Tag: Jan Marks

Yellow-Crowned Night Heron…by Brad Marks

I feel like our haven of trail witches have put a curse on me. First I tweak my ankle during the build up to the haunted trail, then the race beats me down something good only to make it through to put the cherry on top the misery sundae by breaking a toe (on the good foot) in a manner so unmanly I am not about to reveal it. I’ve learned a couple of surprising things since then. One is the revelation that trimming trees for four days is probably not the brightest choice all hobbled up – something tells me some of our readers probably already knew or could foresee that bit of knowledge. The other surprise comes courtesy of Brad who is bringing us one of his adventures from his recent New England trip. In fact, my new birding tidbit comes courtesy of that little space between the third and fourth word in his title. I was about to insert the expected “-” when I decided to dig into this a bit more. Brad is absolutely correct, as of July 2024, the American Birding Association has removed the second dash between Night and Heron. You can read more about that change and several other updates in their 2024 supplement (link here). Note, once again, they FAILED to rename the Ring-Necked Duck arrrgghhh! Enough of my whining, it’s time for Brad to introduce us to one of his newest lifers.

Take it away Brad…

During a recent photo assignment to New England, Jan and I were enjoying the low tide near Boothbay Harbor in Maine.  We traveled to Maine with our friends from the Boston area.  We also had the bonus of having Allyson join us for an abbreviated weekend.

This also happened to be our first photo outing with our brand “new” D500 camera bodies, well, at least new to us.  The old trusty D300’s had served us well, but had begun showing age-related faults (over 200,000 clicks on both of them) during our Alaska assignment.  We had a mere six days after Alaska to get “new” cameras before the New England trip.  I used all of my trusted camera sites ordering bodies, batteries, and chargers.  I’m still working on the Wildlife Intrigued expense report.  Everything arrived in time, some only just, for the trip to Boston and Maine.

Our first morning in Maine, low tide was at 9am.  After breakfast, we all rushed down to the waterline to see what we would see at low tide.  The rented house where we stayed, was about 100 feet from the water.  The tide was nearly at the lowest point of the morning, down over 8 feet from high tide the night before.  Drying seaweed was all over the newly exposed rocks and made walking slippery.  Jan was photographing a Great Blue Heron in the shadows next to our dock.  Allyson was wading in the cold Atlantic water looking for crabs, lobsters, and snails.  I was watching the sunlit part of the terrain opposite our rocky point, when something caught my eye.

Yellow-Crowned Night Heron by Brad Marks

Did you spot today’s featured feathered friend? Hit the jump to read more about this well camouflaged discovery.

Continue reading Yellow-Crowned Night Heron…by Brad Marks

Crazy on You…by Brad Marks

It’s official, I can now coast until the new year as the last of the 2024 stressors completed last Saturday night. I was slightly worried going into this last ultra-race of the season. Torqued up my ankle pretty bad during the haunt work that didn’t seem to be responding to my customary barrage of rude insults and brash comments regarding its lily-livered condition. Even broke down and had it forcibly unjammed by my Chiro, plus cut my taper short to give the weak-ass, dirty bilge rat of a joint several days of rest (link here). With all the extra attention. it was STILL tender race morning. I’ll do my regular race recap later, but in summary, about the only two things that went right the entire day was I got up on time and I willed myself across the finish line. Everything in between pretty much the proverbial shit show. Dispensed with the nag and went full blown crush on the bad ankle at mile TWO (slid off a rock under the leaves in the dark), stomach issues prevented me mid-race food, stung by ground PO’d Hornets on 3 of my 5 loops, unexpected heat and switched to just plain water for loops 4 and 5 because the stomach refused any fluids with flavor – exception was the lifesaving ginger ale at the aid stations preventing me from hurling. Oh, and with the ankle destroyed, didn’t dare take the shoe off. No dry sock changes led to massive blisters on feet for last two loops. Not the best outing and certainly not the worst, but all things considered, one of the hardest finisher buckles I’ve ever earned – and I’m damn proud! Wife and friends have chosen the less glorious word “crazy”..which, ironically, brings me to today’s post. While I do my best to even stand, Brad is going to take you out to one of my favorite places to bird in Henderson, NV.

Take it away Brad… (note, responses will likely be delayed as he and Jan are still out on assignment in faraway lands).

During a return trip to Las Vegas to catch Death Valley, Jan and I had a list of birding assignments from Intrigued HQ.  Originally, we had planned a full day at each, but we lost most of a day to a flat tire on our rental car trying to pick up an unplanned birding location.  (See A New Low link here.)  Suffice it to say that we now had one less day and had to consolidate destinations within the remaining days of our vacation. 

One day we had to split between two destinations.  In the morning, we went to Clark County Wetlands Park.  After literally running through Clark County Wetlands, we headed to the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve (HBVP) just before noon.  Based on our experience, try to get there early because they close at 2:00 pm.  You will want to reverse these two destinations if you must see them the same day like we did.  We were also informed that they lock the parking lot gates promptly at 2:00 pm when they leave, capturing you and your car inside.  We did get the local number to call in case we lost track of time and found ourselves captives.

With the over 40 different species of birds we saw on this trip, I thought I would give you a slow pitch today.  This should be an easy guess on today’s subject.

Canada Goose found at Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve by Brad Marks

Hit the jump to knock this easy pitch out of the park.

Continue reading Crazy on You…by Brad Marks

Meep Meep…by Brad Marks

Hello folks. As the Twain saying goes, “rumors of my demise are greatly exaggerated” (I know that was embellished by Paine, but I prefer this version ha). During these last two weeks I’ve joked that I was close to knocking on that heavenly door as we toiled away preparing for the annual Haunted Trail. The stress is off now as the event was held Friday and Saturday night. Still awaiting testimonials, but from the positive feedback we heard over the course of the two nights, I’d say we had a pretty successful haunt. What I can commit to without question is I’m officially exhausted from the stress, work and woeful lack of sleep it took to wrangle the chaos into shape before the guests started arriving. We owe a big thanks to everyone who jumped in to help including family (Ron/Derek), friends (including Brad/Jan) and pretty much all the Intrigued staff (except the lawyer dept that are still upset I took away their “butt copier”). Tomorrow back on the training program for the fast approaching ultra-race – now officially 7 pounds lighter). Struggling to keep my eyes open writing this intro, so I’m going to reacquaint myself with my pillow and let Brad take you on another adventure in one of our favorite cities.

Take it away Brad.. (oh, and big thanks to Brad for keeping Intrigued HQ running smoothly while I was out battling demons and clowns in the woods).

During one of our compressed mornings in Las Vegas, we had tough choices to make.  Brian had assigned me three bird locations to visit.  However, during day one of the trip, we lost over half a day trying to get a flat tire fixed.  (See A New Low – link here)  While scheming in the hotel room the night before, Jan and I decided to visit two big locations in the same day.  Crazy, I know.  What can you do?  We had already planned many activities for after birding hours.  Early one morning, we headed to Clark County Wetlands on the edge of Las Vegas. 

As Jan and I were wandering through the Wetlands, we kept seeing opened Acme wooden crates everywhere.  Even though Merlin couldn’t pick it up, I thought I could hear a “meep meep” sound followed quickly by little clouds of dust.  Finally, as we were heading to one of the small ponds, we spotted this bird in the shadows, next to little anvil-shaped holes in the dust.

Greater Roadrunner by Brad Marks

Hit the jump to read more about a certain Coyote’s nemesis!

Continue reading Meep Meep…by Brad Marks

Whatchu looking at?…by Brad Marks

Haunts in the home stretch, weather is annoying me more than the ridiculous tiny screws on purchased props, trying to get miles in on a tired body and my head has put out an APB in search of its favorite pillow. Welcome to “hauntlife”. Last thing you want me to do is try to put sentences together, so even though Brad is out on assignment, he’s going to bring you an adventure from the exotic, untamed and dangerous realm of .. wait, did he say “subdivision”!?! Must be the sleep deprivation. Take care everyone, you are assuredly in good hands for the next week or two.

Take it away Brad…

Intrigued HQ gave Jan and I this assignment during the Fall of 2023, just after Brian’s visit to Las Vegas (here).  We were just coming off a multi-day visit to Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, with probably well north of 10,000 images already in the tin.  Jan and I met Allyson in Las Vegas (isn’t that fun when your adult children choose to spend time with you, even if they have to pay for the airfare?) to spend time together and see a few shows.  With so many demands on our time in just a few days, we were unable to look for today’s subject. 

Fast forward to Spring 2024.  Because of a flat tire on our rental car the prior day (see A New Low link here), we had to compress our extensive birding assignments (thanks to the taskmasters at Intrigued HQ) into one less day.  On the day we found these little jewels, it really came down to either having a shower and getting cleaned up after nearly 10 hours outside in Las Vegas, or take a chance that we might find what we were looking for.  I’m very glad we rolled the dice in favor of the birds.

I plugged in the secret coordinates into the GPS app, and we started on the adventure to find today’s birds.  When the GPS app said, “You have arrived”, I thought for sure it had gone bonkers in the desert heat.  Jan and I found ourselves in the middle of a subdivision.  But the GPS app said we were there (and we all know they are never wrong) so I parked the car next to a long chain link fence.  The fence was surrounding what looked like an empty city block.  As I was prepping the cameras, a 40-something couple rode by on their bicycles.  All they said was, “There are two of them out right now,” and pointed to the other end of the chain link fence as they pedaled away.

Finishing up camera assembly (Jan’s first as always), I gently closed the hatch on the rental so I wouldn’t frighten the birds, if they were, in fact, still there.  Jan and I moseyed about a hundred yards along the length of the fence until we got to the far corner.  Not knowing how large our quarry was, neither of us really knew how far out to be looking.  Were these birds larger than the small scrub brush we were seeing?  Or were they the size of a can of your favorite soft drink (soda or pop depending on where you are from)?  Then I saw these two, sitting up proud as you please, not very far away.

Burrowing Owls by Brad Marks

Hit the jump to see what caught our attention on the other side of the fence.

Continue reading Whatchu looking at?…by Brad Marks

Cha Cha Slide…by Brad Marks

Welcome to September everyone! By now everyone knows what I am up to all day and all night so no need to belabor that point beyond apologizing more for being out of pocket for a good portion of this month. The good news is Brad and Jan have made it back safely from their latest excursion with SD cards full of future Intrigued fodder. I suspect it will take them some time to parse and process all the finds from that recent adventure (they have a ways to go before closing in on my 3 year backlog level…ha), but he has several accounts from outings earlier in the year that we will be featuring this month. To start things off, let’s go with some field work we did together.

Take it away Brad…

It was time for the 2nd Annual Intrigued Corporate Warbler Watch and Walk in the Woods.  Actually, that sounds like a good thing to start officially, with a bit of rebranding:  Intrigued (or International) Warbler Watch & Walk in the Woods, or the IW4.  Intrigued HQ started it here first, go spread the word!  I think that might be a great T-shirt idea paired with our corporate logo.  We must get the Intrigued marketing department to work on that right away.  (XXL Tall in Tec for me please.) 

I met Brian at Intrigued HQ to start our day.  When I arrived at HQ, Brian had already been chasing a Tennessee Warbler around the estate.  Being new to this bird, I asked what color it was (guessing a shade of yellow) so I could look for motion.  Brian replied, “It’s olive-colored with some yellow on it.”  Great!  Just like every single leaf in the woods at that point.  We could certainly hear two of them communicating.  I think one was saying, “Watch this, I can get those guys to look over here.”  And the other would reply, “Good one, now it’s my turn.  Watch their heads snap around the other direction.”  After spending time being laughed at by the Tennessee Warbler (they can trash talk, must have learned it from Raven and Ruger), we decided to expand our warbler search to nearby Jubilee State Park grounds.  Luckily, the park is only a few minutes from HQ and makes for great “Work from Woods” days.

Brian led us down a new trail, well, new to Intrigued outings at least.  However, a new trail always has the risk of an unseen root reaching up to grab you.  A couple of hundred feet into the trail, even I could make out warbler calls throughout the woods without using Merlin, though it is good for a memory aid to have bird songs and calls recorded with the timestamp to help sort photos later.

After a brief hike and photographing warblers for about 90 minutes (do you know how spastic they can be?), we decided to head to a new spot to see what we could see.  Cresting a small hill, Brian noticed the trail back to the parking lot was mostly mud near the creek.  The whole area had just had inches of rain a few days prior.  What good are hiking boots if they aren’t muddy?  We continued. 

In the middle of the squishiest part of the trail, Brian said to stop and pointed to a small tree.  I followed his outstretched arm to find a small yellow dot flitting about the twigs in a tree. 

Prothonotary Warbler by Brad Marks

Hit the jump to find out what caught our attention!

Continue reading Cha Cha Slide…by Brad Marks

A Little Off the Top…by Brad Marks

And here we are, the first day of August. The entire Intrigued staff are very aware today is the official start of Haunt Stress Season. Our annual Haunted Trail event (link here) is now less than two months away and simply based on the number of half-done projects scattered about the headquarters, there is going to be a lot of sleepless nights between now and event opening. I am going to hop on the Mothership and get a couple of pending race recap posts out that I don’t want on the top of the list while trying to finish up the new props (one of the posts is going to be painful enough all by itself). While I lighten the top of my queue, Brad is going to bring you a new field find from South Carolina.

Take it away Brad…

During a typical Illinois winter, Jan and I like to escape the weather for a week or so in February.  Last year we went to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina (not very far from North Carolina).  This year we visited Hilton Head Island on the other end of South Carolina, right next to Georgia.  After a long morning at Sea Pines Forest Preserve, we wanted to see birds at the seashore.  One of the Top Ten lists for birders in the area suggested Fish Haul Beach, so that’s where we headed. 

As we left the parking lot and walked through the dunes, I could see what looked like a bunch of ants way out at the edge of the water.  Being a typical landlubber, I had completely forgotten about the tides.  When it’s high tide, no problem, there’s a narrow beach and no tidal flat to walk on.  But at only a few minutes before a very low tide, the flats are a couple hundred yards deep (beach to waterline) depending on location.

Black Skimmers by Brad Marks

Tide’s out.  Let’s go see what’s out there.

Naturally, I began to stroll in that direction.  Jan started strolling as well, but in a completely different direction on the tidal flat, there was so much area to cover!  There’s always that little bit of a funky smell when the tide is all the way out.  The sand was wet but very firm and easy to walk on; much easier than the really dry powdery sand above the high tide line.  These little clear tubes were sticking up all over the place.  They sort of looked like a forest of plastic drinking straws.  Remember grade school milk cartons and those little plastic straws?  That’s just what they looked like, but a bit shorter.  I tried to be careful not to step on them, but quickly realized that was a losing proposition, and trod as carefully as I could through the forest of inch-long (25mm for the rest of the world) clear tubes.  I still don’t know what was hiding under the sand, maybe there’s a future story when I find out.

A lady was scraping mussels (or clams or oysters) off a rocky pile as I passed by.  She didn’t even look up; they must be very used to tourists with large cameras strolling by at low tide.  The mussels (or whatever they were) must have been particularly good that day.

As I got closer to the ants, I could see they were actually medium-sized black and white birds with a bit of orange/red highlight color.  From that distance I still couldn’t tell which end was which.  Before I could get close enough for a decent identification photo, the bunch of them took flight.  My shoulders fell when I thought I missed my chance at a +1 bird.

Black Skimmers by Brad Marks

Hit the jump and maybe they will fly back!

Continue reading A Little Off the Top…by Brad Marks

Hard to Swallow…by Brad Marks

Howdy folks! Somehow we have managed to fly through July already. Part of that fly-by was thanks to a pretty busy month here at Intrigued. Intrigued’s 4th celebration, Brad and Jan out in the field and there were several running events packed in there; Jan’s St. Jude run, my failure at Cry My a River and as of last Saturday, our 20th consecutive running of the Bix7 up in the Quad Cities. Admittedly, wasn’t so sure how the Bix would go based on my previous performance in the heat and Bix is traditionally an oven of a race being deep in July. Fortunately, temps stayed Midwestern mild in mid to high 80s for the actual race and all went well, very well actually (temps did go back up to normal post race). A great way to wrap up my road race career, it is all trails from this point on! While I get a bit of recovery in, Brad is going to bring us an adventure from another steamy location.

Take it away Brad…

Jan and I have the Annual Parks Pass, allowing us unfettered access to all of the nation’s national parks, forests, monuments, etc.  We’ve purchased one each year since we retired and have more than paid for the pass with savings on park entrance fees several times over.  When we had the opportunity to visit another National Park, we jumped at the chance to pile on the savings.  If you don’t have your Annual Parks Pass by now . . . well . . . you know who you are.

The desert around Las Vegas is just that; a desert.  We shook it up a bit by visiting the largest reservoir in the US, or even in North America:  Lake Mead.  For those keeping score at home, Lake Powell has more surface area, but Lake Mead holds more water.  Both are suffering from extended drought conditions and increased demand for water.  Kids don’t let the water keep running when you brush your teeth.  After leaving the visitor center, we headed towards the Wetland Trail in Lake Mead National Recreation Area. 

A few minutes into our hike along a ridge, I spotted something flitting in and out of a hole in the side of a cliff.  A swallow was my first thought, but being 50-75 yards away, all I got was a small brown smudge on the sensor near the middle of the photo

Northern Rough-Winged Swallow by Brad Marks

Look closely and you’ll see the tiny image of the bird near a hole where the rock changes from gravelly aggregate to red-striated sandstone.  Did you see it?  Good.

This wetland trail area looks a bit like a capital letter “X”.  The parking lot is near the top with the trail running along a ridge down the middle of the top half of the X.  The marshy area is down the left leg of the X.  The right side of the X was completely dry, even when it met the other side near the middle of the X.  The trail along the peak of the ridge was mostly loose gravel.  Several signs stated that this trail was not maintained and to hike at our own risk.  The top part of the trail was OK.   But as we neared the junction of the X and began the descent, I was very aware I was carrying a 9 lb. camera because the swinging weight was affecting my footing.  Jan must have had a harder time of it.  I imagined I was hiking on a non-stick surface covered in loose marbles.  We descended the loose gravel switchbacks to the bottom of the wash ending up by the running water (left side of the X).   Jan headed upstream along the marshy area and I wandered downstream a bit.  At the bottom of the trail the right side of the X connected with our ravine then branched off again.  This other ravine was probably the one I had seen from above early on.

As I wandered into the other ravine (right side of the X near the center), I saw a branch sticking out of dried mud.  I think it was the remains of a tree that had been washed down the ravine during the biblical rains from Hurricane Hilary the prior summer. This was the same storm system that left standing water in Badwater Basin at Death Valley (future story).

A little brown smudge landed on the end of the branch.  Naturally, I started clicking away.  The smudge was still a bit far for a good photo, so I walked slowly until the bird began to fill the frame. 

Northern Rough-Winged Swallow by Brad Marks

Hit the jump to find out what that smudge was…

Continue reading Hard to Swallow…by Brad Marks

A Cast of Thousands…by Brad Marks

Hoping those here in the States had a happy and safe 4th of July celebration! Our Intrigued HQ is just down the road from an individual that puts on a rather impressive annual show for us ruralites. Had some of our staff over (including Brad and Jan), filled the coolers with drinks, threw some meat on the grill and capped the night with things that light up the sky and make you go Oooohhhh and Ahhhhh – life is good. I did manage to come out with a losing record in our highly competitive JARTS tournament (the real ones, not those pansy ones they try to pawn off on kids these days). That will have to be remedied during our next Intrigued outing!!! As promised in my previous post, Brad has posting duties while I taper/rest/heal/plan/worry/obsess/fret and generally drive Linda crazy this week leading up to the first ultra of the year. One of those planning tasks is to set the crew schedule. In this case, only a cast of one (well, and 3 furry assistants), but I can tell you without hesitation, Linda is the secret sauce to success. While I go through the details with her, we’ll have Brad bring us an adventure with a much larger crew!

Take it away Brad…

After a very long and productive day of birding at Harris Neck NWR in Georgia, Jan and I decided we needed just a little bit more birding in our full day.  Our memory cards weren’t quite full, and what’s the use of having large memory cards if you don’t fill them?  Plus, we had plenty of battery life left on our cameras.

We decided to visit the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge, which sits on the South Carolina state line shared with Georgia.  While on a bird walk on Hilton Head at the Audubon Newhall Preserve, we heard people talking about the “millions” of ducks at Savannah.  Others on the walk said there can’t be more than 10-20 birds there, there has never been a “million” in one location.  A million ducks would be interesting.  That sounded like a challenge for us.

Savannah NWR, at least the part we visited, is a drive-through nature preserve.  The gravel drive is mostly a causeway type of thoroughfare, raised a few feet above the tidal water on either side.  We had just entered the preserve and rounded the first corner when we saw a large grey pickup parked along the side of the road.  That usually means there’s something worth photographing nearby.  I pulled within a respectable distance of the truck and parked the car.  Jan and I already had our cameras assembled and ready to go from earlier in the day.  We saw the owner of the truck on the other side of the road on a smaller walking path.  He was looking into the distance. 

As we approached the driver was shaking his head and muttering something about, “every time I move, they move.”  He had just driven non-stop from Virginia and was a bit worn out chasing ducks back and forth across this little pond.

Black-Bellied Whistling-Duck by Brad Marks

What’s that sound, everybody look what’s going down on the other side of the jump!

Continue reading A Cast of Thousands…by Brad Marks

You Gonna Eat That?…by Brad Marks

Good news, Brad is back from his field office visit (in actuality he made it back just before I released my last post, but I didn’t see his expense report come in before hitting publish). I can definitely use the break as tomorrow morning is my “simulation” run for the fast approaching ultra trail race. Plan is to cover ~75% of the course, but 100% of the terrain (there is an 8 mile repeated section). The 24 or so miles shouldn’t be an issue, but the heat is the big unknown as temps have been climbing steadily since last week. It could be a “devil” of a time which makes Brad’s post on point. Enjoy this “spear-ited” adventure while I go talk through the battle plan with the crew.

Take it away Brad…

Sometimes with wildlife photography, I’m not really sure what I’m seeing, but I keep the shutter going just in case.  I’ve been lucky enough to get the precise moment a Bald Eagle snatches dinner from a river.  We’ve also caught the precise moment dinner exits a bird (not pretty, so no more details here) on more than one occasion.  This time, both Jan and I were very unsure what we were seeing.  Luckily, we took a combined few hundred photos over the course of a minute or two.  As the subject moved along and came into focus (pun intended) we were able to tell what it was, but really couldn’t believe what we were seeing.

Jan and I were sitting on a berm at the end of Woody Pond at Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge in Georgia.  Even though there was no one at the gate to check our National Park Pass, we felt better that we had one with us.  What?!  No National Parks Pass yet?  Go get one right now, it’s well worth the time.  Of course, if you are reading this blog, you probably already have one.

Let me paint a picture for you.  The berm at the end of Woody Pond acts more like a dam for the shallow-ish pond-like sort of area.  It seemed to be more of a deep marsh because the thick parts of the tree trunks (you know, where they normally come out of the ground) weren’t sticking that far out of the water.  To our right, a few dozen yards away, was a very large alligator sitting right in the middle of the path. (link here)  To the left was a Great Blue Heron (GBH) trying to fish.  Right behind the GBH were three more alligators: one very large and two bite-sized versions. 

I was standing on the berm about halfway between the two groups of gators.  Jan was to my left and a bit closer to the set of three alligators, but also very near the car.  She was also somewhat protected from them by being across a small arm of water, just in case.  There was a tree stump sitting in the water 15-20 feet from the bank.  A minute before, a bird had been perching on it, but now it was empty.  Butterbutts (Yellow-rumped Warblers) were flitting about like mosquitoes.  Luckily, even in this marsh area, there were no mosquitoes in February.

We were watching the GBH on its morning snack hunt when Jan pointed and said, “What’s that?”

Anhinga at Harris Neck NWR found by Brad Marks

Hit the jump to find out what kind of “snake” this really is.

Continue reading You Gonna Eat That?…by Brad Marks

Dance Party…by Brad Marks

Thanks to the return of the wet stuff, I am officially in a forced recovery day. I should probably give a hat-tip to the weather gods based on the muscle whining while getting out of bed this morning. Instead, I get to spend the day learning about the traditional muscle structures of those “grotesque” creatures that watch us upon their high perches and hopefully test out some new wing linkages – Halloween is nearly here people ha! Meanwhile, Brad is going to give us a look at another creature with wings that do not illicit the same level of nightmares… unless you are foolish enough to let them see your cheese curl while strolling along the beach. Time to grab your favorite dark chocolate treat (thanks for the recent restock Brad and Jan!), sit back and enjoy a few laughs.

Take it away Brad…

Jan and I had just returned from a long day of birding along the Atlantic Coast.  I think we carried our cameras for 9 miles that day.  No monopods.  No fancy shoulder straps.  No sherpas.  Don’t feel sorry for us–we were on vacation after all.  And we are retired.  But after chasing birds in swamps, marshes, and  forests (and avoiding the more than occasional alligator) we decided to have a little bit of fun.

Our resort on Hilton Head was right on the beach (aren’t they all).  Keep in mind that it’s mid-February on a beach; the high temperature that day was almost 60F (but only if you rounded up).  Normally, a beach and cold weather don’t go together.  Beach (more specifically sand) and camera gear don’t go together either, but there was nary a breeze this time of day and no fluffy blowing sand to worry about.  I remember Brian and his brother Ron getting caught in a sand storm on a beach in Texas and I didn’t want to repeat their adventure.  Plus, I didn’t want to have to extricate sand castles from my lenses and cameras.  My camera gear coverage from Wildlife Intrigued hasn’t quite started yet; still the newbie I guess.

The light breeze didn’t stop the gulls from entertaining us.

Gulls from Brad Marks

Hit the jump to see more antics.

Continue reading Dance Party…by Brad Marks