Category: Observation

Stop, Drop and Scream

Hello everyone!  Been awhile since I have been able to break away from the grind to get a post out.  Truth is, I’m currently overwhelmed and trying to get back in control of my schedule.  Figure this will not happen until the second week of October when my race season finishes up (with 3 half marathons in about 5 weeks), our Annual Halloween party has past and some key projects at work should be wrapping up.  With all that, I’m still not willing to let my post streak go without a fight (wish me luck!).

Going with something a little different for today’s feature.  First off, I have to use pictures from my cell phone and to classify them as crap is almost too good.  Unfortunately, that is all I had with me when I stumbled on this colorful insect.

Tarantula Hawk Wasp discovered in Arkansas July 2018

Hit the jump to find out what this is .. if you dare!

Continue reading Stop, Drop and Scream

Days in White Feathers

Other than a likely case of hopefully temporary ear damage we successfully made it through the first night of bands at the Mississippi Valley State Fair beer tents.  As mentioned last post we are playing groupie this weekend and checking out some new local bands and of course our long time favorite Love Dogs who will be taking the stage later tonight.  Just as a quick summary and to add to my memory banks when I’m old(er) and wondering where the hell all those years went – the Sugar Nipples ended up being a band with a “named” band than they turned out to be.  We have visions of them being similar to our favorite Vegas band Steel Panther but they fell short.  The capper was when they started repeating songs to fill the gap before the AC/DC tribute band Electric Shock came on.  Luckily shock ended up being really really good … if you like AC/DC classic sets.  One of my biggest accomplishments in life was converting Linda from country to real music.  We have traveled to several AC/DC concerts and our bar was set extremely high of someone wanting to monetize off their name.  Beyond some lead riff mistakes, Shock pulled off an excellent job.  The lead singer had the vocals down and imagine a 5’2″ Angus complete with school boy outfit shredding away the night for 2 hrs.  Oh, and he was from Australia and had devoted most of his life to exactly reproducing the abilities and styles of his mate from the home country.  Would recommend warming up a bit before tackling a song that starts out with such a hard solo – he eventually settled in or the alcohol compensated as the night progressed.  Can’t wait until tonight, and guessing you can’t wait to get to the meat of this post!

American White Pelican shot in Davenport IA on the Mississippi River in February 2014

Yes, once again featuring a bird from the backlog.  This one is slightly different though – the last one came to you courtesy of 2015 where this one, with a sigh, comes to you from the wayback machine of February 2014.  Wait a minute, “where the hell did all those years go”.   Noting how much grief my brother Ron gave me for being 2 years behind, can’t wait for the comments when he sees I am 4 years in lag.

American White Pelican shot in Davenport IA on the Mississippi River in February 2014

Hit the jump to see and read more about these bundles of white feathers!

Continue reading Days in White Feathers

A Weldon Springs Cuckoo

Well, my fellow blogger friends are putting me to shame with their output compared to my weak production as of late.  So much that I am writing this post from the car – anything to find a couple of hours to bang out a few thoughts.  We are heading up to my wife’s hometown in Iowa to see the Sugar Nipples.  Thought it was just saying that line that makes me chuckle, but turns out typing it is just as humorous ha.  Before you jump to any conclusions, that’s the name of a local band that will be playing tonight at their summer fair.  To be honest, we are primarily making the trip to see two other bands – an AC/DC tribute band and our favorite bar band the Love Dogs.  Someday the realization will set in on just how old we are and we’ll have to give up these young follies – but not tonight!

The miles are flying past (Linda must be driving).  Better get to the headline of the post.

Yellow-Billed Cuckoo Shot at Weldon Springs State Park, Clinton IL

Hit the jump to read a bit more about this rather interesting bird!

Continue reading A Weldon Springs Cuckoo

Thankfully Without Wings

Good news everyone, I survived the Bix7 run this morning.  I’ve ran that race for 16 years, now every inch of that course by memory and tried countless strategies to figure out the best way through it – no matter what I do, that race NEVER gets any easier and this morning was no different.  I’ve taken on some of the hardest nightmare courses this year all hillier and twice as long, but this out and back hill course along the bluffs of the Mississippi in Davenport IA still puts a hurt on me. Congratulations also to Linda who conquered the Brady Street hill for another year.  I’ll be putting the details up on my other blog as usual, but as of now I’m sitting here wondering how many days before I stop hobbling around.  While waiting for the Alleve to kick in, decided to go ahead and get my monthly quota out of the way. KK

Probably should have given you some advanced warning on tonight’s featured wildlife creature.  I know there are a lot of individuals out there that are not exactly fond of Snakes.  I can point directly to my wife who will likely be moving my pillow to the guest room for even considering featuring such a hideous creature.  Admittedly, Snakes can creep me out a bit if they manage to sneak up on me or catch me off guard by slithering through trees above me.  Otherwise, we get along just fine.   As you can see here, when one is encountered in the field, it’s shutter slapping time.

KK

Hit the jump to read more about Mr. Slither both from this encounter and a couple of other experiences with these slithery creatures.

Continue reading Thankfully Without Wings

Redemption of Sorts

As a general rule, I try not to get more than two race recollections behind at a time.  I realize this may seem like a ridiculous amount of time between an event post for some of you, but this simply means those individuals have not spent a lot of time on this site… or look at any of the non-running posts seeing as how those tend to lag years (and that is not an attention grabbing hyperbola – nope, that is an attention grabbing embarrassment ha).  Guess what, this guy has another race this Saturday which means I better get on the stick err, perhaps more appropriately, in the shoes and get my recollection out on the Steamboat Classic 15K held back in June.

I could probably just start and complete this whole recollection in ONE picture.

Steamboat Classic 15K June 2018

How is that for a summary?  If you are curious on how I got to this point, hit the jump!

Continue reading Redemption of Sorts

Almost Robined Out of a +1

Howdy everyone out there in Blogland.  Just looked at the date and realized I am running a bit behind this month.  Made it into the 20’s this month with a weak showing on the posts so far.  The end of the month comes quick around here especially when it closes just after a race weekend.  “Need to train, no, need to get a blog out, no wait, HAVE to train, but I need to get a post out, no, what you need to do is run up that damn hill so you are ready for that demoralizing course, but the bl…” – maybe I should stop talking to myself during training runs ha.   Truth is, the answer is always train and sacrifice sleep for posts.  Speaking of posts, how about we get to tonight’s feature.

American Pipit - Texas Gulf Coast December 2016

Hit the jump to read more about this Robin-like bird.

Continue reading Almost Robined Out of a +1

Sora Doubletake

Greetings everyone!.  Been a fun day around here thanks to a spontaneous decision to celebrate our 27th anniversary by hunting down some birds and sunflower fields.  We were not sure if the weather was going to hold out our not as some storm clouds were rolling through the area most of the day – thankfully we didn’t get hit with the tornado swarms that were doing significant damage to our Iowa neighbors.  Looks like Linda’s relatives made it through without too much trouble.  We ended up making a run down to Havana IL so I could get a nice bird in the tin (looking forward to getting that posted here) and Linda was definitely able to add to her flower portfolio form the two sunflower fields we successfully located.  Those were both still in their bloom stages where the fields down the road from us have officially wilted.  Tired from the long day, so opted to rest a bit and push out a post.

Sora at Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge December 2017

For ease, going back to our recent trip to the Texas Gulf Coast for this post.  A lot of those pictures were processed already and easy to simply pull them into a new post.  I find the largest chunk of time in any of my posts is getting the pictures in a shape I’m willing to share, so having that part out the way is a huge benefit when you have a short time to get one of these out.  Today’s featured post is our friend the Sora.  Like the last post, the Sora is not a new bird to the blog.  That previous posting (link here) featured a specimen found down at Emiquon National Wildlife Refuge.  We ended up swinging through there today on our way to Havana.  Unfortunately, the dry summer has really impacted that place.  For those familiar with it, the water has receded way beyond the observation decks at the back of the refuge.

Sora at Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge December 2017

Hit the jump to read more about my encounters with the Sora.

Continue reading Sora Doubletake

Kentucky Wood

Howdy everyone!  Been awhile I know.  Truth is this month has been unbelievably busy… hell, for that matter the last two months have been burning at both ends.  The summer months are usually filled with keeping the acreage under control and now with trails added to the running circuit my remaining evenings and weekends are spent on the hills or in the gym.  Figured I’d go ahead and throw a post out there to get back in the groove.

Red-Headed Woodpecker shot at Kentucky Lake April 2015

Technically, this is not a new bird to the blog and definitely not a new check in my birding list.  Nope, this colorful bird has been showing up here at random times since 2008 usually as part of a broader bird collection post or a side find while out birding Jubilee State Park or other nearby birding hotspots. Today, the mature male Red-Headed Woodpecker gets a post all to itself to show off those brilliant colors.

Red-Headed Woodpecker shot at Kentucky Lake April 2015

Hit the jump to see a few more shots of this pretty bird.

Continue reading Kentucky Wood

The Trail of Sweat

Greetings from the road you all.  Linda and I are out on another photography trip in hopes of filling up are coffers for future blog material.  Hoping for the best, but so far it has been brutally hot which is likely why the bird opportunities are fairly slim at the moment.  As we head to our next location, thought I’d finally get around to recounting my new adventure in running.  In a few posts leading up to now, I allude to something new and likely difficult coming up.  Well, that time has come and evident by the fact I can still post about it – survived.
Blue Chevy Trail Classic Half Marathon, Farmdale Reservoir IL May 2018

I’ve been running on the road for 16 years straight now.  I remember the day distinctly when I had to admit to myself that the injuries were occurring faster than I could recover in my martial arts activities.  Having done that for so many years, it was tough to give that physical activity up, then Linda came to the rescue.  She told me about the Bix Race up in Davenport Iowa.  Sounded like a challenge so I bought some running shoes and ran all the way down my driveway and back (a bit longer than you might think, but still extremely short).  From that tired and winded effort, I added distance religiously until I could make it through the 7 miles in the hills.  In a little less than a month, I’ll but doing it again for the 16th year in a row, but now that distance seems short having complete a marathon and more half marathons than I can count.

Blue Chevy Trail Classic Half Marathon, Farmdale Reservoir IL May 2018

Hit the jump to learn about the new challenge I’ve recently conquered.

Continue reading The Trail of Sweat

A Green Double Take

My Cardinals just blew another late inning lead for the loss.  Rather than sit her and seethe through the post game excuses, decided to simply turn off the source of my frustration and immerse myself in another blog post.  Bring a bit of calm to my night and productivity at the same moment – can’t beat that… well you could if those damn Cardinals could keep it together… calming breadth, serenity now, puppies… okay, back under control.  Thought I’d simply keep the theme from the last post going and feature another Heron family member.

Green Heron encountered at South Padre Island Bird Viewing and Nature Center in January 2017

Today’s effort is a combination post consisting of the same species, at the same spot, but a year apart.  These first few shots were taken a little less than 6 months ago at the South Padre Bird Viewing and Nature Center.   The Green Heron is not a new bird on my list – in fact it was featured all the way back in September 2012 (link here).  Ironically the specimen back in 2012 was just down the road from our house in a state park.  Seems like a bit of an overkill to drive all the way down to the tip of Texas to see the same species hehehe.

Green Heron encountered at South Padre Island Bird Viewing and Nature Center in January 2017

Hit the return to see a few more shots of the Green Heron

Continue reading A Green Double Take