Greetings everyone, hope all is well with you. My spirits have definitely been lifted thanks to yesterday being my first day in the therapy pool! Feels good to actually walk again albeit with the assistance of water dynamics. For an hour there I felt somewhat whole again, enjoying the various strengthening and stretching routines and even the treadmill didn’t fill me with dread like it normally does during the off-season – something about it being submerged made it more intriguing. Of course, reality hit when my time was up and re-emerged into gravity – a solid reminder I still have miles to go. The best part, I was completely exhausted later that night, forgotten muscles fidgeting and squawking. It has been 11 frustrating months since I’ve had a really hard run and last night brought a flood of good memories back (runners are wired differently ha). While I sit here in anticipation of tomorrow’s pool session, thought I would crank out another post from the recently processed Colorado trip.
Hit the jump to see a few more shots that “could have been awesome”
I have a few tenets I have adopted from my many years on the hunt. A few of those make their way into a list of “Golden Rules” that the Intrigued staff are subjected to time and time again. Oh, good reminder, our mandatory annual training requirements are coming due soon! Some of the rules are simply useful birding tips you are more than likely going to hear if you spend any time out in the field with me. Take for instance “Always Shoot the Loners” as those are where the real interesting sightings come from. Another being “Tin the Mates” as sometimes the ones they are with get you that valuable piece of information leading to the ID. Another set of rules are more personal (and not on the competency test hehehe). Turns out one of those bit me in the ass with this set of images.
Ron can attest, it takes a lot for me to “Chimp” in the field. For those not familiar with this wildlife photography concept, it is the act of taking a picture and immediately looking at the back of the camera and “Oooh, Oooh, Ooohing” at the capture – it’s more of a visual thing, you will know it when you witness it! My philosophy being there is relatively limited time available for the hunt, I’d rather keep my head up for something interesting to happen.
Granted, there are quick looks from time to time to check exposure or confirm a faraway bird, but I know my camera and what can be “addressed” in the digital darkroom so no reason to pixel peek (display zoom). This also means there is a tendency to find birds in shots I didn’t know were there when the shutter slapped. For example, 5 new birds were added to my 2024 count while processing the backlog soon after surgery – nothing like birding from the comfort of the den ha. A companion Golden Rule is “Scrutinize Tins in the Digital Darkroom” as lots of things can lurk in the corners and background.
Now there is a definite downside to this philosophy and it reared its ugly head in these shots of the Red-Breasted Nuthatch. Last September we were at the Teacup Agility Dog Nationals in Loveland Co (not too far from our Denver satellite HQ), when we found ourselves with some extra time. Grabbed the camera and went to Lake Loveland as there was a Sabine’s Gull spotted there (a potential lifer). What we found there was absolutely surprising as the lake looked like someone had pulled the drain plug. If there is anyone familiar with this lake, can you add a comment and let us know if this is regular event for this lake, a planned draining or really experiencing this level of drought last fall. Basically mud flats for as far as one could see. I did find the Sabine’s huddled with a small group of other Gulls, but far enough away it won’t be featured here anytime soon. Another surprise is when I tried following the bank to get to a bit of distant water. Signage stated Lake Loveland was a private lake and no trespassing allowed. Disappointed, I headed back to the Linda and the dogs. I did learn later were in a small public area for the lake – Marie Antoinette came to mind, “Let them eat mud”.
Linda found a nearby park call North Lake Park that had access to water with sightings of Hooded Mergansers which were missed earlier in the year. That place had plenty of water which increased the curiosity on the state of the lake we had just left. Sure enough, there was a group of Hoodies paddling along hoping someone would take their pictures. So far you know everything BUT the subject of this post – apologies for that. All of this culminated in spotting a set of tall evergreens near the entrance to the park. Made my way over there and confirmed a hunch, there were Red-Breasted Hatches probing for conifer seeds. For the next hour I waged an epic battle of arms versus wings. None in this flock wanted to be seen…or at least photographed by this dorky looking out of stater. One specimen decided to take pity on me and popped up near the top of the tree providing a decent, but short, look.
Got some tins and gave a big sigh of relief. Arms were thankful to finally get a rest. The deed was done, time to go. This is when future self would have given a swift kick to past Bri “you are getting ready to leave anyway, at least take a look at what you did get in the tin“. Think about that the next time you get an unexpected sudden pain in your lower extremities.
Why was future Bri so upset – because when viewing the shots in the digital darkroom I noticed some decent shots of the RBNU with a beautiful evergreen cross in the background. Had I seen that composition, definitely would have stayed longer and done everything possible to get the annoying foreground pine cones and needles OUT of the shot. Imagine how beautiful these shots could have been without those @#$%@$^@ smudges…arrrrgggghhh! The only saving grace is it might have cost me the one chance I did have at getting a clean shot at the bird. To chimp or not to chimp, that is the question – let’s see how the staff does on their upcoming competency test!
Take care everyone. We are in the midst of haunt season which means the clock is ticking to the big event. Let’s hope the plague doctors don’t come a knockin’.
Life Intrigued 