Under the Sea – Part I of II…by Brad Marks

As you read this, we are on our way to catch the Gulf migration. We had to cancel this trip last year and looking forward to giving the Average Year efforts a booster shot (a few ticks behind, but link here). Thanks to some local finds, the count sits at a healthy 240 with just a shade over 9 months left. A few days in Dauphin Island will assuredly push me closer to the 300 goal. We first head to Florida for a boys agility competition and then make our way back across the panhandle to Gulf Shores. While we travel to our first base camp, Brad will be taking the helm to boldly go where no Intrigued post has gone before! Thankfully there are people like Brad (and his wife) that are willing to risk it all and live to post about it. …catch you later in the week, meanwhile, take it away Brad…(note, you can hit the image link to see larger versions of his shots)

With the exception of Hawaiian green sea turtles, nearly every Intrigued article has been about something with feathers, or at least above sea level.  This one is going to completely different.  The only air you will see is what’s reflected on the underside of the surface of the water, or the “underside of air”.  There’s also an evolution of photography woven throughout the story.  Grab your reef-safe sunscreen and a towel, because we are going snorkeling.

But first, set the way-back machine for a bit of history before we “dive” in.  Our friends from Boston scored a “free” condo on Kauai (kah-oo-ah-ee) for eight days in February 2000.  Of course, we said we’d go with them.  We found babysitters for Allyson (she was not quite four years old then and retired grandparents are wonderful).  Once we booked flights from frozen Chicago to Kauai (known as the Garden Isle), we were on our way.

Jan and I were in Hawaii!  We were very excited to squeeze out every ounce of fun during our first trip to the islands.  We decided to snorkel at Ke’e (KAY-ay) Beach on the northwest side of the island.  We were looking forward to some sunshine and warm water.

This was going to be our first underwater photography experience.  Not knowing what to expect, and not wanting to spend a bunch of money on a camera if we didn’t like it, we used disposable film cameras.  Five of them if I remember correctly.  Each little “camera in a box” had 24 exposures of ISO 400 film, a nearly microscopic (smaller than most smart phones) fixed focus plastic lens (only in focus for about 3-10 feet away), and a thumbwheel to wind the film. (Kids, go ask your parents or grandparents about manual winding film cameras)

After arriving at the beach, I jumped right in.  Holy crap the water is cold!  We were in Hawaii, right?  Shouldn’t this water be warm?  After the initial temperature shock, I eventually remembered to breathe and started snapping photos.  The water around Hawaii is very deep and never gets a chance to really warm up.  The ocean currents push very deep water up the steep slopes of the islands (upwelling) towards the surface.  Here is the first fish I saw, and photographed, underwater.

Under the See by Brad Marks
(digitized* film photo, 2000)

It is a surge wrasse (Thalassoma purpureum).  They are about the size of the 2-3 lb. bass from a farm pond but much more colorful.  The surge wrasse likes heavy surf areas (hence the name) and is usually within 30 feet of the surface.

After snorkeling for most of the morning and afternoon, I had already gone through two complete disposable cameras.  Jan reminded me that we still had more snorkel days planned and to save a camera (or two) for later in our vacation.  Two days later we found ourselves on the south side of Kauai at Po’ipu (POY-poo) Beach.  It is a lovely two-part lagoon, with a spit of sand down the middle where monk seals like to sun themselves.  By the way, Kauai has more beaches per mile than the rest of the Hawaiian Islands. One of them is 17 miles long.

Under the See by Brad Marks
(digitized* film photo, 2000)

This is (ready for the DON, Department of Obvious Names nomenclature) . . . drumroll please . . . an orangespine surgeonfish (Naso lituratus).  The orange-colored spines I could figure out.  The surgeon part is because their spines can inflict a nasty wound if you get too close, like surgeon’s scalpel.

Yes, these are sort of crummy fuzzy photographs.  Remember, they were taken with a plastic fixed-focus lens underwater in highly aerated surf and then converted to digital.  Enough excuses already, let’s see some more fish photos. 

Under the See by Brad Marks
(digitized* film photo, 2000)

These bluespine unicornfish (Naso unicornis) were just cruising around the water at Po’ipu Beach.  They typically grow to be just over two feet long.   This pair looked fully grown from where I was swimming.  Like many reef fish, these have leathery skin instead of scales.  The male in the photo has long streamers from the tips of his tail.  Both sexes have the unicorn feature on top in front.

Back in the day, we were used to waiting days to weeks to find out what sort of photos we ended up with.  I remember taking the camera boxes and rolls of film to Wal-Mart or Target to be “developed” into digital negatives.  I ask for the film back so I could scan the negatives later.

The rest of the underwater photos in this story are from the Big Island of Hawaii. 

Jan and I returned to the Big Island with our friends from Boston in January 2002.  (remember Foggy Hike?  Same trip.)  On a very sunny day in January, we took a snorkel cruise to Kealakekua Bay.  While the rest were still putting on our fins and masks, Jan jumped in with our new hardshell Sealife Reefmaster underwater camera (35mm point-n-shoot with built-in flash; no more disposables for us) strapped to her wrist.  This eel was just gliding over the coral, probably surprised by all of the snorkelers that just invaded its territory. 

Under the See by Brad Marks
(digitized* film photo, 2002)

It is not uncommon to see a whitemouth moray eel (Gymnothorax meleagris) poking its head out of the coral.  It is uncommon to see the entire animal swimming outside the protection of the coral.  Our guide told us later that the eel wasn’t in a threatening posture (mouth wide open), it was just “breathing”.

This side of the Big Island drops off very quickly.  In front of us was this wondrous coral reef with all manner of undersea life.  Behind us was the Pacific Ocean and deep blue nothingness.  Coral can exist in water down to a couple hundred feet deep.  Since the slope is so steep here, the band of dense colorful coral is very narrow (remember your geometry?).  After lunch on board the catamaran, we went into the water again.  After all, we had nearly two dozen rolls of film at our disposal.

First in the water after lunch, Jan saw this beauty nearly immediately, probably even before I was fully in the water.  Again.

Under the See by Brad Marks
(digitized* film photo, 2002)

It is . . . are you ready for this . . . a pinktail triggerfish (Melichthys vidua).  (DON working overtime again) They move about by wobbling their top and bottom fins only.  The “trigger” part of the name comes from the two dorsal spines.  The very large one can be held erect and literally lock in place when the second smaller spine “triggers” it to lock.  The fish can use these as a defense mechanism.  No, not to spear predators, but to lock themselves in place, hiding in a hole in the reef.  They swim into a small hole, “trigger” the spines, and they are locked in place until the danger passes.

A couple of days later Jan and I went on a scuba excursion.  She was already scuba certified; I was not (at the time).  We found a local dive shop that gave me a provincial “resort” certification, as long as I was with at least two other certified divers and could demonstrate enough skills to NOT drown anyone else.  For my first dive EVER, we did the most complicated entry possible:  a bench entry** at Two Step Beach.  The “beach” is located next to Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau (poo-oo-HO-new-ah oh HAW-now-now) National Historical Park (or Place of Refuge) on the west side of the Big Island.  The “beach” itself is not much more than a lava shelf at the edge of the ocean.  We took a deep breath and jumped in.  (See more of the story in the NOTES below).  After only a few minutes in the water at 35-40 feet beneath the surface (I think that’s a record depth at Intrigued, just like I think Ravenpalooza was at a record altitude of 14,115’), here is one of the very first locals we saw.

Under the See by Brad Marks
(digitized* film photo, 2002)

You may recognize the Hawaiian green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas), or honu, from a prior post.  It was peacefully gliding by us on its way to the deep.  Again, we really didn’t know we had a good photo until we developed the film a couple of weeks later. 

Fast forward the calendar to 2005.  We took our daughter Allyson to Hawaii for the first time.  She was excited to get in the water to try out her new snorkel gear.  One of our favorite places to go is Kahalu’u (ka-ha-LOO-oo) Beach Park on the Big Island of Hawaii.  The park has a nice lagoon mostly separated from the open ocean by a shallow reef.  On calm days between tides, the water here is warmer than Kealakekua Bay . . . for the most part.

In the middle of her first day snorkeling, Allyson popped up and said a fish was eating her fins.  We were skeptical at first because the tide was out and the water was shallow, thinking she scraped the rocks underwater.  But a few minutes later we saw this guy attacking her pink fins.

Under the See by Brad Marks
(digitized* film photo, 2005)

This Picasso triggerfish (Rhinecanthus rectangulus), more commonly known as humuhumunukunukuapua’a (hoo-moo-hoo-moo-noo-koo-noo-koo-ah-pooah-ah), or just “humu”, must have thought Allyson’s fins were a competitor because it kept attacking them.  The “humu” is Hawaii’s state fish.  We decided to move on and snorkel in another part of the lagoon.  But when we returned two days later to the same spot, guess what happened again?  Yup.  A humu, maybe even the same one, was attacking Allyson’s fins.

By now we were having our film developed on the islands as we shot it.  We used Longs Drug based on a referral from a local photographer.  (Longs also has a very fine selection of after-sun products for those that tend to burn and not tan, like me.)  She told us they know how to properly develop underwater photos, where most mainland labs do not have much practice with it.  On this vacation we shot 24 rolls of film total; five of those were beneath the waves. 

A couple of days later, the three of us went to Kealakekua Bay snorkeling.  A few minutes into the trip I noticed water sloshing inside the hard-shell case.  Three grains of sand were caught in the seal and were letting in sea water.  I was able to get to the boat and get the film safely out of the camera, but the damage to the camera was done.  The seawater had already shorted the electronics and corroded the battery.  Our underwater photos for this trip were over.  Once we were home again, I tried to get a replacement camera for the housing.  But by this time, everything had gone digital.

Stay tuned as our tropical photographers decide whether or not to enter the unknown realm of . . . underwater digital photography.  Gasp! Thank you for reading.  If you want to see more underwater photos from our Hawaii adventures, please visit here.  Just don’t look too far ahead for Part II photos.  Those will be coming soon to Wildlife Intrigued.

Credits

Thanks again to Jan and Allyson for proofreading and editing.  Thanks to Jan for many of the photos in this article. 

Notes

*I digitized the 35mm film negatives via two methods:  1. I purchased a dedicated Nikon Coolscan V ED film scanner.  2. I built a rig for my Nikon DSLR with a macro lens and backlit the negatives.  I have digitized about 400 rolls of 35mm film over the past few years through both devices.

**A bench entry involves timing the outgoing waves so you jump from the two-foot high bench right when the wave begins to retreat, pulling you away from shore.  The bench is on the edge of 10-15 feet of water so you do NOT have to worry about hitting the bottom.  You DO have to paddle like hell for a few seconds to make sure the next wave doesn’t push you right back into the hardened lava.  This was our view as the bubbles cleared after jumping in.

Under the See by Brad Marks
(digitized film photo, 2002)

As we surfaced after the first dive a few yards offshore, the dive master tapped me on the shoulder and told me we simply had to reverse the process to get out of the ocean.  Being the largest and presumably the strongest in the group he wanted me to help him.  He went first to made it look easy.  He asked me to fully inflate my vest and be ready to kick like crazy with the waves TOWARD the lava bench.  When the right wave was coming, he yelled “Now!” and I paddled for all I was worth.  The wave lifted me above the bench, pushed me a few feet inland then started to pull me back out again.  That’s when he grabbed my vest and held on.  Once I was stable on the rocks, he said “now you have to help me grab the rest of them”.  It was Jan’s turn next.  An extra-large wave lifted her and brought her in above the bench.  However, since the water was so high it was also going to pull her right back out.  I grabbed her scuba tank and held on until the water receded.  Then the instructor and I lifted her a few feet inland so the next wave wouldn’t carry her back out again.  On our second dive of the day, we walked about 100 yards to a shore entry where you simply walk into the ocean and back out again.  That would have been much simpler overall.  But then where would the cool story come from?

Birdapalooza II

March has turned out to be a very good month and we still have several days left! Thanks to our quick trip to Vegas, my Average Year status is now at 239 (link here) – that includes two local finds yesterday thanks to standing out in a large tree lined meadow waiting for the distinct peent of horny male American Woodcocks (link here – more sad memories). Call me 12, but I still laugh every single time I say or type out that name hehehe. The other +1 was more of a twist as it “found” me. I was just standing there noting it was getting surprisingly chilly as the sun was preparing for bed, when I noticed a fast moving bird heading across the meadow directly at me. Ever witness people just standing there taking it all in as a car or other potentially dangerous object speeds in their direction? This bird just kept coming, I just kept standing there, bird continues to close the gap, I continue to gawk, bird appears to be on a mission, I continue to ponder the history of flight, bird undeterred, I wonder if Ron is standing next to me (birds hate him), bird proceeds to whiz past my right ear and land on a nearby branch, I nearly crap my pants. What the hell was THAT! I turned to give it a stern talking to when I noticed it was a Fox Sparrow. Took a few snaps to get the +1 for the year and politely informed it a Top Gun flyby wasn’t necessary, a friendly wave would have been sufficient. I don’t speak bird, but I think it called me a ground hugging troglodyte and pointed to its wings – sigh.

That puts me a mere 61 birds away from the 300 goal for the year. Hoping to take a huge chunk out of that next week as we are heading down to Dauphin Island (and along the Panhandle) for some migration action. During that time we’ll be bringing you several posts from Brad including an adventure to a place Intrigued has never been before. Actually, Brad also influenced today’s featured post.

Ringed Kingfisher found at UTRGV Campus Land bridge in Brownsville, TX in January 2022

Hit the jump to experience Birdapalooza II

Continue reading Birdapalooza II

15 Minutes of Fame…by Brad Marks

As promised, it is time to pop another offering from Brad’s growing queue. He has been working overtime to bring you a number of new adventures, many of which we will be releasing during my fast approaching migration trip. To wet your whistle, here is an adventure which happens to be closer to home. Note, I thought monopods were just for whacking faster runners when wildlife decides to make a S’more out of photographers. Who knew there was another purpose ha.

Take it away Brad…

Usually, these posts include some sort of travel or exotic location where there just happens to be a bird or three worth photographing.  Brian heads to a bird sanctuary near the border in Texas.  Jan and I have normally just returned from a fantastic vacation location.  This time was a little bit different.

During our last trip to Colorado, I noticed my monopod (an aluminum Manfrotto 680B from the mid 2000’s) was slipping.  It was having trouble supporting the weight of my Nikon 200-500 plus the D300 with battery grip.  The middle section would slide down 4-5 inches, followed closely by the top section sliding 1-2 inches.  I tried to tighten the joints with the plastic tool included with the monopod; no luck.  When we arrived home, I discovered that parts are no longer available for this particular model.  I also found several people on-line that had simply tightened the joints beyond what may be prudent.  While that was not something I wanted to do, I wondered if the bolts had loosened because of usage.  I grabbed my favorite metric socket set and loosened all the joints to look for debris.  Finding none, I slowly tightened the bolts on the locking levers, about 1/16 of a turn each time.  Try the joint.  Adjust as necessary.  Repeat.  At some point I hit the magic friction point because the monopod stopped sliding with the lens/camera combo mounted on top.  And it didn’t feel like I was going to snap off the locking levers.  Now I had to verify the results.

Birds from Brad Mark's backyard

Hit the jump to see the results of Brad’s verification efforts!

Continue reading 15 Minutes of Fame…by Brad Marks

Sparring with Nurses

Howdy everyone! Good news, had my annual physical today and based on the results, I can, indeed, confirm I am still alive. It was touch ‘n go there for a while – especially when they had three nurses holding me down while another stuck a railroad spike in my arm to suck out gallons and gallons of my precious life-juice. I have to find out what strength regiment those ladies keep, holy cow, they’d mop up on the Steer wrangling circuit. A lot of stress to go through just to hear those sweet sounding 5 little words “Keep doing what you’re doing”. My doctor is trained well, as long as my numbers remain impeccable, he overlooks the occasional visit for ultra “mishaps”.

While I sip on some orange juice to recover from the earlier bloodletting (before heading out on today’s long training run), thought I would go ahead and get another post out for the month. This will buy me a few days as I verify everything is ready to go for Brad’s upcoming post. Since I introduced you to Guadalupe River State Park in the previous post, figured I would feature another feathered friend captured at that same location.

Lincoln's Sparrow found at Guadalupe River State Park, Spring Branch, TX in January 2022

Hit the jump to read more about our buffy colored friend!

Continue reading Sparring with Nurses

Days in White Satin

If things go as scheduled in the coming weeks (and that is a big fingers crossed) we should be back on the hunt come April. Last year we received some very sad news at this time requiring us to cancel our plans to catch the bird migration at Dauphin Island, Alabama (link here). To be honest, the loss has yet to transition from the “difficult” stage – every holiday, every noteworthy experience and every milestone that has happened since has been paired with a sour element knowing we wouldn’t be able to share it with her. That trip has now been rescheduled, although something tells me I’ll be thinking less about the Gulf crossers and more about the time spent trying to express the appreciation for all she had done for us. It is what I didn’t get the chance to say that saddens me the most.

With the coming travels, I am trying to stay on top of the posts in between working on the latest batches of images from Texas and now Vegas. I do have a pretty good safety net thanks to a number of really nice features Brad has added to the queue. I’ll definitely be rolling a few of those out this month and then leverage his larger efforts while we are traveling. Found this series of images from last year’s Texas shoot. This beautiful white Duck is what triggered the memories.

I’ve mentioned it before, but I generally refrain from featuring “domestic” waterfowl. That doesn’t mean I do not fill up my digital cards when we encounter them, rather tend to put them to the side assuming our readers would rather read/learn about wilder encounters. Every once in a while, the end products turn out pretty nice and I go ahead and add them to the queue (link here). I think this series fits that select category.

Hit the jump to see a few more shots of our Duck in white satin.

Continue reading Days in White Satin

They Who Eat Snakes with Feet

After a seriously bumping landing in Vegas and a similar rough landing on the way back, I can now proclaim we had a successful birding trip in Sin City. During the course of outing, I am quite religious about copying all the contents of the digital card(s) to two separate portable drives at the end of each day. Recharge the battery(ies), format the card(s) and get ready for the next day. I am careful about only using one drive to do any quick validations and count tallies to insure one copy stays pristine. At the end of the trip, those two drives end up being uncomfortably close together, causing a high degree of worry until the contents of one of the drives is copied onto the highly redundant NAS drives and another copy on the work drives for later digital processing. Can you tell I’ve lived an Information Technology life – TRUST NO ELECTRONIC DEVICE MADE BY HUMAN HANDS ha. Everything safely copied – stress levels return to normal. I did get a chance to update this year’s Average Year stats (link here). Official count comes in at +26 for the Vegas trip with 9 new lifers bringing the current total to 237 with 14 lifers (Ron currently sits at 158 with 12 lifers). 35 birds ahead of last year’s pace – not too shabby only a few months into ’23.

Hope you all enjoyed Brad’s Yellowstone series – it definitely has Linda and I motivated to book a trip back out there. It is time for me to get back on the post horse and earn my keep. Ironically, with the prior notes about how well this year’s birding is going, I’ve decided to feature a bird that successfully eluded us this year.

Grey Hawk found at Quinta Mazatlan, McAllen, TX in January 2022

As you will see later in the post, the Grey Hawk (Technically Gray Hawk) has a very limited presence in the United States.  Not to be confused with the male Northern Harrier which is often referred to as the Grey Ghost (link here).  This Hawk one of the top When we head down to Texas each January, this is one of the targets at the top of the list.

Hit the jump to read more about this relatively rare visitor to our southern border.

Continue reading They Who Eat Snakes with Feet

Feathers and Fur – Part 2 of 2…by Brad Marks

Body hurts, eyes red and very exhausted, I must be in Sin City! Most of that condition is due to non-stop birding since we arrived – the rest of the time, well, as the say, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”. The birding front has been incredible. Already +22 for the Average Year (link here – not updated yet) with a number of lifers in the mix, all of which will assuredly be featured here sometime in the future. Meanwhile, I wanted to get the 2nd part of Brad’s Yellowstone adventure out to you.

Take it away Brad…

In the last episode our intrepid travelers had arrived in Yellowstone National Park in June.  It was June . . . remember that.  There was a blizzard on the first night.  They scraped snow from cars, endured closed roads, saw geysers, bison, birds, rotten egg smells, etc. 

Now you are up to date.  Time to continue on after our second of three nights in the park.  This is our  last full day at Yellowstone.  Here’s the map to help set the stage again. (It’s a big one a takes a few seconds to open.)

It is still mid-June in Yellowstone.  Another 4” of new snow fell overnight (second night in a row) at Lake Lodge, though much more snow fell in the higher elevations.  Again.  All of the park roads were closed until about 10am.  When some of the roads were finally opened and the car was cleared of snow (same benefit card snow scraper) we headed to Fishing Bridge a few miles up the road.  However, when we arrived, there was only one car in sight with the ranger inside her car frantically waving and yelling for us to stay in our car.  After about 10 minutes, she came out of the car to check the area.  She motioned it was OK for us to get out now.  We learned she was in her car because a grizzly sow and her cub had ambled through about 30 seconds before we arrived.  Their tracks were still visible in the early morning snow.

Shots from Yellowstone National Park by Brad Marks

We walked out onto Fishing Bridge to get a view up and down the waterline.  We’d only been there a few moments when this pair of American white pelicans went flying by.

Shots from Yellowstone National Park by Brad Marks

Hit the jump to learn more about Brad’s Yellowstone adventure.

Continue reading Feathers and Fur – Part 2 of 2…by Brad Marks

Feathers and Fur – Part 1 of 2…by Brad Marks

Well, we are officially off to the West. During our absence, I am turning the keys to the Intrigued Headquarters over to Brad. He will be keeping you entertained while Linda and I quest for the Holy Grail…eh, more like a bird or two or fingers crossed 20. Figured this would be a perfect time to roll out one of his two-parters from probably my favorite destination – Yellowstone National Park. Enjoy!

Take it away Brad and remember, no mega-parties at HQ until AFTER the work is done …

Many years ago, our family (Jan, Allyson and I) took a trip to Yellowstone National Park.  You may remember me telling you that our daughter Allyson didn’t want to spend so much time looking at rocks in this prior post.  Based on the pushback from a tweenager, I only booked three nights at a lodge in the park, giving us two full days for exploring.  Accommodations inside the actual park are limited and usually fill up 8+ months in advance for summer visits.  Two full days is by no means an extensive amount of time in Yellowstone (we still drove hundreds of miles inside the park and barely saw anything, IMHO).  Taking the advice of a fellow traveler, photographer, and friend, we had flown into Salt Lake City and rented a car for the drive to Yellowstone.  Our trip was in early June, hoping to miss most of the tourists with their kids still in school.  We approached from the west entrance through West Yellowstone in Montana.  Literally within a few minutes of the park rangers checking our annual park pass, we stopped along the road and were greeted with this view.

Shots from Yellowstone National Park from Brad Marks

Hit the jump to read more about Brad’s Yellowstone experience.

Continue reading Feathers and Fur – Part 1 of 2…by Brad Marks

Wet, Still and Feisty

Howdy folks. I have good news. Brad has checked in and thanks to a harrowing escape from a very agitated splinter tribe of the Baka, he’ll be returning to home base soon yeah! Best of all, he has digital cards full of future post fodder sure to entertain our readers. I’ll have to wait to hear the full office report out – dodging poison darts sounds like some serious popcorn munching stories. Linda and I are heading out into the field ourselves. Just a week stint for us, although I contend it feels a lot longer with limited amounts of sleep in Sin City. Expecting a big boost to my current Average Year count (link here) currently sitting at a respectable 210 thanks to two recent visitors to our feeders. Just to set the schedule, this will be the last post of the month from me in order to give me a chance to respond to comments etc. before we jet out. Brad will then take the helm to close out what is left of February and the first post or two in March.

With the admin work out of the way, how about we get to today’s featured feathered friend.

Green Heron found at South Padre Island Bird Viewing and Nature Center in January 2022

Completely opposite the sun soaked issues I had to deal with in the previous Cattle Egret post, today’s series is more of a literal drenching. Rather than having to battle the exposure gods to keep from blowing out the brilliant whites of that Egret, I found myself trying to suck in all the light I could to pull this Green Heron out of darkness. Rain had just passed, the sky was still thick with overcast and the waters around the South Padre Island Bird Viewing and Nature Center (and now Alligator Sanctuary) had taken on a dreary tone.

Hit the jump to see a few more pictures of our rain soaked shore hunter.

Continue reading Wet, Still and Feisty

Hungry Hungry Hippo Heron

Quick change of post plans. Originally scheduled to have a two-parter from Brad for these next posts, but I forgot we are sending him on assignment to a dark foreboding destination in a forgotten corner of the world in search of new post fodder. Sure, he was reluctant at first, but got onboard when I explained it was for the good of our loyal readers at the cost of relatively minor inconveniences (Malaria shots for starters). Personal concern for safety was quickly replaced with thoughts of National Geographic level grander and notoriety. Let’s all thank Brad for his dedication and commitment to you and the Intrigued family. If he makes it .. I mean when he makes it back we’ll pop some posts off his queue to feature while Linda and I are sipping umbrella drinks around the pool in a popular desert destination.

In the meantime, you are stuck with me and this here rather gruff looking Egret.

Cattle Egret found at San Antonio Zoo, San Antonio, TX in January 2022

Hit the jump to read more about this blocky Egret more apt to be found in a dry field than standing in the water alongside the rest of its kin.

Continue reading Hungry Hungry Hippo Heron