Feather Tiara…by Brad Marks

Greetings all. I am a bit behind on a rather length (ever expanding) to-do list. I did have my MRI this week, but I am unable to get into the surgeon until the 17th to get the official readout. Should I be concerned that immediately after the procedure the MRI technician recommended I check with the reception to see if they can get me in before then!?! That was actually already in the plan so I’ll be calling from time to time to see if there are any cancellations I can jump on. Meanwhile I am “trying” to get the homestead ready in case I have a lengthy downtime. Less work for Linda! Also working on the latest haunt tutorial video which is taking way longer than expected – all these newfangled tools feels like drinking from a fire hose. . While I “try” to get caught up on everything, Brad is going to take you back to South Carolina for another type of “tri”.

Take it away Brad…

On our last full day in Hilton Head this year, Jan and I decided to drive a short distance (90 minutes or so from our hotel with stops along the way) to a new location suggested by Ted Jennings (see his site here).  We visited the Port Royal Cypress Wetlands which appears to be right in the middle of the town of Port Royal, SC.  It is a small body of water with limited parking, but we were able to find a parking space near the boardwalk overlook.  The whole surface area of the water is only a couple of acres based on my estimate.  Having said that, it took Jan and I a couple of hours to walk all the way around the half-mile boardwalk and trails.  No, it’s not really larger on the inside.  There were so many birds, and alligators, we really didn’t know where to start to point the cameras.

In the past, Jan and I have found the occasional Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor), or Great Egret, or Great Blue Heron in the marsh areas we visit.  Normally we only see one, or maybe two Tricolors at a particular location.  This time, there had to be a dozen Tricolors just hanging around in the trees on a small island in the middle of the wetlands. 

The featured Tricolors today were all on the island, except for one recluse hanging out with the Yellow-bellied Slider turtles along the edge of the water.  Even though they nest in trees, I’m always surprised to see a wading bird sitting on a tree branch.  And seeing the amount of alligators cruising in the water around the island, this is a prudent strategy. 

Tricolored Heron found at Port Royal Cypress Wetlands, SC by Brad and Jan Marks

Hit the jump to learn more about these Port Royal Tris.

Continue reading Feather Tiara…by Brad Marks

Kung Fu Fighting…by Brad Marks

I’ve mentioned this in a few comment replies, but for those that missed it, I received some bittersweet news last week regarding a certain mal-performing joint I’ve been fighting with for over 7 months. If you recall during my last ultra-race..

A sudden motion made me s[l]ip, now we’re into a brand new ‘trip’

There is much debate on whether it would have been better had I actually fallen to the ground vs the ankle going 90 degrees under my leg while I stayed upright. For brevity, a misdiagnosis and then later discover of a double fracture in the tibia left me hobbled through April before getting the okay to resume training. That was met with a very angry joint that eventually led me in search of an explanation if not a remedy. A new ortho-surgeon and more x-rays found very bad things including likely breaks and/or ligament/tendon tear aways from the fibula and minimally severe inner joint ligament damage. MRI scheduled, but suspect a very sharp knife is in my future. Not looking forward to losing the rest of this year, however, incredibly relieved that there is finally a path forward. While I struggle to get this all sorted out, Brad is going to jump into the dojo…I mean spotlight and share another of his adventures from South Carolina.

Take it away Brad…

The word “vacation” means many things to many people.  If you are reading this story, then your definition is probably closer to the one Jan and I use.  Our definition may include beaches and exotic locations, but there are rarely, if ever, whole days sitting by the pool or on the beach with an umbrella drink and a half empty bottle of sunscreen nearby.  Usually our definition of “vacation” includes the exotic location:  checkmark.  But that’s where the similarity stops.  Instead of a pool, we are typically next to a marsh, wetland, crashing surf, mountain or volcano.  In place of the umbrella drinks are usually large camera/glass combos hanging from our Black Rapid camera straps.  OK, we do sometimes have the sunscreen nearby, but it is usually subtlety layered with bug screen.  Oh, and wet wipes; can’t forget to keep the hands clean for holding our cameras.  Bug spray on your hands then touching plastic camera parts leads to fingerprints in the hard plastic.  Please do NOT try this at home.

This “vacation” was no different.  Jan and I took a last-minute trip to Hilton Head Island to avoid some of the frigid weather at home in Illinois in February.  We only avoided some of the cold, because for the first few days the cold followed us south.

We (meaning Jan and I and the cameras) spent the morning at Fish Haul Beach toward the eastern end of Hilton Head Island.  However, after a very late lunch, (I can’t even remember where we ate that day) we decided we hadn’t taken quite enough photos for the day.  Reviewing our options, and not wanting to drive for hours after lunch, we chose Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge which is smack dab in between Hilton Head Island and the mainland off of US-278.  We visited this refuge last year and walked for hours.  Since it was already nearing 4pm, we decided to only walk out a mile, see what we would see at Ibis Pond, and then head back to the car.  We were not disappointed.

Common Gallinule found by Brad Marks on Hilton Head Island

(Oh-ho-ho-ho) Huh, ha
Keep on, keep on, keep on
… reading by hitting the jump

Continue reading Kung Fu Fighting…by Brad Marks

Food Fight…by Brad Marks

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.

Gulls found by Brad and Jan in South Carolina

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”.

Continue reading Food Fight…by Brad Marks

Salmon Buffet…by Brad Marks

Welcome to May everyone…or using our standard measurement for time .. a mere 5 months before the annual Haunted Trail event. Time is closing in on us in the haunt department. Fortunately, after this weekend’s agility dog show in Wisconsin we will be home for a good period of time that I can devote to all things that go bump in the night. In the midst of that, I also need to hit the ankle rehab hard(er) if I’m going to be ready to race a couple of weeks after that event. Going to be a busy summer. Having subjected you to a rather drab member of the birding world in my last post, I was searching for something to spice it up a bit. Took a scan through Brad’s queue and he had the perfect “NAB” to feature. Identify the person who is slowest in your group and let Brad take you on a northwestern adventure.

Take it away Brad…

Late last summer, Jan and I were on a great Alaskan Adventure.  Our 17-day tour involved several days on land, and then several more days on a very large cruise ship (more stability = less queasiness for Brad).  We booked every possible excursion available so we could see as much of the Alaskan wilderness as possible.  I also felt pressure from Intrigued HQ to book some birding adventures.  One of our trips was a guided Wildlife Tour at Icy Strait Point near Hoonah, Alaska.  We did see birds, but they weren’t the highlight of this excursion.

After disembarking from the cruise ship and walking through the gift shops, we arrived where the tour would start.  Thankfully, Jan and I were not there during peak season.  It seemed the vast majority of the passengers from the two cruise ships docked there were headed to either the zip-lines, gift shops, or the bars (as if the cruise boats ran out).  Our tour was designed for up to 18 people, but only 8 signed up for the trip.  We’ve learned from the past that fewer people in tour groups usually means we can make more tour stops, or spend more time in the various places on the tour.

Once we were checked at the tour office, the group climbed into the mini-bus, and our guide, Amy, started the tour.  Amy told the group that she grew up on the island, fifth generation in fact, and was a wealth of knowledge for being as young as she was.  After making a stop to see eagles (link to Under Construction) she took us to a remote location on the Island.

After we all got out of the minibus at the next stop, Amy gave a stern safety briefing.  She said that are usually bears in the area, but that human noises keep them away for the most part.  Amy also requested we stay behind her because she didn’t want to have to deter a bear with tourists in the way.  I didn’t fully comprehend what she was telling us until later in the tour.

We walked a few hundred yards along a two-track gravel road into the wilderness.  Amy was pointing our various flora and fauna and telling us stories all along the way.  Now, I wish I had recorded those stories to help write these stories.  After about 15 minutes, we came to a small bridge across a creek.

Brown Bear found by Brad and Jan Marks in Alaska

As we say at Intrigued … “It’s a Furry NAB” (Not a Bird). Hit the jump to learn more about this Alaskan creature.

Continue reading Salmon Buffet…by Brad Marks

One . . . Two-hoo . . . Three…By Brad Marks

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.

Barred Owl found by Brad Marks

Who dost thou stare in my direction? Hit thy jump to reveal.

Continue reading One . . . Two-hoo . . . Three…By Brad Marks

Under Construction…by Brad Marks

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.

Bald Eagle found by Brad and Jan in Alaska

…and now you have seen it! Hit the jump to read more about this Alaskan resident.

Continue reading Under Construction…by Brad Marks

Can you see me now?…by Brad Marks

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. 

American Bittern found by Brad Marks

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)

Continue reading Can you see me now?…by Brad Marks

Hoodie…by Brad Marks

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.

Hooded Crow found by Brad Marks in Rome

Hit the jump to learn more about this featured foreign feathered friend!

Continue reading Hoodie…by Brad Marks

Home Improvement…by Brad Marks

Becoming trite at this point, but we have once again blown right through another month. {Looks out window} Not seeing people flying off the planet, so I cannot place blame on an accelerated spin – time simply marches on (as a friend always reminds me, the alternative is not healthy). Truth is, I’ve been incredibly busy getting caught up from the winter migration and now prepping for the extended spring trip in a little more than 3 weeks. More importantly, Transworld is this weekend – not a fan of the name, but this is THE commercial haunt industry’s annual gathering in St. Louis (link here). While I clear space on the phone for oodles of pictures/videos and dig around in the Intrigued HQ couch cushions for spending capital, Brad is going to take you along on another adventure across the pond. See ya’ next month!

Take it away Brad…

Jan and I were on assignment to tour and inspect the Wildlife Intrigued offices scattered throughout Western Europe.  The Intrigued corporate jet was unavailable, so we had to fly commercial (sure hope that touring superstar returns the jet soon so we can use it).  After visiting for a few days with Jan’s cousins in England (yes, we did also that last Fall), Jan and I had the good fortune to be able to spend a week with the editing team in Barcelona, Spain.  On our first non-travel day, Jan and I walked about a mile, gently uphill, through the friendly streets of Barcelona to Park Guell (see here), one of the largest green spaces in Barcelona.  Originally, Park Guell was going to be a private residential development on a mountain outside of the city.  The homes were to be designed by Antoni Gaudi (of Sagrada Familia Basilica fame, see here).  As usual, location (quite a distance from then developing Barcelona in the mid 1800’s), financial troubles and lack of interest ended with only three spectacular dwellings being built.  Only one of those buildings is occupied today as a private residence.  Oh, and it’s for sale if you are interested.

Jan and I arranged an English-speaking tour of Park Guell.  Incidentally, English is only the third most popular language spoken here, after Catalan and Spanish, we might be at a slight disadvantage as general tourists.  We did find that nearly everywhere, the locals were more than willing to accept my twenty words of high school Spanish, and then quickly shift to speaking nearly perfect English for us.  On another tour, our guide told us that children in Barcelona learn three languages from the very beginning of school:  Catalan, Spanish and English.  Once Jan and I arrived at the park, I heard at least a dozen different languages being spoken, English being the least heard.  For the tour, Jan said we were supposed to look for purple jackets from the tour company.  The purple should contrast nicely with all of the greenery around. 

Monk Parakeets found by Brad and Jan in Barcelona, Spain

We see green flecks, hit the jump to learn more about our Spanish find.

Continue reading Home Improvement…by Brad Marks

Queen to Rook 4…by Brad Marks

Hi folks! I decided to make a change at the last minute and reorder our posts. After looking at the topics, decided the one I had worked up would align better to the upcoming smoochie holiday than the one that was scheduled to fall on said smoochie holiday. The original one didn’t seem the best fit symbolically, plague mask and all ha. Easy fix, just push that one to the front – you’ll understand as you get to the body of the post. This switch also gives me a chance to get fully caught up on the Average Year reporting. Managed to get all the previous years wrapped up (final charts, trip reports, etc. link here) and all the graphs updated for this year (link here). Still working on updating the trip reports, but now current up to at least 1/17/2025. Officially at 243 species for the year which is a great start! Enough about me, time to get you to Brad’s latest adventure – this one from across the pond (and possibly a catalyst for a new haunted trail theme).

Take it away Brad…

I’m never quite sure which order I will finish the stories for Wildlife Intrigued.  Let me give you a brief setup before I begin.  Jan and I were fortunate enough to be visiting her English relatives in England.  We were staying with Jan’s cousin Louise and her husband Steve.  Louise’s parents Margaret and John lived a few minutes away.  The extended family, including pups Finn and Red, elected to take a 3-day holiday to Dorset on the coast of the English Channel.  In October.  The temperatures were about what you would expect being that far north on the globe.  While there, we all decided to check out a few of the many seaside villages along The Channel.

Now to rejoin the rest of the story already in progress . . .

The sun was still hanging high in the sky when we arrived at Lulworth Cove in Dorset, southern England.  I was amazed at how many people were seaside during October.  Temps were in the 40’s F (or single digits Celsius) with more than a breeze but not quite a wind.  Jan and I had just gotten out of the car and were walking to the seaside with her cousin Louise’s husband Steve and Louise’s mum Margaret (John elected to stay warm in the thatched cottage).  Louise had taken the Jaaaaaaaaag (I didn’t’ use the appropriate amount of letter “a’s” in my prior story from England link here) to visit a friend who lived nearby in Dorset.  That meant Steve was going to chauffeur us in the Land Rover because I don’t think the relatives were ready for my driving on the other side of the road yet.

Lulworth Cove is known for some unique geology and a protected beach with some very nice blue water.  Obviously, no one was playing in the water except for a few seabirds.  In fact, I was one of the very few people wandering along the sand at water’s edge.  The scenery was magnificent.  However, recent landslides onto the beach kept most visitors away from the base of the high cliffs. 

We were all getting a bit chilly and decided to walk back through the shops on the way to the car park in hopes of finding a warm drink.

Soon enough, one of us had gone to look for a coffee.  Jan had wandered away to look for me because I started looking for her.  Steve, the smart one in the group, was holding the dogs (Red and Finn) waiting for all of us to wander back to the car park.  After all, he had the keys to the Land Rover.

Waiting for the group to coalesce again, I noticed this black bird sort of stalking the passersby. 

Rook found by Brad Marks

Quite Nevermorish eh!?! Hit the jump to read more about this eerie bird.

Continue reading Queen to Rook 4…by Brad Marks