Tag: Desert National Wildlife Refuge

Hidden Reach

Hello everyone! Going to let Brad have a small break from covering for me while I’m on the mend. Difficult enough bringing you the recent rapid fire posts, but having to deal with all the standard stuff around the headquarters is a daunting task without the added burden of keeping our unruly legal department under control – may have to up his bonus this year, but don’t tell him that. As far as an update on the surgery front, there has been a small hiccup with the transition from the surgical dressing to the surgical boot that has brought some unexpected discomfort (oddly more painful than the surgery itself). Other than that, surgeon says everything looks good. He also reiterated the “no weight for 5 more weeks” edict within earshot of Linda which threw a giant wrench in my well contrived plans – back to the drawing board. Seems like everything I want/need now is just out of reach from my crutches and scooter which is starting to annoy me – oh, except for my running shoes that are beyond just “out of reach” to the point I have no idea where the hell they are now. Linda’s devious I tell you, devious. Let’s see, pull up browser, type in H-O-K-A.com and get me some new sho…oh crap, here she comes…backspace, backspace, backspace, H-A-U-N-T.com, “Who, what, me!?! No, no, I’m, just looking for new haunted trail props” – this is going to be a long 5 weeks. Note, I did make a new haunt-to video which I’ll mention at the end in case you are interested.

While searching through the photo queue, I noticed something in one of the image sets that made me laugh in reference to my current situation. Perfect, welcome to tonight’s featured feathered friend.

Northern Flicker found at Desert NWR, Las Vegas, in January 2024

Hit the jump to see a Northern Flicker characteristic I have never seen before!

Continue reading Hidden Reach

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.

Continue reading Wanna Take a Guess?

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.

Continue reading An Undercompensating 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.

Continue reading Act One of Thrushapalooza

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

Continue reading An American Imposter

Leaps, Jeeps and Misfits

Every four years we are granted and extra calendar day to attempt getting all the crap done we’ve procrastinated on since the previous gift of 24 hours. We’ve come to that charity point and I sit here staring at all the things on my to-do list wondering just how long ago each of those items were added. Each comes with a progression of analysis honed over the many years in the corporate grind – does it really need to be done, does it actually have to be done now, is there something more important that delivers greater benefit, is it still as critical as it was when the item was added, is it really independent or it is preceded by another task on the list (or worse, not even there), is it too daunting and needs to be broken into subtasks and more important than all, what kind of trouble will I get into from Linda if I delay any longer. Scan the list, re-prioritize, rearrange, prune some, add some, stare at it, flip some coins…screw it, let’s have some fun and write a post!

Want to give Brad a little bit more time to process all the tins from his recent adventure, so spent some time going through the recently processed shots from our Texas 2023 snowbird migration- you have probably noticed the heavy emphasis on that January trip as of late. What could we feature in celebration of this Leap Year. Then I jumped over to see Jet’s latest post and she absolutely Caarussshed it (link here)! All of my Bunny shots have been used and the only other good option was a Leopard Frog I took several years back – pretty lame. Maybe I could get “close”

Ladies and gentlemen, would you accept Jeep Year!?! Unfortunately, I should have been working on this years in advance to have a nice collection of shots to use (like it says right there on my to-do list ha). As a substitute we are going with a Free-For-All clear out of the (mostly) Texas one-offs. Put your seatbelts on and hit the jump for a joy ride.

Continue reading Leaps, Jeeps and Misfits