Month: April 2025

Color Me Rufous

Wow, hard to believe we are almost through April already. Pages are flying off the calendar and I have sooo much to do. Someday I have to figure out the formula that allowed me to get all my tasks done while I was still grinding out days in the corporate world. To Brad’s credit he likes to point out that my time is now filled doing things I enjoy vs hunting bad spirits in the machine and filling out TPS reports. I can’t deny my time devoted to travel and birding has increased significantly and thanks to that, I am proud to say I have officially shattered my all-time Average Year record (link here). I tried to get all the numbers up to date, but I’ve hit it hard these last couple of days so that page is already off. My record (from 2023) was 340 species – as of today it sits at 352+3 putting me at 168th in the US and 8th in my county. Placements are fluctuating all over the place depending on where you are in relation to the migration so those rankings are a bit fluid. I also refreshed my life list count and even updated the counter on the left nav bar. It is rare when that is accurate, but for now 472 is correct! Brad is right, birding is definitely better than IT Enterprise Architecture ha!

The key part of those bird counts is the increased travel – in particular our monthly trips to the southwest. Today’s featured feathered friend comes courtesy of last year’s trip to Tucson, Arizona. Now, this specimen is going to be a bit hmmmm, how to put this … let’s go with a letdown from our recent offerings. We’ve tried to bring you a colorful assortment of avian fodder as of late to help make up for the lack of excitement that is coming your way …but before then…another dose of color!

Me at Catalina State Park entrance, Tucson, AZ in January 2024

Okay, now gather your wits, lower your expectations, prepare for the worst and hit that jump (might help if you close one eye before you do that).

Continue reading Color Me Rufous

One . . . Two-hoo . . . Three…By Brad Marks

With bittersweet feelings I can report that Linda and I are back from this year’s second migration to the southwest. I’ll miss southeast Arizona having found a number of new incredible birding location and Vegas, well that holds a special place in our hearts. With that said, it is good to be home even it means long days of getting the homestead ready for summer. Unfortunately, there is no way to just click our heels and wake up home – the haul back is a drain and we are both exhausted (admission, Linda has to do most of the driving due to her vertigo so it is definitely harder on her). While we recover, Brad is going to take us on an adventure in a completely opposite direction to our recent trek. His featured species actually holds a sad place in my heart due to an unfortunately incident with a local favorite I used to greet on my way to work every day (I’ll forego that link). He has a much better experience!

Take it away Brad…

Let me set the stage for you.  It’s mid-February in South Carolina.  Jan and I were at the Savannah Wildlife Refuge visitor center.  The outside air temperature is about 40 degrees warmer than at home, but it is still only about 40 degrees Fahrenheit.  You can do the math for how cold it might have been where we live.  I had gloves on, so feeling the tiny control buttons on the camera were a challenge.  I am very used to being able to navigate the buttons for focus point movements, ISO settings, partial shutter release, etc.  Gloves take away all of that sensitive feel.  My nose was cold and my breath was condensing into little clouds.  But here we are, walking around looking for birds to photograph.

Jan had wandered ahead of me but taken a different fork in the path than I did.  We can hear the traffic on the state highway a couple hundred yards away through the leafless trees.  Did I mention my toes are already cold and I’ve only been walking about 15 minutes.  The Visitor Center wasn’t open yet; it opens at 10am.

As I wandered around, looking for birds I happened on a standing tree trunk that had seen better days.  I noticed a very large knot hole near the top and thought that would be a perfect place for an owl nest.  A few feet away from me was a sign post with a small sign on top.  The sign said “Barred Owl” and nothing more.  At least that’s how I remember it because I didn’t take a photo.  As I was staring at the hole for a couple of minutes, willing the owl to come out (not even knowing if there was an owl inside or not), I had the feeling I was being watched.  I turned around expecting to see Jan waving me over for a bird find, but she wasn’t there.  Instead, it was I that was being watched.

Barred Owl found by Brad Marks

Who dost thou stare in my direction? Hit thy jump to reveal.

Continue reading One . . . Two-hoo . . . Three…By Brad Marks

A Splash of Color for Easter

Happy Easter everyone! This is coming to you a little early, but we are still on the road and we have learned there is no guarantee of connectivity wherever we end up for the night. Rather than risk it, I wanted to get this out while we still had the ability to publish. Our spring migration is quickly coming to a close as we are on our return trip from the southwest. Currently stopped in Oklahoma, but we have to make it to St. Louis by Sunday so the boys can compete at the Poodle Agility Nationals starting Monday – they are NOT looking forward to getting all groomed and fluffed up to compete as they are looking a bit grizzly from all the travel – same goes for us ha. So far this has been a very productive start of the year birding wise as I’ve pulled within 10 birds of eclipsing my record count of 340 back in 2023 (link here). Barring another bad injury, that should be easily attainable, especially since the migration is just getting rolling back in the Midwest. Of special note, I’ve managed to add 37 new lifers since January, so plenty of fodder for future posts! Today’s featured feathered friend is not one of those and in fact, not one that I am able to include in my annual count.

Indian Peafowl found at St. David Holy Trinity Monastery in St. David, AZ in January 2024

Quite the splash of color to celebrate the Easter holiday. Hit the jump to see more shots of this exquisite foreign species.

Continue reading A Splash of Color for Easter

Tyrannidae Confunnidae

More greetings from the West. We are officially back in Arizona now that the Vegas stay has come to its end. Managed to pick up several birds while we were out there that puts me a mere 4 birds from last year’s total annual species count which was 327 (link here). That’s a “total count” with a ‘T’. Definitely having a good year and my 2023 record of 340 is in definite reach considering we haven’t even made it to spring migration yet. We packed a lot into our Vegas stay as those days as Ron was able to come join us for a few (definitely boosted his numbers as well) and we decided to explore Spring Mountain for the first time even adding new parts of the Lake Mead Recreational Area that took full days themselves. Add in the stops at Count’s Customs and Linda’s favorite casinos and next thing we know our time was up. Didn’t even have a chance to take John (link here) up on his generous offer for a drink – hoping he takes a rain check on that as we will definitely be back. In that theme, since we are currently “back” in Arizona on our return leg, figured I’d feature a lifer tinned during last year’s visit to this state.

Cassin's Kingbird found at Reid Park, Tucson, AZ in January 2024

How well do you know your Kingbirds? Take a guess which one this is and check your answer by hitting the jump!

Continue reading Tyrannidae Confunnidae

Under Construction…by Brad Marks

Greetings from the west! Most of you know by now that Linda and I are still out in the field and will be for several more weeks. This trip is turning out to be far better than last year’s winter trip out here and I must say southeast Arizona is really growing on us. As far as birding goes, some descriptions come to mind, productive, educational, strenuous and did I already mention exhausting!?! Best part is my brother Ron had the opportunity to meet us out here recently and we had a couple of solid days looking for our feathered friends in the desert scrub. Ended up missing some target birds (mostly for Ron), but a day of birding is always a good day regardless of the haul…and speaking of hauling, Brad is going to take us on another journey, this time all the way to Alaska for some timber hauling. Take care everyone, I’ll continue to check in from time to time when I have time and more importantly – connectivity.

Take it away Brad…

There we were, unloading ourselves from a small tour bus in Alaska.  Jan and I signed up for a guided Wildlife Tour at Icy Strait Point near Hoonah, Alaska.  Our tour guide, Amy, was a local who loved nature.  We could tell because we could hardly keep up with her stories and sightings of wildlife, even after just leaving the pick-up point.  Her family had been on the island for five generations.  She was also a volunteer EMT which was helpful in case any tourists went down hard during the tour.

Our first stop was a parking lot on the other side of the small island at the ferry terminal near the village of Hoonah.  As the group exited the bus (I was sitting in the way-back), Amy had us stay to the side to avoid being run over by the other tourist mini-buses.  No desire to put those EMT skills to use so early in the day.

Jan, of course, was more interested in the wildlife across the road from the parking lot and walked into the middle of the lot by a large light pole.

I had wandered to the edge of the water looking for seabirds that we might not find at home.  Then I heard a familiar sound and looked around to see where it was coming from.  The sound was of a DSLR at a high frame rate grabbing photos as fast as the shutter could recycle and release.  It was a Nikon camera, one of mine, but not the one I was holding.  The noise was coming from the camera Jan was using.  I quickly tried to see what she had spotted and was taking photos of.  Then I saw it.

Bald Eagle found by Brad and Jan in Alaska

…and now you have seen it! Hit the jump to read more about this Alaskan resident.

Continue reading Under Construction…by Brad Marks

They Call Him the Streak

Welcome to April everyone! Big thanks to Brad for keeping you entertained while I am out traipsing about the west. Some would consider vacation to be a relaxing, lazy day endeavor. In contrast, we here at Intrigued approach it as a test of strength and resolve mixed in with equal amounts of frustration and euphoria. It does come with a perpetual smile though as there is nothing better for the soul than being out in nature hunting for feathers. It also means there is a good chance you will be without connectivity which is the case for the last several days as we were exploring southeastern Arizona. Apologies for the delayed responses to post comments and the avalanche of unread emails that are still trying to download. I need to get caught up, but the next several days will be busy as my brother Ron is coming out to meet us for some weekend birding. He has some catching up to do as I just broke into the top 100 birders in all of US with my 308 annual count as I am on quite a streak! More on that in future posts. In the meantime, thought I would introduce you to another Streak.

Streak-Backed Oriole found at Riparian Preserve at Gilbert Water Ranch, AZ in January 2024

Hit the jump to read more about today’s featured feathered friend.

Continue reading They Call Him the Streak