Greetings from Oregon…wait, if I back up and take a running jump that might be Washington…regardless, a long way away from home. It is unlikely I will ever get “bored” of birding, but one word that does come to mind at the moment is “exhaustion”. It has been one busy day after another filled with major excitement, some disappointments and a whole lot of stress trying to hunt down targets and get something in the tin during often very brief glimpses. Oh, and an encounter with a Point Break wannabee who tried to throw me off “their beach” – more on that story in a future post. For those keeping score at home, the Average Year (link here) count now sits at 369+3 provisionals. In detail since leaving on our trip: +69 new annual checks including +28 lifers. A quick count of the misses so far is 5 – some I will hopefully be able to pick up as we get deeper in the trip, others are regionally specific and lost until we make our next trip to the northwest sigh. Still plenty of opportunities left to add to these numbers (tomorrow going for 3 more lifers!). Most surprising is I’ve moved up to #379 on this year’s top US birders list yay! Time to recharge the batteries while Brad takes the lead and brings you another of their adventures from Down Under. See you again soon!
Take it away Brad…
During one of our “free” mornings in Cairns (pronounced “cans”), Australia, Jan and I were happily photographing birds from the boardwalk along edge of the Coral Sea. Though only mid-morning, temps were already nearing 30C (85F). Humidity was as high as it can go: 100%. The tide was on its way out leaving behind a vast tidal flat of mud and small birds. There were little brown things with spindly legs moving all over the mud. Some were fiddler crabs, some had feathers.
As is usually the case with such a broad area for photographing, Jan heads one direction, and I head another. Still within sight of each other, but able to cover a much larger area, we could photograph twice as many birds. Or at least the same birds from different angles.
I’ve mentioned before that carrying a large camera and lens combo attracts all sorts of attention. I certainly don’t claim to be an expert on birds in America, let alone Australia; I’m hoping to be upgraded to novice soon on two continents (see note at the end). This morning, my bird ID app certainly wasn’t offering much help with audio. Plus, the shore birds weren’t close enough to hear their calls over the surf. For today’s bird ID, I relied on a sign posted by the water’s edge (I usually take a photo of any sign picturing local birds) and a group of self-proclaimed local “twitchers” wandering through, asking me, “Do you like our Plovers”? I, of course, answered “Yes, I do.”
If you answered “Yes” to the Plover question, go ahead and hit that jump!
Continue reading Greater Sand-plover…by Brad Marks
Life Intrigued 