Semi-annual Update

The 2012 review is up at Big Bend Nature.com and that means we're off the hook for more bird/bug updates for this post... right? Guess that leaves the pithy, lifey stuff...

Jan - hey, rare birds ARE life to us; Nutting's Flycatcher was some Herculean feat of masochism in spite of being a life bird for both of us. The bird called twice in something like two hours of our first observation and the call is what we HAD to record for confirmation. No pressure. Awesome bird. Great folks who chased it, as well. Kind of a who's who of birders, or an awkward family reunion.

Feb-May were somewhat nondescript, except when May rolled around we were both laid off from our part time jobs (same place - so there went our 20 hr/week gig, roughly 1/2 of our income, on 5 minutes notice... at the same time I lost my tutoring position due to graduation), but I guess at least we don't have to work at the checkpoint anymore! That was at the beginning of the week of finals and graduation. Not cool. I could have been studying!

Layoffs aside, May was wonderful; Matt's folks came out for my graduation and in the time-honored tradition of shirking rituals, I ate at CowDog instead of walking for graduation. Not quite a trip to the RGV (high school graduation), but CowDog with the best in-laws ever? Remarkably wonderful. We even introduced them to a black-tailed rattlesnake in the Chisos Basin! They stayed at Eve's Garden... not that we blogged their breakfast or anything. Ok, we did.

June saw a bit of travel; Matt held down the fort while I went to California for a wedding - not just any wedding, but that of a former solar car competitor turned bff/dear friend. While out there, I also managed to meet that 'new' nephew of mine who was already a year old! Whoops. I'm a bad aunt. Other than seeing a few birds during the wedding ceremony, no birding was done - but plenty of friends seen/met/stayed with in the process. Also, June was crafty... because I made a skirt into a dress for the wedding.

July was an exhausting/exhilarating mix of anticipation and phone-tag during the crunch time of pre-festival madness; Matt scouted and I wrangled field trip leaders and the most awesome celebrities ever, but between the two of us and some seriously awesome trip leaders, I'd say ~22 people at a first year birding festival with Kenn and Kimberly Kaufman is pretty much a success.

Following the festival, we took a week of down time and took the small dog to Santa Fe to meet her cousin. It was great to see the long-lost relatives (we see them maybe every 2-3 years or so). The fall turned into a busy mix of shipping Matt off to the AZ/CA border for some field work and I settled into my new job at Pitaya Verde.

The shift to winter was a mix of job shuffling again; Matt focused on guiding and contract work, I put my name in the hat for a librarian position. After Thanksgiving - early December for anyone keeping track - a neighbor told us about a house with a "for sale by owner" sign out front... and we've been throwing ourselves into it, full force, since then. We do enjoy the little house of termites, but the Double Bacon, as much as we love it, is sometimes just a bit too much. There's no closing date yet, but we're up to our ears in surveys, inspections, roof quotes and generic madness. Add the new job to the existing job and the move across town seems like quite a challenge. It's a pretty hefty move: all the way from the NE side to the SW side. A whopping 17 blocks... that's clear across town, as the maximum would have been 22 blocks if we'd lived any further on the NE side!

So please bear with us through blog silence as we tackle the latest batch of challenges: we're still here and our PO box won't change (434), but we're swamped with "productive" things!

Anakin, Matt, Nauga and Heidi - Jan 2013, photo by Tom Lehr

yard list revisited

No posts here since October!? Oh dear. We were tied up with the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival in early November (leading trips this time around) and then were up in NW Missouri for Thanksgiving with the family, and now we're recovering from a Lubbock County Northern Shrike Chase (27 hrs, 2 of which were spent watching the bird!)

Since the last yard list update, whenever it was (apparently January), we've added a few things:

The Double Bacon - 9/1/10
    1.    Inca Dove 9/1/10
    2.    Eurasian Collared Dove 9/1/10
    3.    Barn Swallow 9/1/10
    4.    Turkey Vulture 9/3/10
    5.    Prairie Falcon 9/3/10
    6.    White-winged Dove 9/4/10
    7.    Cliff Swallow 9/4/10
    8.    American Kestrel 9/7/10
    9.    Bronzed Cowbird 9/7/10
    10.    House Finch 9/7/10
    11.    Common Nighthawk 9/7/10  -- FOS 5/19/11
    12.    Lesser Nighthawk 9/7/10  -- FOS 4/17/11
    13.    Great-tailed Grackle 9/9/10
    14.    Lesser Goldfinch 9/9/10
    15.    Western Tanager 9/10/10
    16.    Cave Swallow 9/14/10
    17.    House Sparrow 9/14/10 est
    18.    Wilson's Warbler 9/26/10
    19.    Osprey 9/26/10 - 4/2/11
    20.    Summer Tanager 9/26/10
    21.    Black-chinned Hummingbird 9/26/10 (back? 11, back early Mar '12)
    22.    Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 9/27/10
    23.    Broad-winged Hawk 9/27/10, (4/15/11) 4/23/11
    24.    Blue Grosbeak 9/27/10
    25.    Upland Sandpiper 9/27/10
    26.    Curve-billed Thrasher 9/27/10
    27.    Northern Rough-winged Swallow 9/28/10
    28.    Brewer's Blackbird 10/3/10
    29.    Cassin's Kingbird 10/4/10
    30.    Common Raven 10/5/10
    31.    Canyon Towhee 10/7/10
    32.    Northern Flicker 10/10/10
    33.    Chihuahuan Raven 10/16/10
    34.    Anna's Hummingbird 10/28* (ID on 31st)/10
    35.    Common Poorwill 11/9/10
    36.    Cedar Waxwing 11/19/10
    37.    Allen's Hummingbird 11/20/10 (?back ~11/20/11, banded 12/7/11)
    38.    Great Horned Owl 11/20/10 (est)
    39.    Red-naped Sapsucker 12/11/10
    40.    Verdin 12/11/10
    41.    Groove-billed Ani 12/18/10
    42.    Bewick's Wren 12/21/10
    43.    Sharp-shinned Hawk 1/5/11
    44.    Red-winged Blackbird 3/8/11
    45.    Hermit Thrush 3/18/11
    46.    Lark Bunting 3/30/11
    47.    Belted Kingfisher 3/31/11, 8/11/12
    48.    Chipping Sparrow 4/1/11
    49.    Vesper Sparrow 4/2/11
    50.    Zone-tailed Hawk 4/5/11
    51.    Scott's Oriole 4/10/11
    52.    Harris's Hawk 4/10/11
    53.    Broad-winged Hawk 4/16/11
    54.    Yellow-headed Blackbird 4/20/11
    55.    Pine Siskin 4/23/11
    56.    Swainson's Thrush 4/23/11
    57.    Ruby-throated Hummingbird 4/26/11, 9/17/12
    58.    Green-tailed Towhee 4/26/11
    59.    Painted Bunting 5/9/11
    60.    Gray Flycatcher 5/10/11
    61.    Willow Flycatcher 5/11/11
    62.    Black-throated Sparrow 5/11/11
    63.    Orchard Oriole 5/11/11
    64.    Western Wood-Pewee 5/12/11
    65.    MacGillivray's Warbler 5/13/11
    66.    Vermilion Flycatcher 5/15/11
    67.    Common Yellowthroat 5/15/11
    68.    Yellow Warbler 5/15/11
    69.    American Redstart 5/15/11
    70.    Varied Bunting 6/1/11
    71.    Say's Phoebe 6/12/11
    72.    Cooper's Hawk 7/17/11
    73.    Upland Sandpiper 8/14/11
    74.    Long-billed Curlew 8/15/11
    75.    Clay-colored Sparrow 9/12/11
    76.    Baltimore Oriole 9/18/11
    77.    Townsend's Warbler 9/19/11
    78.    Black-throated Blue Warbler 9/23/11
    79.    Black-crested Titmouse 10/5/11
    80.    Double-crested Cormorant 10/29/11
    81.    Killdeer 11/18/11
    82.    Brewer's Sparrow 11/30/11
    83.    American Crow 12/10/11
    84.    Dickcissel 12/ 11/11
    85.    Gray Catbird 12/11/11
    86.    Brown Creeper 12/11/11
    87.    Brown Thrasher 12/14/11, 10/3/12
    88.    Sage Thrasher 12/25/11
    89.    Common Ground Dove 1/8/12
    90.    Eastern Bluebird 5/16/12
    91.    Barn Owl 4/1/12
    92.    Cassin's Vireo 4/12/12
    93.    American Pipit 4/13/12
    94.    Franklin's Gull 5/8/12
    95.    Black-headed Grosbeak 5/10/12
    96.    Northern Waterthrush 5/11/12
    97.    Mississippi Kite 5/18/12, 9/21/12
    98.    Canyon Wren 7/30/12
    99.    Rock Wren 10/9/12 heard only
    100.     Merlin 10/19/12
    101.     Red Crossbill 11/27/12

Groove-billed Ani. Sometimes it just finds you.

Well, often times it just finds you. Sure there are moments we go hunting for a particular species. However, for much of our time the birds just find us. We "had" this species or we "had" that species.

Did we HAVE it?
Or did the bird happen to travel to a particular place at a particular time only to show itself to an interested Homo sapien sapien. Then... sneakbackinthebrush.

Seriously.

After getting off work at 4pm today, I opened the truck driver-side door and put one foot down on the ground. A thrashing sound emanated from perhaps 8-feet to my left.

I look. Nothing. Nada.
Thrashing sound in the leaf-litter again, this time as I am looking. Niet.

Again.



What?!


Aaaaaaaaa!

Cue the Metallica track. No, one from before they cut their hair and got soft.

Here was THE(?) fall/winter Groove-billed Ani (GBAN) of the Marathon Basin. Foraging. Often tilting its head, looking up, stretching its neck to see.




This bird was first viewed at the Marathon Motel back on 10 October. It was 2 weeks until viewed again, on the 23rd and 24th of that month, still on motel grounds.

November, nada.

It returned to our view, once again on motel grounds, on December 2nd. The bird landed in a sumac not 6 feet from me.

Now, on December 18th, after returning home from a full day's work....



Folks. So very often, its not US. Its up to the birds. I didn't find this ani. I was stepping out of my truck and it decided to forage in some vegetation openings no more than 10 ft from me. I didn't "have" it.

Anyways, this bird was skulking and often thrashing and crashing around leaf-litter between cane cholla, sotol, and yucca.




It would uncover, attack, and forage on slow-moving cold-ish invertebrates.



Walking mid-sotol-story on blades, turning its head to focus on any potential prey item.




For the first time in a long time for me, this single GBAN looked and behaved MUCH like its Family Cuculidae cousin the Greater Roadrunner.



About an hour later it sat, preened, and sunned itself between a yucca and a patch of "cow tongue" prickly-pear.

It then flew southward just across the street.


So people, I would as well I suppose, come out and ask "Where's the ani?".
Depends, really. It was here a month ago. Two weeks ago. Yesterday?

Come on out here and enjoy the birds. I do.

Some always show themselves. Some more than others.

After all, it's up to the birds.
We just have to be out there.

Schrödinger's Quail

This morning at about 9:30 I got a phone call from a dear friend and fellow birder. He reported a deceased Montezuma Quail at the Lawrence E. Wood picnic area in the Davis Mountains. I was *thrilled* because I thought that meant that he had picked it up for me. Alas. He was already in Balmorhea and the bird was still on the side of the road!

In a hasty scramble, Matt and I attempted to notify birders in Alpine and Fort Davis and anyone who might possibly still be in the area after chasing the Tufted Flycatcher - and we came up empty handed. We knew that the bird was dead. But was it still there? Had it been hit again? What state was it in; smashed or still fresh? We summoned the powers of Sul Ross and The Nature Conservancy in the form of voice mail, e-mail and feeble telepathy. By 11:30 I was able to sneak away from work; we'd not been able to check e-mail since our initial plea, but it was worth the risk to discover whether or not 'Schrödinger's Quail' was still on the side of the road for me.

Best case scenario:
Dead Montezuma Quail would be in the shade on the side of the road.

Plausible Situation A:
Dead Montezuma Quail would be picked up by someone else.

Plausible Situation B:
Dead, smashed Montezuma Quail would be on the side of the road.

Plausible Situation C:
Dead Montezuma Quail would be unable to be located.

Clearly with A & C, there's room for interpretation. A phone or e-mail not to be received for a long time, a scavenger traipsing off with a prize...

So for the longest 90 minute drive, the Montezuma Quail was in a simultaneous state of being there and not-being-there; I just needed to open the proverbial box and look.

1: It is there!


















2: The facial pattern indicates that the bird is male.


















3: The poofy crown concealed a few pin feathers.


















4: Disney's version of "Sleeping Beauty" got nothin' on this guy.


















5: Big, scratchy, kicky claws. All the better to dig at roots with.


















6: I spy something molting. The gap in primary feathers has a new one growing in.

















Post to be elaborated upon once we've walked the dog and had dinner and... you get the idea =)

FAQ #1
Q: Aren't you worried about catching something?
A: No. As with windows and wind turbines, cars tend to hit birds that are healthy enough to cross roads. If the bird was a carrier of [West Nile, Avian Influenza, etc] I'd still probably have to lick it (for fecal/saliva contamination) and that's just not how I operate.

Edit: the slightly more stuffy version of this post is over at that other blog that steals all of our attention these days.

Tufted Flycatcher video

For some reason, our Big Bend blog refuses to let me upload the Tufted Flycatcher video from this morning... Seetrail lets me, so here it is! Shaky tufted awesome.



(original post: Tufted Flycatcher, Nov. 30)

creatures of Terlingua

This is by no means a comprehensive guide to the critters of Terlingua, but it highlights a few novel things:



The ubiquitous Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura).



We didn't see any javelinas (collared peccary), nor were we particularly concerned - they're docile. Feral hogs are more vicious by far. But we were quite tempted to get the t-shirt. It at least inspires hikers to leave the wildlife alone!



Stuffed jackalope! I've never seen a plush jackalope - taxidermy may be pretty advanced on matters of the jackalope, but there's nothing quite seeing your beloved jackalope immortalized in a line of plush creatures. The scorpion still rocks, almost as much as the plush rattlesnake I'm so fond of.



When I saw this, I did a double-take. Many birds have been plush-ized, and many are kind of strange (the blue TY pelican comes to mind), but this was the first time I've ever seen a plush Aplomado Falcon (Falco femoralis).



...see? Even the tag says so! And what interesting timing.

Hold Music vs. Lesser Nighthawk

To the dear readers of this blog (there must be 7 or 8 of you now, you exclusive club, you!) we apologize for the lag in super-awesome posts lately; we're on the road. To hold you over until the next post of witty banter, we invite you to consider this post "hold music" or elevator music, or whatever it is that fancy blogs have these days to keep readers from leaving.

Today's activity: Oiled Wildlife Response Workshop by Wildlife Rehabilitation & Education, aka Sharon Schmalz, my Houston area rehabber!

Afterward we drove down to Sabine Pass and tried to unwind but the migrants kept us on our toes. Highlight: Lesser Nighthawk. Second highlight? Common Nighthawk right after the Lesser!

In fact, here's a video - you can tell how windy it was (and hear the Royal Terns in the background) One more video and two photos are now up in our RBA album.




Yes, you say, there is a clump of bark-colored something in that video. And if you're not a birder, you're probably not going to care one way or another about Common vs. Lesser Nighthawk. Basically Lessers are silent, low-flying, buffy nighthawks who stick to arid southern regions. Commons are the ones you see/hear (they have a "BEERT!" call) over parking lots and around stadium lights at football games over much of the US.

Map from whatbird.com:



...as you can see, the critter shouldn't be at the very SE corner of Texas! If it strays another mile or two to the east, that's SW Louisiana ;-)

Happy migration; 140 spp in 2 days of birding, 1 more to go.

trip list

1,145 miles with less than 6 days of actual birding - the condensed e-bird version, from shoddy past-tense scribbles of incomplete notes and House Wren is missing. E-bird probably hates me for the way I butcher their system, but it's my slacking chase methods that got me here. And Matt only took notes for the life birds, so I don't even want to hear it! =)

Bold denotes life birds.

Date range: Feb 1, 2010 - Feb 7, 2010
Total # of Species: 102
Total # of Checklists: 16

Location(s):
Anzalduas County Pk (LTC 068); Bentsen-Rio Grande Val. SP WBC (Mission)(LTC 069);
Brooks County; Estero Llano Grande SP WBC (Weslaco)(LTC 054); Hidalgo County;
John's farm; McAllen; Quinta Mazatlan WBC (McAllen) (LTC 063);
Roma Bluffs WBC (LTC 077); Salineno (DeWind's Yard); San Ygnacio (LTC 087);
Santa Ana NWR (LTC 059); Weslaco Cemetery; Zacate Creek; Zapata Library

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck (Dendrocygna autumnalis)
Gadwall (Anas strepera)
Mottled Duck (Anas fulvigula)
Blue-winged Teal (Anas discors)
Cinnamon Teal (Anas cyanoptera)
Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata)
Green-winged Teal (Anas crecca)
Ring-necked Duck (Aythya collaris)
Plain Chachalaca (Ortalis vetula)
Least Grebe (Tachybaptus dominicus)
Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps)
American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos)
Neotropic Cormorant (Phalacrocorax brasilianus)
Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus)
Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga)
Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)
Great Egret (Ardea alba)
Snowy Egret (Egretta thula)
Green Heron (Butorides virescens)
White-faced Ibis (Plegadis chihi)
Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus)
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)
Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)
White-tailed Kite (Elanus leucurus)
Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii)
Harris's Hawk (Parabuteo unicinctus)
Roadside Hawk (Buteo magnirostris)
Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus)
Gray Hawk (Buteo nitidus)
White-tailed Hawk (Buteo albicaudatus)
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)
Crested Caracara (Caracara cheriway)
American Kestrel (Falco sparverius)
Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus)
Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus)
American Coot (Fulica americana)
Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)
Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus)
American Avocet (Recurvirostra americana)
Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius)
Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca)
Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes)
Long-billed Curlew (Numenius americanus)
Rock Pigeon (Columba livia)
Eurasian Collared-Dove (Streptopelia decaocto)
White-winged Dove (Zenaida asiatica)
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)
Inca Dove (Columbina inca)
Common Ground-Dove (Columbina passerina)
White-tipped Dove (Leptotila verreauxi)
Eastern Screech-Owl (Megascops asio)
Buff-bellied Hummingbird (Amazilia yucatanensis)
Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris)
Ruby-throated/Black-chinned Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris/alexandri)
Ringed Kingfisher (Megaceryle torquata)
Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon)
Amazon Kingfisher (Chloroceryle amazona)
Green Kingfisher (Chloroceryle americana)
Golden-fronted Woodpecker (Melanerpes aurifrons)
Ladder-backed Woodpecker (Picoides scalaris)
Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans)
Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe)
Vermilion Flycatcher (Pyrocephalus rubinus)
Great Kiskadee (Pitangus sulphuratus)
Couch's Kingbird (Tyrannus couchii)
Tropical/Couch's Kingbird (Tyrannus melancholicus/couchii)
Rose-throated Becard (Pachyramphus aglaiae)
Loggerhead Shrike (Lanius ludovicianus)
Green Jay (Cyanocorax yncas)
Cave Swallow (Petrochelidon fulva)
Black-crested Titmouse (Baeolophus atricristatus)
Marsh Wren (Cistothorus palustris)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula)
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea)
Northern Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe)
Clay-colored Thrush (Turdus grayi)
American Robin (Turdus migratorius)
Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)
Long-billed Thrasher (Toxostoma longirostre)
Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum)
Orange-crowned Warbler (Vermivora celata)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Dendroica coronata)
Black-throated Green Warbler (Dendroica virens)
Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas)
White-collared Seedeater (Sporophila torqueola)
Olive Sparrow (Arremonops rufivirgatus)
Field Sparrow (Spizella pusilla)
Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis)
Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum)
Lincoln's Sparrow (Melospiza lincolnii)
Crimson-collared Grosbeak (Rhodothraupis celaeno)
Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)
Pyrrhuloxia (Cardinalis sinuatus)
Black-headed Grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus)
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)
Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella magna)
Great-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus)
Hooded Oriole (Icterus cucullatus)
Altamira Oriole (Icterus gularis)
Audubon's Oriole (Icterus graduacauda)
House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus)
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)

South Texas Birding vs. Photography

An earlier post promised a Gallery of Worst Photos. I'm especially pleased to announce, in addition to the Best Birds series, we can also now feature Rio Grande Valley (RGV) Classics as well. Sadly missing from the lineup is the adult male Crimson-collared Grosbeak, due to his apparent allergy of cameras (mine, at least). These photos would be sponsored by Minolta and Eagle Optics if they were any better! As it is, they're shown in a smallish format to prevent your eyes from bleeding. No need to thank me ;-)

Without further ado...

In the Best Birds category of Worst Photos Ever:

Honorable Mention -
Rose-throated Becard (Bentsen SP/WBC - a Seetrail nemesis, sporadic RGV visitor)





3rd place -
Northern Wheatear (Beeville, TX - second TX record)





2nd place -
Amazon Kingfisher (Laredo, TX - first US record)



1st place -
Roadside Hawk (Weslaco, TX - frustrating)





(Can you even find the bird in the above photos?)

The down side to all of the rarity chasing (and seeing) is not the obligation to submit documentation, so much as attaching hideous photos to document great species! Mind you, the photos posted are the best of the ones taken!

...next up will be the RGV Classics portion of Worst Photos, followed by the miscellaneous adventures of Trudell & York, Birders At Large.

birding therapy

My wisdom teeth have been out for nearly a week now and I'm not quite back to solid foods yet. There's a throb where each tooth once was, so it will be a while yet before I brave crunchy foods (tortilla chips with dinner = mistake).

That said, a healthy dose of birding therapy has kept me distracted. Smiling does hurt after a while, but thankfully Matt is ok with a grumpy Heidi.

Here's the NARBA (North American Rare Bird Alert) link for Texas that has kept us distracted. There's also the Texbirds mailing list via birding on the (dot) net to keep us updated.

We're pleased to announce that we'll soon have a post that is centered on the Gallery of Worst Photos of the Best Birds. Overcast skies + camera + binoculars = frustrated Heidi.

Photos rumored to be included are:
Amazon Kingfisher (first US record)
Clay-colored Thrush (somewhat increasingly common bird in the RGV)
Rose-throated Becard (a Seetrail nemesis, though nearly annual in the RGV)
White-collared Seedeater (female; males do not exist)

Northern Jacana

Choke Canyon State Park has had a Northern Jacana for quite a while now - Matt had seen one in the Rio Grande Valley, but it'd be new for me. So, Northern Wheatear seen, we headed over to Choke Canyon.

So as not to disappoint anyone with the title:





The teetering "feel" of the bird was very similar to a Spotted Sandpiper - long legs tended to amplify small foraging movements.



I feel the urge to insert text between photo and thumbs, so here 'tis.



Here's a bit of habitat, and our dear friend Steve.

Northern Wheatear

Surely with the subject of "Northern Wheatear" this post will disappoint some people. In fact, here's a photo of a Savannah Sparrow. It's a very cooperative critter, not 15' from us, foraging behind a horse.



And here's a photo of the wheatear-wishful gathering crowd:



Here are thumbs of other angles for the SAVS and crowd:



Honestly, I'd have liked to get a photo of the little dog that adopted the Amish family. It was a very friendly and alert pup with a bone that any dog would envy; it was about half his size!

Lest I fail to wax poetic about a little bird who made us wait for nearly 5 frigid hours during the course of 2 days, I should mention that it is a remarkable creature. One belonging to northern climes, Alaska in the summer if the observer is lucky. We, as observers, were quite fortunate. The crisp, perfectly crafted peanut brittle made the drive worthwhile. The quiet, gentle conversation with John certainly made the cold bearable. His earnest work and respect for the land did not go unnoticed. Subsistence farming living at its best, the tiny farmhouse shelters at least 8 to 10 people.

While we waited, there were ample Savannah Sparrows, Vesper Sparrows, Eastern and Western Meadowlarks, a Northern Harrier, Sandhill Cranes, Mourning Doves, a Loggerhead Shrike, etc. Really, though, it was wonderful to see that a local naturalist was brave enough to open his property to hordes of curious birders. The gratifying experience was not the momentary glimpse of pale, muted grays. It was John and his lifestyle, welcoming birds as part of the farm, asking of the land only enough to survive. And reaping a Northern Wheatear.