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Wednesday, March 31, 2010
BAR-TAILED GODWIT
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Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Thespian, Couchsurfing Host, and still a Birder
My last week+ has been marked by these three things, which I will explain in three paragraphs (not including this one).
Rosana has coerced me to be in her middle school play, A Midsummer Night's Dream. I'm playing the part of Lysander, and we will be doing our performance this Friday. It's crunch time.
We had a couchsurfer, Evan, who wasn't a complete stranger. I stayed with him at his home in Vancouver in November. he now finds himself completing a brewery tour of the U.S., and about to begin his hike up the Appalachian Trail throughout the summer. A good luck to him. Eva and Rupp also came by for a stay, which made for a busy night.
I have gotten some birding in. The spring migration fall-out has begun. With Evan, I checked out Matheson Hammock on Monday, and among tons of BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER and NORTHERN PARULA, I got to see one SWAINSON'S WARBLER, which is mildly uncommon in Florida during migration. It was new for my year. I've also helped Eva try to get the LA SAGRA'S FLYCATCHER at Bill Baggs State Park twice, and unfortunately, she has a new ABA nemesis bird.
Rosana has coerced me to be in her middle school play, A Midsummer Night's Dream. I'm playing the part of Lysander, and we will be doing our performance this Friday. It's crunch time.
We had a couchsurfer, Evan, who wasn't a complete stranger. I stayed with him at his home in Vancouver in November. he now finds himself completing a brewery tour of the U.S., and about to begin his hike up the Appalachian Trail throughout the summer. A good luck to him. Eva and Rupp also came by for a stay, which made for a busy night.
I have gotten some birding in. The spring migration fall-out has begun. With Evan, I checked out Matheson Hammock on Monday, and among tons of BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER and NORTHERN PARULA, I got to see one SWAINSON'S WARBLER, which is mildly uncommon in Florida during migration. It was new for my year. I've also helped Eva try to get the LA SAGRA'S FLYCATCHER at Bill Baggs State Park twice, and unfortunately, she has a new ABA nemesis bird.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Home
Saturday night, I went out to Decent Pizza in Tallahassee with ye ol' gang. After some slices, we checked out Waterworks and the Leon Pub, a few of my favorite old stomping grounds, before calling it a night.
The next morning I wasn't feeling all that well because of my cold, so I headed out of Tallahassee at about 9am, for the 8-hour trip south. The only notable experience of the drive was noting my first of the year SWALLOW-TAILED KITE over the Florida Turnpike. I got to my new home (aka Rosana's house) at about 5pm, where we had delicious pasta dinner and wine.
The last couple of days have been absorbed with job searching, but I have been able to get in some very worthwhile birding. On Monday morning, in the worst of my illness, I went to Bill Baggs State Park here in Miami in search of the LA SAGRA'S FLYCATCHER that has been seen pretty much all winter. With some locational help from Eva, I found the spot, and relocated the bird within a couple minutes. This morning, I looked for the other locally rare flycatcher at Matheson Hammocks County Park. After searching for about 25 minutes, a young local birder Alex called me over, as he had found the BROWN-CRESTED FLYCATCHER in the oak picnic area, and we were able to watch it for about 10 minutes. Two great birds in two mornings of searching!
The next morning I wasn't feeling all that well because of my cold, so I headed out of Tallahassee at about 9am, for the 8-hour trip south. The only notable experience of the drive was noting my first of the year SWALLOW-TAILED KITE over the Florida Turnpike. I got to my new home (aka Rosana's house) at about 5pm, where we had delicious pasta dinner and wine.
The last couple of days have been absorbed with job searching, but I have been able to get in some very worthwhile birding. On Monday morning, in the worst of my illness, I went to Bill Baggs State Park here in Miami in search of the LA SAGRA'S FLYCATCHER that has been seen pretty much all winter. With some locational help from Eva, I found the spot, and relocated the bird within a couple minutes. This morning, I looked for the other locally rare flycatcher at Matheson Hammocks County Park. After searching for about 25 minutes, a young local birder Alex called me over, as he had found the BROWN-CRESTED FLYCATCHER in the oak picnic area, and we were able to watch it for about 10 minutes. Two great birds in two mornings of searching!
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Gulf Coast
I went for a bike ride about 1/4 mile from Matt's house to the beach in Bay St. Louis on Wednesday. I got a good look at a variety of species on the way and at the beach, that included RED-HEADED WOODPECKER, LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE, CASPIAN TERN, and BONAPARTE'S GULL. The ocean was really nice.
When Matt got home from work, we went to a bar with his friends Amber and Mack. We hit up both Clyde's and Benigno's. We didn't get to bed until almost 4am.
Then next morning (afternoon), Matt and I got out to Big Branch National Wildlife Refuge, which was really nice. This was my first time in this style of longleaf pine forest since this summer, which helped me towards my year birds. I picked up one new year species pretty much right away, the BROWN-HEADED NUTHATCH.
We spent several miles of hiking and looking for a RED-COCKADED WOODPECKER, which is a species of special concern, without luck. We finally noticed one when we got back the parking lot that we started from, and two individuals gave us a great show. In fact, Matt caught this great picture of one getting aggressive with a RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER.
Thursday evening, Matt and I went to a little coffee shop in old town called Mockingbird, which sold the local Lazy Magnolia draft and had music at night. It was pretty fun, and it was pretty weird how many people Matt knew here for being a fairly newby to town. After a pancake breakfast, I left Bay St. Louis Friday morning. I drove about 5 hours to get to Tallahassee, arriving just in time for happy hour at Steel City with some of my old colleagues. It was a good night of conversations with a bunch of my favorite people, who I haven't seen in almost one and a half years.
This morning I went out to Tall Timbers north of town to look for a BACHMAN'S SPARROW in a spot that the biologist there had showed Kim, Eva, Matt and I a couple years back. I had similar results of not seeing the bird.
After some tea and lunch with friends, I am relaxing, while fostering the beginnings of a cold, preparing for tonight's festivities.
When Matt got home from work, we went to a bar with his friends Amber and Mack. We hit up both Clyde's and Benigno's. We didn't get to bed until almost 4am.
Then next morning (afternoon), Matt and I got out to Big Branch National Wildlife Refuge, which was really nice. This was my first time in this style of longleaf pine forest since this summer, which helped me towards my year birds. I picked up one new year species pretty much right away, the BROWN-HEADED NUTHATCH.
We spent several miles of hiking and looking for a RED-COCKADED WOODPECKER, which is a species of special concern, without luck. We finally noticed one when we got back the parking lot that we started from, and two individuals gave us a great show. In fact, Matt caught this great picture of one getting aggressive with a RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER.
Thursday evening, Matt and I went to a little coffee shop in old town called Mockingbird, which sold the local Lazy Magnolia draft and had music at night. It was pretty fun, and it was pretty weird how many people Matt knew here for being a fairly newby to town. After a pancake breakfast, I left Bay St. Louis Friday morning. I drove about 5 hours to get to Tallahassee, arriving just in time for happy hour at Steel City with some of my old colleagues. It was a good night of conversations with a bunch of my favorite people, who I haven't seen in almost one and a half years.
This morning I went out to Tall Timbers north of town to look for a BACHMAN'S SPARROW in a spot that the biologist there had showed Kim, Eva, Matt and I a couple years back. I had similar results of not seeing the bird.
After some tea and lunch with friends, I am relaxing, while fostering the beginnings of a cold, preparing for tonight's festivities.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Austism
Monday evening I met up with Maggie and Steph, and we went to the Congress Street bridge to see if we could gander the Mexican Free-tailed bat nightly show of them leaving their roost. We're pretty sure that only happens in the summer, because all we got was cold. But then we went to Magnolia for dinner, which was excellent.
Tuesday I got some work done, both to my car, and to my future life for when I get down to South Florida. It was pretty memorably uneventful, except for the Pad Thai that we made for dinner. On Wednesday, Maggie took the day off so we could have fun. We went to the Zelker Botanical Park to look for the recently seen CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRD, but had no luck. Then she showed me Barton Springs and we headed to McKinney Falls State Park to see what Rosana had in store for our upcoming camping trip there. Out last nature adventure of the day was at Mount Bonnell which is a good vista of the city and river system. We ended early to allow time to drink some beers at Posse East with Steph.
Thursday, besides waiting for Rosana to fly in, included some other things. I got a bunch of job applying done, looked for the CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRD with no luck, and made sushi with Steph and Maggie. Rosana flew in on time, and we stayed near the airport. The next morning we ate at Boulden Creek, which was incredible, then checked out the Congress St. part of town. We got some records at Antone's, and then went to Posse East where Maggie met us. We had a few beers, which made us less inclined for the super-dinner we were going to get, so we had Kerbey Lane instead, which was fantastic.
Rosana and I stayed at Mag and Steph's that night, and in the morning made soem breakfast. In the afternoon, we all went out to Mother's, which was the excellent place that grows their own herbs in the back. After lunch and stocking up at Central Market, Rosana and I headed to McKinney Falls State Park where we camped. The weather was awesome, and allowed us some good times at the falls, as well as playing frisbee, hackysack, and having a fire.
The next day, Rosana and I walked around Congress St. again, and then checked into the nearby Austin Motel, which was a cool little place close to downtown. We got cleaned up here, and then went to 6th St. downtown to a couple of bars. Monday morning we went record shopping again and had breafast at Boulden Creek again, and a drink from Daily Juice. I dropped her off at the airport in the afternoon, and then met up with Mag and Steph in the evening. We got Baby Acapulco's for my final Austin meal, and in the morning yesterday, I left town.
I made two stops (besides gas and peeing) on my 9-hour drive to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi yesterday. The first was at the Atwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge looking for its namesake. Apparently they are not often found on the publicly accessible parts of the refuge, and I had no exceptional visit. I did however get to see my second ever CHESTNUT-COLLARED LONSPUR along the road.
My second stop was by a Texas State Police officer, apparently for driving in Texas with MA plates, which I think is a felony. He gave me two warnings, one for speeding (going 70 in a 65 zone) and following too closely behind the car in front of me (about 20 feet behind). He had a few questions about my binoculars on the passenger seat, to which I told him the incredulous story of me birdwatching. Eventually, I got to Matt's house at about 6pm, and we made some dinner, listened to music, and headed to bed pretty early as he had to work today.
Tuesday I got some work done, both to my car, and to my future life for when I get down to South Florida. It was pretty memorably uneventful, except for the Pad Thai that we made for dinner. On Wednesday, Maggie took the day off so we could have fun. We went to the Zelker Botanical Park to look for the recently seen CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRD, but had no luck. Then she showed me Barton Springs and we headed to McKinney Falls State Park to see what Rosana had in store for our upcoming camping trip there. Out last nature adventure of the day was at Mount Bonnell which is a good vista of the city and river system. We ended early to allow time to drink some beers at Posse East with Steph.
Thursday, besides waiting for Rosana to fly in, included some other things. I got a bunch of job applying done, looked for the CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRD with no luck, and made sushi with Steph and Maggie. Rosana flew in on time, and we stayed near the airport. The next morning we ate at Boulden Creek, which was incredible, then checked out the Congress St. part of town. We got some records at Antone's, and then went to Posse East where Maggie met us. We had a few beers, which made us less inclined for the super-dinner we were going to get, so we had Kerbey Lane instead, which was fantastic.
Rosana and I stayed at Mag and Steph's that night, and in the morning made soem breakfast. In the afternoon, we all went out to Mother's, which was the excellent place that grows their own herbs in the back. After lunch and stocking up at Central Market, Rosana and I headed to McKinney Falls State Park where we camped. The weather was awesome, and allowed us some good times at the falls, as well as playing frisbee, hackysack, and having a fire.
The next day, Rosana and I walked around Congress St. again, and then checked into the nearby Austin Motel, which was a cool little place close to downtown. We got cleaned up here, and then went to 6th St. downtown to a couple of bars. Monday morning we went record shopping again and had breafast at Boulden Creek again, and a drink from Daily Juice. I dropped her off at the airport in the afternoon, and then met up with Mag and Steph in the evening. We got Baby Acapulco's for my final Austin meal, and in the morning yesterday, I left town.
I made two stops (besides gas and peeing) on my 9-hour drive to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi yesterday. The first was at the Atwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge looking for its namesake. Apparently they are not often found on the publicly accessible parts of the refuge, and I had no exceptional visit. I did however get to see my second ever CHESTNUT-COLLARED LONSPUR along the road.
My second stop was by a Texas State Police officer, apparently for driving in Texas with MA plates, which I think is a felony. He gave me two warnings, one for speeding (going 70 in a 65 zone) and following too closely behind the car in front of me (about 20 feet behind). He had a few questions about my binoculars on the passenger seat, to which I told him the incredulous story of me birdwatching. Eventually, I got to Matt's house at about 6pm, and we made some dinner, listened to music, and headed to bed pretty early as he had to work today.
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