Brian here, I promised you something special if you behaved and I am delighted to bring you our first “Guest Feature”. Some of you may recognize Brad Marks from the many comments to my posts over the years. He has been a long-time friend of mine that started when we both had Information Technology careers at a local Fortune 50 corporation. We actually retired on the exact same day. I have always wanted to bring my readers new adventures while giving my fellow birder friends a chance to share their experiences with a broader community. A toe-tip in the blogging waters so to speak and who knows, maybe a catalyst to embark on their own blog journey – or minimally more future guest spots here. I know you will enjoy Brad’s post and will now hand over the reins and head back into the nightmare lab. Be sure and let him know how much you appreciated his effort in the comments!
……Take it away Brad.
While many of avid birders may be trying for a Big Year (700+ bird species spotted), or Medium Year (350-ish?), I’ve tried to focus (no pun intended) on going for an Extra Extra Small Year (only 45 species YTD, +6 for the Life List). I know Brian’s loyal readers are used to a certain visual and textual representation standard so I hope this posting does not disappoint.
We (Jan and I) like to take photographic vacations, or at least vacations in very photographic places. And while we do like to catch the local wildlife and scenery, we sometimes make focused efforts for specific subject matter. For example, on our recent Hawaiian vacation (to celebrate a milestone anniversary) we hiked 45+ minutes, round trip, in the dark (with only mobile phone lights) to see an active lava lake. Who wouldn’t?
We also took a day trip from the Kona Coast (desert west side) on the Big Island of Hawai’i to the Kipuka Puaulu (pronounced “kee-‘poo-kah” and “poo-‘ah-oo-loo”) Trail and nature preserve on the slopes of Mauna Loa (rainy southeast-ish side) just outside the boundary of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Our goal was to photograph some of the Big Island’s feathered friends. The circular trail is a little over a mile long and is a very easy hike if you have the time. However, by the time we drove the 93 miles (2+ hours including 15 miles of switchbacks) to the preserve, the birds had all gone off for Kona coffee breaks. All except for this one and a couple of friends.
Hit the jump to read more about Jan and Brad’s recent adventure!
Continue reading Guest Feature: An XXS Year…by Brad Marks
Wildlife Intrigued 