Twisted My Ankle

We are officially at the 4 week mark since the ankle surgery. That means it is has been 4 weeks since I have put any weight on it. I have noted that is quite an accomplishment for me. Unfortunately, I have ANOTHER two weeks of this insanity before I can start the physical therapy phase and finally get start introducing weight bearing (in between the screams from the PT). I have been doing my best to keep myself busy. A huge chunk of time has been devoted to working on my backlog (did I just hear cheers, someone definitely cheered), trying my best to catch up on my post reading and all the work in the haunt lab – I’ve linked the latest short video at the end if you are interested). YouTube is now my friend – there isn’t stupid Cat video I haven’t watched! In all this, there are always posts I can work on, so let’s get to it!

Battling my inner Venom:

“Do it!”
“But I don’t want to do it”
“Yes you do, do it now”
“Umm, really don’t wanna”
“You shall do it and like it”
“But it pains me”
“You are already in pain, what’s the difference!?!”
“Hmm, that is a valid point, but I’d rather do something else…anything else”
“Do you really want to stare at that series in the queue anymore?”
“Sigh, but I’ll say you twisted my ankle”

Here you go, today’s featured ugh, feathered ugh, friend double ugh Finch – make it stop.

House Finch found at CT RV Resort in Benson, Az in January 2024

As a general rule, I take at least one picture of every bird I see when out in the field. The amount of additional shots I take of a specimen is based on a complex internal mental algorithm which would probably rival any current AI engine. Is the lighting halfway reasonable, did I get a good enough shot to officially claim the check, is there a good story to share on the blog, what is likelihood of seeing it again, are there new behaviors to document, where does it rank on my “cool birds” list, is it on my “crap bird” list (I’m talking about you Asshats link here) and is it out of region all come into play. The logic engine turns, the lights dim and depending on the results zero or more pulses will be triggered to the shutter finger. This processing is repeated, of course, on subsequent shots.

Every once in a while I surprise myself in the digital darkroom and ask myself – “what the hell Bri, did the algorithm glitch?” Hit the jump if you want to see more of apparently one of those surprise results from the field.

Continue reading Twisted My Ankle

Color Me Rufous

Wow, hard to believe we are almost through April already. Pages are flying off the calendar and I have sooo much to do. Someday I have to figure out the formula that allowed me to get all my tasks done while I was still grinding out days in the corporate world. To Brad’s credit he likes to point out that my time is now filled doing things I enjoy vs hunting bad spirits in the machine and filling out TPS reports. I can’t deny my time devoted to travel and birding has increased significantly and thanks to that, I am proud to say I have officially shattered my all-time Average Year record (link here). I tried to get all the numbers up to date, but I’ve hit it hard these last couple of days so that page is already off. My record (from 2023) was 340 species – as of today it sits at 352+3 putting me at 168th in the US and 8th in my county. Placements are fluctuating all over the place depending on where you are in relation to the migration so those rankings are a bit fluid. I also refreshed my life list count and even updated the counter on the left nav bar. It is rare when that is accurate, but for now 472 is correct! Brad is right, birding is definitely better than IT Enterprise Architecture ha!

The key part of those bird counts is the increased travel – in particular our monthly trips to the southwest. Today’s featured feathered friend comes courtesy of last year’s trip to Tucson, Arizona. Now, this specimen is going to be a bit hmmmm, how to put this … let’s go with a letdown from our recent offerings. We’ve tried to bring you a colorful assortment of avian fodder as of late to help make up for the lack of excitement that is coming your way …but before then…another dose of color!

Me at Catalina State Park entrance, Tucson, AZ in January 2024

Okay, now gather your wits, lower your expectations, prepare for the worst and hit that jump (might help if you close one eye before you do that).

Continue reading Color Me Rufous

RRedbird

Apologies for being a bit out of pocket as of late. All our field staff including me are ..well..out in the field. Among them, Brad and Jan are filling up their tins abroad and Linda and I are dealing with the wet and cold weather currently ravaging south Texas. Surprisingly, the birding has been pretty impressive given the conditions. My brother Ron flew down to join in some birding for a week and just got on the plane to return to Chicago where it is snowing with a windchill of -4 – okay, I’ll stop complaining about our weather. In Ron’s short time here we were able to find him just under 150 new birds for his Average Year tally. That puts him at roughly 100 in the top 100 eBirders by species for the Texas region (note, actual positioning can fluctuate during the day based on reporting). Pretty impressive, but not to be outdone, with my extended time in Texas I am officially at 165 bird species. That puts me around 48th place for the entire Texas region. That is 52 birds ahead of last year’s pace, which you will recall, ended with a tally of 325 (see the finally updated full 2024 stats here). Shockingly, that means in the 15 days so far this year I already have 55% of the annual goal of 300. Tells you how hard it gets to find new birds as the year progresses. I do want to give a shoutout to all the wonderful birders we have met down here, including Steve and Lisa who guided us through Santa Ana NWR yesterday. Always willing to strike up a conversation and assist with any sightings. Warms my heart to know the birding community bonds continue to be strong.

I suspect there are some out there that could have predicted today’s featured feathered friend. After the last post on the Phainopepla, it just seems appropriate to go with another incredibly hard bird to spell that also has a spectacular punk-do.

Pyrrhuloxia found at Saguaro National Park outside Tucson, AZ in January 2024

Hit the jump to read more about this chunky member of the Cardinalidae family

Continue reading RRedbird

Imperio

Okay, going to say firmly and for the record to our Texas friends…we are NOT responsible for the frigid temps that have made its way down here this week. Purely coincidental that we happened to have arrived around the same time of the cold snap. We are definitely not used to layering this much in the south and Linda actually had gloves on today while visiting Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville. So cold the Monkeys were considering cuddling up with the Lions. Fortunately, the birding has been living up to our high expectations. Currently at 112 species fresh into the new year. I am behind my 2024 Average Year stats (link here), but did manage to get the 2025 page created and updated (link here). For the curious, I ended last year at 325 checks thanks to a late surge in December. Currently sitting 35 species ahead of that pace, but 19 behind 2023. Many birds still left to tin down here and plenty of time to get that done – sitting pretty, enjoying the pretty colors!

South Padre Island Sunset January 2025

Apologies to those back home, we feel for you suffering through the snow and temps in the teens ..no, no, we really do! (Brad, can you make sure the maintenance crew puts extra salt on our Intrigued HQ walkways).

Enough chit chat, time to get to work and present today’s featured feathered friend.

Phainopepla found at Saguaro National National Park, AZ in January 2024

Hit the jump to learn more about our “black robed” friend.

Continue reading Imperio