Tag: Wilson’s Warbler

Tall Trees and a Bright Flash…by Brad Marks

I need a word with the individual who turned off the heat in Arizona – we are NOT amused. We expect to get snow at home (and they ARE), but Ron and I have already birded in a snow shower down here and now 12 days into our migration, yet to wear a T-shirt much less a pair of shorts. The bright spot is we are getting looks at some good birds. Ron is at 106, I am at 100 species in the young year, which includes 6 lifers for me and 12 for my brother. That is plenty of great fodder for future posts. Meanwhile, Brad is going to take over while we get ready to move to our next basecamp (please be warmer, please be warmer!!). Take care everyone and for those stuck back at Intrigued HQ…throw and extra log on the fire (high is looking like 2 degrees (F) BELOW zero next week). 

Take it away Brad…

It is Day One of our Southwest National Park Tour.  Jan and I flew into Las Vegas and rented a car to drive to SoCal to experience a few National Parks.  After all, we have the National Parks Annual Pass and want to wring every cent out of it.  Truthfully, there isn’t much to see between Las Vegas and where we stayed in Fresno, CA.  Unless you like desert scenes, Joshua trees, and gigantic citrus orchards as far as the eye can see.  Anyone ever enjoyed Cuties or Halos?  They are called mandarin oranges, or clementines, depending on where you live.  The orchards where they are grown, and the “factory” that packages them, went on for miles.  While those are enjoyable, for a few miles, we travelled to see mountains and trees and wildlife.

After a restful night, Jan and I drove to see Kings Canyon National Park at nearly first light.  I was prepared for some very twisty-turny roads on the way to the park, and I wasn’t disappointed.  However, the entrance was near the beginning of the curvy roads so I didn’t have to endure very many switchbacks.  We arrived at Kings Canyon very early.  How early was it? (remember the show Match Game from the 1970’s?)  It was so early, the ranger stations at the entrance weren’t staffed yet.  I still flashed our National Parks Annual Pass just in case there was a camera inside checking out cars and license plates on the way in.  Kings Canyon is known for, well, a canyon.  A very nice canyon to be sure.  It is also known for some of the largest trees (by volume) in the world, the Giant Sequoia.  Coastal Redwoods are certainly taller, by almost 100 feet, but are spindly in comparison to the Giant Sequoia trees.

On our way to see the General Grant Tree (268 feet tall), something caught our eye.  As Jan and I wandered down the trail to see the General, there was a brilliant flash of yellow in the undergrowth.  Keep in mind, we are just outside the parking lot where Giant Sequoia “seedlings” were towering over us (see Notes below).  I had a hard time wrapping my mind around something so large when I’m used to oak or maple trees topping out at 50-75 feet tall after a hundred years or more; a Giant Sequoia is just getting started at that age.  I also realized that by days end my neck would be stuck in the “looking straight up” position.  Or normally what happens to me when we fly discounted seats and the headrest only hits the middle of my neck.

There was the flash again, hiding in a bunch of brambles near the base of a Sequoia, the tree not an SUV of the same name.  Jan had the medium length zoom on her camera while I only had the short range zoom in hopes of being able to capture an entire tree in one photo.  My camera setup was useless for something so small.  Jan started snapping away and was able to capture the bright yellow flash.

Wilson's Warbler by Brad Marks

Hit the jump to reveal the source of the bright yellow flash!

Continue reading Tall Trees and a Bright Flash…by Brad Marks

A Rocky Warbler

Welcome to March everyone!  Always a weird feeling when another month is torn off the calendar.  A variety of emotions and feelings seems to collide at once.  First a slight wave of panic comes over me as I realize that the quota counter resets back to zero and I have to start thinking about at least 6 new topics worth the time my readers generously give me.  Soon after that a major concern washes over as I quickly compute the days left before the summer’s planned 50K running event.  Then a major swing to the positive as the thoughts of spring make their way in bring a big smile with the excitement of getting back out in the field for the early migration.  Of course, it always ends with the sobering “WHERE THE HELL DID THAT LAST MONTH GO!?!”  I like to keep myself very busy and have a to-do list that probably rivals small novels in paper thickness – hate to leave this world without getting the very most out of it.  While I try to figure out how to squeeze a few more minutes out of the day, figured I’d put out a quick post on a pretty cool looking bird.  Before I do that though, wanted to give a shout out to Brian over at Butterflies to Dragsters (link here) who just celebrated his second year of blogging!  Those of us with our own blogs know very well the work that goes into them and Brian has been putting up some amazing stuff from his outings across the pond.  Check him out and wish him a happy anniversary, you will not be disappointed.

Decided to go with a quick post today from a shoot back in May of 2014 – I know, I know, I’m waaaay behind, but these calendar pages keep flying off the walls.

Wilson's Warbler found at Rocky Mountain National Park May 2014

Hit the jump to see a few more picture of this very distinct Warbler.

Continue reading A Rocky Warbler

A Better Castaway Companion

Did you hear that!?! If you just heard a huge sigh of relief loud enough to be heard from the Netherlands, that would be me successfully putting a cap on one of the busiest two months I have experienced in a looooong time. The Annual Halloween Cookout is officially in the books (all the decorations are officially dried out, packed and stowed away), the 4 scheduled Half Marathon medals are hanging on the wall, the new well is awaiting final health inspection and as of Wednesday night, my presentation to the local Peoria Camera Club was given. Whew, that blurb sure doesn’t sound as difficult as it was to get all those checked off the to-do list. All of those tasks had been outlined in previous posts, with the exception of the presentation. The president of the Camera Club (Julie) attended my presentation to the local Audubon Society Chapter earlier in the year (link here).  After that talk she offered up the opportunity to come and speak to the camera club.  Honored to be considered, I quickly accepted and began fretting about it almost immediately.  At the Audubon speech, I was in a room full of better birders and likely better photographers.  In the new setting I was among a room full of better photographers and likely better birders.  Definitely more comfortable in the former being a self-learned photographer.  When Julie reached out with the October date, my heart skipped a beat and immediately went to work revamping the Birding Texas Gulf Coast talk to focus on the photography aspects.  Apprehension remained up until the point the lights went down and the slide show started.  Ended up running out of time to get through all the bird detail (due to favoring camera setup, field philosophies etc), but the audience seemed to enjoy the talk and received a lot of good comments afterward.  Also got to talk to a few of them later thanks to a chance decision afterward to catch a bite to eat at the same place.  Again, extremely honored to have the chance to present my craft to them and to meet a wonderful group of similar enthusiasts.  Huge appreciation to Julie for making all that happen.

While preparing for this speech, I noticed a picture was included of a bird I had not featured on the blog yet – and by definition, one that did not have the official check by it on the bird list.  This seemed like the perfect time to remedy that!

Wilson's Warbler found at The Valley Nature Birding Center, Weslaco Texas January 1st, 2018

Hit the Jump to find out what this new addition is!

Continue reading A Better Castaway Companion