Apologies to those patiently waiting for the far more entertaining stories from Brad and Jan, but I missed a small window I had between their trips into the field. Went with the two-parter on the RomEos (did everyone catch the RE or Reddish Egret secret coding there ha) and that ended up pushing us through February and now they are filling up their tins with new adventures. Have no worries, Brad has filled up his post queue so we’ll be getting to those upon their return – we like to keep our operatives focused in the field and not having to find creative ways to get access for replies etc. Long story short, you are stuck with me for at least the next couple of posts.
Being that we just featured a rather large, white (morphed) shorebird in our last two posts, decided to keep the theme going to start March off.
Granted, today’s featured feathered friend is larger than the Reddish Egret and naturally white versus a genetic variation, but you get the picture (literally ha). Hit the jump to learn more about these breeding plumaged Great Egrets – I promise to limit my use of song lyrics this time hehehe.
We are quickly approaching another page turning on the calendar. Normally I feel a bit down when this time comes as it marks another month gone, never to be recovered and the inevitable “I could have done more” feeling that has nagged me most of my life. In this case.. bring it on, this weather is too damn COLD!! Sorry, I’m not conditioned for these Midwest Tundra Februaries anymore ha. Before I get into today’s “redemption” post, need to get some brags out of the way. Ruger and Raven had their end of the year award recognition event last week and they wanted to show off their trophy plaques.
Raven has had a pretty incredible agility career over his 11 years so far and likes to hold it over his younger brother that he is on his 4th board. Those plates represent all his Agility Titles including Championships with a Tricks title thrown in – “Eat my dust Ruger-child!“.
Ruger likes to point out that he is only 4 and already filling a 2nd board with his Agility Titles including Championships along with his FastCAT Championship titles (100yd dash) and a Versatility in Poodle Certificate – “Suck it old man Raven!“
The brag bickering these two do back and forth on a daily basis is nearly insufferable. Don’t tell them or their heads will get bigger than they are, but we are very proud of both of them. The Boys and I are also very proud of “Mommy” who puts in all the work to get each of those plates. Well done everyone!
Okay, we need to get to today’s post which is really a companion piece to my last post.
So, I got a lot of feedback on how sad they felt for the male Reddish Egret that was embarrassingly rejected in front of all the locals at the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center (link here). It just so happens another encounter was occurring further south of there. Hit the jump to see if this meeting turned out any better.
CONGRATULATIONS to our men’s and women’s Olympic hockey team players/coaches/staff – you did us proud!!! What the men did for the Gaudreau children is the antithesis for today’s post. Okay, back to the regularly scheduled programming (as I wipe away a few tears of joy).
Since I lost my voice thanks to “our” (I am sure I helped in some way) OT win this morning, figured I would sit quietly down and put the finishing touches on a post I was planning on putting out back on Valentine’s Day. Traditionally, I feature the “red” feathered birds for that special someone’s day – problem was I didn’t have one of those ready to go, so I went with a series that played out last year at the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center. After getting most of it ready to go, I decided that wasn’t a good time to feature courtship rejection.
Love hurts, love scars Love wounds, and marks Any heart, not tough or strong enough
Been quite the busy bee (err Bri) since returning home from Texas. Having to deal with the ankle injury, all the work related with the Haunted Trail and well, life in general, I fell behind on my tasks (starting last year). I don’t know about you, but that nags at me to no end and if I get too far behind it basically feels like I’m “thrashing” around in a sea of commitments. One of those failed endeavors was documenting all my bird sightings. I don’t mention it much, but I try to document all the sightings made during the annual Average Year efforts (link here). I only made it a few months into last year so I was way behind starting this year – now resolved. All of 2025 is done (link here) and 2026 (link here) is now current (with exception of the graphs which I only update monthly). Happy to say I am bettering my pace from last year’s record setting tally (400+3 provisional) with a current count of 254+3. In my best Chico Escuela voice, Texas was berry, berry good to me.
Keeping with the “thrashing” theme, thought I would feature a bird that knows a lot about that!
Hit the jump to learn more about this angry looking bird… and if you behave, we just might give you a bonus species!
For some reason I continually forget February is a short month – even worse since leaving the grind when I had the end of the month “Explain how you earned our money” reports to remind me the calendar is about to roll (and the bank account grow). I am sure someone out there is going “Just look in the bottom right corner of your screen nitwit!“. The important thing is I need to stay on top of the posts or we will miss our self-imposed monthly quota. I had intentions of digging into my photo backlog queue and writing up a post today, but Linda offered to go chase a Snowy Owl that had been spotted about an hour away…that requires zero decision time ha. We ended up finding TWO of them which made my day (missed that check all of last year). In my jubilation, forgot about the post until it was too late, but you are in luck. Brad was at the ready with another of his adventures from “Down Under”. Last time I brought you a new bird that traveled to us, this time we are bringing you a new bird that Intrigued packed its bags for.
Take it away Brad…. (Note, Brad and Jan are out on assignment so replies might be delayed)
On our first full day in Cairns (pronounced “cans”), Queensland Australia (north side), Jan and I went outside our beachfront hotel after breakfast to see what we could see before our first group activity started. Even in October, Cairns is very warm and humid. Remember, it’s on the other side of the Equator, the seasons are reversed. Essentially, we were in Australia in “April” for them. Cairns is in the tropics so temperatures don’t vary all that much winter to summer. Well, except from Fahrenheit to Celsius for travelers. The high temperature that day reached 28C, or 82F, with 110% humidity. A very warm day for me, but about average for this time of year for Cairns. Important stats to know when carrying very large glass outside after it has been sitting in an air-conditioned hotel room overnight. We let the cameras and lenses warm up slowly to prevent condensation on all of the glass elements. Wandering around with a large camera and 200-500mm lens garners a lot of attention.
Talk about having egg on your face ha… hit the jump to learn more about this exotic looking bird.
Our winter migration has come to an end and we are officially back at the Intrigued Headquarters. I am still awaiting monetary gifts of appreciation from our IL based friends for dragging back some warm weather on our way back from Texas (those can be dropped off anytime at our offices!). We were definitely not expecting temps in the mid-50s only a few days after our return. Doubtful that will hold being mid-February and all, but will enjoy it while it lasts. Before we get into today’s international themed post, wanted to mention a few accolades. We here at Intrigued have entered our 19th year of operation from when we started our “mothership” blog as a place to document our experiences and the social encounters that…well…intrigued us.
Over time we started focusing more and more on featuring the “wild” side of life and then I was asked to present at the local Audubon chapter on “Birding and Blogging” to introduce their members to a new-ish media form to get more exposure to their birding passion. This was a great opportunity to curate our love for wildlife and photography and so our sister site Wildlife Intrigued was born – the rest is history as they say…
…and we recently hit the 1,000 post threshold on this sister site!! A big thanks to all our contributors/editors (Linda, Brad, Jan, Allyson, Elfie and the rest of the behind the scenes staff that make the Intrigued complex run smoothly (and mainly keep us out of legal issues ha).
Thanks for indulging us in our accolades, it is time to get you to the reason you are here…BIRDS!
Bringing you a special rarity today as thanks for making it through our intro brags. Hit the jump to learn more about this surprise encounter.
By the time you read this we will have officially left the great state of Texas and if not all the way back to the Midwest Tundra, certainly withing striking distance. With some definite sadness, our winter migration has come to an end and now time to get back to the Intrigued HQ to get caught up on all the paperwork piling up since our departure – that and finally take down all the Christmas decorations ha! As a whole, it felt like a down year for birding in south Texas as there was relatively little to chase and some of our planned checks never materialized. There were a couple of new lifers (future posts) and a start that took us further west along the border than we have ever been. It was really that portion of our “migration” that elevated the entire birding experience and resulted in a rather stunning surprise.
On our last day in Texas I was able to tin a number of missing birds at Caddo Lake State Park (in our top 5 State Parks we have had the chance to visit). That haul stuck me firmly into third place in the top 100 eBirders in Texas this year with 244+3 checks. Extremely pleased with that accomplishment and I do owe Linda a lot of credit for getting me anywhere close to that level – she denies she is a birder, but she knows her “stuff” and Ron will confirm. As you have likely already assumed, third will be my high water mark with our departure. Best of luck to our many birding friends (old and new) that live in or staying longer in the region – this year we even managed to meet up with birders we know from back home (it really is a small world). The birding community down here is incredibly gracious and always willing to get you directly on a bird or relay the latest information – thank you!
I have plenty more to update everyone on, but there is plenty of time for that in future posts. Let’s get you to the real reason you find yourselves here – BIRDS. In honor of landing in the Texas top 5, going with a more literal interpretation of sticking the landing
Hit the jump to read more about this member of a squadron making their way back to base.
Getting this post in just under the wire. I had intentions of publishing this last post of the month out a few days ago (to hit our monthly post quota), but we have been moving northeastward up the gulf coast and time slipped away. Truth is, I am a bit exhausted which is an odd thing to declare when you are technically on vacation – and retired. We’ve been on the road for over a month now and it has consisted of some high points and low points. On the plus side we are not in Illinois, there has been SOME warm days, we’ve been able to meet up with birding friends down here along with friends who came down from our hometown and even Ron was able to joined us for a few days. We’ve also found a few new feathered lifers and taken in some new sites. Unfortunately, the weather has been frustratingly “chilly” down here and the birding has been a disappointment due to a universal lack of real rarities to chase. Add into the mixture my ankle is not progressing at a pace anywhere near what I need/expect it to be, The Beast is acting up (likely sand in the WAV motor again) and did I mention I’m currently wearing a stocking cap and staring wantingly at my gloves. Yes, this born and raised in the Midwest tundra lad has grown soft ha! I just need a brief rest and I’ll be recharged (not to mention it is going to start warming up this week). In spite of the weather gods trying their mightiest to defeat me, I am still sitting at 220 birds for the year (21st on Texas top 100) and tins full of new material to hopefully keep everyone entertained this year. Add in Brad and Jan’s adventures and we are in really good shape. Speaking of Brad and Jan, they threw me a lifeline taking over the controls of the Intrigued enterprise to bring you another adventure from “Down Under”.
Take it away (temporary) Kiwis….
On a recent photo assignment, Jan and I were staying in a very nice hotel in the middle of Christchurch, New Zealand. The view from our spacious and well-appointed hotel room looked out at the Christchurch Cathedral. Well, at least what’s left of it after severe earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. Much of what’s left is being supported by a web of giant steel beams. The spire and upper tower were destroyed during the multitude of 2011 earthquakes (between 6.0 and 6.4-magnitude) and have been partially rebuilt on the ground since then, ready for reinstallation. Restoration is difficult because many of the skills required to rebuild a stone structure have been lost over the decades. The Cathedral is still competing for resources (money and people) with hundreds of other rebuilding projects in Christchurch since the devastating earthquakes. New Zealand is a country of five million people. The cost to rebuild the city of Christchurch alone is estimated to be near $40 billion New Zealand dollars. That is a very large burden, whether in New Zealand or U.S. dollars, for a national population of only five million. You can do the math to see that this might take a while.
This story is a late entry to extend December’s Baby Month at Intrigued. Literally, as soon as I had copied the photos from the Australia and New Zealand assignment onto our home PC, it failed. Thanks to holidays, and weather delays, the replacement PC didn’t arrive until mid-December. Getting the new PC up and running again with all of the Intrigued Corporate applications, plus a few hardware surprises, took another two weeks. And here we are.
During one of our free days on assignment, Jan and I walked about a kilometer (a little over half of a mile) from our hotel in Christchurch to Hagley Park South to see what we could see. Why am I am being very specific on the name of the park? Every city we visited, in Australia and New Zealand, had a park or royal garden near the city center named after Queen Victoria, the reigning monarch when the countries were officially founded. Each park, or garden, had a life-sized (or larger) statue of Queen Victoria; she was not looking amused. Of course, in anticipation of finding something interesting to photograph, we took the big glass along.
Protect yourselves, there’s cuteness overload coming after the jump!
Ummm, somebody has some explaining to do and I think that person is Mother Nature. Every winter since retirement, Linda and I pack up the RV, toss (gently) the boys in and drive all the way down to south Texas. What is the primary factor in that decision, pretty easy…WARMTH. We have lived our whole lives in the Midwest tundra and we’ve lost our interest in the bone jarring windchills and fluffy white stuff. We still get a taste of it when we return, but we can enjoy the relief while we can. Which brings me back to needing an explanation – it was 39 degrees today here in South Padre Island…let me say it louder for the cheap seats THIRTY-NINE. Granted it is 4 degrees currently at home, but I’m not there…I’m HERE. I am definitely not insinuating that our friends from home had anything to do with bringing these temperatures down with them when they came to visit us yesterday…that would just be cruel hehehehe. Anyway, the real concern down here isn’t us, that’s for sure, but our thoughts are on the Sea Turtles that are on the brink of a cold stun. We visited the Sea Turtle Rescue facility today and they were busy preparing for the worst. Best of luck to the 6 Green Sea Turtles we saw off the SPI jetty 2 days ago (link here).
I was looking through the photo queue to decide what to feature today when I came across this series of shots from last year’s trip down here.
Long time readers of the blog might recognize that log as I featured it many times in the past. It happens to be one of my favorite photography setting. Each visit I look forward to seeing what birds I’ll find perched there.
I have an update on this cherished spot after the jump.
The old adage is time flies for a busy person – and I’ll simply refine that a bit and state that it’s even faster when you are doing something you enjoy. Brad and I always joke that we are busier now than we were before we were retired…noting that the real difference is we aren’t tearing our hair out trying to find those evil spirits in the machine. That isn’t to say it is all stress free down here in south Texas. Some of the local birds prefer not to be seen, much less stare down the end of a large black barrel that goes clicky clicky (at least for us that haven’t made the leap to mirrorless). I am happy to report that after my rather slow start, things have really picked up as we make our way eastward from Big Bend National Park. The count sits at 200+2 which is better at this point than our previous “Average Year” attempts (link here). Ron was even able to make it down here last weekend to get his numbers jump started – he had to go back to zero degree (F) temperatures and that white fluffy stuff, ugh. We are currently at our 4th base camp which is on South Padre Island with the Mangrove Yellow Warbler on the menu. On two unsuccessful attempts so far, but plenty of days left to remedy that. Time to get to the real reason you are here, today’s featured feathered friend.
Based on the shot above, you might think that this is one of those birds mentioned earlier that prefers not to be seen – hit the jump and we’ll see if that is accurate.
Life Intrigued 