Tag: Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve

Fishing Hawk…by Brad Marks

I had forgotten just how tiring these national dog competitions can be. As mentioned in the previous post, we made it down here for the Canine Performance Events (CPE) Nationals being held in my hometown of Springfield, IL. Imagine a state fairgrounds stuffed to the gills .. or should I say muzzles with face lickers and tail waggers. Suspect they will have the greenest grass they’ve ever had once this is over ha! The various competitions have been going on all this week. Speedway competitions (think drag and barrel racing) and scent work led it off, but now the Big Kahunas have taken the stage with 6 concurrent agility rings in full swing. Raven did well today qualifying in 2 of his 3 runs with 6 more runs still to go over the next two days. Definitely a tough day for him as he is currently passed out between me and the keyboard – even mom is feeling pretty wiped. Ruger has been watching with intent as he hopes to be making his debut at nationals within two years (he needs more titles before he becomes eligible). We already had to get on him about trash talking some of the current competitors.

“I unplug my muzzle in your general direction, sons-of-a-puppyfarm! So, you think you could outclever us French Poodles with your silly knees bent crashing into agility bars. I’ll wave my private parts at your owners! You cheesy load of secondhand electric butt sniffers!”

While we sit Ruger down and have a discussion about sportsmanship, going to let Brad take the reins and bring you an adventure with a talented member of the birding family (and assuredly a fish trash talker as well).

Take it away Brad…

This story comes at the very end of our Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve (UNBNP) visit.  The visit to UNBNP started with Jan finding the California Thrasher (link here).  I finally found her among the trails so we wandered around the upper part of the preserve for a while.  After Jan and I had been walking amongst the chapparal for a couple of hours, we headed back along the crunchy pea gravel path back towards the car.

One our way out, we bumped into a nice couple, roughly the same age as Jan and I.  After chatting for a while, they asked if we had seen the Osprey (Pandion haliaetus).  We had not.  Just then the man pointed off into the distance at a tree leaning out over the preserve lower levels, right where Jan and I were about 15 minutes ago.  Roughly two hundred yards away there was a twig of a tree, with a white/black lump on the end of one of its three branches.  Lo and behold there was a large bird sitting there.  I zoomed in as far as I could and was able to capture this highly cropped image (not quite as good as Sam’s photos with her 500mm, visit Sam.Rappen here) of an Osprey.

Osprey by Brad Marks

Hit the jump to read more about this UNBNP encounter!

Continue reading Fishing Hawk…by Brad Marks

Tuxedo Bird…by Brad Marks

This was one busy week for us down at Purina Farms in Gray Summit, MO (got the state right this time David!). It started with Ruger and Raven running in the agility ring at the Poodle Nationals and ended the week with Ruger’s FastCAT runs yesterday and today (two flat out 100 yard sprints each day). In between those competition bookends, I spent most of the free (non-raining) time during the day over at Shaw Preserve. That place is incredible and I will definitely have more to say about it in upcoming posts. Managed to go at least +10 there in new birds for the year and even got a hard 11 mile run in on their rather hilly trails. My visits in the previous years merely scratched the surface of that place. Even squeezed a trip to the St. Louis Botanical Gardens – another surprisingly large place. The nights were spent working on content for the mothership – a three post series on a new prop for the 2023 Haunted Trail – feel free to check those out if you are interested in another behind the scenes walk-through on what it takes to put that event on every year (link here) – caution, those posts go deep into detail, so lots of words…and pretty pictures ha. That packed week has left me pretty exhausted, although nothing compared to the boys who are all currently passed out in their beds with little do not disturb signs hanging off their paws). Brad has been keeping things under control at Intrigued HQ while we were away and we’ll let him take us into May with another of his UNBNP encounters.

Take it away Brad…

During the end of our visit to the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve (UNBNP), Jan was trying to find me this time.  I wandered past the parking lot to an area below the visitor center along the water.  As is usually the case, there was something dark and feathered flitting about among the low branches of a very small tree near the water.  Without my bird whisperer nearby, Jan, I had to keep looking until I spotted this little beauty.

Black Phoebe by Brad Marks

My subject was sitting in a little tree about 30 feet from the path to my left.  The late morning sun, obscured by haze and thin clouds, was mostly to my right.  My quarry took pity on me and rested for a few seconds, quite literally.  At first, in my newbie perspective, I thought it was a flycatcher from California, since many of the critters here had California in their names and it looked like it was catching flies.  I was close. 

This bird wasn’t making any noise, at least nothing Merlin could identify, so no help with name.  This is sometimes the exciting part of being a new birder.  I recognize I haven’t seen this bird before, but really have no clue what it’s called.  Sort of like opening a box of Cracker Jack; you don’t really know what the prize in the box will be. 

Black Phoebe by Brad Marks

Learn more about this well dressed birdie after the jump!

Continue reading Tuxedo Bird…by Brad Marks

Need a Tow?…by Brad Marks

Linda and I have just arrived at the Purina Farms Event Arena in Gray Summit, MO, which means we are officially surrounded by Poodles. Small ones, medium ones, and even ones that stand three times the height of ours. Pick a standard breed color and it will not take long before a matching Prima-Donna will prance by, nose in air and sparkles on the collar. Yep, we are at the AKC Poodle Nationals or Poodle Specialty for short. The boys will be competing tomorrow in the agility ring and then give way to the confirmation events scheduled for later in the week. That would be rows and rows of grooming tables covering an entire exhibit hall – imagine a Build-A-Bear factory had exploded. Once that is done, Ruger will toe the line for FastCAT, which is the canine equivalent of the 100 yard dash (hoping to improve on his 19.5mph PR). Time for the pups to earn their keep ha. I also have a three part Halloween themed post to get through on the mothership that is about 7 months overdue (I swear I retired..where does the time go!!). While we get things taken care of here, Brad is going to take the Intrigued reins and bring you wings I’ve never seen!

Take it away Brad…

Ever run across a very unassuming bird, just sitting and minding its own business?  That’s what happened for me on this bird.

I was wandering along the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve (UNBNP) trying to find Jan.  She was photographing the California Thrasher (link here).  I thought I saw her on a parallel path so I tried to find my way over to her.

On the way, there was a smallish tree/bush with a brown lump in it.  The chances were very high that it was a bird I’d never seen or photographed before, so I snuck up on it.  I chuckled to myself (CTM).  I’m over 6 feet tall, carrying a very large piece of glass on a long stick.  I think it’s hard for me to sneak up on anything on pebbly gravel paths.

California Towhee by Brad Marks

As I got closer, it seemed to be alerting someone.  John Wayne Airport was still pumping airplanes into the air at an astonishing rate drowning out the bird’s call.  I sure am glad my house isn’t within hearing distance of an airport.  The wildlife in the preserve must be accustomed to the noise to the point they can’t hear it any more.  Sort of “ear blind,” if you will.

California Towhee by Brad Marks

Upon further inspection (on the big screen at home) I noticed the tiny orange eye ring.  I’m pretty sure there was no way I would have seen this at the time, and it is a great indicator if you can see it.

Hit the jump to reveal the identity.

Continue reading Need a Tow?…by Brad Marks

California Thrasher…by Brad Marks

Good news, Brad is back from his field assignment and from what I’ve heard, the Intrigued HQ is still standing. Yes Virginia I now believe in miracles. We’ve been on South Padre Island for a few days now and making the most of it. The migrants are now arriving and starting to get those crucial Warblers ticked off this year’s list. Also met a lot of great birders this trip that have been incredibly helpful in pushing this year’s Average Year number to 242 (link here). Still behind last year’s pace, but definitely chipped into the deficit. A lot of that is due to a healthy dose of lifers we’ve been able to hunt down. Now the busy work of making sure all the images are copied off to multiple drives, the eBird reports are filled out and the birding tracking sheets are updated…I need a nap. Brad is going to take the lead and bring us one of his own lifers from California.

Take it away Brad…

Normally when I write these brief stories, I’ve taken most of the photos because I’m carrying the larger lens and can capture the little feathered guys at a further distance.  Not this time.  Jan was able to hold one bird captive with her bird whisperer powers.  Today’s subject was also nice enough to stay only a few yards off the path.  All of the photos in this story are from her.

Jan and I had just left a major theme park in SoCal on our way back to Las Vegas to meet the kids.  We stopped at the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve (UNBNP) just outside Newport Beach to see what we could see (isn’t that why the bear went over the mountain?).  I parked the car about 8:30am and started assembling the cameras.  We didn’t know before we got there, but John Wayne Airport (originally called Orange County Airport) is only a couple of miles away.  Unfortunately, the planes depart right over the nature preserve.  While I seemed to duck every time one of the monsters flew overhead, the local bird life didn’t seem to care at all.

Being the gentleman I am, I assembled Jan’s camera first, and then started to put mine together.  By the time I had my camera ready, shut the hatch, and locked the doors, Jan was already a couple hundred yards down the trail.  The shrubbery near the cars was tall enough I couldn’t see which trail she had taken.  But listening for a few seconds, in between airplane flights, the high-speed shutter clicking told me which way to go.

California Thrasher by Brad Marks

Hit the jump to learn more about the reason for all those clicks!

Continue reading California Thrasher…by Brad Marks