do, yet I made no move to actually do any them. What was I waiting for?! They were all sitting there like empty promises to myself. So, in the midst of other things, like triathlons, a marathon, and a roadtrip to the mountains, also began birding and photography.

Gramps and I had a special relationship. I was the only grand-daughter on that side of the family, so from early on I was 'Grampa's Girl'. We saw G'ma & G'pa S quite a bit, but didn't spend a whole lot of time with them. Then Grandma passed away and we started seeing Gramps all the time. He signed my brothers and I up for golf, took us out to lunch, and - wow, this memory just came back to me - bought me my first camera. It was a Nikon film P&S, nothing special, but I was on the yearbook that year and he wanted to make sure I had a good camera for that :)

There isn't anything I wouldn't give to be able to sit with him and share the pictures I've taken and talk about the birds I've seen, and those I haven't seen yet. I inherited his lenses, so all the pictures I take are truely a tribute to him. But, to sit at his kitchen table again and look out at the birds on the back deck - I can't think of any better way to spend an afternoon.

Except, maybe, attempting a 4 owl day - details to come.

:)