June 2026 – Life Intrigued

PIE-lay-ted…by Brad Marks

Hi folks! We said farewell to Vegas and made our way west again. We had a list of things planned for our stay in the desert, but somehow that city has the ability to crumble up itineraries and set them on fire – this year that was almost literal as the day temps went to 109 and beyond. Ended up being a daily scramble thanks to some RV repairs, additional time spent hunting birds I thought would be easy checks and then a host of other things that gobbled up the time. I am sure we will get back there before too long – note to self, allow more time! On the bright side, birding has been outstanding – 109+1 annual birds since start of the trip, 43 of those being lifers. That puts me at 409+4 for the year – a personal record and we are still relatively early in the year. Oh, an that puts me at #211 in the US Top 100 Birders standings. The downside is the field days have been long and the gravitational force of the pillow strong – my apologies for the delay in responding to comments (I promise to remedy that as soon as I can) and now I will be out of pocket for a bit as we have a family event to take in. Fortunately, Brad is always at the ready to bring you another of their adventures and today’s feature is one of my favorite local feathered friends.

The pillow beckons, take it away Brad…

A couple of years ago, Jan and I were driving on our first trip to Hilton Head Island to escape a week of February winter in Illinois. We decided to drive to take all of our camera gear. Driving to Hilton Head takes 16+ hours from where we live, so we broke the trip into two days. The first night we stayed in Asheville, NC to could go to one of our favorite restaurants for dinner, the Tupelo Honey Café. We were not disappointed. On the second day, we planned to stop at Congaree National Park in South Carolina we found on a poster our daughter Allyson gave us when we retired. When we go to a new park, we can cross it off the poster, checklist style. The park poster contains some of the biggest National Parks (Yosemite and Yellowstone) and some of the lesser-known parks as well. That’s where we found ourselves.

When we finally arrived at Congaree, we were quickly rewarded with a bit of humor. There was a sign saying the park wide speed limit was 27 MPH. Not 25 MPH or 30 MPH, but 27 MPH! How cool is that! Arriving at the small parking lot, Merlin was telling us there were many birds in the trees, if only we could see them. I learned much later that Congaree National Park is one of the nation’s top spots to see very large firefly displays during late May and into June.

When I had finished assembling my camera (Jan was already off taking photos), a family was wandering by from their distant parking space. The grandfather in the group, seeing the big cameras, asked if I’d seen a specific bird pointing to the other end of the parking lot. Sometimes the local names and pronunciations of words can catch me off-guard. British English and American English often have different syllables emphasized. But when American English (Midwestern) and American English (Southern) collide, I sometimes have no idea where to start.

Here’s where I have to go to phonetic spelling because my ear was simply not tuned into Southern English so early in our trip. Absolutely no offense intended, things are pronounced differently all around our country. Pronunciations in the Northeast are sometimes the hardest because they remove certain letters and add them to the ends of other words. For example, the phrase “park the car” becomes “pahk the cah”. But the word “area” becomes “airy-er”. See what I mean?

Pileated Woodpecker for by Brad Marks in South Carolina

In any dialect or accent, that’s a BIG bird! Hit the jump to read more about the PIE!

An Arizona Specialty

Continued greetings from the road! We are in the second half of our western jaunt and I have to say it has been a bit tiring. The long drives, the continual up and downs from one mountain range to another and the temperature fluctuations … well that is probably the real story right now. After spending so much time at altitude and fairly pleasant temps (if not cold) weather conditions at elevation, we are now in the hot desert, more accurately, the torturous hot box. I have a history of heat “issues” and it takes the gradual temp changes back home to get the internal thermostats calibrated. This process has been short circuited to a 2 day cycle – one day 70sF followed by a steady 105-109F. Probably should have thought the plan through a bit more, but we are really in wait mode now until we make our sprint into California for a wedding and then point the RV east(ward). Early morning birding only at this point. Still managing to get some good checks and even broke through the 300 mark as I now sit at #268 in the top US birder rankings thanks to the now 92 birds added this trip (only 8 more to hit the Average Year goal of 400!!)

Thought I would introduce you to one of my favorite feathered friend finds from last year’s trip to Arizona while I try to get the internal body temperature down.

Arizona Woodpecker found at Santa Rita Lodge in Madera Canyon, Arizona in March 2025

Your eyes are fine, that really is a brown Woodpecker. Hit the jump to read more about this very regionally limited bird!

Pot of Gold…by Brad Marks

My previous waning faith in humanity is definitely looking up here during our stop in Salt Lake City. Met some really nice people while up in the mountains birding (high Zane!) and the kind and gracious workers at the Mormon Temple were a breath of fresh air from the long days on the road. We have hiked a lot of mountains on this trip and I have to admit, mountain air (and trails) is/are fast becoming my lifeblood. Shout out to all the mountain athletes we’ve met on this trip – monster fitness, badly needed inspiration to keep pushing myself on the recovery to the ultra trail circuit. Been getting some really good bird checks lately, now sitting at 383+3 with the 10 new birds found the last couple of days here in Salt Lake City (at #318 in the top US birders list yay!) . Have I mentioned before how exhausting this trip is heheheh. We are moving base again tomorrow and need to try and get some sleep tonight. Brad is going to take the rudder and sail you across the wide pond to “Where women glow and men plunder” and the birds are a plenty. A fitting topic being we had a great time enjoying the birds of the world at Tracy Aviary today (link here). See ya’ again soon…

Take it away Brad…

Jan and I had spent the morning and most of an afternoon at the Taronga Zoo across the harbour from Sydney. Taronga is a very nice zoo, and there were animals we are unlikely to see anywhere else in the world. How often can you find a Sulfur-crested Cockatiel sitting on a tree branch out in the open handing out its opinion? Or a Southern Cassowary. Even behind electrified cables, these large birds are intimidating. In this case, the electrified cables are more to keep the angry bird inside than to keep less-than-cerebral visitors outside. I say it was angry because we observed a behaviour reserved for territorial disputes or threats. When a Cassowary is “upset” it makes one of the lowest sounds in the bird world, just on the lower edge of audible for most humans. It’s more of a feeling than a sound. It also looks like its whole body is vibrating, sort of like a subwoofer does in a home theatre setup. While not quite ostrich-sized, I think one would be happy to take out an unsuspecting tourist with a camera and not lose a bit of sleep over it.

Leaving Taronga, Jan and I took the 20-minute harbour ferry ride back to Sydney. The ferry dropped us on the next pier over from the Sydney Opera House; one of our life goals to see in person. After another dozen or so photos of the Opera House (who am I kidding, it was probably a hundred more, in addition to the hundreds Jan and I took the prior day), we decided to try to find P. Sherman at 42 Wallaby Way to return his scuba mask. Fans of Finding Nemo will understand the reference. It was, after all, our last full day in Australia and Jan and I wanted to make the most of it. We took a circuitous route back to the hotel, through the Royal Botanical Gardens.

Still on a high from encountering a Laughing Kookaburra in a gum tree (see here) near the Royal Botanical Gardens entrance, Jan and I wandered further through the gardens. Nearing the garden exit, there seemed to be a kerfuffle in a flowering tree next to the path.

This new bird is snacking on nectar from a flower on a Ceibo Tree (Erythrina crista-gall) or Cockspur Coral Tree, native to South America but thriving as part of the Royal Botanical Gardens.

Rainbow Lorikeet found by Brad and Jan at Royal Botanical Gardens

Learn more about this colorful feathered friend after the jump!

No Smile, Get Wood

Well, we officially passed the halfway point of our northwest excursion, otherwise known as the point my butt longs for multi-ply toilet paper (RV humor). We are now on our way inland from the pacific tip of Washington as we make our way south. I originally wrote up an intro that covered some of the not-so-great aspects of the trip so far. Most of the way into it decided you deserved better than that screed, scrapped it all and will simply summarize as somehow we have lost a great deal of society decorum. The cause is probably a thesis in itself, but my gut says the faux pandemic is at the core or maybe political polarization – I’ll leave it for historical study. Regardless, it has been glaring to the point Linda’s new favorite shirt is one she got at a fish hatchery in Cascade Locks, OR that reads “I Hike Because People Suck”. Laughed out loud when she saw it..had to have it ha. Let’s flip the script and brighten up the post. Birding has been really good and after today’s +1 in the mountains of Idaho I’m now sitting at 373+3. The 400 goal for this year is definitely in reach..maybe even before we make it back home!

With the rewrite, I opted to switch to a featured feathered friend that ALWAYS bring a smile whenever we find it in the field

Wood Ducks found at John Ward Memorial Park in Amarillo TX in March 2025

Smiles, smiles and even more smiles after the jump!

Greater Sand-plover…by Brad Marks

Greetings from Oregon…wait, if I back up and take a running jump that might be Washington…regardless, a long way away from home. It is unlikely I will ever get “bored” of birding, but one word that does come to mind at the moment is “exhaustion”. It has been one busy day after another filled with major excitement, some disappointments and a whole lot of stress trying to hunt down targets and get something in the tin during often very brief glimpses. Oh, and an encounter with a Point Break wannabee who tried to throw me off “their beach” – more on that story in a future post. For those keeping score at home, the Average Year (link here) count now sits at 369+3 provisionals. In detail since leaving on our trip: +69 new annual checks including +28 lifers. A quick count of the misses so far is 5 – some I will hopefully be able to pick up as we get deeper in the trip, others are regionally specific and lost until we make our next trip to the northwest sigh. Still plenty of opportunities left to add to these numbers (tomorrow going for 3 more lifers!). Most surprising is I’ve moved up to #379 on this year’s top US birders list yay! Time to recharge the batteries while Brad takes the lead and brings you another of their adventures from Down Under. See you again soon!

Take it away Brad…

During one of our “free” mornings in Cairns (pronounced “cans”), Australia, Jan and I were happily photographing birds from the boardwalk along edge of the Coral Sea. Though only mid-morning, temps were already nearing 30C (85F). Humidity was as high as it can go: 100%. The tide was on its way out leaving behind a vast tidal flat of mud and small birds. There were little brown things with spindly legs moving all over the mud. Some were fiddler crabs, some had feathers.

As is usually the case with such a broad area for photographing, Jan heads one direction, and I head another. Still within sight of each other, but able to cover a much larger area, we could photograph twice as many birds. Or at least the same birds from different angles.

I’ve mentioned before that carrying a large camera and lens combo attracts all sorts of attention. I certainly don’t claim to be an expert on birds in America, let alone Australia; I’m hoping to be upgraded to novice soon on two continents (see note at the end). This morning, my bird ID app certainly wasn’t offering much help with audio. Plus, the shore birds weren’t close enough to hear their calls over the surf. For today’s bird ID, I relied on a sign posted by the water’s edge (I usually take a photo of any sign picturing local birds) and a group of self-proclaimed local “twitchers” wandering through, asking me, “Do you like our Plovers”? I, of course, answered “Yes, I do.”

Greater Sand Plover found by Brad Marks in Australia

If you answered “Yes” to the Plover question, go ahead and hit that jump!

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