Tag: Great Blue Heron

Thinking I’m Back, Down the Hatch

Ever have one of those moments when you just stop in your tracks, look around and say to yourself, “I’m back where I belong“?

It has been a long road for me, well, technically lack of road and lack of trail for way too long. This is officially the longest period of time out due to an injury and trust me, there’s been plenty of injuries over the years. I have to move…a lot… or the crazy suppression system goes on overload and begins to smoke. This week has been a big turning point for me as we are back out in the field. The goal, to get my annual bird count to the 400 tier – a personal record. On our way south, we made a stop at one of my favorite locations – Noccalula Falls in Gadsden, Alabama. If you are a mountain biker, trail runner, birder or just a nature fan, this is the place to be. I’ve ran more miles than I can count on the Black Creek Trails and still have many left to explore. This time my mode was walking, yet the smile was wider than ever. Halfway through the Family Loop trail I stopped among the golden colored trees, took a deep breath, looked around and took all the beauty in. Life is certainly better. Still need time to get back to running mode, but I continued my walk with those same words I start every ultra “Just put one foot in front of the other and repeat“.

I wonder if this Great Blue Heron has a similar mantra “Just put one fin in and repeat“

Great Blue Heron swallowing a fish at Sweetwater Wetlands Park in Gainesville, FL in April 2023

Hit the jump for an explanation.

Continue reading Thinking I’m Back, Down the Hatch

I’m Waiting

Apparently my state forgot to pay its heat bill this weekend as we are experiencing well below cold temps since late Friday night. This even came with some of the white fluffy stuff we here about so often when we return from our winter retreat. Nothing stuck which is unfortunate as one of our wells is incredibly stressed and we could have used that to help re-saturate the ground. Last week decided to haul water and top it off just to insure we stay off the new well as much as possible. Beyond that, things are definitely looking up. They are ramping me up in physical therapy and the ankle (and the rest of the body) is taking well to the work. Surgeon even released me to go without the brace for routine outings – a break the chains moment for me as I’ve been in either a boot, surgery bandages or a brace every day since January. Now I start shifting my sights from recovery to training and that is where my mindset needs to be to keep the crazies at bay. Beyond that, the only other thing to mention is the 2025 Halloween season is officially over. Today I got the last of the props back in storage and the RV back in the out building – luck would have it I had to finish it off in the freezing temps. Definitely looking forward to shifting our event back to its usual time at the end of September as my hands were constantly reminded me I wasn’t a Polar Bear. Probably should get to what brought you here today, another featured feathered friend to enjoy!

Great Blue Heron with a fish found at Texas Dike, Texas City in April 2024

Hit the jump, but warning, wildlife was harmed in the lead up to this post.

Continue reading I’m Waiting

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.

Alligators by Brad Marks

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

Continue reading Can be Bite-y…by Brad Marks

Bigger Than Your Head…by Brad Marks

Greetings everyone, we are back with another adventure from Brad’s queue. Today’s feature is a perfect reflection of today – too big of a bite as it were. Ever had one of those days when you feel a 1,000 percent and decide to step up your game in celebration? My friend had to bail on our trail run today, so thought “Hey Bri, let’s put on the big boy pants and go hit the second hardest trail course in the area”. Mind you, Inner Bri has NEVER turned down a challenge and now several hours later sitting here wondering at what point an alien is going to pop out of my lungs. 2 months to go before I have a 50K on the big daddy course – Inner Bri is evil ha. I’ll let Brad take you through what kind of bite his subject took.

…take it away Brad! (note, you can use the image links to view the full sized images)

Like most of you, winter gets old pretty fast for us. Jan was looking at fun, quick, and warm trips for a February getaway from central Illinois. Not that the weather can’t be lovely in central Illinois in February, but it’s usually not. She found an inexpensive hotel suite in Myrtle Beach. I asked what’s there to do in Myrtle Beach (not knowing since we’d never been to South Carolina before). She said there are more than a few nature and wildlife reserves in the immediate area. By the way, did you know that Myrtle Beach is the mini-golf capital of the world? There are over fifty, fifty as in “five-zero”, mini-golf establishments located in Myrtle Beach. Jan and I saw two or three new ones being built.

One of the best winter locations for birding (IMHO) is Huntington Beach State Park, south of Myrtle Beach.  The park has multiple environments to attract all sorts of birds: seashore habitats, tidal marsh habitats, brackish and somewhat tidal habitats, freshwater habitats, forest habitats, and open grassy area habitats.  Need I say more?  It’s a fantastic place to see a plethora of birds in a variety of habitats without traveling to multiple states over multiple days.

Great Blue Heron Hunting by Brad Marks

Hit the jump to read about Brads hungry GBH(ippo)

Continue reading Bigger Than Your Head…by Brad Marks

Writing with Stone…by Brad Marks

Greetings All! Was able to reproduce Brad’s “lost” post so able to bring you post on another form of blogging. As you are reading this, Linda I will be on the road heading back to the tundra..I know, I know, trust me the call of South Padre Island is getting stronger cold mile after cold mile (and looks like snow and ice in our path). Keeping with Brad’s theme, created my own silicaglyph intro (you might have to hit the link to view the larger version to make out the craptastic figures)

Brian's Texas Gulf Coast Glyph from Galveston Island State Park

I’ll catch back up with you in February, for now, enjoy Brad’s much more entertaining read…take it away Brad…

Long-time readers of Intrigued know that Brian takes many trips in the US to catch photos of rare, and not-so-rare, birds.  His life list credits include many birds that barely make it to US soil.  Jan and I like to take vacations to really cool places that may or may not have birds.  Recently we have begun making more attempts to find wildlife wherever we are on holiday.  I think the Intrigued team takes slightly different types of vacations.  Though this may be a subtle difference (bird vacations to cool places vs. cool places that just happen to have birds).  Now that I’ve got you all warmed up for birds or cute furry animals, I’m not going to write about either of these.  At least as far as I know I’m not.  This tale is about petroglyphs. 

Hit the jump to read more about this early method of blogging!

Continue reading Writing with Stone…by Brad Marks

Great Blue Take Two

The Halloween prop shop is in full production as we get closer to the haunt event. This year’s effort should be epic if I get everything done in time – every year there are always a few ideas that don’t make it onto the trail just purely due to only being given a mere 60 seconds in every minute (damn thee Father Time, damn thee!). The good news is I had a giant breakthrough in a design of a motor housing tonight which I’ve been struggling with for couple of days. The best part about all the Halloween activities is I get to dust the rust off my 3D solid modeling and electronics education. Now just sitting here waiting for the 3D printer to finish with my new parts – since I don’t like to just sit figured why not claw a bit of ground back on the post quota..

Great Blue Heron found at Galveston

Decided it was time to feature the second part of my series on the big birds. If you recall, I covered the first set back in June – where the hell has the summer gone!?! (link here). That set of Great Blue Herons was brought to you from the great birding mecca of South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center. This second series comes from a couple of different places although still down on the Texas Gulf Coast from our trip down there in late December 2016 into early January 17. These first two specimens were found at Galveston Island. They were so intent on Froggies stupid enough to wander too close to natures living spear that they didn’t pay me any attention. Ended up being able to move in to the point where The Beast couldn’t retract enough to get those long bodies in the frame. No worries, always happy when I can put some nice close ups in the tin.

Great Blue Heron found at Galveston

Hit the jump to see a few more shots of the Great Blue.

Continue reading Great Blue Take Two

Concerns Warranted

As you can tell, I’ve finally found some spare cycles to get a post out. It has been amazingly busy around Intrigued as of late thanks to two 30 year celebrations at work (wife and I), trying to finalize the schedule for Linda’s heart valve replacement at Mayo’s and then the quickly approaching 50K running event next Saturday (crap, I can’t believe that deadline has come up so fast). As a result, my blogging and, well, just about all my secondary activities have been clipped (especially my Halloween production which is most troubling). Every spare cycle has been spent pounding out miles on the road and on the trails – latter when the rain gods finally give me a chance. I remember Ron mentioning his concern for me reaching my monthly blog quota which at the time still has a few weeks to go. I had some concerns as well, but thanks to a good dose of posts on the mothership blog today’s last minute post will cover that (B. in the UK might appreciate the theme of the pumpkin post – link here). Unfortunately, the last two weeks have had additional concerns that had/have me a bit troubled. A week ago, I was working on more of the bathroom remodeling, simply stepped down from putting up window trim and felt a stabbing pain right in the middle of the tendon than comes down on top of the ankle from the shin into the foot. Actually though it had ripped off. Puffed up and hurt like hell. Had Linda look at it after an ice treatment and we eventually found a puncture point that might have caused it – possibly another bee sting in a critical point like the back episode earlier in the year. Ended up being able to run on it without serious pain so continued on until the swelling subsided 2 or three days later. Then yesterday I was getting the last long trail run in and managed to turn my ankle 90 degrees thanks to not seeing a rock underneath the mud. Unfortunately, that was between mile 8 and 9 which is the farthest point from the car. Knowing what happens if you let your ankle realize it is hurt, journeyed on for another 5 miles. A day later the ankle is still swollen and twinges under weight. Definitely do not need this so close to the starting line. Will nurse it for a few days and give it a short test Wed just so I know what to expect during the race – wish me luck.

In recognition of being immobilized at the moment, figured it would be fitting to feature a creature that has a natural ability to leverage the concept of immobility.

Great Blue Heron shot at Padre Island Birding and Nature Center, Texas, December 2016

Yes, bringing out one of the big boys of the birding world on this final day of June. Truth be told, I do not feature this bird much on the blog thanks to the thousands of images already in the portfolio. The Great Blue Heron is one of the birds you can see just about everywhere in the continental US. They do prefer to breed in southern Canada and down into the Dakota areas, but for the most part spend their time year-round wading through any body of water they can find across the states (except for a very odd finger down the eastern part of Idaho, Utah area according to Cornell – may be the Rockies, will have to investigate that a bit more later).

Great Blue Heron shot at Padre Island Birding and Nature Center, Texas, December 2016

Hit the jump to view a few more shots of these dagger-billed Herons.

Continue reading Concerns Warranted