Jan Marks – Wildlife Intrigued

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!

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.

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!

Vespa…by Brad Marks

We are officially in our last phase of our southern migration. Not for a lack of effort, I’ve missed a few target birds that somehow managed escape The Beast. A few of those species appear to have headed north just a few days before we arrived at their wintering grounds (read Whooping Cranes and missed by less than 2 days). With a little luck we’ll be able to catch those escapees later in the year. I cannot complain too much as my annual species counts now sits at 268 with a good chance that number will edge up a bit more if the Warblers manage to make it across the Gulf tonight and visit us here at High Island. The first wave was hitting South Padre Island while we were down there last week. Hoping they’ll phone their relatives back home and give word that the bugs are a plenty. That would be an understatement for the horde of Mosquitoes we are currently battling. LBJs have an all new meaning – Liters of Blood Jettisoned – we’ve replaced the soap dish with Deet juice. While we try to defend against these needle-nosed bugger sorties, Brad is going to take the helm and bring you a more traditional meaning of the LBJ.

Take it away Brad…

This story is about another LBJ that was nearly overlooked. I’m learning to photograph everything; I can sort out duplicate photos later. Lightroom can help me sort and “fix” nearly 100% of the photos I take. However, even Lightroom can’t fix the pictures I don’t take. Future enhancement perhaps?

Jan and I had just been in Golden Gate Canyon State Park at Panorama Point seeing the Grey-headed Junco. The elevation at Panorama Point was over 9000 feet and rather chilly for April in Colorado. Two hours later we found ourselves at the more temperate Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge (RFNWR) at just under 6000 feet of elevation northwest of Denver.

Once I parked the car and opened the doors, we were hit with a blast of warm air. The outside air temp was nearly 80F, well above average for April in eastern Colorado we are told. This is the same parking lot where I saw the Western Meadowlark (here), and the Grackle (here). Lurking in the shadows of the tall grass was another LBJ.

Naturally, Jan started taking photos while I was still putting my camera together. Long time readers of Wildlife Intrigued are beginning to notice a pattern. While I’m readying my camera, Jan is already getting photographs for the next feature story. Besides, you never can tell when you need another LBJ photo to fill out a gallery or story.

Even at home on the big screen, this LBJ looked like many of the others we’ve photographed on our vacations. I was just about to give it the “just another sparrow (JAS)” moniker when I noticed the “V” pattern towards the back of its head, where I imagined its ear would be. Fortunately, Jan took enough photos from varying angles to be able to see the “V” clearly enough to differentiate it from other sparrows.

Mystery solVed, hit the jump for the reVeal!

California Thrasher…by Brad Marks

Good news, Brad is back from his field assignment and from what I’ve heard, the Intrigued HQ is still standing. Yes Virginia I now believe in miracles. We’ve been on South Padre Island for a few days now and making the most of it. The migrants are now arriving and starting to get those crucial Warblers ticked off this year’s list. Also met a lot of great birders this trip that have been incredibly helpful in pushing this year’s Average Year number to 242 (link here). Still behind last year’s pace, but definitely chipped into the deficit. A lot of that is due to a healthy dose of lifers we’ve been able to hunt down. Now the busy work of making sure all the images are copied off to multiple drives, the eBird reports are filled out and the birding tracking sheets are updated…I need a nap. Brad is going to take the lead and bring us one of his own lifers from California.

Take it away Brad…

Normally when I write these brief stories, I’ve taken most of the photos because I’m carrying the larger lens and can capture the little feathered guys at a further distance. Not this time. Jan was able to hold one bird captive with her bird whisperer powers. Today’s subject was also nice enough to stay only a few yards off the path. All of the photos in this story are from her.

Jan and I had just left a major theme park in SoCal on our way back to Las Vegas to meet the kids. We stopped at the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve (UNBNP) just outside Newport Beach to see what we could see (isn’t that why the bear went over the mountain?). I parked the car about 8:30am and started assembling the cameras. We didn’t know before we got there, but John Wayne Airport (originally called Orange County Airport) is only a couple of miles away. Unfortunately, the planes depart right over the nature preserve. While I seemed to duck every time one of the monsters flew overhead, the local bird life didn’t seem to care at all.

Being the gentleman I am, I assembled Jan’s camera first, and then started to put mine together. By the time I had my camera ready, shut the hatch, and locked the doors, Jan was already a couple hundred yards down the trail. The shrubbery near the cars was tall enough I couldn’t see which trail she had taken. But listening for a few seconds, in between airplane flights, the high-speed shutter clicking told me which way to go.

Hit the jump to learn more about the reason for all those clicks!

Stellar…by Brad Marks

I must say, as far as days go, last week was pretty good. Although the rain finally arrived at the end of the week, I was able to get a number of good runs in on the trail – definitely enough to remind me just how hard the July 50K ultra is going to be (link here). If you recall, that is the race I missed last year due to shattering my elbow a mere week before I was supposed to toe the line. It’s redemption year and building the base early to leave nothing to chance. Then my brother Ron was able to come down thanks to an opportunity to attend TransWorld down in St. Louis. Horrible name, but before you jump to conclusions, it is the premier Professional Haunt Trade Convention/Expo in the States (link here). This is somewhat of an “invite only” event and you have to prove you are in the haunt business to be allowed to attend. AMAZING. To put it into perspective it took us 3.5 hours just to make it through maybe a 3rd (at best) of the exhibits. While I recover from the trail training and the miles of expo walking, going to let Brad take over and take you through another “stellar” experience.

Take it away Brad…

If you haven’t seen the majesty of Yosemite Falls when there’s water flowing, add it to your bucket list of future destinations right now. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

We had been planning a trip to Yosemite for years, but something else always came up and it slid down our list. Last fall we decided to team it with other destinations we wanted to see Out West to make sure we’d end up going.

Sidebar story: Normally the waterfalls (Bridal Veil and Yosemite) only run in the spring when there’s ample snowpack melting. The winter before Jan and I went, Yosemite received record snowfall, some say on par with what they used to receive way back a hundred years ago. Others said it was twice as much as usual. A few of the roads in the park didn’t even open until late May or early June. Even when we went in September, the upper mountain roads were just then opening.

Quite breathtaking. Hit the jump to learn more about the falls and a rather stellar resident.

No Fear…by Brad Marks

Welcome to March everyone! Brad is currently between trips having recently returned from the field out east before he heads out west later in the month. In the meantime we are getting ready to make our spring migration south to Texas in a week or so. Busy, busy, busy here at Intrigued making sure we have plenty of material to keep our readers entertained through the rest of the year (and likely beyond at this rate). I hit you pretty hard with Texas posts through most of February and it is time for Brad to jump in and mix it up a bit. I was going through his queue and noticed one on a bird I just recently saw for the first time during our January trip to Arizona. Luckily Brad …and Jan are much more on the ball than I am and won’t make you wait until next year to learn about their encounter (honestly, I am trying to get better hehehe). I am going to head off and try to recover from this morning’s brutal training run (14 mile, 2,800′ ascent) and let Brad kick it back into gear.

Take it away Brad…

As most of you know Jan and I took a trip West last summer to see a few National Parks. Near the end of the trip, we met Allyson in Las Vegas to spend a few nights seeing the sights and do a little people watching. During one of our full days, we all took a Pink Jeep tour to the West Rim of the Grand Canyon. The Intrigued Legal department require me to mention that no endorsement was received for the mention of Pink Jeep tours. However, if Pink Jeep wanted to sponsor Wildlife Intrigued, please contact our Legal department. Our first stop at the West Rim was the overlook next to the visitor center. Actually, the overlook was in a side canyon off the Grand Canyon. Our tour guide pointed out that as we looked across the chasm at the wall of rock on the far side there is a dip in the rock structure. Once we stared at it for a little while, being birders, we saw the formation the rock is named after.

We had been looking out over the canyon at Eagle Rock (can you see it in the photo?) when a busload of tourists arrived.

Knowing hordes of people would flood the visitor center, Jan and I decided to walk around on a scenic path through the desert to avoid the crowds. I think everyone on the bus wanted to see the suspended walkway which lets visitors stand 4000 feet over the canyon floor with nothing but a bit of glass between you and Isaac Newton’s best discovery: gravity. I knew that the Intrigued accountants probably wouldn’t let me expense the glass walkway experience, we took a pass.

At the furthest point on the path, away from the most people, Jan spotted a tiny brown bird perched atop a cactus. The sun was very bright, and the scenery was a bit washed out, even with the red rocks all around. It felt like we were on a movie set filming a show about Mars. No poop-grown potatoes around, thankfully.

At first, the bird looked like just another branch segment on a Whipple Cholla cactus (Cylindropuntia whipplei). I threw in a little botany lesson for free. I know Brian, I know . . . back to the birds. Upon closer inspection, she found this little wren sitting on the cactus.

Hit the jump to learn more about this rather well named bird!

ADHLAS…by Brad Marks

Howdy folks. We know you don’t come here out of a thirst for statistics, so we wanted to get you back into the action as soon as we could. Brad had perfect timing as he just provided us the latest drop of adventures to share. Nothing better than the present to pop a fresh one off the queue, while I battle the last remaining spirits in the new machine. Only one pillar left to port, the digital darkroom – no more delay excuses, I’ve run out of distractions and all the “squirrels” have been rounded up and put to work cleaning the Intrigued HQ grounds….wait is that competitive gardening coming on the TV!?!?!…I better let you go.

Take it away Brad…

Recently Jan and I signed up for an assignment in Alaska during late summer. Tough duty, I know. To get ready for our trip to the Yukon (actually, I’m not sure we’ll even see the Yukon, but it sounded better), we attended a presentation on the tour we were taking. The tour guide was giving us some information about some of the wildlife there. He said that often visitors are not able to tell the types of bears apart. Alaska has both grizzly and black bears. But often the grizzlies are very dark colored, and the black bears have very light fur. To the casual observer they are indistinguishable. The guide gave us a sure-fire methodology to tell them apart in a pinch. Are you ready? Here it is:

If you find yourself too close to a bear and you don’t know which kind it is – climb a tree. A black bear will follow you up the tree. A grizzly bear will simply knock the tree over. Identification problem solved.

Nothing we saw on our trip through Yosemite and adjoining parks was anything like that. Well, except for this black bear from Sequoia National Park last summer (link here). Jan and I only saw very small furry critters. To be fair, some were quite good at climbing trees, we can’t rule out that they are part black bear based on what we learned above, but I seriously doubt it.

Our story begins here. As does the identification dilemma for hikers near National Parks. No, I’m not talking about bears any longer. Thankfully today’s subject is much more approachable and far less dangerous and does not involve any tree climbing, at least not on your part. I’m talking about chipmunks and ground squirrels. Yes, there is a difference between chipmunks and ground squirrels. Before I jump in, I know this may get confusing (I certainly was), so let me give you a primer.

Chipmunk vs. Ground Squirrel identification primer:

One website says the difference between a chipmunk and a ground squirrel is: Chipmunks are small mammals with distinct stripes, while the ground squirrel has body stripes like chipmunks, but no stripes on its head.
Another website says something similar: One easy way to tell them apart is by their stripes. Chipmunk stripes run the length of their bodies, including their heads. Ground Squirrel stripes start at the neck and run along their backs, but they do not have stripes on their heads. (Someone was splitting hairs when they wrote up this definition, IMHO.)
Still another website says that ground squirrels can weigh between 1 and 10 pounds, whereas chipmunks are usually under a pound (not based on the amount of the sunflower seeds they eat near my bird feeders). Good luck getting them to hold still while you weigh them.
Ground squirrels can live between 5-10 years while chippers only 2-5 years. This one isn’t the most reliable visual indicator, unless you have lots and lots and lots of time. (Allyson’s grandpa (Jan’s dad) used to tell her “chipper” stories when she was little. The story was different each time, which kept Allyson coming back for more.)
Their tails can be an indicator all other things being equal. Ground squirrel tails tend to be longer and bushier than the chipmunks “shorter and not nearly as fluffy” tails. Chipmunks will sometimes run with the tails straight up or out behind them.
Habitat can be a big differentiator as well; except we saw all of the critters below in nearly the same habitats. None held still long enough and we didn’t wait around to see to know if they ran up trees (ground squirrels) or not (chipmunks). Chipmunks tend not to climb trees, but climb over fallen trees. Ground squirrels have no qualms at about climbing trees, or so we are told.
Though not really a visual differentiator, hibernation patterns differ slightly: chipmunks wake up every few days to eat during colder months while ground squirrels can go for longer periods of time between winter feedings.

Well, there it is. Clear as mud, right?

You are all ready now to hit the jump and put some visuals to that primer!

Killdeer…by Brad Marks

Sitting here killing time one keystroke after another. Now in the midst of the annual “digital clean-up” process and it is mind numbing. Part of this is making the final push to cross the finish line of the PC migration marathon. Some of it is due to massive procrastination last year (okay, maybe last TWO years) and need to get the birding folders/spreadsheets/trackers etc. updated. Then there is the standard annual rollover resets of the blog post backups and general archiving that needs to be done to keep my OCD from raging out of control (and NOBODY wants that). I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again, I need to go back to the corporate grind in order to get all my free time back! The good news is I think my North American Bird List folder (link here) is updated. That is my running gallery for the best shots of every bird on the list in case a client wants a specific species or if I want to author something someday. Even updated the left navbar with the latest count – 421 species! While I slash through minutes like Scooby through snacks, going to turn it over to Brad to bring you a North Carolina “killing” of a different sorts.

Take it away Brad…

There’s something about being warm during the winter months. Jan and I live in the middle of Illinois, so February is usually a heavy flannel month. Jan suggested we head southeast for a week to escape a bit of winter (really didn’t need much arm twisting). We also wanted to see what we could see in a new part of the country for us.

Jan and I spent a week at Myrtle Beach, SC last winter. During one of our “free” days on the trip (they are all “free” when you are retired) we headed to North Carolina since it was just up the road a piece from where we were staying. The locals all said to go to a preserve a mile or two across the state line. Our GPS was a bit confused for a while, taking us down unpaved roads to an empty lot at the edge of the water. This can’t be right. We stopped in a parking lot for a few minutes and picked a spot (on an actual map) that might actually get us to the coast, without having to stop to ask for directions. Our new destination was Sunset Beach.

After driving across the long and tall causeway bridge, we arrived in a small community of summer cottages on a narrow spit of land just a bit offshore in the Atlantic called Sunset Beach. I’m not saying it was a ghost town, but there were very few cars around, and even fewer moving about. Once I found the parking lot near the beach, I readied the cameras. Before I closed the hatch on my car, there was some movement in the sparse foliage behind me.

Hit the jump to read more about Brad (and Jan’s) adventure.

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