Greetings everyone! It was a busy weekend at the HQ with all the haunt production activities now in full swing and yesterday we held our 3rd Intrigued Corporate Warbler Watch and Walk in the Woods (IC4W). I won’t say much about the walk as I am pretty sure there will be a story or two coming in the future. It was definitely a great time to be out in the field with the staff and doing what we love to do – shooting feathers (with our cameras, of course) and getting caught up on life, family, injuries, hobbies, endurance sports and definitely some bird knowledge bantered about. Now, some have eluded to this really being their annual birding-acumen assessment as part of their annual performance reviews. Crazy talk, just a fun time with the boss…now let me just grab my clipboard and we’ll be on our way. Going to let Brad take the wheel for today’s post while I finish up all my notes on the assessment forms…sorry, I mean wrap up submitting all the eBird reports from our fun walk.
Take it away Brad…
We are coming up on the end of my third-year writing (almost 100 stories) and photographing for Wildlife Intrigued. I’ve learned it’s not all about just taking photos. Oh sure, Jan and I take tens of thousands of photos per year, and sometimes we take that many on a single assignment (22k in Hilton Head in total). It’s really about observing wildlife and learning to anticipate what might happen next and then telling the story. Often the whole story happens in just a few moments. Now, if I can just figure out when the fun stuff is going to happen and take fewer photos of “boring” stuff. If you’ve figured this out, let me know in the comments.
Jan and I have taken a few trips to South Carolina during cold Illinois winter months. Like most who travel to the ocean’s edge, we try to ignore the hordes of seagulls. Although, I learned two years ago that there is more than one type of “seagull”, and that gulls can be quite entertaining (here) if given a chance. They can also be quite competitive.
Warning, one or more fish were likely harmed in the making of this post, but that’s gonna happen when in proximity to today’s featured feathered friends. Hit the jump to see who wins the “prize”.
Greetings everyone! May is turning out to be the same as April..well, March and February and Jan..you get the picture – BUSY! The long travels are on the backburner for now and pretty much for the next couple of months it will only be short excursions for dog shows etc. Close to half this year, so far, has been in other states so it will be nice to toil at the homestead for a while. Kudos to those full time RVers out there, if we didn’t come back to “space” I think Linda and I would drive each other crazy ha. This also means the hard work begins. Plenty of outdoor work to get done around the house and in the woods plus the annual Haunted Trail event is just around the corner (in haunt units of time), so the haunt lab is now in full production mode. On top of all that, our haunt department has finally pulled the trigger on their haunt themed YouTube channel. In the past we have used the Intrigued Mothership (lifeintrigued.com) to feature our various prop projects, but those have been getting more involved over the years and the word format was causing major finger fatigue. What I didn’t expect was the amount of time required to move to the video format – new tools to learn, more planning, more editing and most of all, being back in front of the camera. Pretty rusty since those days in the corporate grind. Fortunately, all things that go bump in the night are my passion so it is still a lot of fun! I’ll include a link to our first prop tutorial video at the bottom of this post in case you are interested.
Sticking with that theme of hard work, today’s featured feathered friend can make you want to pull your rufous feathers out in the field.
Hit the jump to read more about this rather elusive new check on my birding life list.
Wow, hard to believe we are almost through April already. Pages are flying off the calendar and I have sooo much to do. Someday I have to figure out the formula that allowed me to get all my tasks done while I was still grinding out days in the corporate world. To Brad’s credit he likes to point out that my time is now filled doing things I enjoy vs hunting bad spirits in the machine and filling out TPS reports. I can’t deny my time devoted to travel and birding has increased significantly and thanks to that, I am proud to say I have officially shattered my all-time Average Year record (link here). I tried to get all the numbers up to date, but I’ve hit it hard these last couple of days so that page is already off. My record (from 2023) was 340 species – as of today it sits at 352+3 putting me at 168th in the US and 8th in my county. Placements are fluctuating all over the place depending on where you are in relation to the migration so those rankings are a bit fluid. I also refreshed my life list count and even updated the counter on the left nav bar. It is rare when that is accurate, but for now 472 is correct! Brad is right, birding is definitely better than IT Enterprise Architecture ha!
The key part of those bird counts is the increased travel – in particular our monthly trips to the southwest. Today’s featured feathered friend comes courtesy of last year’s trip to Tucson, Arizona. Now, this specimen is going to be a bit hmmmm, how to put this … let’s go with a letdown from our recent offerings. We’ve tried to bring you a colorful assortment of avian fodder as of late to help make up for the lack of excitement that is coming your way …but before then…another dose of color!
Okay, now gather your wits, lower your expectations, prepare for the worst and hit that jump (might help if you close one eye before you do that).
With bittersweet feelings I can report that Linda and I are back from this year’s second migration to the southwest. I’ll miss southeast Arizona having found a number of new incredible birding location and Vegas, well that holds a special place in our hearts. With that said, it is good to be home even it means long days of getting the homestead ready for summer. Unfortunately, there is no way to just click our heels and wake up home – the haul back is a drain and we are both exhausted (admission, Linda has to do most of the driving due to her vertigo so it is definitely harder on her). While we recover, Brad is going to take us on an adventure in a completely opposite direction to our recent trek. His featured species actually holds a sad place in my heart due to an unfortunately incident with a local favorite I used to greet on my way to work every day (I’ll forego that link). He has a much better experience!
Take it away Brad…
Let me set the stage for you. It’s mid-February in South Carolina. Jan and I were at the Savannah Wildlife Refuge visitor center. The outside air temperature is about 40 degrees warmer than at home, but it is still only about 40 degrees Fahrenheit. You can do the math for how cold it might have been where we live. I had gloves on, so feeling the tiny control buttons on the camera were a challenge. I am very used to being able to navigate the buttons for focus point movements, ISO settings, partial shutter release, etc. Gloves take away all of that sensitive feel. My nose was cold and my breath was condensing into little clouds. But here we are, walking around looking for birds to photograph.
Jan had wandered ahead of me but taken a different fork in the path than I did. We can hear the traffic on the state highway a couple hundred yards away through the leafless trees. Did I mention my toes are already cold and I’ve only been walking about 15 minutes. The Visitor Center wasn’t open yet; it opens at 10am.
As I wandered around, looking for birds I happened on a standing tree trunk that had seen better days. I noticed a very large knot hole near the top and thought that would be a perfect place for an owl nest. A few feet away from me was a sign post with a small sign on top. The sign said “Barred Owl” and nothing more. At least that’s how I remember it because I didn’t take a photo. As I was staring at the hole for a couple of minutes, willing the owl to come out (not even knowing if there was an owl inside or not), I had the feeling I was being watched. I turned around expecting to see Jan waving me over for a bird find, but she wasn’t there. Instead, it was I that was being watched.
Who dost thou stare in my direction? Hit thy jump to reveal.
Happy Easter everyone! This is coming to you a little early, but we are still on the road and we have learned there is no guarantee of connectivity wherever we end up for the night. Rather than risk it, I wanted to get this out while we still had the ability to publish. Our spring migration is quickly coming to a close as we are on our return trip from the southwest. Currently stopped in Oklahoma, but we have to make it to St. Louis by Sunday so the boys can compete at the Poodle Agility Nationals starting Monday – they are NOT looking forward to getting all groomed and fluffed up to compete as they are looking a bit grizzly from all the travel – same goes for us ha. So far this has been a very productive start of the year birding wise as I’ve pulled within 10 birds of eclipsing my record count of 340 back in 2023 (link here). Barring another bad injury, that should be easily attainable, especially since the migration is just getting rolling back in the Midwest. Of special note, I’ve managed to add 37 new lifers since January, so plenty of fodder for future posts! Today’s featured feathered friend is not one of those and in fact, not one that I am able to include in my annual count.
Quite the splash of color to celebrate the Easter holiday. Hit the jump to see more shots of this exquisite foreign species.
More greetings from the West. We are officially back in Arizona now that the Vegas stay has come to its end. Managed to pick up several birds while we were out there that puts me a mere 4 birds from last year’s total annual species count which was 327 (link here). That’s a “total count” with a ‘T’. Definitely having a good year and my 2023 record of 340 is in definite reach considering we haven’t even made it to spring migration yet. We packed a lot into our Vegas stay as those days as Ron was able to come join us for a few (definitely boosted his numbers as well) and we decided to explore Spring Mountain for the first time even adding new parts of the Lake Mead Recreational Area that took full days themselves. Add in the stops at Count’s Customs and Linda’s favorite casinos and next thing we know our time was up. Didn’t even have a chance to take John (link here) up on his generous offer for a drink – hoping he takes a rain check on that as we will definitely be back. In that theme, since we are currently “back” in Arizona on our return leg, figured I’d feature a lifer tinned during last year’s visit to this state.
How well do you know your Kingbirds? Take a guess which one this is and check your answer by hitting the jump!
Greetings from the west! Most of you know by now that Linda and I are still out in the field and will be for several more weeks. This trip is turning out to be far better than last year’s winter trip out here and I must say southeast Arizona is really growing on us. As far as birding goes, some descriptions come to mind, productive, educational, strenuous and did I already mention exhausting!?! Best part is my brother Ron had the opportunity to meet us out here recently and we had a couple of solid days looking for our feathered friends in the desert scrub. Ended up missing some target birds (mostly for Ron), but a day of birding is always a good day regardless of the haul…and speaking of hauling, Brad is going to take us on another journey, this time all the way to Alaska for some timber hauling. Take care everyone, I’ll continue to check in from time to time when I have time and more importantly – connectivity.
Take it away Brad…
There we were, unloading ourselves from a small tour bus in Alaska. Jan and I signed up for a guided Wildlife Tour at Icy Strait Point near Hoonah, Alaska. Our tour guide, Amy, was a local who loved nature. We could tell because we could hardly keep up with her stories and sightings of wildlife, even after just leaving the pick-up point. Her family had been on the island for five generations. She was also a volunteer EMT which was helpful in case any tourists went down hard during the tour.
Our first stop was a parking lot on the other side of the small island at the ferry terminal near the village of Hoonah. As the group exited the bus (I was sitting in the way-back), Amy had us stay to the side to avoid being run over by the other tourist mini-buses. No desire to put those EMT skills to use so early in the day.
Jan, of course, was more interested in the wildlife across the road from the parking lot and walked into the middle of the lot by a large light pole.
I had wandered to the edge of the water looking for seabirds that we might not find at home. Then I heard a familiar sound and looked around to see where it was coming from. The sound was of a DSLR at a high frame rate grabbing photos as fast as the shutter could recycle and release. It was a Nikon camera, one of mine, but not the one I was holding. The noise was coming from the camera Jan was using. I quickly tried to see what she had spotted and was taking photos of. Then I saw it.
…and now you have seen it! Hit the jump to read more about this Alaskan resident.
Welcome to April everyone! Big thanks to Brad for keeping you entertained while I am out traipsing about the west. Some would consider vacation to be a relaxing, lazy day endeavor. In contrast, we here at Intrigued approach it as a test of strength and resolve mixed in with equal amounts of frustration and euphoria. It does come with a perpetual smile though as there is nothing better for the soul than being out in nature hunting for feathers. It also means there is a good chance you will be without connectivity which is the case for the last several days as we were exploring southeastern Arizona. Apologies for the delayed responses to post comments and the avalanche of unread emails that are still trying to download. I need to get caught up, but the next several days will be busy as my brother Ron is coming out to meet us for some weekend birding. He has some catching up to do as I just broke into the top 100 birders in all of US with my 308 annual count as I am on quite a streak! More on that in future posts. In the meantime, thought I would introduce you to another Streak.
Hit the jump to read more about today’s featured feathered friend.
Greetings from the southwest! Linda and I made it to Arizona yesterday and as expected, today was a birding extravaganza going +14 for the year including +3 lifers. (that puts me only 27 birds from being in the top 100 in the US yeah!!). Climbing foothills has pretty much wiped me out (with a tenderized ankle), so Brad is going to close out the month with an adventure in the complete opposite direction.
Take it away Brad…
As many of our readers know by now, Intrigued HQ sent Jan and I to review the European operations in January. We were able to spend many days with Allyson and check out many of the locations she had been editing from. Once we were back in the States, Jan was going through her e-mail backlog and found a deal from a hotel in South Carolina we’ve used before. After a few minutes checking, their claim proved the special deal was legit. Jan then remembered that she also had airline miles to use, so we booked a quick trip to Hilton Head Island, non-stop from our local airport (expense report pending). This time we would take the big glass along and not rely on our smartphones for everything. While that usually means our shoulders get a workout, we get far more usable photos in the end. For those of our readers that choose to fly with their big glass, please leave comments on how you protect/package it for flights, especially if you have to use regional jets like Jan and I do.
As the departure date approached, the temps in Central Illinois began to flirt with 0 degrees Fahrenheit, or -18C for our international readers. Central Illinois can get rather cold during February. I know, I know, you folks in Wisconsin and Minnesota always say we know nothing about cold. Anything below zero degrees Fahrenheit is cold. Period. Jan and I have chosen to escape to warmer parts of the country for a week (maybe longer next year if the Intrigued accountants will approve it) during February, just to thaw things out a little bit. Plus, our camera batteries last longer when the temps are above freezing, so do our fingers. Jan and I weren’t very worried about the temps as long as Hilton Head Island held up its end of the bargain and kept true to the differential we have come to expect, meaning 30-40 degrees warmer than Illinois in February. Well, Hilton Head Island held up its end of the bargain . . . mostly. Temps when Jan and I landed were near 40F, a tad chillier than we normally experience, but still 40 degrees warmer than Illinois. Not to worry, by the end of our stay, regular daytime temps at Hilton Head were approaching the mid 60’s.
For our first birding day on this trip, we decided to go a bit further south in hopes of catching just 5 more degrees, maybe even into the upper 40’s. Once the rental car was loaded with cameras, Jan and I drove to Savannah National Wildlife Refuge (SNWR) to see what we could see.
Laurel Hill Wildlife Drive (LHWD), a small part of SNWR, is a 4.5-mile “road” that meanders (their word from the brochure) through a small portion of the refuge’s freshwater impound system. Essentially, visitors drive in one direction on causeways and two-track roads through the marshlands (my words). Thankfully, temps did end up being about 5 degrees warmer, but that was all.
At our first repeat stop on LHWD from the prior year, about 0.5 miles in, there is a small pull-out area. Naturally, I parked the rental car (still trying to figure out how to expense the car on this trip) and started walking the grassy areas near the water. Remember when I said the temps were only in the 40’s? There was also a bit of wind that day making it hard to hold the camera still. That’s a good and bad thing. Bad because we were cold. It was certainly an experience to try to operate the camera controls with my gloves on. Good because alligators are also cold and very (to the third power, as in “very very very”) slow. Usually when the temps are this cold, they are busy sunning themselves (though it was cloudy and windy) and they really don’t want to waste precious heat energy chasing down photographers. After a few (hundred) clicks of the cameras for the few birds we could see, remember it was a bit breezy, Jan and I huddled up making a plan for our next stop. Really, we just wanted to go sit in the warm car for a few minutes. When all of a sudden, out of the corner of my eye, a clump of reeds near us moved.
These clumps are made for movin’ And that’s just what they did One click of the jump, gonna reveal all to you (note, Brad is NOT responsible for this lame Sinatra reference)
Greetings folks! Linda and I are currently on the road and pointed westward. Unfortunately, some bad luck right out of the gate. Our travel planner (read Linda) planned this trip with dog show bookends. Ruger was supposed to run in a FastCat event (100 yd doggie dash) two days in. Just before departing, we find out they canceled that due to forecasted rain – too late for us to get our campground fees back. On the return leg, the boys had 5 days of shows at Purina Farms in Gray Summit, MO. Well, that place was hammered by a tornado a week before we left taking out most of their auxiliary buildings. So far Purina has just canceled the first 2 days of FastCat, but the Poodle Specialty is still on for the last 3 days (so far). Let’s hope the middle of this trip makes up for all the setbacks. Side note, per my previous comments on Las Cruces, NM, they just had a huge shootout there where 18 people were shot (3 killed) at an unauthorized car show. Shocked I tell ya, shocked. While we fill the freed up days and rethink our planned stops, Brad is going to take the reins and bring you a new adventure across the pond.
Take it away Brad…
Jan and I were in the middle of the western European Wildlife Intrigued office staff reviews. We decided to do a bit of digging. Deep digging. Below street level type of digging.
Modern day Rome is built on top of ancient Rome. And Ancient Rome was built on top of Even Ancienter Rome. Ad infinitum. Did you notice that I snuck in some Latin? Every time a business or building wants to expand, eventually digging has to start. When digging happens, precious artifacts are unearthed. Everything stops while the finds are identified, cataloged, valued, and carefully removed. Then digging with a toothbrush begins and the cycle repeats until there are no more artifacts in the way, or the project stops because it ran out of money, or a bit of both (see the Rome Metro expansion project news).
A bit of backstory before we get to the photos. Jan and I were in the final country of our six-country inspection tour. Technically, four were full-sized countries and two were micro-states (both were life goal destinations). Going through that many airports and passport checkpoints is not conducive to carrying a lot of expensive camera equipment. We made the choice on this trip to only use our smart phones (iPhone 16 PRO and Samsung Galaxy S22). I know, I know, there are limitations with using phones as cameras, mainly action and bird photography. Landscapes and candid portraits turn out pretty well. Bird photos or moving subjects . . . well, not quite as much. Downloading hundreds, nay thousands, of photos from an iDevice to a Windows device later . . . please don’t get me started. C’est la vie. É Cosi. Such is life. At least I didn’t have to adjust the timestamps on the photos from the phones. Back to the story.
Hit the jump to learn more about this featured foreign feathered friend!
Life Intrigued 