Singin’ in the Sunshine…by Brad Marks

It is a big week for me. The first phase of my medical “bad boy” sentencing is up this Thursday! Fingers crossed everything looks good so I can transition into the next term consisting of a walking boot and physical therapy. I cannot wait to be at least semi-mobile again. Before the good advice comes pouring in, Linda already gave me the “treatment” yesterday at dinner. {With a stern look that would be truly forbidding to those less conditioned to it hehehe} “Now, you know what to do the next time you think you turned your ankle in a race RIGHT!?!” “Yes” I proudly responded without a moments hesitation “..not tell you about it!”. She may seem flabbergasted, exhausted, disappointed and claws out ready to pounce, but deep down inside she knows me better than that (and still agreed to marry me – crazy eh!). Honestly, I will try to be more careful – these last couple of years have been rough on the body. While I mentally prepare for what is going to be some brutal first therapy sessions, going to let Brad take you with him on another Colorado adventure. Oh, Brad’s suspicions were correct, I just finished processing almost all the tins of the 2024 birding season (over a terabyte). Just have a quick trip to Colorado to get through from last September and then I’ll be current to this year!!

Take it away Brad…

At Wildlife Intrigued, most of the photography team (OK, Brian and I) have a backlog of photos as you might expect.  Brian’s backlog is an order of magnitude greater than my backlog, though I suspect with his upcoming ankle “upgrade” he’s going to have lots of time to sort through photos.  Writing a story isn’t necessarily a linear event.  Oh sure, I could go back to the oldest photos and start from there.  However, sometimes a story just sings to me and keeps working its way through my brain until my fingers hit the keyboard.  Voila!  A story is born.  Stories are usually not published, or written, in sequential order either, meaning that back-to-back stories published on Wildlife Intrigued come from different assignments on different years.  That’s my story and I’m sticking with it.

As Jan and I neared the exit of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Preserve (RMANWP) Wildlife Drive we began to notice the large bison fences.  In reality, I’m not sure these wire fences would stop a determined bison from going where it darn well wanted to go.  Growing up, there was a farm near us that had exotic animals on it, including a camel (one hump), an ostrich, and a very small herd of bison.  Did you know that bison are extremely agile despite their large size?  One evening, at my parent’s dining room window we heard a loud snort.  Glancing up, there was a large bison looking straight into the first story window.  The large furry face stared at us for a few seconds before something off to the side caught its attention.  The bison was off like a shot because two people on horseback were chasing after it.  We were later told the chase lasted several minutes until the bison decided it was tired and hungry.  Once the bison neared the 5-foot-tall fence marking its home, it simply leaped over the fence, in stride, back to its normal corral and began quietly munching on a big bowl of bison chow.  Problem sorted.  That’s when I learned how agile and strong these animals are.  Important safety tip from the National Park Service:  Don’t pet the fluffy cows.

Back to the previously scheduled story.

Today’s feathered friend is not new to Intrigued.  You may have seen today’s featured guest before here.  The prior story is from nearly the same location, just a few miles closer to the mountains of Colorado than I am today.

Sitting on the top wire of the bison fence was this guy, or girl, I’m not really sure.  Unless a pair is sitting side by side, the subtle color differences are not as obvious.  Males can have slightly brighter, or more vibrant, yellow coloring, some might say “lemon” colored.  The black “necklace” may also be darker or more sharply defined.  Not seeing another one nearby for comparison, I’m sticking with my original assessment. 

Western Meadowlark found by Brad Marks

Hit the jump to read more about this winged lemon with a dagger of a bill.

Continue reading Singin’ in the Sunshine…by Brad Marks

Oh Crap, Another Tyrant

I am excited to announce that today marks the official 5th week out from surgery! Let me get my calculator out..tap, tap, tap, tap 6, tap tap tap, minus, tap, tap, 5, tap, tap, carry the one, tap, tap, divide by PI, tap tap invert, tap log, tap, tap….tap tap tap equals…YES the answer is 1. That’s right, only one more week left in this 6 weeks of no weight hell. I now have firsthand experience how people can go batshit crazy. That will just get me to the boot, but PT will start that day and physical pain means strength and strength is the road back to the trail! To my credit, I have been keeping busy since getting the stitches out. Maybe a bit too close to former “work”, I’ve been in front of the computer for hours on end each day getting caught up on the photo queue (almost done with Texas March 2024), tackling the heavy lifting posts (2024 Haunted Trail recap), producing the Intrigued Haunt YouTube tutorials (Haunted Tree) and doing my very best to get caught up on all my post reading – whew!

In case you are interested, here are the links to the 2024 Haunted Trail recaps:

Trail of Fears 2024 – The Clearing, the Build and then the Panic – link here
Haunted Trail 2024 – The Dark Woods – link here

I’ll put the latest tutorial video at the end of this post for those that want a behind the scenes look at how we created our 9′ by 10+’ haunted tree in tribute to the previous broken elbow “incident” – yes, the Root of all Evil!

Of course, we know the main reason you are here and that’s feather watching – we have something for that as well.

Gray Flycatcher found at Catalina State Park outside Tucson, AZ in January 2024

Today’s featured feathered friend is a fitting selection for the “hard work” theme. Hit the jump to learn a bit more about this diminutive bird.

Continue reading Oh Crap, Another Tyrant

Twisted My Ankle

We are officially at the 4 week mark since the ankle surgery. That means it is has been 4 weeks since I have put any weight on it. I have noted that is quite an accomplishment for me. Unfortunately, I have ANOTHER two weeks of this insanity before I can start the physical therapy phase and finally get start introducing weight bearing (in between the screams from the PT). I have been doing my best to keep myself busy. A huge chunk of time has been devoted to working on my backlog (did I just hear cheers, someone definitely cheered), trying my best to catch up on my post reading and all the work in the haunt lab – I’ve linked the latest short video at the end if you are interested). YouTube is now my friend – there isn’t stupid Cat video I haven’t watched! In all this, there are always posts I can work on, so let’s get to it!

Battling my inner Venom:

“Do it!”
“But I don’t want to do it”
“Yes you do, do it now”
“Umm, really don’t wanna”
“You shall do it and like it”
“But it pains me”
“You are already in pain, what’s the difference!?!”
“Hmm, that is a valid point, but I’d rather do something else…anything else”
“Do you really want to stare at that series in the queue anymore?”
“Sigh, but I’ll say you twisted my ankle”

Here you go, today’s featured ugh, feathered ugh, friend double ugh Finch – make it stop.

House Finch found at CT RV Resort in Benson, Az in January 2024

As a general rule, I take at least one picture of every bird I see when out in the field. The amount of additional shots I take of a specimen is based on a complex internal mental algorithm which would probably rival any current AI engine. Is the lighting halfway reasonable, did I get a good enough shot to officially claim the check, is there a good story to share on the blog, what is likelihood of seeing it again, are there new behaviors to document, where does it rank on my “cool birds” list, is it on my “crap bird” list (I’m talking about you Asshats link here) and is it out of region all come into play. The logic engine turns, the lights dim and depending on the results zero or more pulses will be triggered to the shutter finger. This processing is repeated, of course, on subsequent shots.

Every once in a while I surprise myself in the digital darkroom and ask myself – “what the hell Bri, did the algorithm glitch?” Hit the jump if you want to see more of apparently one of those surprise results from the field.

Continue reading Twisted My Ankle

Is that Bird Wearing a T-Shirt?…by Brad Marks

It is ironic that most of the time here I am complaining about how fast the year is progressing, but now that I wouldn’t mind the minutes rolling by more rapidly…it seems like everything has slowed to a crawl. Such is fate I guess. Actually this is a good week at Intrigued. Brad and Jan have wrapped up everything related to the annual St. Jude charity run and on their recovery phase, Home Depot FINALLY released this year’s Halloween offerings yesterday (at 5am) and tomorrow my stitches come out. Fingers crossed that leads to better night’s sleep! It also officially marks the halfway point for the 6 week no-weight segment. Looking back I have to applaud myself for being the “good” patient (got a lot of people ready to drop the hammer on me if I don’t) and looking forward, well, “holy hell, get me out of here”. Thankfully there are plenty of pictures to process, Halloween props to wire, haunt tutorials to make and posts to keep my eyes off the clock. Speaking of all things haunt, a curious reader brought to our attention that we missed the post quota last month (we have some demanding readers ha) – turns out they missed my 2024 tombstone review on the Mothership (Boy’s Got Some Stones link here). Feel free to take a look if you are curious how those turned out. While I mentally prepare for thread being pulled out of my ankle, please enjoy another adventure from Brad and Jan.

Take it away Brad…

Jan and I first saw this bird at the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Preserve (RFNWP) a couple of years ago.  However, one of my rules for publishing photos is that the image must be usable if I have to resort to severe cropping.  I am always saying, “I don’t want a 6-pixel image of a backlit dark object.”  Well, with our new cameras, that may have increased to a minimum 60-pixel image.  But still, who wants to look at dark fuzzy thing on the screen and try to guess what it is.  With my years of experience photographing wildlife (all couple of years of it), I don’t even try for those photos any longer.  Not taking them saves time sorting and editing later as well as saving clicks on my camera shutters.  That 250k mark on the shutter assembly rolls around quickly enough as is.

On our semi-annual Wildlife Intrigued Rocky Mountain editorial staff visit with our daughter Allyson, Jan and I went to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge (RMANWP).  One of the perks of visiting is that we get to use her Honda CR-V to drive all over the place while she is working her primary job.  RMANWP is a very large park at nearly 16,000 acres.  The park is large enough to have an 11-mile, mainly square-shaped, Wildlife Drive embedded within it, plus a couple of miles of road on either end.  Visitors enter the one-way Drive by crossing a set of bison guards embedded in the road and then driving anti-clockwise around the Drive.  For those not familiar with a bison guard, or cattle guard, it is a series of horizontally mounted rails or pipes embedded over an empty space in the roads.  The theory, and reality, being that hooved animals will not want to cross the guard; therefore, no actual gates are needed over the roadway.  This means easy access for vehicles while keeping livestock inside, or outside depending on which way you are travelling.  Fencing is obviously required up to the edge of the gates in the roads and beyond.

At the end of the 11-mile wildlife drive, just before the final set of bison guards in the road, a dark object flew through the sky and landed in a tree less than 50 feet from us.  Since it was far larger than 60 pixels, Jan and I wanted to begin taking photos.

Swainson's Hawk found by Brad and Jan Marks at Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge

Now what do we have here, hit the jump to learn more about this spiffy looking Hawk.

Continue reading Is that Bird Wearing a T-Shirt?…by Brad Marks

Whimsical Birding

First off, I would like to congratulate Brad and Jan on their soon to be completed (later today) St. Jude charity run from Memphis, TN to Peoria, IL. Jan running legs over the multi-day event and Brad in support. Such a good cause for the children (and their parents) going through a really tough time. Makes all of our bumps, bruises and recovery trivial in comparison.

I have been processing pictures as of late and came across a more whimsical series I thought I would share as the first post in August (how can we be in August already ugh).

Bird flower display at Bellagio Casino in April 2025

Hit the jump to view more of our featured feathered…actually make that flowered friends we saw on our April trip to Vegas.

Continue reading Whimsical Birding

Hidden Reach

Hello everyone! Going to let Brad have a small break from covering for me while I’m on the mend. Difficult enough bringing you the recent rapid fire posts, but having to deal with all the standard stuff around the headquarters is a daunting task without the added burden of keeping our unruly legal department under control – may have to up his bonus this year, but don’t tell him that. As far as an update on the surgery front, there has been a small hiccup with the transition from the surgical dressing to the surgical boot that has brought some unexpected discomfort (oddly more painful than the surgery itself). Other than that, surgeon says everything looks good. He also reiterated the “no weight for 5 more weeks” edict within earshot of Linda which threw a giant wrench in my well contrived plans – back to the drawing board. Seems like everything I want/need now is just out of reach from my crutches and scooter which is starting to annoy me – oh, except for my running shoes that are beyond just “out of reach” to the point I have no idea where the hell they are now. Linda’s devious I tell you, devious. Let’s see, pull up browser, type in H-O-K-A.com and get me some new sho…oh crap, here she comes…backspace, backspace, backspace, H-A-U-N-T.com, “Who, what, me!?! No, no, I’m, just looking for new haunted trail props” – this is going to be a long 5 weeks. Note, I did make a new haunt-to video which I’ll mention at the end in case you are interested.

While searching through the photo queue, I noticed something in one of the image sets that made me laugh in reference to my current situation. Perfect, welcome to tonight’s featured feathered friend.

Northern Flicker found at Desert NWR, Las Vegas, in January 2024

Hit the jump to see a Northern Flicker characteristic I have never seen before!

Continue reading Hidden Reach

P-Dogs a-Plenty…by Brad Marks

Down three posts and coming to the end of July. You are likely going to get some rapid fire posts in large part thanks to Brad, as I am still working through the first phase of the ankle surgery recovery – I thought I would be keyboard warrioring it over the entire 5 week no-weight period, but so far, still getting adjusted to this boat anchor. Once simple tasks are turning out to be a test of my strength and/or will. I did absolutely laugh out loud the other day (something I needed). Last year I ran my last Bix7 road race putting a cap on 20 straight years of toeing that line (link here). Linda relayed a funny scene she witnessed when had made it to the top of the Brady Street hill (she opts for the walker option). A lady and her ~7yr old kid had just made it to the top near her when she noticed the kid was basically balling. The mother notices and responds “I am sorry, I didn’t prepare you mentally, physically or spiritually to make it up that hill”. I’ve been meaning to write a story on the mothership about this scene as it is shockingly antithetical to the manner in which Linda, my brothers and I were raised. That quote has been attached to my monitor ever since then. And there I was, leaning on my crutches looking down at the 6 inch ledge to our shower. That quote had a completely new and profound meaning hehehehe! Tasks are getting easier each day – dealing with this mentally for another 5 weeks is going to be tough. While I push through, Brad is going to “Let the Dogs Out (who?, who?, who?)”.

Take it away Brad…

For regular readers of Wildlife Intrigued, at first this story will seem like a departure from the norm, meaning no feathers.  When you see what I have in store for you, forgiveness may be in order.  Wildlife Intrigued does include all types of wildlife, feathers or not.

Jan and I were visiting the Wildlife Intrigued Rocky Mountain editorial staff (our daughter Allyson) when we found ourselves with a half day to spare.  Shhh, don’t tell the bosses.  A quick review of available birding locations revealed an obvious choice not very far from the hotel where we were staying.  Nice save going birding in our free time, don’t you think?  The other advantage of having a half-day free is that we could use our daughter Allyson’s Honda CR-V while she was working.  It sure is nice to have the younger generation working to help support the older, newly retired, generation.  Truthfully, other than camping or ski trips on weekends, her car does not get used very often and it seemed to enjoy being out on the road. 

For those that aren’t familiar with the 2004-2006 model year Honda CR-Vs, they have built-in picnic tables as the floor of the cargo area.  This is one of the best features EVER offered in a car for active people.  Once you are at a camp site, picnic site, or ski mountain base parking lot, and have most of the cargo area unloaded, simply remove the cargo floor, extend the legs, and Voila!  Instant picnic table.  There is also a hole in the middle of the table if you have an umbrella (sold separately) for sunny locations.  I’ve told the Honda people they are losing sales to younger buyers because they took this feature out in 2007.  Honda, if you are reading this, put the picnic table back in the CR-V.

OK, back to the regularly scheduled story.  After driving for about a dozen miles and only getting lost once or twice (not quite sure about map apps sometimes) we found our destination:  Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Preserve (RMANWP).  Yes, even the acronym is a mouthful.  I know, the “arsenal” doesn’t conjure up images of cute furry or feathered things.  However, that’s exactly what Jan and I found, at least the small furry kind.  I’ll try not to overload our dear readers with cuteness.  Fair warning:  If you are susceptible to cute-furry overload, please only read between the photos.

Prairie Dogs found by Brad and Jan Marks

We are serious, if you are overly sensitive to cuddly wildlife images…do NOT hit the jump … something tells me you are going to do it anyway ha!

Continue reading P-Dogs a-Plenty…by Brad Marks

Pounce…by Brad Marks

As you can ascertain from this post, I survived the ankle surgery! Quite the ordeal, but Brad and I have two friends going through heart valve replacements up at Mayo right now, so comparatively minor in context. Just wanted to give a quick update as some of you had reached out. Unfortunately, once they got everything opened up, the doctor discovered the injury was worse than expected – not what you want to hear as you are clearing the fog of anesthesia. I’ll get more details during the followup. From Linda’s understanding, in addition to the multitude of expected repairs, the tendon was torn severely beyond initial assessment and strongly suggested those extra 48 miles in the race …..were not helpful (I’ll spare you Linda’s commentary, there might be delicate ears looking over your shoulder). Been some rough nights so far, but Linda is taking great care of me and Brad and Jan are keeping good tabs on me. Won’t keep you any longer as I know you would rather get to another adventure from Brad. Oh, apparently there were some comedians in the operating room as Linda found this when we got home…admittedly, I do laugh out loud every time I see it!!

Take it away Brad…

It’s not very often that Wildlife Intrigued photographers are at risk from their subject matter.  Not often, but it does happen.  Upon reflection, it does seem to be that Jan is the one that most often steps into harm’s way for these stories.

It was a lovely February day on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina.  By lovely, I mean clear skies and no rain.  The temps, however, were hovering just above the freezing mark.  Sea spray overnight had frozen on the fences and seagrass near our hotel on the ocean.  Jan and I decided to wait until the temperatures were at least in the 40’s before venturing outside.  Cold fingers and cold camera batteries do not make good photos.

After lunch at one of the cool breakfast/lunch restaurants on the island, we chose to drive to Jarvis Creek Park.  You may remember Jarvis Creek Park from last year’s visit.  The park includes a nice pond/lake (depending on your definition), nearly one mile of paved walking and fitness trails, clean restrooms, picnic areas, a fishing pier, and even a bike repair station.  On the other hand, before you let the children run amok in nature, it also has alligators.  We’ve only ever seen the gators close to the water in the lake, but nothing stops them from crawling up the bank to the walking path, except maybe the effort to get uphill.  (see here for gators from Jarvis Creek Park) 

But that’s not what this story is about.  This is a story about a threat not from the water, but from the sky.  Well, almost a threat in retrospect. 

Jan and I had been wandering around the lake trying to photograph some spastic flying blue streaks (tree swallows) when we paused under the pine trees near the water.  Jan was a bit further along, still trying to catch the tree swallows (future story) and I was watching a gator try to get down it’s first meal of the season.  It was rather gruesome, so no photos here.  We both paused for a second to give our memory cards a chance to catch up, when there was a minor kerfuffle from a tree near the water.

Red-Tailed Hawk by Brad and Jan Marks at Hilton Head

Hit the jump to fly to the rest of the story!

Continue reading Pounce…by Brad Marks

We’ve Got Bush

It is the final countdown and I can honestly say I am ready to get this over with. We are squeezing in a final dog show this weekend up north. Linda is trying her hardest to get the boys qualified for next year’s CPE agility nationals – actually delayed the surgery to get these last two weeks of shows in. Raven is as steady as always and Ruger is trying to make up for last weekend’s rather hmmm…scatterbrained performance. When he is on, he is ON, when he is off…good thing he is so damn cute ha. Ron and I were also able to get one last field outing in yesterday to close out the mid-year cycle. We are in the dog days of birding and pretty slim pickings at the cross section of the birds I still need and the winged ones that are braving the Midwest heat. Managed to notch a new +1 for the year bringing the Average Year total to a shocking 390! It has been a difficult road since that fateful day on Oct 12th (5:26am to be exact) and at this point, the ankle has clearly given all it had left (struggling to hold weight today). The real hardship is knowing that this is one of the big ultra race weekends of the year and I miss suffering with my peeps in the heat and hills out on the trail.

Today will be my last post as Brad will take the helm likely through the rest of this month and maybe beyond depending on how things go. Thought I would go with a final featured feathered friend that has also brought its share of frustrations over the years.

Bushtit found at Lake Mead National Recreational Area, Las Vegas, NV in January 2024

The fact you can tell that is a bird is in large part due to absolute luck. Hit the jump to learn more about a bird sure to bring a chuckle to all high school boys.

Continue reading We’ve Got Bush

Wanna Take a Guess?

We are in the single digits of days before the slicing occurs. Honestly, I am more concerned about getting everything I need done BEFORE the surgery than I am of the surgery itself. At this point I am just trying to guess at all the things that could go wrong around the house while I’m in the official “no weight” for 6 weeks period. Do I have the parts available as I know Linda prefers to stay out of certain aisles at Menards, are the things I will need moved up from the basement or down from the second floor den, when should I put the water tank on the truck as precaution if our wells go dry and how many more practice opportunities do I have on the scooter and crutches for when Linda isn’t looking (tell her and you are on my bad list hahaha!). The good news is I already have a new batch of posts from Brad so there will be plenty of material to keep you entertained when the time comes. In the meantime, going to do my best to bring you some featured feathered friends that have been sitting in my queue for a while. Let’s start with one that also has that “Guessing” theme surrounding it.

Sagebrush Sparrow found at Desert NWR in Las Vegas, NV in January 2024

Hit the jump to learn more about this rather difficult bird to ID.

Continue reading Wanna Take a Guess?