Birds – Page 11 – Life Intrigued

A Cast of Thousands…by Brad Marks

Hoping those here in the States had a happy and safe 4th of July celebration! Our Intrigued HQ is just down the road from an individual that puts on a rather impressive annual show for us ruralites. Had some of our staff over (including Brad and Jan), filled the coolers with drinks, threw some meat on the grill and capped the night with things that light up the sky and make you go Oooohhhh and Ahhhhh – life is good. I did manage to come out with a losing record in our highly competitive JARTS tournament (the real ones, not those pansy ones they try to pawn off on kids these days). That will have to be remedied during our next Intrigued outing!!! As promised in my previous post, Brad has posting duties while I taper/rest/heal/plan/worry/obsess/fret and generally drive Linda crazy this week leading up to the first ultra of the year. One of those planning tasks is to set the crew schedule. In this case, only a cast of one (well, and 3 furry assistants), but I can tell you without hesitation, Linda is the secret sauce to success. While I go through the details with her, we’ll have Brad bring us an adventure with a much larger crew!

Take it away Brad…

After a very long and productive day of birding at Harris Neck NWR in Georgia, Jan and I decided we needed just a little bit more birding in our full day. Our memory cards weren’t quite full, and what’s the use of having large memory cards if you don’t fill them? Plus, we had plenty of battery life left on our cameras.

We decided to visit the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge, which sits on the South Carolina state line shared with Georgia. While on a bird walk on Hilton Head at the Audubon Newhall Preserve, we heard people talking about the “millions” of ducks at Savannah. Others on the walk said there can’t be more than 10-20 birds there, there has never been a “million” in one location. A million ducks would be interesting. That sounded like a challenge for us.

Savannah NWR, at least the part we visited, is a drive-through nature preserve. The gravel drive is mostly a causeway type of thoroughfare, raised a few feet above the tidal water on either side. We had just entered the preserve and rounded the first corner when we saw a large grey pickup parked along the side of the road. That usually means there’s something worth photographing nearby. I pulled within a respectable distance of the truck and parked the car. Jan and I already had our cameras assembled and ready to go from earlier in the day. We saw the owner of the truck on the other side of the road on a smaller walking path. He was looking into the distance.

As we approached the driver was shaking his head and muttering something about, “every time I move, they move.” He had just driven non-stop from Virginia and was a bit worn out chasing ducks back and forth across this little pond.

Black-Bellied Whistling-Duck by Brad Marks

What’s that sound, everybody look what’s going down on the other side of the jump!

A Little Red, A Little White and Lot of Blue

Welcome to July everyone, or as we say here “Grind Month”. With the turning of the calendar page, I am roughly 1.5 weeks out from the first ultra race of the year (link here). This is one of the few times I’ll complain about all the cool temps we’ve been experiencing lately as it is definitely impacting the heat acclamation period essential for these long Midwestern summer races. It’s already a sweat filled grind with the benefit of the conditioning and I am definitely not lucky enough to carry these low 60’s temps much further into this month. Need to get through that ultra and then close the month out with my 20th consecutive and last running of the Bix7 up in the Quad Cities (link here). Although usually hotter, the Bix is 25 miles shorter than CMAR so at least the torture doesn’t last as long ha. I am going to take a break from Intrigued as I finish up the ultra race prep – Linda accuses me of turning into a basket case as I fret the details up until the starter pistol goes off and she doesn’t want me passing that on to our readers. Sooooo, I’ll bring you this pseudo 4th inspired post and then let Brad keep everyone entertained until I’m out of the hospital..I mean done with the race!

With that, let’s get started with a little red, a bit more white and a lot more blue.

Black Skimmer found at SPI Convention Center Flats in January 2023

Hit the jump for today’s Independence Day themed double feature.

You Gonna Eat That?…by Brad Marks

Good news, Brad is back from his field office visit (in actuality he made it back just before I released my last post, but I didn’t see his expense report come in before hitting publish). I can definitely use the break as tomorrow morning is my “simulation” run for the fast approaching ultra trail race. Plan is to cover ~75% of the course, but 100% of the terrain (there is an 8 mile repeated section). The 24 or so miles shouldn’t be an issue, but the heat is the big unknown as temps have been climbing steadily since last week. It could be a “devil” of a time which makes Brad’s post on point. Enjoy this “spear-ited” adventure while I go talk through the battle plan with the crew.

Take it away Brad…

Sometimes with wildlife photography, I’m not really sure what I’m seeing, but I keep the shutter going just in case. I’ve been lucky enough to get the precise moment a Bald Eagle snatches dinner from a river. We’ve also caught the precise moment dinner exits a bird (not pretty, so no more details here) on more than one occasion. This time, both Jan and I were very unsure what we were seeing. Luckily, we took a combined few hundred photos over the course of a minute or two. As the subject moved along and came into focus (pun intended) we were able to tell what it was, but really couldn’t believe what we were seeing.

Jan and I were sitting on a berm at the end of Woody Pond at Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge in Georgia. Even though there was no one at the gate to check our National Park Pass, we felt better that we had one with us. What?! No National Parks Pass yet? Go get one right now, it’s well worth the time. Of course, if you are reading this blog, you probably already have one.

Let me paint a picture for you. The berm at the end of Woody Pond acts more like a dam for the shallow-ish pond-like sort of area. It seemed to be more of a deep marsh because the thick parts of the tree trunks (you know, where they normally come out of the ground) weren’t sticking that far out of the water. To our right, a few dozen yards away, was a very large alligator sitting right in the middle of the path. (link here) To the left was a Great Blue Heron (GBH) trying to fish. Right behind the GBH were three more alligators: one very large and two bite-sized versions.

I was standing on the berm about halfway between the two groups of gators. Jan was to my left and a bit closer to the set of three alligators, but also very near the car. She was also somewhat protected from them by being across a small arm of water, just in case. There was a tree stump sitting in the water 15-20 feet from the bank. A minute before, a bird had been perching on it, but now it was empty. Butterbutts (Yellow-rumped Warblers) were flitting about like mosquitoes. Luckily, even in this marsh area, there were no mosquitoes in February.

We were watching the GBH on its morning snack hunt when Jan pointed and said, “What’s that?”

Anhinga at Harris Neck NWR found by Brad Marks

Hit the jump to find out what kind of “snake” this really is.

Hiding in Plain Sight

Brad (and Jan) are still out wining and dining our editor staff at the Denver facility – tells you how important they are to us I.T. professionals. I can hold my own in the coding world, but my knuckles still have not recovered from the damaged inflicted during my first class in deconstructing a sentence under the iron rule of nuns wielding heavy wooden rulers (WHACK). They eventually wore me down and got the basics past my defenses and honestly, these past 17+ year here at Intrigued has helped, but I still prefer talking bits and bytes. In Brad’s absence, you are stuck with me again for today’s featured feathered friend.

American Pipit found at Walter E. Long Lake in Austin, TX in January 2023

I know, I know, a bit of a letdown from the more colorful specimens featured in my previous posts. We still need to give the species that overslept the day when Mother Nature was waving her paint brush.

Hit the jump to read more about this species that could easily be mistaken for a member of the Sparrow family.

Splish Splash Spoon Smirk

Greetings everyone! Brad and Jan are out visiting one of our favorite editors at our satellite facility in Colorado. Always good to see our employees when we can…and I hear the view from that facility is magnificent! While they enjoy their trip, going to jump our typical alternating schedule and bring you another series of shots from our Texas Gulf Coast trip back in 2023.

Roseate Spoonbill found at South Padre Island Bird Viewing and Nature Center in January 2023

Hit the jump to read more about our brightly colored and slightly devilish feathered friend.

As the World Turns

I have to thank the weather gods as of late, nothing like waking up on a training day to temps in the low 60s. Basically for the past week or so I’ve had the luxury of enjoying cool temps for at least the first part allowing me to stretch out some of the longer runs. I have to be extra careful on the hot days that I don’t over-cook. My thermostat was severely impaired by a couple of unfortunate mishaps over my running career and now more susceptible to “going over the edge” so to speak. The impact to the body would be one thing to overcome, but worse would be enduring the scorn from Linda. I’ll still need more heat conditioning before the July ultra race, but for now focused on taking the legs to exhaustion and then pushing them again before they’ve fully recovered – little ultra-secret, you NEVER train for the full race distances (similar to marathon training), but we can simulate those hardship miles by training on tired bodies. Now, tired doesn’t mean injured so we have to make sure to keep those heavy feet ABOVE the roots of all evil! I was thinking about those careful foot placements on today’s run when this post topic popped in my head.

Ruddy Turnstone found on South Padre Island Jetty, TX in January 2023

About now you are probably wondering what a Ruddy Turnstone has to do with trail running. As a general warning, there is a high occurrence of hallucinations and mental disconnects during long runs, so keep your expectations low – hit the jump and I’ll do my best to explain.

Dance Party…by Brad Marks

Thanks to the return of the wet stuff, I am officially in a forced recovery day. I should probably give a hat-tip to the weather gods based on the muscle whining while getting out of bed this morning. Instead, I get to spend the day learning about the traditional muscle structures of those “grotesque” creatures that watch us upon their high perches and hopefully test out some new wing linkages – Halloween is nearly here people ha! Meanwhile, Brad is going to give us a look at another creature with wings that do not illicit the same level of nightmares… unless you are foolish enough to let them see your cheese curl while strolling along the beach. Time to grab your favorite dark chocolate treat (thanks for the recent restock Brad and Jan!), sit back and enjoy a few laughs.

Take it away Brad…

Jan and I had just returned from a long day of birding along the Atlantic Coast. I think we carried our cameras for 9 miles that day. No monopods. No fancy shoulder straps. No sherpas. Don’t feel sorry for us–we were on vacation after all. And we are retired. But after chasing birds in swamps, marshes, and forests (and avoiding the more than occasional alligator) we decided to have a little bit of fun.

Our resort on Hilton Head was right on the beach (aren’t they all). Keep in mind that it’s mid-February on a beach; the high temperature that day was almost 60F (but only if you rounded up). Normally, a beach and cold weather don’t go together. Beach (more specifically sand) and camera gear don’t go together either, but there was nary a breeze this time of day and no fluffy blowing sand to worry about. I remember Brian and his brother Ron getting caught in a sand storm on a beach in Texas and I didn’t want to repeat their adventure. Plus, I didn’t want to have to extricate sand castles from my lenses and cameras. My camera gear coverage from Wildlife Intrigued hasn’t quite started yet; still the newbie I guess.

The light breeze didn’t stop the gulls from entertaining us.

Hit the jump to see more antics.

Woodwren Instruments

Welcome to June everybody! We are almost halfway through ’24 and assuredly you are thinking ONLY 43 days to the first ultra race of the year and ONLY 120 days before this year’s annual Haunted Trail Event. The horror, the horror (link here). Linda apparently heard my Marlon Brando impersonating as she just walked by and stated “No dork, that’s just you!”. Harsh, but she is probably right, however, looking back, you are likely wondering where the year has went. While in the grind, I could always look back at the two quarterly performance reviews and see the accomplishments, not so easy these days as most of my haunt projects are in a constant state of construction up until days before the event and training is a perpetual endeavor. What I can look back on are the various birding trips throughout the year and the resulting tins. Today we are going to travel back to Texas and bring you a subject from one of my favorite photography settings.

Carolina Wren found at Guadalupe River State Park, Spring Branch, TX in January 2023

Hit the jump to read more about this “woodwren instrument”.

Vulture Love…by Brad Marks

This has felt like an unusually long month for me. Pretty much been on the go since the start, dog shows, our annual medical appointments, family events, more dog shows and every time I managed to find a slot, I was out on the trail. With Ruger’s recent competition over the weekend, the back to back schedule pressure is finally lifted for a couple of weeks. This will give me more time to get ready for the upcoming ultra and finally make some progress on a mega Halloween prop taking shape in my basement (fingers crossed Linda doesn’t go down there and see her basement covered in foam shavings). In tribute to the Vultures circling impatiently overhead while on my long run today, Brad is going to bring us another adventure from their travels east. May I recommend putting on Meatloaf’s Paradise by the Dashboard Light while enjoying this “fresh” post (link here)! (…and still pissed they replaced Patti Russo with an actress for the I’d Do Anything For Love video).

Take it away Brad…

I bet the title conjured up one of two songs from the 1970’s. Jungle Love by The Steve Miller Band, or Muskrat Love by the Captain and Tennille. Both used synthesizers. I just wanted to see if I could get a song going in your heads, like the Gulls, Gulls, Gulls from last year.

Why does nearly everything interesting that happens in a tree, happen in the middle of a bunch of leaves and twigs? I mean, c’mon! Can’t anyone actually hop to the end of an exposed branch and go through the poses to make bird photography easier? It’s just a few photos and a microsecond of your day. No? Well, OK. See if I make your photos flattering or not.

Actually, with today’s birds, I’m not sure there is a way to make the photos flattering.

Jan and I were on a Bird Walk through the Audubon Newhall Preserve on Hilton Head Island. The guide was talking about cedar knees and the red-cockaded woodpecker nest hole we had just passed. There was a very slight breeze blowing through the treetops. But not quite enough of a breeze to make the noise that was happening directly above us. One of the other birders pointed overhead and said there was a large black bird in the tree. At first, I thought it was a crow. Naturally, Jan and I pointed our cameras skyward as the other birders grabbed their binoculars. The guide had lost all of us for a moment.

At first, all I could see was one large black bird through the viewfinder. I was happily snapping away when it “skooched” to its left, my right

Hit the jump to see what I saw.

PTrSD: A Tale From the Trail

Disclaimer: Before I go any further, wanted to state for clarity sake that this is NOT intended to belittle in any manner the true medical condition referred to as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. That is a serious condition and truly wish the best outcomes for those that are having to deal with that on daily basis.

What this is referring to an incident that did cause extreme, although temporary, stress while training this morning on the Cry Me a River ultra trail course (link here). For those not familiar with this race, it consists mainly of the Illinois River Bluff Trail (link here) with some additional trails on the ends to accommodate the 50K/100K/100mile distances. One of the toughest courses in the area that will test your elevation training to the limits (the 100m course has 23,500 feet of elevation gain and the 50K is around 12K). It also has the distinction of giving me an ambulance ride to the emergency room (link here). I have since wiped that blemish off my race record, but the event remains cursed as last year I broke my elbow on a training run a week prior to the start – note, that was my first Post “Trail” Stress Disorder event as I still flinch whenever I pass that “Root of All Evil”.

Today, we are gathered here to talk about another PTrSD trauma that happened this very morning and it involves THIS BEAST!

Wild Turkey attack on Illinois River Bluff Trail in May 2024

Hit the jump to read more about this harrowing (Linda prefers hilarious) experience.

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