Corn Creek Field Station – Life Intrigued

Wanna Take a Guess?

We are in the single digits of days before the slicing occurs. Honestly, I am more concerned about getting everything I need done BEFORE the surgery than I am of the surgery itself. At this point I am just trying to guess at all the things that could go wrong around the house while I’m in the official “no weight” for 6 weeks period. Do I have the parts available as I know Linda prefers to stay out of certain aisles at Menards, are the things I will need moved up from the basement or down from the second floor den, when should I put the water tank on the truck as precaution if our wells go dry and how many more practice opportunities do I have on the scooter and crutches for when Linda isn’t looking (tell her and you are on my bad list hahaha!). The good news is I already have a new batch of posts from Brad so there will be plenty of material to keep you entertained when the time comes. In the meantime, going to do my best to bring you some featured feathered friends that have been sitting in my queue for a while. Let’s start with one that also has that “Guessing” theme surrounding it.

Sagebrush Sparrow found at Desert NWR in Las Vegas, NV in January 2024

Hit the jump to learn more about this rather difficult bird to ID.

An Undercompensating Thrasher

Howdy everyone! February is a short month and I am trying my best to make sure we hit our Intrigued monthly quota goal for posts. March is going to get a bit hectic as Linda and I head back out to Arizona for our spring migration. Fortunately, Brad and Jan are heading back from their latest adventure out east and I’m sure there are plenty of stories on their way from this trip as well as their jaunts across the pond. For now, you are stuck with me! Before we get to today’s featured feathered friend, wanted to mention I have finally made it through all the Average Year and my Life List updates. Although, thanks to a late find from Colorado my Life List and 2024 results are now one off – it is inevitable that update efforts get eclipsed, but still feels good to be only a smidgen off of current. As you can tell from the left nav-bar I am officially at 443+1 for the life list and per the Average Year journal, at 244+2 provisionals for this year (link here). Kind of shocking to be over 55% of my life list and 82% of my annual goal and not even to the end of the 2nd month. As they say, life is good. Since I brought up the Life List, thought I would go with a member that was added just last year.

Sage Thrasher found at Corn Creek Field Station, Desert NWR in Las Vegas, NV while visiting there in January 2024

Hit the jump to read more about this rather understated Thrasher.

Act One of Thrushapalooza

At first, I was going to go on a long rant on what I think about the new WordPress comments administration page, then I decided not to end our truly enjoyable migration on a sour note. The current schedule has us leaving the great state of Texas sometime tomorrow depending on how close we adhere – we are retired, schedule, smedules. For those keeping score out there, this means I am likely at the high-water mark on the top 100 Texas birders list. The last regen of the list puts me at #12 with 223 species (and 3 exotic escapees). My new friend Tim H. sits on top with his 300 tallies as he undertakes his Texas Big Year endeavor – he is off to a great start! Actually, what I am really proud of is I broke into the top 100 birders in all of US at #99. Both of these standings will start dropping quickly with our return home, but I can bask in the glory for another day ha. Oh, and it feels good to know I am only 77 species from my Average Year goal (link here).

Keeping with the celebration theme, going with a rather festive featured feathered friend.

Varied Thrush found at Corn Creek Field Station at Desert NwR, Las Vegas, NV in January 2024

Hit the jump to read about this surprise desert visitor.

An American Imposter

Although we have closed the Intrigued HQ so the staff can enjoy the holidays, thought I would jump in for one last post before the calendar turns. Some could accuse me of trying to pad the end of the year stats, but all the performance reviews are already in the books so this is pure bonus…in addition to giving me a break from all the last minute Texas birding I am trying to get in before we reset for the 2025 Average Year (link here – note not updated yet). Additional annual +1 opportunities are getting really slim. Currently sitting at 322 species for 2024 which is a boost from the 317 I was sitting at before we made our way down here. That now includes 2 new lifers from Bolivar Flats and Galveston Island – one of which was a rarity that took Linda and I a solid three days of hunting to finally get in the tin. Those in the Texas birding community know which one I am referring to, but I’ll keep the details for a future post. While looking at the queue I loaded up before we left home, decided to go with another rarity found during our January trip to Last Vegas.

American Robin found at Corn Creek Station in Desert NWR, Las Vegas, NV January 2024

Follow the jump to reveal this special rarity

Nevermore!

…and on the 25th day he rested. Howdy everyone, this has been one hell of a month. Just looking at the production on the Wildlife side of Intrigued may appear we have been slacking off, but nothing of the sort. Dog shows, running, more dog shows, more running, hand sledging concrete, more running, haunters convention, more running, Halloween prop building…and yes, even more running. Actually, that seems more like a regular month around here, but what has been gobbling up time is getting the Average Year progress updated (link here) and 3 massive posts on the mothership. With the extra time during the last dog show, decided to bite the bullet and finish the recap of our annual Haunted Trail event – nothing like being 9 months behind…well, being 3 years behind, my photo queue would have some snarky comments about that. If you are interested in what we do around here all year or if you happen to really be into Halloween, you might be interested in those posts:

Haunted Trail 2022 – Prep and Build (link here)
Haunted Trial 2022 – Day Walker (link here)
Haunted Trail 2022 – Night Terrors (link here)

Warning, your browser’s image cache will likely be smoking by the time you make it through all three of those posts. Funny how it doesn’t seem like that much work to put the event on until I go and make the recap posts.

Tomorrow I am planning to run the final simulation run for the upcoming 50K. This would be the one that is a total elevation nightmare and put me in the hospital on my first attempt (link here). That blemish was addressed the following year (link here) and then I took my wife’s advice and said “Nevermore”. That lasted a couple of years…and, well, let’s just say I like a good challenge,. Not sure I am going to luck out like the last time and have cooler temps (thanks to 6 hrs of nonstop rain). Thinking this one is going to have conditions more like the first attempt. The first simulation went okay last week (only 16 miles of it) with no support team or refueling. The support team with be in play tomorrow (aka Linda), which will test the hydration/fueling plan and will cover all the major elevation traversals…Brad might have to take the helm while I recover for the real thing in less than two weeks.

While I rest up for the test, thought I’d feature something else that has “Nevermore” connotations.

Common Raven found at Corn Creek Field Station in Desert NWR, Las Vegas NV in March 2023

Hit the jump to read more about this traditional haunt inspiring creature!

Thrushing to the End of the Month

I cannot believe how fast this month has gone. Granted we were out of state for most of it, but even then, it feels like we accidentally took a wormhole to May. I’ve been in a bit of a panic since glancing at the post count for April. Even with Brad’s help, I was still way below my self-imposed monthly quota. Managed to claw my way back over last week with several finds from our trip to Las Vegas in Feb/Mar. Needed one more in these last couple of days before May. Checked out the queue – Brad has several ready for us, but he is still on assignment and want to keep him focused on the Ptarmigan objective. That left me three choices – a grey bird that continues the Desert NWR theme, a grey bird with quite the proboscis or a complete left turn to some creepy crawlies. Grabbed a coin, made a few tosses and welcome to today’s featured feathered friend.

Townsend's Solitaire found at Desert NWR, Las Vegas NV in March 2023

Powers of deduction can quickly reveal the winner. No bursts of color and by birding standards a pretty normal bill…yep, we are going to stay with the Desert National Wildlife Refuge theme from the last couple of posts. While reading the latest finds from this site – specifically the Corn Creak Field Station area – three birds stood out. The Western Bluebird, the Mountain Bluebird and what I thought was a surprising addition based on our location.

Hit the jump to see how our quest went!

Sky Blue

We just got back from our trip to St. Louis were Linda ran the kids at the Poodle Club of America Agility Nationals. A big congratulations to Linda and Raven who qualified 2 out of the 3 runs they competed in. Not only did they qualify, they took a first and a second. His third run was just about there, but Raven decided to “improvise” a little. Ruger had two runs and he lived up to our low expectations ha. He just turned two years old and a bit ..hmmm.. let’s go with Linda’s word – scatterbrained. Absolute speed demon in the ring but, just gets distracted easily and seems to enjoy bringing comic relief to the audience. That’s to be expected and once Linda gets that worked out, he is going to be a force to be reckoned with. It was also a bit nostalgic for Ruger as he was reunited with his brother (was actually running against him). We had a great chuckle as his brother (Orion) is EXACTLY the same – full of speed but prefers his own path through the obstacles. Can’t wait to see these two compete next year! Oh, and even Raven had a reunion as he got to see his mother, now 14.

With the accolades out of the way, I should get to the featured feathered friend of the day.

Mountain Bluebird found at Corn Creek Field Station, Desert NWR located in Las Vegas, NV in March 2023

You might have seen this one coming if you caught some of the hints in the last post. Carrying the theme from the last post, I am pleased to bring you another Bluebird for today’s topic.

Hit the jump to learn more about our gorgeous blue tinted specimen.

Flying Work of Art

Howdy folks! Even with Brad’s help I am running behind this month. Having been gone nearly the first three weeks of April and now heading out to St. Louis for a few days so Linda can compete in the Poodle Nationals at Purina Farms, I’m a few posts behind. Trying to get at least one more in while I am waiting for some glue to dry on this year’s signature Halloween prop – a piece that is definitely ending up to be a lot more effort than initially imagined. Cue Linda eye roll “Every one of your projects turns out more than you expected!!!!” True, but most of the time … in the end…”wooooorttthhhh IT” ha (like in this link here). We’ll see how this is going a few months down the road. For now, will try to clear the head of glue fumes and bring you an incredible feathered feature of the day.

Western Bluebird found at Desert National Wildlife Refuge in Las Vegas NV in March 2023

Don’t worry, if you hit the jump I’ll get you closer to our feature.

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