Tag: Arizona 2024

Just Birds

This is the last day before we enter the “critical period”. This is the time when we start tracking against the haunted trail project plan – set tasks that have to be completed for each day or we run the risk of not being ready for the extravaganza. So many things to do, but if not done in the right order at the right time, we start to stumble over ourselves and we end up clipping a root and face-planting on the trail. Those familiar with Intrigued know all too well how that turns out ha. The good news is, we are finishing up all the new props for this year and for the most part all the scares that broke during the event last year have been fixed – all that early year work pays off. In the midst of the trail prep, I happened to notice we were a post down from our self-imposed monthly quota. Although busy, we definitely can’t let a decade plus streak go down without a fight, so jumped on the computer and figured I would end the month with some one-offs from our Arizona trip back in January of 2024. There will be limited commentary due to time constraints, so simply sit back and enjoy the shots.

A feathered friend found on Arizona trip in January 2024

Hit the jump to see some miscellaneous shots that didn’t have enough companion images to make their own post or not an interesting enough back story to keep you entertained.

Continue reading Just Birds

Wonder Wren I’ll Get Some Sleep

I have to say, at this point in September, this is probably the least stressed I have been for many a year. Don’t get me wrong, there is still plenty of fretting going on now, but NOTHING like the norm. Long time followers of Intrigued know we plan our year around our annual Haunted Trail event. This is a 363 day work effort as we get two days off to actually hold the event ha. The usual date for that event is THIS weekend and I am usually an absolute mess by this time – up for days, physically and mentally spent. Fortunately, it is something we absolutely enjoy putting together every year or there would be no way we would put ourselves through this. This year we had to push the event to mid October thanks to my punk-ass ankle. Sure, there is some lack of sleep and we are in the haunt labs from sun up through the witching hours, but the real worry days are still a week away. Those are the days when I wonder Wren I am going to get any sleep…

Cactus Wren found at Canyon Lake in Mesa, AZ in January 2024

Hit the jump to see more shots of a featured feathered friend that shares my blood shot eyes.

Continue reading Wonder Wren I’ll Get Some Sleep

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

A Tale of Two Caps

Welcome to the month that usually makes me take a hard swallow after flipping the page. June is ramp up month for the ultra season and the calendar is full of two-a-days each consisting of 10+ mile runs intermixed with 25+ mile endurance runs all to round off the preparation for the 30 mile Cry Me a River that has officially dropped me twice now, most recently last year (link here). My hopes of a quick redemption have been curtailed and the calendar has been wiped clean to be replaced with medical appointments starting with the ankle MRI this week. I did get a good 8 mile run in this morning to put a likely cap on the season. In light of the fast approaching downtime, I’ve also been trying to hit the birding hard. This last weekend was quite awesome on the feather front. My brother Ron came down on Friday and we got a good start on some local field birding before another Intrigued birding event on Saturday. Ron, Brad, Jan, myself and the rest of the Intrigued staff got a chance to spend a great day in the field – except the Legal Department who are still on probation from their last little stunt. Suspect there will be a write-up coming on that outing in the future. Bookended the weekend with another outing with Ron down at Emiquon NWR. My Average Year count now sits at a shocking 382+3 (previous record was 340) and Ron managed to add ~35 birds to his tally. Brad/Jan and Ron are also now up in the top 40 county birders and neither of them live in this county ha.

To make up for the loss of the double run schedule in June, let’s go with a twofer for today’s featured feathered friend(s) post.

Western Grebe found at 33 Hole Overlook at Lake Meade National Recreational Area, Las Vegas, NV in January 2024

Hit the jump to read more about this species of waterfowl and a very similar looking family member.

Continue reading A Tale of Two Caps

Yes, Another Sparrow!

We are cranking through May..as we did April..March, before I know it we’ll be setting up for the haunted trail event scheduled for end of September. The haunt lab is in full swing repairing all the items that failed on us last year. Once through that we shift into our favorite part of the year – creating new animations and decorations for our guests to enjoy. Things have been busy in the rest of the Intrigued departments as well. Regular ol’ Santa’s Workshop summer edition. Brad is currently checking in with our headquarters out west while I’ve been trying to get images ready to go for future posts. In addition, trying to get caught up on all the homestead tasks. The latter has come to a halt thanks to multiple days of steady rain giving me badly needed cycles to get today’s featured feathered friend post out.

Black-Throated Sparrow found at Desert Museum, Tucson, AZ in January 2024

Hit the jump to learn more about this rather colorful member of the Sparrow family.

Continue reading Yes, Another Sparrow!

A Rather Drabby Towhee

Not knew to anyone that has spent any time hear on Intrigued, I am on “recovery road” trying get back on my feet after getting knocked down – a rare situation of that being metaphorically and literally. Not the first time down this road and likely not the last (some say I tend to push). This latest drive, the ankle, has proven to be one of the most debilitating injury to date. Even with the broken elbow (2 years ago), I was still able to lace up the trail shoes after a couple of weeks – this, has been a different story. Now at 8 months I am finally able to get out and get some miles in – admittedly through clinched teeth knowing every other stride is gonna come with a degree of pain. Yesterday I was listening to podcasts as I am apt to do to keep my head “out” of the run, when Mike Rowe’s podcast David Bahnsen – Poor Smart and Desperate came up next on the running playlist (link here). Next thing I know I am back at the Jeep after my longest run since the injury at 8 miles. The perfect topic at the perfect time. I won’t go into detail, but the topics of Macro happiness and producers vs consumers hit me right between the ears. It is easy to get yourself down when micro level issues don’t go as planned, but the question posed was whether I was happy at a macro level. 8 miles later (apparently) the answer was an absolutely YES. Sure, there are minutia/momentary bouts of unhappiness, the ankle, the elbow, paperwork here, malfunction there etc. but do those outweigh the good things – not even close. Family life is wonderful, great friends, recent checkup was outstanding, I’m out of the daily grind and we get to share our adventures while talking birds and haunts – Life is good. Oh, and on the producer front we now have our 3rd haunt how-to video out which I’ll share at the end if you are interested.

Few things make me happier than when I get to share a new check on the bird life list, so let me introduce you to today’s featured feathered friend.

Canyon Towhee found on Sycamore Trail, Tucson, AZ in January 2024

Hit the jump to read more about this new check from the Sparrow family.

Continue reading A Rather Drabby Towhee

Rufouspalooza

Greetings everyone! May is turning out to be the same as April..well, March and February and Jan..you get the picture – BUSY! The long travels are on the backburner for now and pretty much for the next couple of months it will only be short excursions for dog shows etc. Close to half this year, so far, has been in other states so it will be nice to toil at the homestead for a while. Kudos to those full time RVers out there, if we didn’t come back to “space” I think Linda and I would drive each other crazy ha. This also means the hard work begins. Plenty of outdoor work to get done around the house and in the woods plus the annual Haunted Trail event is just around the corner (in haunt units of time), so the haunt lab is now in full production mode. On top of all that, our haunt department has finally pulled the trigger on their haunt themed YouTube channel. In the past we have used the Intrigued Mothership (lifeintrigued.com) to feature our various prop projects, but those have been getting more involved over the years and the word format was causing major finger fatigue. What I didn’t expect was the amount of time required to move to the video format – new tools to learn, more planning, more editing and most of all, being back in front of the camera. Pretty rusty since those days in the corporate grind. Fortunately, all things that go bump in the night are my passion so it is still a lot of fun! I’ll include a link to our first prop tutorial video at the bottom of this post in case you are interested.

Sticking with that theme of hard work, today’s featured feathered friend can make you want to pull your rufous feathers out in the field.

Green-Tailed Towhee found at Catalina State Park outside Tucson, AZ in January 2024

Hit the jump to read more about this rather elusive new check on my birding life list.

Continue reading Rufouspalooza

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

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