South Padre Island Bird Viewing and Nature Center

Gentlemen Prefer Gingers

By the time you are reading this, we will be off to southern Texas. Believe this is the first time we have visited our favorite state at this time of year. By now I am sure everyone is aware we spent lot of our vacation time on the Gulf Coast and down along the Rio Grande Valley during our corporate years. We have continued… and extended our time there now into our retirement years. Our company would shut down between Christmas and New Year’s (initially started to reduce costs at our manufacturing facilities). No longer bound by the designated vacation days, we have been spending all of January in that warmer climate – well, up until this year when we decided to try out Arizona instead – regretted. Having missed our time in Texas, we are making our first Spring visit and excited to try out a new birding season. There is a bit of concern about the tourist competition being in the midst of Spring Break for many of the schools across the nation. Time will tell, but honestly, it is hard for us to ever be disappointed down there. I may be a bit sparse as we chew up the miles and I also know Brad will be heading back out on assignment soon, so apologies in advance for the expected delays in responses. The good news is we have plenty of material ready to go to keep everyone entertained while we are out and about.

Without further delay, how about we get to today’s featured feathered friend!

Hit the jump to read more about our ginger feathered specimen.

Electric Blue

UPDATE: Thanks to the keen eye and birding expertise of Ted Jennings (link here), I’ve learned something new as a result of this post. My original identification of this post’s featured feathered friend was an immature Little Blue Heron. This was based on the overall white coloring, dark legs and the two toned bill…and not seeing the markers for the other options pointed out in the original post. Ted brought up the possibility of something I had not considered, the much rarer white morph of the Reddish Egret. They have very similar markings to the immature Little Blue, but are a bit larger and more distinctly have, a “shaggy” feathering on their head and neck. That fits my specimen perfectly! Updated my post accordingly – THANK YOU TED!! It is a good day whenever I can grow my birding knowledge.

Greetings everyone! I have been a bit out of pocket since we started or migration south just before the start of the New Year. Always a hassle to get from overnight camp to the next stop and then the connectivity can be sketchy, although, admittedly I must admit, Internet access via phone or local Wi-Fi is much better than just a few years ago. Guessing a surprise benefit of the Covid years. From the trip perspective, we have been lucky enough to meet up with some friends of ours who moved out to Benson, AZ. Always good to catch up on the latest activities in person – novel idea eh? (for the record, I am NOT a Facebook user). Birding has also been good, now up 67 birds for our Average Year ’24 which includes 5 lifers so far – that means 5 more posts coming out say sometime in late 2027 hehehe. Some of us at Intrigued have an embarrassing large backlog. There has been one glaring negative to this point (and likely to carry well into next week)…IT’S COLD! I know, shocking to hear someone from the Midwest say that in January, but remember we travel south to get away from the heartland tundra. We are not ruling out that we were voodoo cursed while in New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl back in 2002. Ever since then, we have brought unseasonably cold weather to whatever destination we vacation – just ask Texas about the ice storm they had a few years back. So far we have just missed snow in New Mexico and bracing for freezing temps the next couple of nights here in Arizona ugh. It is what it is, but the birds have still been active and my brother Ron is flying down here today to add to his checklist – writing this post as we wait for his flight to arrive.

To warm up a bit, thought I would feature an encounter from last year’s human migration.

Little Blue Heron found at South Padre Bird Viewing Center in January 2023

Hit the jump to see a few more shots of this “Electric Blue”.

Mr. Rusthead in the Tin

I had hoped to be full time on the new computer by now, but what has probably been the case since KENBAK-1, upgrading/migrating is a total pain in the ass. I lived IT day in and day out for over 31 years – you’d think this would be a walk in the park, especially now in the digital age of 2023. Nope! Now have purged most of the ghosts in the machine (“if it’s something we can’t buy, there must be another way”). Fingers crossed the final bits will fall into place in the coming week – too many January Texas pictures left to process before we head south! In the meantime, thought I would go with a featured feathered friend I was working on before the new computer showed up.

Mangrove Subspecies of the Yellow Warbler found At SPI Birding Viewing and Nature Center in January 2023

Here at Intrigued our motto has always been “Story First, Images Support”. This post is a perfect example of that philosophy as I’ll admit right up front, these shots are not technically sharp. Don’t get me wrong, we strive to bring you the best images we possibly can. In the case of this colorful specimen – this constitutes the best I could deliver given the circumstances (over the last three years!).

Hit the jump to learn about our brightly colored Warbler.

Pinocchio

It is not often I write up an entire post and then decide to pull it from publication at the last minute, but that is exactly what recently occurred. Pretty much everyone knows about my running mishap, so I am going to pretty much gloss over that setback beyond simply stating the recovery is going well and I’m doing my best to listen to Linda (she no longer frowns when I head out for a long run in the woods ha). There was, however, an unfortunately side effect that was probably worse than the injury itself and that is the “abundance” of time that it brought. Time normally spent keeping the country homestead up, working on Halloween props or the myriad of other physical activities that fill my normal days. I promised myself I wouldn’t do it and I still did it – the void ended up being filled with “the news”. I put that in quotes because I no longer believe we have resemblance of what that used to mean. It didn’t take long to become completely infuriated and without a good hard run to burn off the angst, it just continued to simmer into a full boil. My now shelved post (for the Mothership blog) outlined the hypocrisy that has inundated me for the past 6 or so weeks. As far as bodies of work goes, not too shabby of a post. Then I managed to sneak out and go for a long run – the same location and trail where the Ent broke me. While I was taking a picture (for posterity and future late night navigation when I revisit with a tree saw), it dawned on me I was smiling. Here I was at the scene of the crime and instead of being bitter and down, it was a feeling of relief and joy – I was back where I belong, standing in the dirt, surrounded by nature and thanks to the long time off, sweating profusely. No longer beholden to the lame stream media or political influencers my interest in reliving that crap had now disappeared. A previous run had already produced the title, just needed to repurpose it ha!

White Ibis found at South Padre Island Bird Viewing and Nature Center in January, 2023

Hit the jump to learn more about today’s substitute feature!

Birdapalooza II

March has turned out to be a very good month and we still have several days left! Thanks to our quick trip to Vegas, my Average Year status is now at 239 (link here) – that includes two local finds yesterday thanks to standing out in a large tree lined meadow waiting for the distinct peent of horny male American Woodcocks (link here – more sad memories). Call me 12, but I still laugh every single time I say or type out that name hehehe. The other +1 was more of a twist as it “found” me. I was just standing there noting it was getting surprisingly chilly as the sun was preparing for bed, when I noticed a fast moving bird heading across the meadow directly at me. Ever witness people just standing there taking it all in as a car or other potentially dangerous object speeds in their direction? This bird just kept coming, I just kept standing there, bird continues to close the gap, I continue to gawk, bird appears to be on a mission, I continue to ponder the history of flight, bird undeterred, I wonder if Ron is standing next to me (birds hate him), bird proceeds to whiz past my right ear and land on a nearby branch, I nearly crap my pants. What the hell was THAT! I turned to give it a stern talking to when I noticed it was a Fox Sparrow. Took a few snaps to get the +1 for the year and politely informed it a Top Gun flyby wasn’t necessary, a friendly wave would have been sufficient. I don’t speak bird, but I think it called me a ground hugging troglodyte and pointed to its wings – sigh.

That puts me a mere 61 birds away from the 300 goal for the year. Hoping to take a huge chunk out of that next week as we are heading down to Dauphin Island (and along the Panhandle) for some migration action. During that time we’ll be bringing you several posts from Brad including an adventure to a place Intrigued has never been before. Actually, Brad also influenced today’s featured post.

Ringed Kingfisher found at UTRGV Campus Land bridge in Brownsville, TX in January 2022

Hit the jump to experience Birdapalooza II

Wet, Still and Feisty

Howdy folks. I have good news. Brad has checked in and thanks to a harrowing escape from a very agitated splinter tribe of the Baka, he’ll be returning to home base soon yeah! Best of all, he has digital cards full of future post fodder sure to entertain our readers. I’ll have to wait to hear the full office report out – dodging poison darts sounds like some serious popcorn munching stories. Linda and I are heading out into the field ourselves. Just a week stint for us, although I contend it feels a lot longer with limited amounts of sleep in Sin City. Expecting a big boost to my current Average Year count (link here) currently sitting at a respectable 210 thanks to two recent visitors to our feeders. Just to set the schedule, this will be the last post of the month from me in order to give me a chance to respond to comments etc. before we jet out. Brad will then take the helm to close out what is left of February and the first post or two in March.

With the admin work out of the way, how about we get to today’s featured feathered friend.

Green Heron found at South Padre Island Bird Viewing and Nature Center in January 2022

Completely opposite the sun soaked issues I had to deal with in the previous Cattle Egret post, today’s series is more of a literal drenching. Rather than having to battle the exposure gods to keep from blowing out the brilliant whites of that Egret, I found myself trying to suck in all the light I could to pull this Green Heron out of darkness. Rain had just passed, the sky was still thick with overcast and the waters around the South Padre Island Bird Viewing and Nature Center (and now Alligator Sanctuary) had taken on a dreary tone.

Hit the jump to see a few more pictures of our rain soaked shore hunter.

Natural Born Zombie Killer

Welcome to November everyone! Granted we are a few days into it, but I’ve finally managed to make it to surface for some badly needed air. Halloween has past (long live the haunt!), sadness has been overwhelmed by cherished memories and, as of last Saturday, my race season has likely come to a close unless a race in the snow happens to catch my fancy. Although we are likely a ways from the ground sticking fluffy stuff, Bri needs some time for rest and healing – the 100K race left its mark. Now the focus turns to getting back to “normal” and the first order of business is feathers.

Long-Billed Curlew found at South Padre Island in December 2016

I know some of you were wondering when we were going to get back to our featured feathered friends .. after all, this is a blog that is supposed to be about all things wild. In my defense, zombie encounters can get a bit wild if you don’t have a long pointy stick to pop them in the head with. Today’s featured shorebird has absolutely no fear of running into the walking dead. They just causally walk up to the animated corpse and “bill” them in the head.

Hit the jump to learn more about our natural born “zombie killer”.

Marvil Comics’ “X” Duck

The bones are starting to creak and the nose is turning red, we must be headed into the tundra we call home. We made our final stop in Marion, AR yesterday to perform the RV winterization ritual in the closing hours before we officially hit sub-freezing temps. Asked Linda several times during this process if she wanted to turn back and flee south again…with great agony so reminded me we have important appointments awaiting us throughout February, sigh. On the good news front, I can update you on my Average Year efforts. With a few days still left in this month I’ve clocked in 173 unique birds for the young year (Ron at healthy 152). Quite stunned by that and can be directly attributed to how wonderful birding is in Texas. I’ll be turning my err… Linda’s sights on getting the Snowy Owl (link here) immediately upon our return.

Right now I have to focus on hitting my self-imposed post quota for this month. Once again, I’ve overestimated the amount of free time available on our vacation. Amazing how we manage to fill up an entire month with activities (read birding sunrise to sundown). Was able to get five out there during the longer drives leaving me with today’s featured feathered friend for the win.

Redhead Duck found at South Padre Bird Viewing Center in December 2017

Okay birders, without hitting the jump, want to take a guess on what this duck is?

Hit the jump for further clues.

Well Engineered Bird

Pretty much on the go these days. We had to leave the great-nephew’s graduation/family reunion a day early in order to make our way up to Michigan for the UKC Agility Nationals competition. Raven and Linda qualified for the national ranks this year and was invited to compete with the rest of the ranked boys and girls. Planned on leaving the reunion on morning rise to give us sufficient time to repack us and the dogs – that was the plan until we heard the words “water balloon fight”. Decided we could spare a few hours to experience the perfect way to spend a hot Midwestern summer day. Quickly learned the old days of trying to slip the rim of a balloon over a water spigot without it breaking, trying to cut the water off before the balloon overfills and finally getting it successfully tied without dropping it are LONG GONE. A clever engineer (guessing) looked at the struggles of a kid trying to rain bombs on his enemy and came up with a better plan. Have you seen the new water balloon system (link here). Unbelievable! Hook up a bunch with a single nozzle, let the water flow and presto 35 perfectly shaped bombs. They even fall off when they are full or simply jerk the nozzle down and they all plop off perfectly sealed thanks to a rubber collar that slides off the fill straw. I watched in horror as the kids prepared over 1,000 water bombs in probably less than 15 minutes. Ummm, honey, thinking it might be time to go ha! What followed can only be defined as perfectly engineered fun – well, after the first barrage of bombs from the kids directed at the still stunned adults. Luckily some of the kids were still developing their arms allowing us to catch and retaliate. That worked great until those little bastards realized they could throw above us and let the balloons bust on the RVs and shower us. We finally got the upper hand, but there wasn’t a dry set of clothes anywhere to be seen – just miles and miles of smiles.

In honor of that experience, thought I’d go with this featured friend for today’s post.

Juvi White Ibis found at Padre Island Bird Viewing and Nature Center in January 2017

Why go with this rather odd looking bird? Well, the first reason was pretty easy. I was flipping through my backlog of images specifically looking for a bird that is commonly associated with “water”. As we are in the later part of the week I allowed myself to go back in the catalog and found our rather odd looking friend. It also luckily met my second criteria of being purpose built – correctly engineered (or evolved) if you will.

Hit the jump to read more about our young bird.

Continue reading Well Engineered Bird

The Purveyor of Wisdom and Blogging

Greetings everyone. Feels like I’ve been exploring a third world country as of late thanks to not having connectivity for the last couple of days. Amazing how accustomed you become to being able to check on the pulse of the country whenever you have the need to dampen your mood. Today we made it back to civilization and now have some access – sure enough, disbelief soon followed. Not sure when or even if I’ll weigh into the current state of affairs. For now I’ll simply mention that big tech monopolies colluding to deplatform competitors is utter bullshit. I’ve spent my career in the high tech world and this absolutely sickens me. So, until I opt to delve into this deeper, let’s all brighten our hearts a bit by looking at a “purdy” bird.

White Ibis found at South Padre Island Bird Viewing and Nature Center December 2016

There, I can feel my concerns melting away for the moment – a general soothing, if you, will thanks to an innocent bird simply enjoying the calm marsh waters of South Padre Island. Will get this cringe part over now… not exactly new, this series was taken on our Texas birding trip back in December 2016. I know, I know, I promised more current material for the new year, but during our exploration mode the only material I have is what I’ve already processed and put into the holding queue. All is good as I happen to really like this particular series of shots.

White Ibis found at South Padre Island Bird Viewing and Nature Center December 2016

Hit the jump to see a few more shots of our pink highlighted friend.

Continue reading The Purveyor of Wisdom and Blogging

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