SEE TRAIL

about that yard list

2012-01-16T21:34:00.002-06:00

Our yard list was last updated on the blog in... May.So here's the next batch!Varied Bunting 6/1/11Say's Phoebe 6/12/11Cooper's Hawk 7/17/11Upland Sandpiper 8/14/11Long-billed Curlew 8/15/11Clay-colored Sparrow 9/12/11Baltimore Oriole 9/18/11Townsend's Warbler 9/19/11Black-throated Blue Warbler 9/23/11Black-crested Titmouse 10/5/11Double-crested Cormorant 10/29/11Killdeer 11/18/11Brewer's Sparrow

Annual Family Update

2011-12-20T10:21:00.012-06:00

Dear Family and Friends,We find ourselves in the midst of the holiday madness yet again, unprepared for the seasonal festivities and up to our ears in life. This year has been another one of transition, though we're still in Marathon and we're still juggling employment - that much remains the same. Thankfully our town was spared the wildfires that so much of our region was scorched with, but

Orange Palps of Doom

2011-12-03T13:48:00.004-06:00

Because Coleoptera need blog time, too...2 Dec, 2011 - 10 miles north of Hwy 385/Hwy 90 junction. ID pending.

That Eagle Optics shirt?

2011-11-26T12:21:00.001-06:00

The previous post showed a mere outline of the awesome-yet-to-come: The actual screening on the shirt, of course, is by Louise Zemaitis - now autographed, initialed and accompanied by fangirl antics. Who knew birders had such rabid fans? Oh, wait. Sleeve art by Michael O'Brien... how awesome is that? Clearly another perched Black-and-white Warbler would have

RGV Birding Festival

2011-11-17T16:28:00.000-06:00

We may or may not have seriously nerded it up over the weekend: Louise Zemaitis autographed her Black-and-white Warbler shirt Michael O'Brien drew another Black-and-white Warbler on the sleeve of the shirt Jon Dunn autographed the newest Nat. Geo. on our honeymoon spindalis page ...and we wrangled a booth all weekend, too!

The "why" of window monitoring

2011-11-05T12:12:00.001-05:00

Birds hit windows. It's pretty much impossible to overstate the extent of the issue. Pretty much everyone knows that it happens but very few people look beyond face value of the smudge on glass. This is more eloquent than anything I've seen yet, so please take a look at Tim O'Connell's piece: A window into the perils of migration. He beautifully outlines the "how" and "why" of dead birds as

Eyes

2011-11-04T20:27:00.003-05:00

The eyes have it. More of this lovely caterpillar over at Big Bend Birds & Nature!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T20:53:00.002-05:00

From our pack to yours...The onesie was too big to fit Anakin, so hopefully these uh, lovely, pictures of Nauga will suffice!

general update

2011-10-20T16:23:00.001-05:00

Matt has been wrangled into a super-awesome opportunity to represent the Gage Hotel/Gage Gardens at the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival! We'll both be attending and are very much looking forward to being back in the RGV - plenty of friends we've not seen in years, plenty of birders who haven't been to the Big Bend region and definitely a good opportunity to get caught up on all of the above.

Houston, we have a Pupa!

2011-09-22T14:45:00.005-05:00

Edit: this has now been blogged (with more pics!) at Big Bend Birds & Nature - when inch worms grow up.I should be blogging this over at the other blog, but I managed to forget to take a picture of an inch-worm that adopted us. I harvested some mesquite nibbles for the hubbardi bunch and the little critter caught a ride and found itself in with a bunch of non-geometers. So while I forgot to take

t-shirt dress 2

2011-09-09T09:34:00.009-05:00

This shirt/dress/thing was a fun challenge: I wanted to loosen the neck and lengthen a shirt that already fit (size small, but a shirt from the 80s, so a bit longer and narrower than a 'modern' size small). This should really only be done with shirts that already fit or are too large... anything too small could get really awkward.Unlike the last dress, there were no scraps left over - 100% of the

t-shirt dress

2011-08-23T11:07:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure if the tye-dye t-shirt skirt(s) ever made the blog, but just for amusement's sake, here's the latest project: Matt's old t-shirt = Heidi's new dress (*All photos were taken after the dress made it to a wearable state!) Sage green shirt, size XL, inside out. Sleeves cut off. Closeup of random sewing to trim the sides a bit - yes, there's a gap at the bottom

"furniture"

2011-08-19T10:55:00.000-05:00

Owning very little furniture is handy for being mobile, but at times there are situations in which furniture ceases to be versatile. A bed, for example, is a bit cumbersome to move out to the porch to sit and watch the world go by. Last summer's field work did have two folding chairs that, unfortunately, were not made to last. In spite of the seat falling through on one and the arm/seat support

August update

2011-08-17T08:22:00.000-05:00

Last week we were asked to speak about the impact of drought on birds and other wildlife on Marfa Public Radio; the audio has been archived and can now be accessed anywhere, at any time, should you feel the urge. Photo/permalink via Marfa Public Radio: Handy links from previous posts on the Big Bend Birds & Nature blog: the drying, the drought (a bit heavy, but eye-opening) in the meantime

Busy, busy summer

2011-07-30T16:01:00.000-05:00

As the title implies, we're up to our ears in... life. Between wrangling pups, pup-sitting for others, work, school, work and more work, we've managed to get a few photos worth sharing: Family portrait: Matt, Nauga, Heidi and Anakin. Awww. A Black Witch moth on the back wall while blacklighting. The Chihuahua named Little. Pepsis wasp. Oh

near and dear to my hawk tower

2011-07-16T17:14:00.002-05:00

I wondered if this day might come: the Smith Point Hawk Watch is basically losing funding for a season. It is a brilliant place to see raptor migration but counting hawks there is like trying to count spaghetti as they boil! Falcons and kites are a MUCH more reliable count, but the location is prime for kettling Wood Storks and Magnificent Frigatebirds at the same time. It is where I 'cut my

Marathon t-shirts?

2011-06-18T15:45:00.002-05:00

Howdy, SeeTrail readers! We're not dead, just busy. Before we bounce this off of our Big Bend Birds & Nature readers, we'll run this past y'all...It is a prototype, but would anyone be interested in purchasing a shirt like the one below? Cost would be around $20 before shipping, sadly. Not sure what the colors will be, nor the full range of styles (tank tops and regular t-shirts should be doable)

June 2011 Update - rehab newsletter

2011-05-29T21:21:00.003-05:00

This is my first attempt to post an e-mail, hope it works! Bear with us if not... (Posted due to cute-fuzzy-mammal drought impacts, but not posted to the other blog because it's not regionally relevant!)***