Tag: Marbled Godwit

The Best Camera…by Brad Marks

Well, I honestly thought things would slow down after the Halloween weekend – you’d think I would learn. Still working hard each day to de-battery all the props, break them down and get them stowed back away in the tubs/boxes. Fortunately, I did really well on those grade school spacial relationship tests. School counselor, “Have you considered a career at Mayflower?“. Some of my time is being siphoned off thanks to having to build new shelving in the outbuilding – apparently I went a bit overboard (Linda says “a bit” is a gross understatement) acquiring new props while I was sequestered in the guest bedroom due to the ankle surgery – Ted over at TJPhoto (link here) even warned me about that. Add in trying to get Ruger qualified for the CPE agility nationals, therapy and all the homestead chores I delayed due to the haunted trail event and …well, a perfect time to feature another of Brad’s adventures. Take care everyone, I should be caught up…umm, relatively caught…up…ehhh, somewhat caught up..ah hell, I think I need to go back to work so I can get all that free time back I used to have ha!

Take it away Brad!….

Jan and I were on a trip to see a few of the National Parks near the West Coast.  If you haven’t been to see the flora and fauna of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, you really need to.  My mind is still reeling over the scale, on both ends, of what we saw.  Tiny brightly colored birds flitting amongst ginormous Sequoias over 250 feet tall.  I think Warbler Neck could just as easily be renamed Sequoia Neck.

While we were there, it would have been a shame not to see the Pacific Ocean since it was only a few miles from where we were staying near Anaheim.  I mean after all, it’s the Pacific Ocean!  It covers nearly 1/3 (over 30%) of the surface of the entire Earth.  An actual and verifiable fact.

On our last day in California, Jan and I took a side trip to Newport Beach to see the ocean.  As we got closer and closer to the beach, I noticed the price for parking kept rising and rising.  Finally, a spot opened up that only cost a pittance by West Coast standards (the equivalent of two café lattes and a bran muffin) to park before 10am.  Our thought was to leave the big cameras in the car and simply walk along the beach for a few minutes, just to enjoy the sand and the ocean.

After crossing 50 yards of flat sand, Jan and I came to the ocean’s edge.  I felt bad for the few people sitting on their surfboards just a few yards offshore waiting for a wave; the ocean was flat calm.  I’ve seen larger waves in mill ponds.  Jan and I had not expected to take any photos of shore birds on our five-minute beach stop, so we left the big cameras in the car.

Marbled Godwit found by Brad Marks

Here at Intrigued, we call that foreshadowing…

Continue reading The Best Camera…by Brad Marks

Mistaken Identify…by Brad Marks

Things are really heating up on our Haunted Trail event. You are already aware of this, so no need to go into further detail on that – of note though, my pillow recently filed a missing person’s report on me. These are the days I regret giving up caffeine so many years ago. Fortunately for me, Brad was able to stockpile some posts to keep you entertained while we try to deal with the nasty clown infestation in the woods. Today Brad is bringing you another adventure from one of their favorite locations – Hilton Head Island. Note, Brad and Jan are back on assignment and will have limited access to respond to comments, apologies in advance for that. Suspect the Intrigued HQ is in absolute chaos with both of us gone (I’m looking at YOU legal department!). Time for me to head back into the haunt lab.

Take it away Brad….

As many of our long-time readers know, Wildlife Intrigued photographers constantly travel these United States to bring you the latest on birding, and sometimes, human behaviors.  Jan and I have had a very busy photo assignment calendar these past couple of years.  To show the extent Wildlife Intrigued will go to bring you a story, a year ago while on assignments, we saw both oceans buffering the United States.

Jan and I spent a few chilly mornings on Hilton Head Island on the Atlantic Ocean last February.  I thought South Carolina is supposed to be warmer than Illinois in February.  The afternoons all ended up being quite lovely.  However, one morning, there was ice on the fence near the ocean at sunrise.  After a brief shiver and then a short ride in our warm rental car, Jan and I ended up at a favorite place from prior visits:  Fish Haul Beach at low tide.  Time for a small sidebar to share what I learned about the names of various tides.

Marbled Godwit found by Brad and Jan Marks at Hilton Head Island

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

Continue reading Mistaken Identify…by Brad Marks

Gaining My Marbles

I almost went with “A Wasted Endeavor” for the title of this post, however, my not so clever play on losing my marbles won out in the end.  A little insight into the inner workings around here at Intrigued – there’s one key ingredient that brings it all together.  Sure, the foundation of it all relies on being able to make it out in the field and discover content to feature.  Then there’s the digital darkroom where I try to make everything as pretty as I can for you.  There’s close to three years of outings in the queue that I am desperately trying to get through (thus the more than usual production as of late).  Have to get everything uploaded to the galleries in order to reference into the posts and then the actual finger pounding the keyboard to give it all context.  The fact is, all of those elements require a bit of effort on my part.  Not exactly the effort you might be thinking of …

Marbled Godwit shot on Bolivar Peninsula Texas January 2017

I’m talking about the effort involved in trying to maintain your sanity being a distance runner.  Trust me, people like me who feel guilty when not meeting the mileage quota for the week probably need some therapy – “Hello, my name is Brian and I am a Runner.  [all] Hello Brian.”  To keep myself from thinking about every step during the run, I set my mind to planning out the next post.  What is worth my reader’s time, what interesting photographs do have that will give life to that topic and the most important element – what is the title going to be.  It is downright embarrassing how many miles I cover thinking about that component.  Hardest part is being able to remember what I came up with by the time I hit the stopwatch.  To be honest, it really is a giant life circle.  I exercise so I can go into the field, hike all day with heavy equipment, take photos to bring back and then use my exercise time to put it all together.  Wash, Rinse, Repeat.  Honestly, there isn’t anything I’d rather be doing to pass my free time than out in the wild staring down the barrel of large glass at a new bird for my North American Birding List.  In retrospect, that seems like a long intro to simply introduce the first Marble in my collection.

Marbled Godwit shot on Bolivar Peninsula Texas January 2017

Hit the jump to learn more about this tall wader.

Continue reading Gaining My Marbles