I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel – at least let’s hope it isn’t the light to the afterlife ha. Ironically, many of the events and tasks that have been consuming me of late are coming to their end. We closed out Mom’s estate today with the successful closing on the house and tonight I completed my last taper before Saturday’s Bix 7 Race. Now a bit of rest for the ankle and maybe some ice, although I doubt the swelling is going to subside much more before race time. It feels strong enough for a hilly road race and looking forward to testing it on the trails next week. The roots, rocks and uneven terrain that makes trail running so technical, has a way of finding any of your weak spots. We will cross that bridge when it comes – right now I need to focus on the blog as I’m just a few posts down and the end of the month is a mere arm’s length away. My original intent of featuring this feathered friend at this point in the month may not come true now.
The Bix 7 race in Davenport Iowa is always held on the last Saturday of July. If you are familiar with the Midwest, the last weekend of July usually means one thing – DAMN HOT! Not just the eh, its warm, rather the sticky, sweaty, sauna like, humid, pressure cooker temps that melt the bottoms of your shoes to the asphalt pavement and makes you look like you just came out of the washer. This is my 18th consecutive running of the Bix (I am not counting the missed one from two years ago that went virtual because of Covid) and I can count on one hand how many “nice” days we’ve had for this race. Note, pouring down rain does fall into the nice category. Just so happens the day Ron and I shot this Kentucky Warbler felt just like a normal Bix race day.
Hit the jump to read more about what it took to get this Warbler checked off for the year.
Before I go on, I will let you know that I might have to start using TWO hands to count the good Bix days. Did a quick check on the forecast up in Davenport for Saturday – 60’s overnight then 62-73 degrees (F) during the race with only a 4% chance of rain. Perfect would have had some cloud cover, but that’s just getting demanding. Contrary to that surprisingly positive weather outlook, this Kentucky was taken in a sticky, sweaty, sauna like, humid, pressure cooker valley at Tawny Oaks in Edelstein, IL.
Ron had come down for a small Fourth of July gathering on the 3rd. We caught a little birding in Jubilee College State Park earlier that day before the guests arrived and planned a full birding day on the 4th. Actually we also did some post-midnight birding at Jubilee after the guests had left in an attempt to get Ron a Barred Owl for our “Average Year” (link here). I think the local fireworks might have scared them off as we came up empty. The last time I was at Tawny Oaks (looking for American Woodcocks link here), I found a Barred Owl out and about in late afternoon. Never really birded the trails out there and figured it was a good opportunity to explore. Probably should have checked weather out before picking that place. It didn’t take long for it to get ridiculously hot… and kept getting hotter and hotter as we made our way to the valley floor. That was not the worst part. The Mosquitoes were swarming, licking their stickers for some well-cooked flesh. Always good to know your torture limits – tie me to a chair, rip off my shirt, spray Axe body spray on me and bring in a plexiglass container full of f’n Mosquitoes while emitting a maniacal laugh. “Yes, I admit it, I like watching Pitch Perfect – now get me out of here!!!!!!”. I jest of course (while looking around like the members of the band Stillwater recovering from weather turbulence hitting their tour plane).
We did stop and put on another coat of DEET. Having learned about Merlin from a lady up at Montrose, both our phones were out scanning for targets. All of a sudden the Kentucky Warbler flashed on both of our displays. The heat took a backseat, there was a +1 for the year hanging out here that we assumed was missed for the year after canceling the Dauphin Island migration trip.
Frustrating! We were not able to locate it. It is pretty dense down there and it sounded like it was a bit off the trail. Gave in and started the climb back up. Came to a split in the path – one went further out, one continued on to the parking lot. Probably a hundred yards down the trail opposite the parking lot, Ron jinxed us and mentioned it looked like rain. You know it, I know it and now the damn clouds know we know it AAARRRRGGGHHHHH. A quick check of the radar showed one nasty storm heading our way, so we retraced our steps and took the other fork….ten feet later we were absolutely poured on. That was when my ankle was still really sore and trying to hold traction on the steep muddy hills was incredibly painful. Soaking wet we made it to the pavilion where we waited out what turned out to be two fronts.
Still had some day left, so we dropped back into the valley in one last attempt to find that … should probably go with “this” Kentucky Warbler. It was hanging out in the same place as before, but this time it came out alongside the trail giving us a few chances to tin it. Probably hoping we would stir up some insects for dinner. They are known for following Army Ant marches and snatching any prey that scatters on their approach. What little light that was able to make it through the lingering clouds was having a difficult time cutting through the dense canopy. You can see the grain from the high ISO, but amazed we could get uncluttered shots of it in between the black swarms of Mosquitoes.
It took a lot of sweat, some strain on the ankle, a hell of a soaking and a dunking of DEET, but we got it done and got the check for the year! Need to wrap it there to start packing for the race. Hoping to get the final post out sometime before the race..until then, stay cool!
Wildlife Intrigued 
Smart looking Warbler B except…..except it’s legs and feet look too big for it’s body. Mind you it could probably pick fault with me so I’ll forgive it.
Good luck with that run. You know why the ankle is still swollen? It’s our bodies way of protecting an injury, just sayin’.
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Good catch on the legs and feet, those things are way out of proportion. I wasn’t going to say anything either as it would probably use its wing to point at its ankle and mock me ha! Run went well today – ankle made it through better than expected and now with some extra time before the upcoming October ultra I can get back in the gym and get it fully strengthened up again. As far as swelling, that’s just a joint’s pooling of baby tears when they are cranky and begging for attention – give in and they’ll just try it again hehehe. Thanks for dropping in B – keep the great Butter posts coming!
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I presume that since you and Ron were soaked, the cameras and lenses could not avoid a bit of moisture either? That much water usually means a re-application of DEET. Ever had any problem with the repellent melting plastic parts? (long story)
Very vibrant little warbler! The color jumps out of the background. Nice detail on the spider webs.
Do we need to arrange an ice truck for after Bix this weekend?
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Yep, our cameras did get a good soaking. I don’t worry much about it as both my camera and glass are completely sealed – The Beast also has Lenscoat on it when keeps a lot of the water off. I make sure to keep the outside glass pointed down to make sure that doesn’t get dirty, beyond that let it rain, let it rain. I know Ron’s body is sealed as well, not sure about his glass though – if there’s a chance of rain, he’ll usually carry a cover with him (forgot it this time). I know exactly what DEET will do to your plastic parts as it ate through all my lettering on my first 7000 until I finally realized what was happening. Now I spray the DEET and then clean off the insides of my hands before heading into the field. I also carry a small DEET spray with me just in case it does rain or if the first coat isn’t doing it – think that day was a 4 coat day with the amount of Mosquitoes in that valley and then, of course, the rain. Unlike the last series, the background didn’t compete as much with the Warbler coloring. I actually didn’t notice the spider web until I got into the digital darkroom. A nice bonus even with all that grain. I sent you the post race pick from the Bix race – thought you would appreciate that ha. Thanks for dropping in Brad.
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Beautiful Warbler. Hopefully the temps will be on the cooler side for your race. We got a tenth of an inch of rain last night. That brought our total rainfall for July to a half an inch.
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The temps were definitely way better than the norm for this time of the year. It did warm up faster than expected and they put a brand new layer of asphalt down right before the race last year that just seems to suck up and retain all the heat from the day – like running on coals. Fortunately, we got a cool breeze whenever we passed between the downtown buildings and the side roads back down to the river. Glad you got some rain, but that doesn’t sound like enough to sustain you – few weeks ago we got 2.5″ in one weekend. Appreciate you coming by Timothy – cute bunny shots!
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Sounds like you had so decent conditions for your run. Asphalt is a heat trap.
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Yep, no complaints here – when I started racing there a large section of the course was still brick – good on the heat part, but a lot harder on the stability front. Was thinking how back that would have been on my tweaked ankle as I made it to that section this morning.
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An incredibly beautiful Warbler that perched so nicely that you were able to take great photos!
Lately I didn’t see many Warblers and was glad to see this one.
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Thank you Kaya. For the brief amount of time it graced us with its presence I am very happy with what made it into the tin. This year we have had more Warblers hanging around than in previous years. Hoping they end up liking what they see here and choose to keep coming back.. or technically “staying” here so we can enjoy them all summer – time will tell. Appreciate you dropping in and joining the conversation.
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Good work, pulling this one out of the shadows! I’m with you on the mosquitoes being torture devices. I recently bought some Picaridin. Haven’t gone out to try it yet, hoping it is equally as effective as DEET against the little monsters, and it has the advantage of not eating the lettering off my lens.
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Thank you Sam – have to admit, a bit of luck as I was pushing the needed speed if it started moving around a lot – popped up and took a good long look at us (fairly still) before heading off. Ironically, we had actually used Picaridin as our first coat for the day. Ron hates Ticks and I had found him the Repel Tick repellent to try – that is based on Picaridin. Really liked the fact it wasn’t as greasy as the Repel DEET product. It worked pretty well until we got into the bottoms and then the Mosquito swarm broke through – ended up adding another layer from a pocket Repel spray I usually carry out into the field for this exact scenario. Mentioned to Brad previously that DEET ate the plastic and lettering off my first 7000 – didn’t figure out what was happening until was too late. Now I make sure to clean the inside of my hands after applying the repellent so it doesn’t happen again. You will have to let me know how the Picaridin works for you.
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