Tag: Gainesville

What’s the Play Here?

Hope all is well with everyone in the blogosphere! We are busy finishing up the Christmas decorations and making sure we are ready for my side of the family’s Christmas gathering this week. Although our parents are now looking down upon us (hopefully approvingly), I am very thankful for the chance to get together with my brothers and their wonderful families during the holidays – granted, seeing our 7 Great Nieces/Nephews reminds me I’m older than I act ha. We will have a similar celebration on Linda’s side closer to Christmas.

In between the hustle and bustle, I am doing my best to stay on top of the post production. We will likely be calling it a year as we get closer to Christmas to allow our virtual Intrigued family to spend time celebrating with their real families and to recharge the batteries for another exciting year of bringing you our adventures from the field. Until then, let’s keep the ball rolling on the “Baby Month” theme.

Limpkins found at Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park in Gainesville, Florida in April 2023

Hit the jump if you like your shot for bird fever with an extra dose of cuteness!

Continue reading What’s the Play Here?

It’s Baby Month!

After quite a trek, I am glad to say we have successfully made it back home from our Florida field trip. We ended up having to come home two days early due to the weather situation in the Midwest. Looking at the forecast, we noticed a big snow event that was planned for last Friday night thru Sunday morning and then another round coming in on the following Monday/Tuesday. Driving the RV through that is not enjoyable, especially when pulling another vehicle. As mentioned in the last post, we decided to try to get back between the white goal posts and opted to hard press it so we could get back by Sunday night. Big thanks to Linda who drove the entire way while I tried to navigate through the weather cells and hordes of holiday travelers. I would be feeling pretty great if I wasn’t staring down a new crown scheduled for tomorrow – damn I hate dental procedures ugh.

Anyway, we are home and we are officially in the last month of the year. In honor of the well-celebrated birthday towards the end of this month, we’ve declared it Baby Month where we are going to try and feature as many wildlife offspring we can find in our queues. To start us off we are going with a double feature.

Young Brown Thrasher found at Shell Mounds on Dauphin Island in April 2023

Hit the jump to enjoy more shots of wild “babies”.

Continue reading It’s Baby Month!

Thinking I’m Back, Down the Hatch

Ever have one of those moments when you just stop in your tracks, look around and say to yourself, “I’m back where I belong“?

It has been a long road for me, well, technically lack of road and lack of trail for way too long. This is officially the longest period of time out due to an injury and trust me, there’s been plenty of injuries over the years. I have to move…a lot… or the crazy suppression system goes on overload and begins to smoke. This week has been a big turning point for me as we are back out in the field. The goal, to get my annual bird count to the 400 tier – a personal record. On our way south, we made a stop at one of my favorite locations – Noccalula Falls in Gadsden, Alabama. If you are a mountain biker, trail runner, birder or just a nature fan, this is the place to be. I’ve ran more miles than I can count on the Black Creek Trails and still have many left to explore. This time my mode was walking, yet the smile was wider than ever. Halfway through the Family Loop trail I stopped among the golden colored trees, took a deep breath, looked around and took all the beauty in. Life is certainly better. Still need time to get back to running mode, but I continued my walk with those same words I start every ultra “Just put one foot in front of the other and repeat“.

I wonder if this Great Blue Heron has a similar mantra “Just put one fin in and repeat“

Great Blue Heron swallowing a fish at Sweetwater Wetlands Park in Gainesville, FL in April 2023

Hit the jump for an explanation.

Continue reading Thinking I’m Back, Down the Hatch

GreYs and BloaTs

Yikes, looked at the calendar and startled myself. How did we get to the last page so quick!! Fortunately, we have a few more weeks before we call it a wrap and put a bow on our 17th year of blogging here at Intrigued. Talk about warp speed, now those years have really flown by. Weeks that will be spent getting ready for the big end of the year staff extravaganza (fingers crossed no repeat of the ambulance needed last year), finishing up the gifts for our family get togethers and eagerly getting packed to head south. These sub-zero windchill temps as of late are for the birds ha. Oh, and in between those activities trying to get some birding to close out the Average Year (link here). That page needs to be updated, but checked off number 315 with a Snowy Owl this afternoon. Ron is having a down year, but Brad has really kicked it in on his annual checks!

Most important is to make sure we continue to keep our readers entertained as they go about their own December agendas. For today, we are going to feature a feathered friend that always causes me to stop and pull out my mental cheat sheet.

Boat-Tailed Grackle found at Sweetwater Wetlands Park in Gainesville, FL in April 2023

Hit the jump to read more about this long tailed prismatic.

Continue reading GreYs and BloaTs

The Silent F’s in Thanksgiving

This is the time when we here at Intrigued drive over to our corporate NAS farm, badge in, say hello to our office staff (that didn’t see us coming and go into hiding hehehe), navigate to our holiday section and pull out some appropriately themed photos to honor the holiday. So, in keeping with longstanding tradition, I bring you some Wild Turkeys for your after dinner wind down enjoyment.

Sandhill Cranes found at Sweetwater Wetlands Park in Gainseville, FL in April 2024

Okay, so at least that was the plan. Truth is, the Turkey folder was empty. I quickly recalled my last sighting of Wild Turkeys came courtesy of a rainy day at Benson-Rio Grande Valley State Park. Linda was the one who actually found them as she was biking around the park. Needing the check, I walked up the road and without thinking about the holiday ramifications, snapped a few shots of wet Turkeys with my cell phone and crossed that species off the list. I thought about using those cell shots for this post before quickly realizing how that would crumble the devious facade that Bri actually knows what he’s doing behind the glass.

Sandhill Cranes found at Sweetwater Wetlands Park in Gainseville, FL in April 2024

In my defense, based on a quick look back at previous year’s topics, this isn’t the first time I’ve had to break with tradition – which, I guess, kinda calls into contention the whole concept of tradition. Last year I brought you Quail (link here), and a few years back had a Vulture stand in (link here). Not sure what I was thinking there, at least the Quail is considered a game bird. Anyway, as you have already noticed, this year at least we went back to something that looks closer to the wild variety of the cuisine likely gracing many Stateside dinner tables.

Fear not, there is a reason for this particular series, simply hit the jump to read about my madness, err, thoughtful selection

Continue reading The Silent F’s in Thanksgiving

Cyrus of Sweetwater

A lot of the stress is finally off and best of all, I am finally getting caught up on some badly needed sleep. The annual Haunt Event appears to be another successful venture and since the last post we have received a lot of positive feedback from the attendees (including Brad and Jan, but they may be biased as their annual performance review is coming up ha). The first night we ran out of time for some of the props thanks to an unfortunate late hour incident that took a bit to resolve, however, we were able to catch up on Saturday and get everything working and additional props deployed. I made a quick summary of this year’s efforts up on the mothership if you are interested (link here). Most surprising of all is the weather held for both days even though there was an over 60% chance of rain for both nights at the start of the week. Mother Nature either took pity on me or she is waiting to really hammer me during the fast approaching ultra-race.

Since I am sitting here trying to heal a few leg/foot kinks that developed while hauling all the props back out of the valley, thought I would feature a feathered friend that also has a kink …in its neck.

Anhinga found at Sweetwater Wetlands Park in Gainesville, FL in April 2023

Hit the jump to read more about this turquoise-eyed beauty.

Continue reading Cyrus of Sweetwater

That’s Snout a Bird

Congrats to Jan on the completion of her Run for St. Jude’s. Brad gave me some quick stats – her 16th year culminating in segments totaling 30 miles over 4 days on 12 hours of sleep while driving an RV 465 miles. Now that is what I call getting it done for a great cause! I am back on my feet so to speak and will be participating in my 20th consecutive (minus the virtual Covid year) Bix7 (link here). This 7 mile road race marked my first race ever after a career ending so to speak injury in my former addiction, martial arts. Linda and I have decided this will be our last time participating in this Quad Cities extravaganza to allow for more summer traveling in the future and other endeavors (the trail is where I belong). I will not miss those two nasty climbs, but I will continue to long for those Whitey’s Root Beer Popscicles at the finish line – yummmmy. In light of this step back for “other” activities, thought I’d go with something also “other” for today’s post.

Softshell Turtle found at Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park in Micanopy, FL in April 2023

Clearly “snout” a bird this time ha! Hit the jump to learn more about this long nosed creature.

Continue reading That’s Snout a Bird

Not on the Prairie

Howdy everyone, been a bit of time since I last posted. Big thanks to Brad for leading the ship while I was preoccupied. I have two quick running updates to give you before we get to tonight’s featured feathered friend. The first is I want to wish Jan and Brad best of luck on their St. Jude run. They headed down to Memphis, TN this week with the rest of the St. Jude runners to make their annual charity run ALL THE WAY back to Peoria, IL – and you think ultras are hard! Luckily the runners are given segments to run so there is rest involved, but I believe at least one group is running on the road at all times with an accompaniment of chase vehicles. Jan is the one doing the running and I just got a report from Brad she completed her first segment in the rain and will be up bright and early for her next stage tomorrow morning. Brad has a chase vehicle role making sure everyone has the support they need to make it all the way back home. It is a wonderful charity event and wish them all the best. I am sure Brad will be able to give us an update in one of his future posts.

The second running update is … hmmm.. damn, I forgot what the second one was. Let me try my trusty mnemonic I’ve used since my freshman days in college to remember things (see end). Nope, sorry. Anyway, let’s get to our “purdy” bird.

Prairie Warbler found at Sweetwater Wetlands Park in Gainesville, FL in April 2023

Hit the jump to learn more about this rather stupid officially named bird … and details on my mnemonic if you are interested.

Continue reading Not on the Prairie