Category: Birds

The Angel of Death

Well, yesterday was the planned 50K date.  I thought things were starting to fall into place – the ankle was healed up enough to bear the dangerous footings on the hilly trails, the rains had subsided enough to let the trails dry up a bit leading to high confidence at the start.  I will post the details on my other blog in due time, but I foretold victory or tail between my legs on a previous post.  Unfortunately, the day ended prematurely with my tail between my legs along with 4 staples in my head.  Mother Nature opted to replace the expected overcast and temps in the 80’s with an overbearing sun and heat index at 100.  Fought through 14 miles and decided to rest a bit at a water station.  Apparently should have kept going as my body revolted – stood up thinking I might get sick only to gain consciousness with people standing over me with blood covered hands – not a vision I’ll forget anytime soon.  Long story short, had a stressful ambulance ride to the ER.  Took in 5 IV bags and a set of staples from a large gash in the back of my head having hit a wooden railing following by the sharp edge of a box fan on the way down (so they tell me).  Pleaded with the doctors to allow me to go back and finish, but they had my wife on their side.  Total failure and my first DNF in 17 years of running.  Looks like another solid year of training, but I’ll be back for some unfinished business.

Enough of that embarrassment, let’s get to something much more entertaining.

Northern Harrier hunting the marshes of Galveston Texas State Park January 2017

Today, I’m bringing you the same Raptor species from two different locations along the Texas Gulf Coast back in January 2017.  The Northern Harrier is one of my favorite Raptors for a couple of reasons.  The first is they are just plain cool to watch while they are scanning the fields and marshes for prey.  Deadly aerial skills that allow them turn on a dime or virtually hang in the air leveraging wind dynamics to determine the best angle to pounce.

Northern Harrier hunting the marshes of Galveston Texas State Park January 2017

Hit the jump to see and read a bit more about this deadly predator.

Continue reading The Angel of Death

Concerns Warranted

As you can tell, I’ve finally found some spare cycles to get a post out.  It has been amazingly busy around Intrigued as of late thanks to two 30 year celebrations at work (wife and I), trying to finalize the schedule for Linda’s heart valve replacement at Mayo’s and then the quickly approaching 50K running event next Saturday (crap, I can’t believe that deadline has come up so fast).  As a result, my blogging and, well, just about all my secondary activities have been clipped (especially my Halloween production which is most troubling).  Every spare cycle has been spent pounding out miles on the road and on the trails – latter when the rain gods finally give me a chance.  I remember Ron mentioning his concern for me reaching my monthly blog quota which at the time still has a few weeks to go.  I had some concerns as well, but thanks to a good dose of posts on the mothership blog today’s last minute post will cover that (B. in the UK might appreciate the theme of the pumpkin post – link here).  Unfortunately, the last two weeks have had additional concerns that had/have me a bit troubled.  A week ago, I was working on more of the bathroom remodeling, simply stepped down from putting up window trim and felt a stabbing pain right in the middle of the tendon than comes down on top of the ankle from the shin into the foot. Actually though it had ripped off.  Puffed up and hurt like hell.  Had Linda look at it after an ice treatment and we eventually found a puncture point that might have caused it – possibly another bee sting in a critical point like the back episode earlier in the year.  Ended up being able to run on it without serious pain so continued on until the swelling subsided 2 or three days later.  Then yesterday I was getting the last long trail run in and managed to turn my ankle 90 degrees thanks to not seeing a rock underneath the mud.  Unfortunately, that was between mile 8 and 9 which is the farthest point from the car.  Knowing what happens if you let your ankle realize it is hurt, journeyed on for another 5 miles.  A day later the ankle is still swollen and twinges under weight.  Definitely do not need this so close to the starting line.  Will nurse it for a few days and give it a short test Wed just so I know what to expect during the race – wish me luck.

In recognition of being immobilized at the moment, figured it would be fitting to feature a creature that has a natural ability to leverage the concept of immobility.

Great Blue Heron shot at Padre Island Birding and Nature Center, Texas, December 2016

Yes, bringing out one of the big boys of the birding world on this final day of June.  Truth be told, I do not feature this bird much on the blog thanks to the thousands of images already in the portfolio.  The Great Blue Heron is one of the birds you can see just about everywhere in the continental US.  They do prefer to breed in southern Canada and down into the Dakota areas, but for the most part spend their time year-round wading through any body of water they can find across the states (except for a very odd finger down the eastern part of Idaho, Utah area according to Cornell – may be the Rockies, will have to investigate that a bit more later).

Great Blue Heron shot at Padre Island Birding and Nature Center, Texas, December 2016

Hit the jump to view a few more shots of these dagger-billed Herons.

Continue reading Concerns Warranted

Georgia Bird Burst Pt 2 of 2

30 years ago today, I woke up early, put the suit on my parents were gracious enough to buy me so I looked decent for my corporate interviews.  I wasn’t heading to an interview that day, rather to my new job with wide eyes, a little bit of fear and ambitions to help build a better world.  That day I joined 16 other individuals also entering the corporate world many of which have stayed very close friends to this day. One in particular turned out to be extra special as I eventually married one of those classmates – Linda.  As you can infer she is also celebrating her 30 year anniversary.  Since those first few months in the college grad training program I’ve had the opportunity to see far off places, engage with coworkers all across the world on a daily basis and develop/design/architected systems that play critical roles from engineering, manufacturing, financial and IT.  Sure doesn’t feel like it’s been that long until you remember back on the on the great people you have met along the way.  The best part of it all (besides marrying my best friend of course) is the financial independence it has brought allowing me to pursue my other passions which brings us directly to today’s post!

KK

Yep, the second part of the Georgia birding dump.  As before, this is basically a close out set of birds photographed while on our trip back in May 2015.  The shot above is likely a female brown-Headed Cowbird.  Not the best angle for identification since the tail, back and half of the face is obscured.  Going solely on the thick black conical bill and the overall gray-brown coloring.  Unfortunately, the Brown-Headeds are on my top 5 most hated birds list due to being brood parasites – let’s move on shall we.

JJ

Hit the jump to see a few more closing shots of the Georgia haul.

Continue reading Georgia Bird Burst Pt 2 of 2

Georgia Bird Blast Pt 1 of 2

It has been a whirlwind for us since we headed out on our trip to Lake Tahoe last Thursday.  I think we pretty  much hit every weather condition we possibly could have starting out with Midwest heat and nonstop rains on our way to the airport.  Landed in Reno for a cold shot to the system as it was down in the high 30’s low 40’s which gave way to low 30’s, rain, sleet and golf ball sized snowflakes for our stay at Lake Tahoe.  Reversed those weather patterns  on our return back to the broke state of Illinois which put the weather cherry on top with today’s tornado warnings.  Fortunately, it was a small bit of tribulation that was quickly replaced with jubilation as the targets of my trip are safely in the tin!  Oh, and my nephew, Ron’s son, Matt successfully tied the knot with his wonderful bride Anna.  Before I get to the Tahoe prizes, I need to finish up the Georgia Trip back in May 2015 that has been consuming the blog output as of late. Being through with the series shots, thought I would go ahead and just give a blast of other birds that caught my eye while out on the hunt.

Georgia Birds, May 2015

Will be light on the commentary for this collection and let you simply enjoy a variety of shots.  Think I mentioned this in a previous post, but the Skidaway Island State Park employed this Great Egret as their “Walmart Greeter”.  As we pulled up to the visitor center, Wally here came right up to the driver’s door, looked around the inside of the RV, looked me over a couple of times and took a few steps back to let us proceed.  Grabbed The Beast and did my best to get a shot – so close I had to pull all the way back and still barely got the  head in.

Hit the jump to see a variety of other specimens from the Georgia birding trip!

Continue reading Georgia Bird Blast Pt 1 of 2

Summer Blossoms

Wanted to get another post out as I’ll be hunting for a White-Headed Woodpecker over the extended weekend.  Will likely have difficulties getting to new posts during that time being deep in unexplored wilderness fending off Cougar attacks, dodging Viper strikes, wrestling Bears and befriending wild Wolves to survive long cold bitter nights.  Well, for at least part of the trip, there’s a wedding event involved so I’ll have to clean up to at least attend that ceremony … but then back into hiking boots with The Beast to seek out the prize.

As we’ll back in snow conditions for this hunt, thought it would be appropriate to feature creatures that give tribute to the white fluffy stuff.

Great Egrets found at Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge, Savannah Georgia May 2015

It is awfully hard to take a birding trip (short or long) where you do not have the opportunity to come upon an Egret or a Heron.  If you happen to be a wildlife photographer, I will bet the farm that you have tins full of these birds.  Also guessing those primarily came from your early birding years as they are the PERFECT photography subject.  When these birds are hunting it will make you wonder if they make Ritalin for Sloths. Need to learn how to use an expensive camera, desire to understand the exposure triangle (ISO, Shutter Speed, Aperture), maybe want to practice breathing techniques to stable your long glass – either way, these shore waders are the go to subject.

What you do not often get a chance to get in the tin are Egret/Heron offspring.

Great Egrets found at Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge, Savannah Georgia May 2015

Hit the jump to see a few more shots and try your hand at an ID.

Continue reading Summer Blossoms

Sky Commander

Well, here I sit with a completely drained body trying to speculate just how bad it is going to be tomorrow when the adrenaline drains out.  Don’t feel sorry, I willingly chose to test myself once again on a nasty half marathon trail run.  I wasn’t expecting the heat to come in so fast especially after heavy rains the last two days and quite frankly most of this month!  I’ll leave the details for a post on the mothership blog, but today’s course was a wicked combination of multiple water crossing (one was a spillway up over the calves), rocks, roots and a nasty collection of hills that beat me down like an after school encounter with the local bully.  As soon as you dived into the valleys you were suffocated by Mr. Heatmiser while you tried your best to make sure your shoes came out of the ankle deep mud.  Didn’t help I smacked the ground at mile 11 badly bruising my ankle and leaving me wondering if my ribs were still attached – gotta pick up those feet Bri regardless of how tired you are!  The good news is there’s new hardware on my running shelf for my efforts so as they say … worth it hehehe.

Going with a short one tonight so I can get a good amount of foam rolling in before crawling (literally) into bed.

White Ibis found at Harris Neck NWR outside Savannah Georgia May 2015

Hit the jump to see a couple more shots of the Ibis.

Continue reading Sky Commander

Two-Faced

With the upcoming half marathon trail run scheduled for this Saturday, I had to get the first two races of the 2019 season out of the queue before recollection bits started leaking out on the trail- my mind tends to be strained on these difficult runs and wanted to make sure I got the posts out while I still could remember them .  With some of the running posts out of the way, I can direct my attention back to our feathered friends.

Northern Mockingbird found on Georgia Birding Trip May 2015

Pretty sure the Georgia queue is just about popped at least from a full series perspective.  Will probably have a few catch all posts to officially close out the captures during that productive trip to the Georgia swamps back in May 2015.  This set happened to catch my eye while in the digital darkroom.  There is something about a Northern Mockingbird that can be downright scary.  Reminds me of the Seinfeld “Two-Face” episode.  One angle they look somewhat innocent, cute if you will.  Change the angle of the glass a bit or tilt the head a bit and next thing you know you are running for the darkroom exit.

Northern Mockingbird found on Georgia Birding Trip May 2015

Hit the jump to be Mocked more.

Continue reading Two-Faced

Sitting in Georgia, Looking at Carolina

Had a great training run today which translates directly to being completely exhausted.  There was finally a break in the rain for a couple of days allowing me to get some quality time in on the trails.  They were surprisingly dry considering the amount of water that has poured out of the skies as of late.  That didn’t mean there wasn’t any swamps to navigate in the valleys and the one stream crossing required some precise leaps to stray rocks struggling to keep their heads above the onrush, but at least the hills were dry enough to get traction.  Clearly need to get a steady barrage of heat conditioning – felt the warmer temps about halfway through the 11 miles.  Figured I’d be productive while the legs calm down prior to tackling the mowing (rain on its way back to start the week off).

Carolina Wren found at Skidaway Island State Park, Georgia, May 2015

Hit the jump to see and read a bit more about this Chatty Cathy of the birding world.

Continue reading Sitting in Georgia, Looking at Carolina

The Easter Egg of the Birding World

For those that celebrate the holiday – Happy Easter everyone!  When Linda wasn’t looking I stole her “Honey Do” bell and cut the clapper out of it.  She was starting to abuse it (ha) and now that she is on the mend, my nurturing duties are officially over.  I did cap it off with a well received pancake dinner in the shape of a bunny before the time officially ran out, so don’t feel bad for her.  She’s still badly bruised at the insertion points, but good enough to move around and she even drove to a local store tonight for some badly needed supplies – good to go although I’ll be pressed into service again and this time for at least 3 months once the valve surgery is done.  That one is going to hurt (me, not her hehehe).  With the Easter holiday upon us, thought I would feature Mother Nature’s version of the Easter Egg.

Painted Bunting found at Skidaway Island State Park, Savannah GA, May 2015

Now how is that for a colorful bird?  Linda is very particular about what birds she is willing to take pictures of. If it isn’t pretty and colorful she doesn’t even bother bringing her camera out.  Blackbirds, Robins, dull garbed Warblers etc. do not merit the infinitesimal pressure required to push that shutter button down and clearly not wasting precious digital bits reserved primarily for waterfalls and landscape pictures.  I call it elitism, which generally catches her ire.  In this particular case she had no issue with snapping away and that’s clearly understandable.  This Bunting is top two in my book across the entire birding world.

Painted Bunting found at Skidaway Island State Park, Savannah GA, May 2015

Continue reading The Easter Egg of the Birding World

Them Cattle Egrets be Devious

My apologies for the long delay in getting another post out.   This month I’m out on the road for a bit as the race season officially kicked off this weekend and I am currently sitting in a large conference arena surrounded by more poodles than I can even begin to count.  I go into detail on my race events on my other blog, but as a summary, Friday I had a 5K trail run at night followed by a half marathon trail run the following morning at Allerton Park in Monticello, IL.  Not sure if it was all the mud or not, but that half took everything I had and ended up 2 minutes shy of placing in my age group – was just plain beat at this race, no excuses – must train harder.  As far as the poodles go, we went straight from the race down to St, Louis for the Poodles National Specialty Agility Show at Purina Farms.  Raven is doing his best to hang with some of the best in the nation and so far the need more training theme is resonating there as well.  He has a few more runs today and hopefully he can overcome his new found fear of teeter-totters.  My legs are drained and I’m faced with some serious downtime between Raven’s agility runs – can’t think of a better time to get the cobwebs cleared off Intrigued.

Since the Georgia trip shots are already processed, let’s stick with the finds at Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge.  As noted in previous posts, we were down there back in May 2015 to get two birds – one being the Wood Stork (link here). and one hasn’t been announced yet.  That doesn’t mean there isn’t room in the tin for plenty of other birds.

Cattle Egret found at Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge outside Savannah Georgia May 2015

Take for example the Cattle Egret.  This bird isn’t new to the checklist having been featured back in June of last year (link here).  That post was thanks to a trip down the Texas Gulf Coast over the Christmas holidays at the end of 2017 – I also make no excuses for always being behind on my photo queue ha.  Technically that was not the first time I had encountered and tinned this particular bird, it was, however, the first set I was able to get processed.  When I posted that set on Intrigued, I was fully aware I had found specimens a couple of years back at Harris.  Unfortunately, I was in a bit of denial this particular encounter ever happened … more on that later.

Hit the jump for a few more shots of the Cattle Egret and take in my Public Service Announcement for big glass photographers.

Continue reading Them Cattle Egrets be Devious