Wildlife – Page 18 – Life Intrigued

NAWWS (Not Another White Wading Shorebird)…by Brad Marks

I do not want to put a big ol’ sour rant before Brad’s post, so I am just going to quickly mention that I am having boatloads of WordPress issues as of late. Not so much on the posting side, rather on the commenting side – particularly commenting on other people’s posts. It’s a crap shoot if it works and for the life of me I am unable to figure it out. This is especially infuriating for a career IT person who earned his early retirement exorcising ghosts in the machine. I’ll update later, but for now, accept my apologies if it appears like I have been ignoring your posts. Where my eyes happen to be blood red, today’s feature has a much more calming and pleasing color. Enjoy another of Brad’s adventures while I round up a Goat for some yoga therapy.

Take it away Brad…

I know, I know. I can hear it now. Not another white wading shorebird. OK. It’s not. I don’t think I’ve ever seen today’s featured feathered friend wading. Not that they don’t wade in very shallow water from time to time. It’s just . . . I’ve never seen them wading. Or swimming. Or diving. Actually, I’ve never seen them doing much of anything except watching the world go by (see Notes). Plenty of sites show them to be very active. I usually see them sitting on a post; or on a rock in the water somewhere. Or at their most vigorous, casually paddling around on the edge of the Mississippi River. In fitting with the theme of recently published stories, our guest today is not a wading shorebird. Nor is it white. It is nearly black, except for piercing emerald green eyes.

Have you guessed our featured feathered friend today?

Hit the jump to reveal the latest “emerald” gem from South Carolina.

Miss 400: One Wheeled Scooter

My July/August is worth forgetting, the world as a whole feels like it is spiraling down the drain and now that the election cycle is heating up, I can’t stomach any time on any lamestream news outlet. With that said, my November is turning out to be a marked improvement, at least on the personal endeavors front. Finally getting my legs back under me from the last ultra (link here). I expect a level of aftermath suffering, but holy cow did that one hit me hard. Already mentioned crushing the total annual miles goal on the 1st (link here) and now another milestone has been toppled. Let me introduce you to Miss 400.

Black Scoter found at State Farm HQ South, Bloomington IL, Nov 2023

Isn’t she a beauty? Hit the jump to find out what important position this little lady holds in my birding career.

Cotton Balls on Stilts…by Brad Marks

Greetings everyone! Linda and finally made it back from Rochester, MN. We were up there for Linda’s annual heart checkup and I am pleased to report everything looks excellent. Linda has a bit of PTSD on these visits from all that has been through up there, but she pulled through like a champ. We even celebrated by going to our favorite restaurant, Canadian Honker – DELICIOUS. Think I have mentioned this before, but there are two things that always strike me about the Mayo campus. First is the perfect entropy that plays out in their waiting room. It happens in every medical waiting room since Covid, it’s just on a larger scale there. By entropy, I am referring to the fact patients will always pick the set of chairs that maximizes their distance from anyone else. I enjoy watching the visible thought process as the options narrow ha. The other intriguing element is everyone walking around with cotton balls on their arms. Pretty sure 95% of the patients with visits that day have to start out with a phlebotomist. Just thinking about all those pokes makes me want to faint. Luckily Brad is back with a much happier story about fluffy balls to help put my mind at ease.

Take it away Brad…

Have you ever been digging through some stuff piled on your desk or the kitchen counter and found something you thought you already took care of? Well, that’s this story. I started writing just after Jan and I were in South Carolina this past February. We were (OK, I was) overwhelmed with the embarrassment of riches of birds to photograph and write about. I think I mentioned in an earlier story that we took well north of 11,000 photos over the course of three days. Our primary reason for being in the area was not birding or photography. We had really been trying to leave snowy February in Illinois behind for a week. We also wanted to visit a State Park or two to be out in Nature without a parka. It just so happened that the birding was rather spectacular, “forcing” us to fill up memory cards along the way. I guess that’s what two backup SSD drives are for.

At first, I treated every white wading bird the same as I was trying to identify them. I learned that some white wading birds are supposed to be blue, not white. I also learned that all of the medium-sized white wading birds aren’t all the same bird. I guess you need to pay attention to their feet, legs, and bills to know for sure.

Hit the jump to learn more about the “fluffy factor”!

Rattled in the Field

Everyone involved in the Intrigued Industrial Complex is fully aware of our mission statement, “It’s all about the story, bonus if you get quality shots”. This is supported by two very important strategies: “If there are no shots, it didn’t happen” and “Nobody talks about fight club”. All new members have a two week beat in…sorry, two week class where they are immersed in our corporate strategy. We even have this guiding statement on our coffee mugs, above the corporate HQ entrance and even had it flown on a large banner behind a plane above our corporate retreats to Cancun. Note the past tense there, as those retreats were suspended thanks to what we quietly refer to as “The Incident of 2016”. Thanks to the Federales, that also caused a temporary adoption of a new mission statement “No Hablo Espanol, I Want Our Lawyer”. Sorry Brad you came aboard too late, those were really good times … and why we now have such a large attorney pool. I only bring this up as today’s post is a perfect example of story or image quality.

Harris's Sparrow found at Lacey Point in Waco, TX on December 29, 2023

Hit the jump to learn about how today’s featured bird resulted in the second biggest scare of my birding adventures.

Slow and Steady…by Brad Marks

The Halloween season has come to a close which brings with it a mixture of sadness and relief. We hate to see it end, but it also feels like the steam has finally been released from the pressure cooker. Yesterday (the 1st) was “Spirit Day” as we have come to call it. The night before the haunters were nestled all snug in their beds while visions of ghouls and monsters danced in their heads. Away to the local Spirit “popup” Halloween store we flew like a flash for what to our wondering eyes should appear but an entire store at 50% off. A bundle of props we flung on our backs. We were heard to exclaim as we drove out of sight, we can’t wait until the next haunt night! Actually, there is a little pressure still left in the cooker as I have to find places to store all the new stuff – eh, worry about that another day ha. In addition to celebrating another successful haunting season I also managed to reach an annual running goal. In all the Halloween chaos and injury setbacks, I managed to still hit my 1200 mile annual running goal – 60 days early!

I mainly bring this up as a lead in to let you know Brad will be taking the helm to give me a badly needed rest and because his post happens to be about another trail “speed demon”.

Take it away Brad (and Jan)…

Let me set the stage here for you.

It’s late September. Jan and I are in a National Park in southern Nevada just outside Las Vegas. We are in the desert with Red Rock all around. That’s right, it’s Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, about 20 minutes outside of Las Vegas. The temperature is in the upper 80’s or low 90’s at 4pm. Yes, we remembered to bring water with us.

We flashed our Annual Park Pass (surely you all have one of these beauties by now) at the entrance gate and started on the 13-mile scenic drive to see what we could see. One of the first things we saw surprised us a little bit.

It was a “Tortoise Crossing” sign. I figured the chances of seeing a Desert Tortoise were just as high as our seeing a Bighorn Sheep in Arches National Park (still haven’t seen one there, despite the myriad of road signs). Although the Elk Crossing signs near Estes Park, CO are very accurate.

About four miles into the scenic drive, we came upon a white sedan with its doors open and flashers on, taking up the right side of the road. We crept past and parked to see if they needed any help. Two young men (college age I’m guessing) were kneeling in front of the car. I suspected car trouble.

Imagine the surprise when Jan and I got out of our car to find out what they were doing.

Hit the jump to find out what the surprise was!

Grrrrr!…by Brad Marks

Well, I’m slowly getting my legs back under me – been a while since a run has knocked me this hard. It has been said the recovery period after an ultra is just a forced sanity check to reconsider recent decisions. Note, Linda always sends me off with “Make good choices” knowing good and well I’ve probably already made 5 bad decision in the time it took her to tell me that. On the bright side, there is a comforting sense of knowing I could probably outrun any “breathing” danger that might await me on my runs (assumption roots do not have noses). Just in case, there are always friends around I could kneecap if I needed extra get-a-way time. Don’t feel bad for them, they are thinking the exact same thing – I imagine the amusement a Bear would have if it walked out onto our trail and saw the lot of us whacking each other with hiking poles and making overt suggestions regarding who might be tastier. Speaking of humor and unexpected wildlife encounters, I know the perfect post for today and it comes courtesy of Brad’s recent drop of new adventures. While I continue to rest and ponder some of those recent decision, we’ll let Brad lead us down the trail.

Remember…”Make good choices”…

There were two old guys, probably Wildlife Intrigued retirees, sitting on the porch at a retirement home. Each had a quilt on their laps and a shawl around their shoulders, happily rocking away in the August sunshine. There was a long-forgotten elbow brace sitting nearby. Nothing is said for what seems like forever. Then Old Guy (OG) #1 says, “I saw a bear once.”

“Where did you see a bear?” OG#2 asks somewhat incredulously.

“One day when I was hiking in the woods. It just jumped out of the brambles and stared at me,” says OG#1.

“It just jumped out of the woods? What did it do then?” questions OG#2.

“It went Grrrrr!” replies OG#1. (imagine a menacing growl)

“What did you do then?” quizzed OG#2.

“I s#!t my pants!” says OG#1 sheepishly.

“I would too if a bear jumped out of the woods, looked at me and went Grrrrr!” says OG#2 sympathetically.

“No, I mean right now when I went Grrrrr!”

(This joke was brought to you courtesy of my father-in-law. I think it’s one of his favorites.)

Well, that nearly happened to Jan and I. Except for the old guy part, the rocking chairs at the retirement home, and no quilts or shawls were involved. Our pants stayed clean, too. We were in the woods though.

Hit the jump to read more details about this Sequoian sized encounter!

Brags, Stones and Scaups

I’ve said it many times before and I’ll say it again, I have no idea how I got anything done while I was in the corporate grind. Even with the forced downtime to recover from the recent ultra race, it still felt like I was “busy”. The bright spot is looking back I was able to get a number of the “Bri-do” items checked off. The break gave me a chance to turn my attention to the Mothership with two mega posts on this year’s Halloween Haunted Trail Prop Tutorials – the new 2023 tombstones (link here)

..and the Radioactive Spiders (link here). Along with those prop posts, also threw in the Bix 7 recap (link here) and the all too painful recollection from the recent 100K ultra attempt that caused the whole extended rest in the first place (link here). Definitely some heavy lifting posts. Now time to get back to the “wild’ side where we have plenty of material to bring you. Brad just sent me a number of new adventure posts you will surely enjoy and I still need to dip my toe into our Texas and Florida adventures. I want to give Brad and family a bit more time to focus on their affairs, so you are with me today….but first a quick brag.

Ruger Fastcat Beginner Title October 22, 2023

Congrats to Linda and Ruger who earned their Beginner FastCAT Title yesterday. Basically the 100 yard dash for doggies. Found something Ruger was basically born to compete in and he absolutely loves it. In previous runs he was in the 19.5mph range – dialed it back this weekend to 18.5mph which is still amazing (they had two patches of straw on the course covering muddy areas which he didn’t like and basically leaped over it each time likely accounting for the slower time).

Guessing about now you are wondering if we are ever going to get to the featured duck of the day. Without further delay…

Greater Scaup found at Sunset Park in Las Vegas in March 2023

Hit the jump to see a few more pictures of our yellow-eyed wave runner.

Black Forest Pie

Today’s post comes with some sadness as a member of the extended Intrigued family was laid to rest this afternoon. From wonderful stories learned and the good people that surrounds her, clearly she had a far reaching impact and will be truly missed by all. With deepest sympathies to the family, relatives and friends.

As you can tell from the post output as of late, I am still trying to recover from last weekend’s run. Getting antsy as sitting around (technically in this case, laying around) isn’t my thing and Linda knows all too well that a non-running Bri starts to get the crazies – NOBODY WANTS THAT! For now, trying to get through while doing my best to get ahead of the monthly quota for a change. Honestly, a bit of a win-win for all of us ha. Last post I brought you the Redhead Duck, If you recall, I mentioned with one possible exception, that species is pretty distinguishable in the field. At the time I was thinking the Canvasback Duck could cause some confusion. B. across the pond (link here), pointed out their Pochards are similarly colored and after some research on this UK Duck, I can absolutely confirm, not only similar, but basically doppelgangers. Fortunately for us, the two species do not overlap that much. For those Stateside, thought I would go ahead and cover the one we might have difficulties with.

Canvasback found at Sunset Park in Las Vegas, NV in March 2023

Hit the jump to see a few more shots of the Canvasback and a bit of a discussion on the similarities and differences between them and Redheads.

Red Back, Red Elbow, Red Feet, Red Knees and Redheads

I should probably start by addressing the elephant in the post – another year, another attempt at the 100K ultra run and unfortunately, the exact same results. Last year, extremely disappointed missing the 100K mark, this year ecstatic I made it one mile much less 50. Full summary in an upcoming post, but the synopsis is the master plan of completing the 50 mile race, tossing that finish for a DNF after one loop of the 100 mile category fell short (again). Called it after completing the 50 mile distance and accepted the finisher belt buckle. Too much to overcome – the elbow still in recovery and unable to stand up the day before the race thanks to blowing up the back tearing down the trail. Already missed the 50K this year, wasn’t going to miss this start. Again, details to come, but I lathered up with Tiger Balm before each loop and gritted through the 10 mile repeats. Bad enough, but tragedy struck on the second loop – nailed a hidden root in the middle of a prairie crossing and crashed down on the bad elbow. When it rains it … Anyway, on the 40->50 mile loop the back screamed it had enough, the elbow was pissed and the roots were living rent free in my head ever since the sun went down. Essentially 49 miles more than I had any expectation of completing, declared victory, graciously accepted the buckle and set my sights on next year. All things come at a cost as I am now paying the “pain toll”. Thought it appropriate to get out this year’s Fail collection while I recover (link here).

Going to be a bit of time before I’m back on my feet, so wanted to make the best of it and get a few posts out starting with today’s featured feathered friend.

Redhead at Sunset Park in Las Vegas March 2023

Hit the jump to see a few more shots of this patron duck of ultra runners.

A Fitting Bird for the Times

I am officially half way through my hellscape with one event down and one event looming at the end of this week. We put an official wrap on this year’s annual Haunted Halloween Trail late Sunday night as we finished pulling all the props out of the woods. Based on the feedback we have received so far, the scare division had another successful year. I’ll let Brad weigh in on how he thought it went.

To be honest, the trail doesn’t happen this year without a lot of people pitching in to help me out. My injury really put a strain on all the things that needed to be done to put this event on: prepping the trails, pulling everything out of storage, loading up the power sources, organizing the items into their zones, hauling it all down into the valley, putting it up, turning it on and then in a state of total exhaustion, pulling it all back up. A special shout out to my brother Ron who came down several weekends including the three days leading up to the event to help work out the kinks and keep everything rolling. There will definitely be posts coming to cover the highlights of this year’s haunt.

With that out of the way, I can now focus on the upcoming 100K attempt that launches 5am Saturday. Like with the Halloween party, a lot of things will have to go right to get through that. Now doing my best to catch up on sleep and tamper down some pains and strains that cropped up from last weekend’s efforts. In honor of what has past and what is to come, I bring you today’s featured feathered friend.

Female Phainopelpa found at Sunset Park, Las Vegas NV in March 2023

Hit the jump to read about our rather pointy feathered specimen.

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