Date Night at the Dive-In

Ears are a ringing, eyes are watered and red, ankle is a screaming and the body is pretty tired, but … there is a HUGE smile on my face as my head swirls with new ideas for this year’s Haunted Trail (link here – mental reminder, get the 2024 trail post out). Our haunt team is fresh off attending TransWorld, the commercial haunt industry convention held annually in downtown St. Louis, MO (link here). Unfortunately, the name has taken on additional connotations outside the haunt world, but to those in the scare business (vendors and consumers) it’s our super bowl event for educational seminars, animatronics showcase, decor extravaganza and industry hobnobbing. Note, this event is technically not open to the general public as there are commercial requirements to attend (profit/investment thresholds, customer numbers etc.), although that seems to have loosened up a bit this year. If a product is targeted for the horror genre, it is on display and therefore caution does apply. As you would expect, there are very graphic displays/products and children (including those easily offended adults) are STRONGLY discouraged. Probably says something about our team, but this event is pure enjoyment. Downside is the recovery needed the following day (“I have snores, boars, flasks, do the wishes???…sorry honey, I can’t hear with all this ringing in my ears”).

While I attempt to figure out what Linda is trying to say (it is possible I don’t want to know hehehe), going to relax a bit and feature a series that perfectly fits my tired and blurry eyes.

Hit the jump to read about this aerial acrobat.

I am going to openly proclaim this series of shots is not going to be adorning any walls or earning honors beyond maybe the “exercise” community. Honestly, that pretty much goes for any field work pertaining to the four members of the Apodidae family and the 8 members of their sister family the Hirundinidae. They are also referred to as Swifts and Swallows respectively and are ALL Pixie Stix guzzling Barons of the sky (link here).

Before the call comes in from our perpetually disgruntled legal team, I am aware the Purple member of the Hirundinidae does not actually have the Swallow moniker, but we all know what it should have been named – hell, it isn’t really even purple! The Intrigued bird naming board does accept Little Gods of War (Mars-tens). I digress, blame our lawyers. Anyway, as I was saying, this family of birds is a pain in the ass to get in the tin and exponentially harder the larger the glass. My arms end up being noodles after spending any time trying to keep a specimen in the viewing area. Crispness is a distant concern.

Have I given myself enough excuses for not executing yet..Linda would say in her best James Earl Jones voice “The whine is strong with this one” hehehe. I did get some shots in the tin and those are enough to officially declare the check for a White-Throated Swift. This was a lifer for me!

I have to give Linda credit for this find. We were on our trip through Arizona last January…oops, did it again, make that last January before this more recent January. We made basecamp in Apache Junction, AZ allowing Ron to fly out and spend a week birding with us. We hit a lot of the hot spots in the area like Lost Dutchman State Park and Superstitious Mountain with mixed results when Linda noticed an intriguing eBird report not too far away at a place called Canyon Lake, specifically the Acacia Picnic Area. We were surprised to learn that it was more like a mountain lake as the drive included incredible mountain views before descending to the lake area surround by “steep, red-rock canyon walls” (link here). An absolutely beautiful area with a road that followed along the banks of the lake with several picnic areas scattered about. It was January, so the place was pretty much to ourselves – guessing this place gets packed during the later months. Note, you need buy a permit to “park” there – Linda stayed in the car with the pups.

While driving along, a flock of plump black and white missiles caught my eye.

In my defense they were a ways up on the surrounding cliffs owing to the heavy cropping on these shots. Immediately unmistakable that this was a completely new bird to me. I have photographed all of the Swallow family, but only one of the Swifts, the Chimney. The Swallows are not that beefy, nor does the Chimney have the white highlights – looked like an Oreo cookies with wings.

For the next 30 minutes Ron and I mimed out the battle of Pearl Harbor trying to keep our barrels on tiny erratic Mitsubishi A6Ms (without the big red zeros of course). Incredibly thankful my elbow was still intact at that point in the year.

The White-Throated Swift is a native of the western states with a year-round presence on the southern borders of California, Arizona, New Mexico, then down into the Baja and Central America. During the smoochie season they push northward even as far as the western Canada border. They do not seem to be a big fan of the coastal regions of northern California and up.

Cornell provided some interesting tidbits to pass along. Typical of most of the Swifts (and Swallows) they are a very social birds roosting with hundreds of others on the rocky cliffs. They tend to swirl around the nest area as they take their turns to enter. My favorite line “Occasionally one misses, bouncing off the entrance to rejoin the swirling mass.” Allow me to translate “Hey Red, you need to lay off the Oreos you porker”. It appears they are adrenaline junkies (now the Pixie Stix behavior makes sense). “Courting birds make spectacular dives toward earth, one clinging to the back of the other, separating as they pull out of the plummet just above the ground.” Thankfully we humans prefer date nights at a “drive-in” versus a “dive-in”.

Going to put a wrap on it there, I think I might have played the “I can’t hear all the things you are wanting me to do” excuse one too many times as I can see out of the corner of my eye Linda is coming at me with a bullhorn. Take care, welcome to March and have a hauntingly good rest of your week.