John started a pelagic, 6 AM Saturday, October 13th, out of San Diego. They cruised out along the continental shelf to the back side of San Clemente Island, returning to port early Monday morning, October 15th.
On board were several people he has spent time with on various venues over this past year. Sandy Komito was there, we met him at High Island, also, a guy who was with John on Attu, a guy who was on the weather cancelled boat and then the boat that finally went out to Dry Tortugas, and a lady who was at the Sax-Zim festival with us last February. The bunks were nearly full. Crazy birders all.
At firs,t there were tons of storm petrals. Way out to sea, John was surprised to see lots of Brown Pelicans and Western Gulls along the continent's edge. The Sax-Zim lady got a life bird with the Red-Billed Tropicbird. John got the Guadalupe Murrelet that he had missed on the last San Diego pelagic. He is now at 662 for his big year list. And lots of pictures. He was happy to get better pictures of the Least Storm Petral. John is getting close to having decent pictures of 600 bird species taken this year.
I am blogging from my sister's farm in Minnesota. I don't do pelagics. John called me with his report as soon as he got home. He will start the download of his pictures onto hard drives and crawl into bed. It isn't easy to get a good night's sleep on a boat.
Showing posts with label Sax-Zim. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sax-Zim. Show all posts
Monday, October 15, 2012
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Awash in nature
Yesterday, June 24th, John left Duluth for our old stomping grounds, Sax-Zim. He took the long gravel roads into the area. Didn't see, maybe, or hear, maybe, anything new, then it started to rain so he closed up shop. Paved roads seemed to make more sense to return to Duluth. Every paved road he went on either was closed due to flooding or closed due to 'water on the road'. The water wasn't very deep so he chanced it a few times, took some questionable detours and managed to get to Floodwood, aptly named. There were some MDOT repair crews there who assured him he could drive past one more barrier, carefully, and get back on a major road to Duluth.
Today, John went back on the gravel roads into Sax-Zim and stopped to do some recording. In his earphones he heard, galumph, galumph, galumph, turned around and saw a black bear running away down the road. The footprint dwarfed a quarter set for scale. John had been recording the winnowing of snipe and interesting bird songs, bonus bear galumph. Now, besides pictures to process, he will have hours of recordings to puzzle through.
John managed to head west without major road outages and stopped by my sister's place near Ponsford Minnesota. At the wilderness headquarters nearby, he saw a female Hooded Merganser with chicks, a male Ruby-Throated Hummingbird and an Upland Plover. It is nice to see birds on their breeding grounds even if you saw them in migration. At least the HOME was new.
Will he see any target birds in the Dakotas? Will the Colorado fires abate? And just what is John's year-to-date species total?
Today, John went back on the gravel roads into Sax-Zim and stopped to do some recording. In his earphones he heard, galumph, galumph, galumph, turned around and saw a black bear running away down the road. The footprint dwarfed a quarter set for scale. John had been recording the winnowing of snipe and interesting bird songs, bonus bear galumph. Now, besides pictures to process, he will have hours of recordings to puzzle through.
John managed to head west without major road outages and stopped by my sister's place near Ponsford Minnesota. At the wilderness headquarters nearby, he saw a female Hooded Merganser with chicks, a male Ruby-Throated Hummingbird and an Upland Plover. It is nice to see birds on their breeding grounds even if you saw them in migration. At least the HOME was new.
Will he see any target birds in the Dakotas? Will the Colorado fires abate? And just what is John's year-to-date species total?
Saturday, June 23, 2012
tick, tick, tickity tick
John spent the last two days in Wisconsin. Thursday night, June 21st, he counted 9 ticks. Friday night, June 22nd, he had counted 24 by the time I had called him. He always tucks his pants into his socks so he hasn't gotten bitten....yet. Many others are probably crawling around inside the rental car. EWWW! Here I sit, tickless, in Southern California, while John struggles to find birds on his own.
Thursday, notable were pics of Chestnut-Sided Warbler and Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker. He definitely heard a Connecticut Warbler too. He also discovered that when he uses my IPhone to review bird songs and returns it to his pocket, sometimes the program spontaneously plays a fragment of a song, fooling him into thinking he has heard the bird. But he can tell. The song is too perfect, not repeated, and not complete. Brief, false hope.
The other tool John uses a lot is Birdseye. The phone app mines EBird and maps the sightings of a target bird near to John's location. Doesn't mean he will see it, but gets him closer. Thanks, everyone who contributes to EBird.
Friday, he saw about 24 Trumpeter Swans, another conservation success story. He is staying overnight in Duluth, then, Saturday, he will head to Sax-Zim, where we attended a festival in February.
On his own, John has spent two days in Wisconsin, and will spend two days each in Minnesota, South Dakota, and Colorado. He will join Melody Kehl in Arizona for a trip into California Gulch June 29th, spend a few more days there and head home to Southern California. We will have been apart two months.
Thursday, notable were pics of Chestnut-Sided Warbler and Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker. He definitely heard a Connecticut Warbler too. He also discovered that when he uses my IPhone to review bird songs and returns it to his pocket, sometimes the program spontaneously plays a fragment of a song, fooling him into thinking he has heard the bird. But he can tell. The song is too perfect, not repeated, and not complete. Brief, false hope.
The other tool John uses a lot is Birdseye. The phone app mines EBird and maps the sightings of a target bird near to John's location. Doesn't mean he will see it, but gets him closer. Thanks, everyone who contributes to EBird.
Friday, he saw about 24 Trumpeter Swans, another conservation success story. He is staying overnight in Duluth, then, Saturday, he will head to Sax-Zim, where we attended a festival in February.
On his own, John has spent two days in Wisconsin, and will spend two days each in Minnesota, South Dakota, and Colorado. He will join Melody Kehl in Arizona for a trip into California Gulch June 29th, spend a few more days there and head home to Southern California. We will have been apart two months.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Sax-Zim Bog Winter Bird Festival
Meadowlands, Minnesota is quite the place! Tiny but mighty. The festival was well-run, good guides, interesting evening presentations and, best of all, wonderful birds. On our Saturday field trip around the bog, we had great views of a Great Gray Owl, Boreal Chickadees, lots of Rough-Legged Hawks, a Black-Backed Woodpecker, a Northern Shrike, Sharp-Tailed Grouse, and Ruffed Grouse. Pine Grosbeaks come to the feeder outside our lodgings. I declared a day of rest on Sunday, John went on another field trip. Monday, we will try for the Hawk Owl at Gooseberry Falls and look for birds that have been reported in Duluth before heading back down to Minneapolis for our flight home Tuesday.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Flights of fancy
Tomorrow, Saturday the 11th, I fly to Minneapolis and connect with my sister north of the city. Then we will drive up north to her farmstead near Ponsford, Minnesota. Ever hear of it?
John, meanwhile, is wandering around Northern California and will return here Monday. Tuesday will be a day to rest and pack, then he flies to Minneapolis Wednesday. He will rent a car and drive up to rendezvous with me. We will then head for the Sax-Zim birding festival in Meadowlands. There is minimal snow cover so the typical birds might be tough. I will report later.
I did talk to John today and he found the Hermit Warbler and the Townsend's Warbler in the hills east of Pacific Grove. Since he may not be in California much during migration it was good to get them now. He will go online and see if any of the rarities being reported up there are worth going for.
I've got my boarding pass printed out and the taxi set up, so once I finish packing, :-P, I can sip some bourbon, set the alarm and crawl into bed.
John, meanwhile, is wandering around Northern California and will return here Monday. Tuesday will be a day to rest and pack, then he flies to Minneapolis Wednesday. He will rent a car and drive up to rendezvous with me. We will then head for the Sax-Zim birding festival in Meadowlands. There is minimal snow cover so the typical birds might be tough. I will report later.
I did talk to John today and he found the Hermit Warbler and the Townsend's Warbler in the hills east of Pacific Grove. Since he may not be in California much during migration it was good to get them now. He will go online and see if any of the rarities being reported up there are worth going for.
I've got my boarding pass printed out and the taxi set up, so once I finish packing, :-P, I can sip some bourbon, set the alarm and crawl into bed.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Weather-wise-ing
John is back from his trip to Newfoundland. Jared Clarke of Zugunruhe Birding Tours did a good job of shepherding the group around. Nice safe way for John to get some winter experience.
He learned that snow is frozen water so your boots and gloves do get wet. He wished his gloves were heavier and waterproof and that he hadn't lost one of the gloves he did bring. I told him to try on everything before he packed it, but somehow he left his long johns here and brought two pair that may have been mine. A bit of a stretch! We will have to do some shopping before we go to Northern Minnesota for the Sax-Zim birding festival in February.
'This isn't a good year for.....' may be a theme John hears a lot this year. Both in Newfoundland and Minnesota the weather has been mild so far so the birds are not as easy to see. John did get five life birds but not the one bird he went to Newfoundland for, the yellow legged gull. At least in Minnesota, there is some snow now so perhaps we will get some of the specialties there.
When the big year that the movie was about occurred there was El Nino, a big storm in the northwest, and access to Attu. John is hoping to get to Attu on a boat tour sponsored by Z Tours. Whether birds get blown there or blown away from there is yet to be determined. John's big year will be a great adventure whatever the outcome.
He learned that snow is frozen water so your boots and gloves do get wet. He wished his gloves were heavier and waterproof and that he hadn't lost one of the gloves he did bring. I told him to try on everything before he packed it, but somehow he left his long johns here and brought two pair that may have been mine. A bit of a stretch! We will have to do some shopping before we go to Northern Minnesota for the Sax-Zim birding festival in February.
'This isn't a good year for.....' may be a theme John hears a lot this year. Both in Newfoundland and Minnesota the weather has been mild so far so the birds are not as easy to see. John did get five life birds but not the one bird he went to Newfoundland for, the yellow legged gull. At least in Minnesota, there is some snow now so perhaps we will get some of the specialties there.
When the big year that the movie was about occurred there was El Nino, a big storm in the northwest, and access to Attu. John is hoping to get to Attu on a boat tour sponsored by Z Tours. Whether birds get blown there or blown away from there is yet to be determined. John's big year will be a great adventure whatever the outcome.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Hardly chilly
John is winging his way to Newfoundland. Hope birds are too. Today, there is snow there, tomorrow, almost certainly rain. The rest of his stay will be in the 30's with little or no precipitation. Not bad for January.
Minnesota needs some good storms before the Sax-Zim birding festival in February. Hawk Owls are sparse this year. There was a festival a few years back that was cut short by weather but at least there were Hawk Owls. We'll just have to take whatever the fates want to offer us. Northern Lights would be nice.
It is sunny and 60 degrees here in Southern California. The Allen's Hummingbird is spitting and popping his creds. The House Wren and Orange-Crowned Warbler are looking for rentals. I'm just glad to be home.
Minnesota needs some good storms before the Sax-Zim birding festival in February. Hawk Owls are sparse this year. There was a festival a few years back that was cut short by weather but at least there were Hawk Owls. We'll just have to take whatever the fates want to offer us. Northern Lights would be nice.
It is sunny and 60 degrees here in Southern California. The Allen's Hummingbird is spitting and popping his creds. The House Wren and Orange-Crowned Warbler are looking for rentals. I'm just glad to be home.
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