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Whoops then Brags

Suspect most of our readers know my long training runs are used to work out upcoming posts. There is plenty of “noodle time” to come up with a theme and decide on the best supporting series of shots from the tiny sliver of backlog in the image queue. Did you just chuckle, I heard you chuckle!..okay, maybe “three year” backlog would be a more accurate description. Too my credit I have tried to stay in that 1 to 1.5 year range over the last year or so, but I digress. Arrived at the trail yesterday, stretched, looked at the forecast, noted the heat index and prepared to be miserable for the next several hours. That is when I noticed every post was absolutely covered in Cicadas, some partially in and others fully out of their shells. The holes had been noticeable in the trail dirt for about a week or so, but had not really noticed them out – they have now formally arrived. There was an unfortunate Cicada that had emerged, but then apparently “smacked” into lifelessness. The thought of waiting 17 years (granted some are on a 13yr cycle), digging yourself out of the ground, graduating from nymphood into adulthood and then “splat” consumed me for the multitude of miles – futility, mortality, lifespan, purpose, the lockers at the end of Men in Black and a cadre of other topics since sweated out. I mention this only as an excuse for completely forgetting about working out the post.

Soooo…. Whoopers it is!

Whooping Cranes found at the Big Tree in Rockport, TX in January 2023

Hit the jump to read more about these birds that nearly met the same fate as that unfortunate insect.

Fishing Hawk…by Brad Marks

I had forgotten just how tiring these national dog competitions can be. As mentioned in the previous post, we made it down here for the Canine Performance Events (CPE) Nationals being held in my hometown of Springfield, IL. Imagine a state fairgrounds stuffed to the gills .. or should I say muzzles with face lickers and tail waggers. Suspect they will have the greenest grass they’ve ever had once this is over ha! The various competitions have been going on all this week. Speedway competitions (think drag and barrel racing) and scent work led it off, but now the Big Kahunas have taken the stage with 6 concurrent agility rings in full swing. Raven did well today qualifying in 2 of his 3 runs with 6 more runs still to go over the next two days. Definitely a tough day for him as he is currently passed out between me and the keyboard – even mom is feeling pretty wiped. Ruger has been watching with intent as he hopes to be making his debut at nationals within two years (he needs more titles before he becomes eligible). We already had to get on him about trash talking some of the current competitors.

“I unplug my muzzle in your general direction, sons-of-a-puppyfarm! So, you think you could outclever us French Poodles with your silly knees bent crashing into agility bars. I’ll wave my private parts at your owners! You cheesy load of secondhand electric butt sniffers!”

While we sit Ruger down and have a discussion about sportsmanship, going to let Brad take the reins and bring you an adventure with a talented member of the birding family (and assuredly a fish trash talker as well).

Take it away Brad…

This story comes at the very end of our Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve (UNBNP) visit. The visit to UNBNP started with Jan finding the California Thrasher (link here). I finally found her among the trails so we wandered around the upper part of the preserve for a while. After Jan and I had been walking amongst the chapparal for a couple of hours, we headed back along the crunchy pea gravel path back towards the car.

One our way out, we bumped into a nice couple, roughly the same age as Jan and I. After chatting for a while, they asked if we had seen the Osprey (Pandion haliaetus). We had not. Just then the man pointed off into the distance at a tree leaning out over the preserve lower levels, right where Jan and I were about 15 minutes ago. Roughly two hundred yards away there was a twig of a tree, with a white/black lump on the end of one of its three branches. Lo and behold there was a large bird sitting there. I zoomed in as far as I could and was able to capture this highly cropped image (not quite as good as Sam’s photos with her 500mm, visit Sam.Rappen here) of an Osprey.

Hit the jump to read more about this UNBNP encounter!

The Art of Concealment

By the time you are reading this we should be well on our way to the Canine Performance Event (CPE) Nationals. Raven hopes to carry over his stellar performance in the agility ring this weekend to the be big stage competing with other dogs from all over the US and some international participants – although we just learned that our government has significantly tightened the requirements to bring a canine into the country that is not going over very well at all. Ruger gets the week off as he needs a bit more time (and more titles) before he can compete at this level. To his credit, the puppy brain is starting to click with Linda and they had a very good showing this last weekend as well – finally getting the zoomies under control ha. Although I hope to catch some easy mid-range miles during the week, this will technically be my last rest before entering the final phase of training for the July Cry Me a River 50K. Linda will pull my man-card if I go down in this race again (link here), so long trail miles, hill strengthening, heat conditioning, hydration/energy validation and certainly two-a-days will be in order from that point until the week leading up to the race. If you recall, I shattered my elbow training the week before this race last year (link here).

In honor of that evil tree’s ability to deceptively hide its lethal roots, decided to go with another creature that is equally deft at concealment – thankfully less dangerous to our bone structure!

Wilson's Snipe found at Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center, Port Aransas, TX in January 2023

You might have to squint a bit and maybe cover some of the distracting reeds, but trust me, it is there. I’ll try to bring our featured feathered friend more out in the open after the jump.

Can be Bite-y…by Brad Marks

Howdy all! It has been a hectic time as of late, but starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel – granted, Linda frequently tells me to stay away from the bright light in the sky. Fortunately, this one comes from the lightening of the schedule. One more major dog show next week (Canine Performance Dog Nationals) in my hometown of Springfield. After that, home for a good spell so I can go into beast mode training for the daunting 50K in early July. In the bustle we did manage to hold an Intrigued bird outing last week that was quite productive…at the cost of HR berating me about an office full of “Warbler Necks”. More to come on that front. For now I am going to focus on getting packed while Brad takes you to the water’s edge. Quick note, one of the locations mentioned happens to be where a similar encounter left me prematurely grey!

Take it away Brad…

We learned a very valuable birding rule of thumb: Be very aware of your surroundings. There can be rocks, uneven ground, water, mud, camera equipment, snakes, holes, birds nesting on the ground, etc. All of the above can be an inconvenience if encountered, or perhaps even painful. But none of those can really ruin your day like today’s topic. Since we encountered this subject all over South Carolina, I’m going to take you to many locations for today’s story.

One of our first stops was Jarvis Creek Park. It is a very nice park with many hiking paths including a 1-mile paved walking path around the central pond. The park was full of families picnicking and having fun. Dogs were pulling their people all around the path.

After about halfway around the pond, Jan came across something that had its eye on the tourists and small critters on leashes. I was up on the footpath talking with someone walking their dog, a boxer named Oscar if I remember correctly. Jan walked down the bank by the water to get this photo.

Want to see more spiky creatures (you know you do), hit the jump!

Fast Dogs and Weird Geese

Welcome to May everyone! Trying my best to get caught up since getting back from the Purina Farms Poodle Specialty Agility Nationals and FastCAT runs in Missouri. I am beginning to think the term “caught up” is just a polite way of saying getting some semblance of order before receiving another dose of chaos as we head out the door on another adventure – retirement is wonderful, but I definitely didn’t expect to be this busy! The good news is, while Brad was looking after the Intrigued complex, I was able to get caught up on this year’s Average Year stats (link here) – note, as of today, it is technically 4 birds behind (I can’t win ha). My count officially sits at 285. Not a bad number this early in the season, but it has been a struggle of sorts as we changed up our travel destinations a bit. Warblers did just start arrived today, fingers crossed I’ll be able to get several of those in the tin before they move on.

Linda received her FastCAT picture downloads today and thought I’d throw in some brag shots of our speed demon!

Ruger doing FastCAT at Purina Farms, Gray Summit, MO in April 2024

Hit the jump for another shot from the competition and I promise we’ll get you to a feathered friend as well!

Tuxedo Bird…by Brad Marks

This was one busy week for us down at Purina Farms in Gray Summit, MO (got the state right this time David!). It started with Ruger and Raven running in the agility ring at the Poodle Nationals and ended the week with Ruger’s FastCAT runs yesterday and today (two flat out 100 yard sprints each day). In between those competition bookends, I spent most of the free (non-raining) time during the day over at Shaw Preserve. That place is incredible and I will definitely have more to say about it in upcoming posts. Managed to go at least +10 there in new birds for the year and even got a hard 11 mile run in on their rather hilly trails. My visits in the previous years merely scratched the surface of that place. Even squeezed a trip to the St. Louis Botanical Gardens – another surprisingly large place. The nights were spent working on content for the mothership – a three post series on a new prop for the 2023 Haunted Trail – feel free to check those out if you are interested in another behind the scenes walk-through on what it takes to put that event on every year (link here) – caution, those posts go deep into detail, so lots of words…and pretty pictures ha. That packed week has left me pretty exhausted, although nothing compared to the boys who are all currently passed out in their beds with little do not disturb signs hanging off their paws). Brad has been keeping things under control at Intrigued HQ while we were away and we’ll let him take us into May with another of his UNBNP encounters.

Take it away Brad…

During the end of our visit to the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve (UNBNP), Jan was trying to find me this time. I wandered past the parking lot to an area below the visitor center along the water. As is usually the case, there was something dark and feathered flitting about among the low branches of a very small tree near the water. Without my bird whisperer nearby, Jan, I had to keep looking until I spotted this little beauty.

My subject was sitting in a little tree about 30 feet from the path to my left. The late morning sun, obscured by haze and thin clouds, was mostly to my right. My quarry took pity on me and rested for a few seconds, quite literally. At first, in my newbie perspective, I thought it was a flycatcher from California, since many of the critters here had California in their names and it looked like it was catching flies. I was close.

This bird wasn’t making any noise, at least nothing Merlin could identify, so no help with name. This is sometimes the exciting part of being a new birder. I recognize I haven’t seen this bird before, but really have no clue what it’s called. Sort of like opening a box of Cracker Jack; you don’t really know what the prize in the box will be.

Learn more about this well dressed birdie after the jump!

Need a Tow?…by Brad Marks

Linda and I have just arrived at the Purina Farms Event Arena in Gray Summit, MO, which means we are officially surrounded by Poodles. Small ones, medium ones, and even ones that stand three times the height of ours. Pick a standard breed color and it will not take long before a matching Prima-Donna will prance by, nose in air and sparkles on the collar. Yep, we are at the AKC Poodle Nationals or Poodle Specialty for short. The boys will be competing tomorrow in the agility ring and then give way to the confirmation events scheduled for later in the week. That would be rows and rows of grooming tables covering an entire exhibit hall – imagine a Build-A-Bear factory had exploded. Once that is done, Ruger will toe the line for FastCAT, which is the canine equivalent of the 100 yard dash (hoping to improve on his 19.5mph PR). Time for the pups to earn their keep ha. I also have a three part Halloween themed post to get through on the mothership that is about 7 months overdue (I swear I retired..where does the time go!!). While we get things taken care of here, Brad is going to take the Intrigued reins and bring you wings I’ve never seen!

Take it away Brad…

Ever run across a very unassuming bird, just sitting and minding its own business? That’s what happened for me on this bird.

I was wandering along the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve (UNBNP) trying to find Jan. She was photographing the California Thrasher (link here). I thought I saw her on a parallel path so I tried to find my way over to her.

On the way, there was a smallish tree/bush with a brown lump in it. The chances were very high that it was a bird I’d never seen or photographed before, so I snuck up on it. I chuckled to myself (CTM). I’m over 6 feet tall, carrying a very large piece of glass on a long stick. I think it’s hard for me to sneak up on anything on pebbly gravel paths.

As I got closer, it seemed to be alerting someone. John Wayne Airport was still pumping airplanes into the air at an astonishing rate drowning out the bird’s call. I sure am glad my house isn’t within hearing distance of an airport. The wildlife in the preserve must be accustomed to the noise to the point they can’t hear it any more. Sort of “ear blind,” if you will.

Upon further inspection (on the big screen at home) I noticed the tiny orange eye ring. I’m pretty sure there was no way I would have seen this at the time, and it is a great indicator if you can see it.

Hit the jump to reveal the identity.

Orange You Lucky

Howdy everyone, hope you are having a wonderful day. Had a couple of long grueling trail runs at the start of this week which gave me ample time to ponder what’s next on the post docket. Trust me, you are looking for anything to distract you when you are in the midst of a 2500ft and a 4000ft elevation gain training beat down. It’s during that second run that the topic appeared before my eyes – literally! On a fairly “roots of all evil” stretch my eyes were busy processing the path of least resistance in the immediate 8′ to 10′ out when something triggered the spidey senses. Lesson learned from shattered elbow, slowed down before looking for the source (I am teachable ha). Slightly beyond my root scrutiny was an absolutely monster of a Woodchuck/Groundhog/Land Beaver (pick your regional moniker) staring right at me (link here). Based on the eye dilation guessing we were equally surprised. Each stood motionless sizing each other up, processing through safety protocols, judging outcomes, assessing enemy capabilities and calculating threat models. Instinctively went with my “Hi puppy?” verbal response with my hands down and palms out. Chucky, actually more like Charlotte raised up, sniffed the air some more and waddled off further down the trail – clearly offended by my “odor-de-sweat”. Suspect the larger than expected size and cumbersome movements were due to pups in the oven (for the record they can have up to 9!). She eventually vanished in some brush and I restarted root protocols. Had to come up with a new inner Bri conversation as the post topic had just been decided.

I’ll explain the connection at the end, but for now let me introduce today’s featured feathered friend.

Orange-Crowned Warbler found at Guadalupe River State Park, TX in January 2023

Hit the jump to learn more about this somewhat tricky bird …. and how it is related to one of the three incredibly rude experiences I had while we were on our recent south Texas trip.

Twice in a Lifetime…by Brad Marks

Welcome back to the light so to speak! I mentioned previously that we were trying to get back home prior to the recent solar eclipse and how Brad and Jan were getting ready to head in the opposite direction (south) for the full experience. Just received Brad’s hot-off-the-press post on the extravaganza and I’m jumping the queues to get this out to you. For the record, in Intrigued time this event->post duration “eclipses” all our previous performance records. Ironically, his midterm review will definitely reflect showing up his management ha. Without further delay, take us back to darkness Brad…

Beep. Beep. Beep.

5:00AM.

My darn alarm is going off.

Oh yeah. Today is the day Jan and I are driving south to see the eclipse. We live in central Illinois, but the total eclipse path is only covering the very southern tip of the state. About a dozen other states will be in the path of this total eclipse known as the “Great North American Eclipse”.

In 2017, the eclipse path started at the northwest corner of the U.S., traversed the little town of Chester, IL, and then exited through the southeastern United States. In 2024, after starting in Mexico (first landfall) the eclipse path travels from the southwest corner to the northeast corner of the U.S. And guess what?! It goes right through Chester, IL again. Hence the title, “Twice in a Lifetime” for those few communities where the 2017 and 2024 paths crossed like a gigantic “X” on the country.

I talked Jan into going with me. Yes, it is a very long drive. We left home at 6am* (see backstory at the end). At Jan’s urging, I had loaded up the car two days prior to make sure we had everything, and because the day before we left, the weather was predicted to be rainy all day. It was. Once we left the house, I was expecting traffic to start earlier because this was the second “Once in a Lifetime” eclipse to visit the general area. We arrived roughly on time, a couple of hours ahead of the eclipse start time. Shout out to Popeye (created in Chester, IL) for keeping the heavy clouds away, must be all the spinach he eats. We had a few wispy clouds that didn’t interfere with the viewing. This photo shows how it all starts.

Hit the jump to read more about Brad and Jan’s journey into darkness and back!

I Spy Yellow Eyes on SPI

By the time you are reading this, I will hopefully be back home from our southern migration. I guess technically I should refer to it as completing our northern migration. This year has been a bit chaotic on the birding front. Our January trip to Arizona netted me over 23 new lifers, but at a cost. Not being in Texas put me over 100 bird species behind for the year – shows you just how good birding is in Texas! We made a quick decision to right the ship and head back to our favorite wintering destination. There are still a lot of misses on the checklist, but did manage to claw back a lot of that deficit bringing me to the exact same point as last year with 272 species for the young 2024 Even managed to pull out three new lifers with one being a first time ever recorded in the US – going to make you wait until those get posted to reveal those gems. To be honest, our timing was not ideal. Probably a week or so early on the birds reaching South Padre Island. High Island was completely dead beyond the rookery residents (guessing 10-14 days early on that location as well). No complaints as there is now plenty of fodder to carry us well into next year (who am I kidding, with my backlog, probably inching into 2026 ha).

One thing that continues to bring a smile is how awesome the Texas birders are (including our fellow winter Texans). Always willing to help get you on a bird, give advice on other hotspots or answer any questions. Proud to say we reacquainted with existing birding friends and made a lot of new ones on this trip. On the downside, I also had three of the most inconsiderate people encounters we have had in a long time (non-birders of course). I can’t tell if this is just isolated cases, the state of the media stoked polarized country or the after-effects of the pandemic, but wow. Intrigued was actually founded as a means to document my human observations and these will definitely get their day in ink – likely on the mothership where the non-wildlife entries are anchored. I may not have yellow eyes like today’s featured feathered friend, but I can assure you my eyes are on constant scan.

Osprey found at the South Padre Island Convention Center Flats on January 2023

Hit the jump to read more about this equally observant bird of prey.

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