A View From A Car Window

Coming out of my driveway this morning to run a few errands I noticed this Pileated Woodpecker going to town on this stump in my neighbor’s yard. If it wasn’t for the fact I was in my car, I never would be able to get so close.

Howard Marsh

One of the great joys of birding of course if adding a new life bird to ones list. However it’s equally as rewarding to help someone else find a new life bird, which was the case yesterday as myself and best friend Phil ventured to Lake Erie for a day of birding.

Granted total driving time was about 7 hours to and from the lake, we were still able to record over 60 birds for the day with the highlight being this beautiful Yellow-headed Blackbird, which was a lifer for Phil.

A Couple New Birds

Despite my terrible way at keeping my blog updated, I have been able to tick off a couple new birds. Last week while visiting my Son and daughter-In-Law for Thanksgiving in Boston, we visited Plum Island for a recurring Razorbill. Despite the cold and wind I was able to get a unsatisfying view of it as it dove below the water and never came up.

The next new bird was just today. While in Detroit overnight babysitting our grandchildren, I noticed a Allen’s Hummingbird back in Cincinnati. So after a 4 hour drive and another 30 minutes to drive to the area the birds been seen, it showed up after 20 minutes and then flew off.

I’ll take it. So now I’m up to 471 and slowly whittling away closer to 500.

Cancelled

The Corona Virus is effecting everyone in some form or another. Myself and my children and loving wife are doing fine and are taking all necessary precautions. And as the rest of the country follow suit it came as no surprise that the Southwest Wings Spring Fling Birding Festival cancelled. Of all the places I’ve been anxiously wanting to visit, it’s this part of the country.

The only reservations I had to cancel were my hotel room and contact the festival to ask for a refund. I was glad that cancelling my hotel room was a easy process, with me getting a full refund. The festival itself has a $15.00 processing fee if you cancel prior to a given date. The date to receive a 90% refund was extended due to the virus, which was a good thing. But it still saddens me to go another year waiting to go. I was lucky not to have made my airline or car reservations yet, so it’s one less thing to bother with.

On the bright side this now gives me more time to study up and listen to calls and songs of the birds of Southeast Arizona, so I won’t be going out looking like a complete rookie.

To all my reader, stay safe and wash your hands.

2019: A Year In Review

Let me first start out this year in review with an apology to all my readers. I’ve not been a very good blogger and have lagged behind in posting anything of interest. Some of this was due to my broken ankle at the end of Spring and lasting through the Summer. Those weeks that I was laid up kept me both from birding and blogging. Compounding this was a couple bouts of having the cold, which as a member of the senior population takes longer to get over. With that being said lets put this year behind us and hope that 2020 is a better year both for you personally, and birding.

For myself 2019 was a pretty good year for birds. I was able to add 11 new birds to my life list, with the latest being a Prairie Falcon that’s been hanging out in the flat farm land west of Bowling Green Ohio. I picked up that bird yesterday.

Below are 6 of the 11 new birds spotted in 2019, and if it wasn’t for our family vacation to Maine my yearly number would be significantly lower.

• Common Eider
• Sooty Shearwater
• Great Shearwater
• Atlantic Puffin
• Northern Fulmer
• Black Guillemot
• Great Cormorant

For the greatest distance driven by car to tick off a new bird lies with the now famous Tufted Duck of Fennville Michigan.

back on April 28th I drove one way 335 miles to check this bird off my life list. Did this seem excessive driving just for 1 bird? Sure it was. However it was worth the drive to see a bird that I’ll probably never see again.

Most satisfying Bird of 2019: Well that honor goes to the Red Phalarope that I was able to check off the old Life List on November 3rd. Now I’m finally able to check off all North American Phalarope species with this beautiful bird that was spotted at Brookville Lake in Indiana.

For the 2 most surprising new birds of 2019 would have to be the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper and the Prairie Falcon. Even though I don’t have any photos of these birds, they are without a doubt the most surprising birds that I never would expect to see this year.

As I reflect on 2019 I can’t help but to look forward to 2020, which will prove to be the most “birdiest” year to date. In the past I’ve had some very good years for birds but this coming year should put me past a personal milestone of 500 ABA birds.

In the next few weeks I’ll start making plans on going to the Southwest Wings Spring Fling in Sierra Vista Arizona. Long have I wanted to visit Arizona for their abundance of great birds. Like my trip to the Rio Grande Birding Festival, this trip should push me past the 500 mark for total birds.

If for some reason I don’t reach 500 by the end of that trip, I have yet another trip that will tip it into my favor. My eldest son is getting married on Oahu Hawaii in November. I’ll be there for 2 weeks. I can only imagine the birds I’ll be seeing.

These two trips have my brain on overdrive. After the holidays are over then I can start to concentrate on the task at hand. Study the birds and their songs and calls. I need to prepare. And it’s this preparation that makes us better birders.

With 2019 almost in the past, let us look forward to a better 2020, and better birds.

Happy New Year to you all.

 

An Unfortunate Accident

A few weeks back I was finishing up a 25 mile bike ride on the Loveland Bike Trail. As I was pulling off the trail onto the sidewalk that connects the trail to the parking lot, my front tire went off the edge and caught the edge where the concrete meet the mulch. I tried to correct but it didn’t work. Down I went pretty hard onto my left side.

My left knee was pretty buggered up and my ankle was hurting as well. I was able to get myself up and load my bike onto my bike carrier and drive home. After parking and bringing my bike into the house i was finally able to sit down an assess my self. My ankle was swelling.

I cleaned up the best I could and drove to the E.R. To make a long story short, I have a broken Fibula down by the ankle. So as of right now I’ve been in a cast since for almost 2 weeks. And if everything goes well it should be coming off on the 22nd of this month and a walking boot applies.

So right now it’s front porch birding watching the hummingbirds fight over the feeders.