I'm out for a while

If you're subscribed to this blog you probably have noticed that I haven't been updating much lately. Unfortunately I'm starting law school soon and I've been frantic getting prepared for it. Since I'm also going part-time on top of full-time work, I need to drop a few hobbies and, unfortunately, birding didn't make the cut.

I'm going to keep the blog up, so feel free to stay subscribed, but there won't be an updates for a while (maybe I'll be able to get out and bird on vacations).

Galveston Featherfest Recap

This was the first time I had ever gone to a festival alone, and I wouldn't recommend it. A lot of the times I was lonely; I didn't have anyone my own age to share things with. It's different when you're just birding around your neighborhood as a sort of stress release, but spending a whole weekend doing it got to me.

Friday I went on two field trips: the Attwater's Prairie Chicken field trip to the Texas City Preserve, and the West Galveston Songbird trip. We got to see the Prairie Chicken, and were told very sad news that there were less than 60 less in the world, and that one of the two males we got to see was the last "wild" male left (not born in captivity). Obviously, it was a lifer for me! We had our scopes on it and it was still quite a ways away . I tried to take a photograph with my ultra-zoom point and shoot, but it didn't turn out so well:



On the way back from the Texas City Preserve, we stopped under a bridge that had both nesting Cave (lifer!) and Cliff Swallows, and we got a real good look at the difference between the two, not only in color, but in how their nests look. In this picture, you can see the white forehead of the Cliff Swallow. On the left side of the photo is a Cave Swallow nest, which has a much different look to it.



The West Galveston Songbird trip was pretty short on migrants; the winds were blowing to the north which aided birds in flying right over us to the lakes and streams inland. Some notable sightings were that we got to see both an Eastern and a Western Kingbird on the same tree, and also a stunning Indigo Bunting. Unfortunately, when we left the marsh and entered the wooded area, things slowed down to a halt. We ultimately got brief looks at two different Summer Tanagers. Later, I got a brief look of a Bronzed Cowbird, a lifer me, at our second stop of the field trip.




The banquet Friday night was great, and I got to meet one of my favorite birder-authors: Ken Kaufman. He wrote Kingbird Highway, which is an amazing travel narrative (my genre of choice). It's a memoir about himself at 16, where he set off to attempt a big year with no mode of transportation and no money. He hitchhiked to all four corners of the nation on his quest. It looks like the entire book is up on Google Books if anyone wants to read it while sitting at their computer. I bought the unreleased first-edition of his new book, Flights Against the Sunset, another memoir, and of course had it signed by him!

Friday night there was a big storm, so we were hoping for a fallout Saturday, but unfortunately it never came. Migrants were very sparse again, even where I was at High Island. I still managed to see over 70 birds for the day, including a lifer that has been eluding me for a very long time, a Merlin, which was atop a communications tower while we were waiting for the ferry. I did manage to meet up with another person my age who was also there alone, so while the birds were slim, at least I had some good company. She was a new birder from west Houston and I told her to call me if she ever wanted some experienced company to go bird with around the area. Here is the view from the new observation deck; you can see how flat the landscape is here on the coast:



At this point I was pretty sunburned, so I decided to skip the art & social and head home for the night. I was so wiped out the next day, and bird numbers didn't look like they were going to pick up, so I decided not to drive back and do the West Galveston Sampler trip on Sunday. I pretty much just vegged out all day.

In the end, I added 4 life birds, no new Texas birds other than those 4, and 15 new Galveston County birds (a county I already had 100+ in). I saw 92 species overall. It was probably the worst outcome of a festival weekend of birding I've had. But it was expected to be low, as I stated in my previous post, because I'm in my "home territory" and have seen most of the birds here. If you break it down to gas and festival costs, each species of bird I saw this weekend cost me about $3.

One realization I made this weekend is that I'm past the point of being able to see massive amounts of new birds. The novelty has worn off and I'm actually learning about the birds at this point. I was surprised at what I already knew when I was spouting my knowledge off to the new birder I met on Saturday. This weekend I also extensively learned about field markings of swallows and how to identify them, which was one of my problem areas before. I also had trouble distinguishing between Common and Great-Tailed Grackles before, but I saw enough of both now that I can easily distinguish between the two.

I'm not sure I'm going to go to any more pay-per-trip festivals in the future. While I have fun and learn a lot, it just doesn't seem worth the money. I'm going to stick with TOS meetings, in which one fee (between $35-$60, depending on venue) will get you into all the field trips all weekend. That's much cheaper than the Galveston or Harlingen bird festivals!

Galveston Featherfest this Weekend

What's this... two posts in one day? Sounds like Carey's making a birding comeback!

This weekend I'm going to Galveston Featherfest. If you've read through my blog, you'll remember that I went last year and had a fairly miserable time. It rained hard Saturday and while the weather wasn't much better on Sunday, but at least on Sunday I had a 100+ species day.

This year I was half considering not going. But then I saw who the keynote speaker was, one of my favorite birder/authors Ken Kaufman! He wrote one of my favorite birding narratives, Kingbird Highway, which is a memoir of himself in the 70s, when he attempted a big year with basically no money, hitchhiking thousands of miles.

So now I'm all signed up. I'm not expecting to see too many life birds, with the exception of Prairie Chickens, because I'm in my "home territory," but I can always be surprised. Rather than go on limited field trips and spend my money on a weekend in a hotel, I decided to go all out on field trips and just drive the 1 1/4 hour trip home each day ($12 a day of gas versus $70 a night in a hotel, after taxes). Here's my itinerary:

Friday (all sold out now):
5:00-10:45am Prairie Chickens
12:45-4:45pm West Galveston Songbirds
5:30-9:00pm Keynote Dinner - K Kaufman

Saturday:
7:00-8:15am Bird ID Warmup
8:30-4:00pm High Island
6:00-8:00pm Art and Music Social

Sunday:
7:45-2:15pm Island Sampler

I'm not looking forward to getting up at around 3:00am in order to make it to the Friday trip, but what can I say... I'm a cheapskate.

Then the following weekend is my Bird Day Challenge, in which I will be spending all day riding my bicycle around Houston looking for birds. I haven't been training like I want to, so it may be an abbreviated ride, but I'll still have fun doing it.

Duluth Trip Remembered

I'm sorry I haven't been the good little bird blogger and kept up to date with my bird blog. Quite honestly, since Duluth, I've kind of been on hiatus from birdwatching altogether. But looking back, I realized I never wrote about Duluth. So I'm going to give a recap of the high points now.

I had a great time, but it was COOOOOLD. The highest temperature it got was 4 degrees Fahrenheit. The lowest temp I saw on my rental car thermometer was negative 18 degrees. I can say with a decent amount of certainty that was the coldest temperature I had ever experienced. What's more, is there were wind chills overnight well below negative 40. In Houston, we're lucky (unlucky?) if the temperature gets below positive 40!

The sunsets over Lake Superior were awesome

It didn't snow until the very end (my host said it was too cold to snow), when a few flakes started to fall. I didn't get to see any owls, but I saw a handful of life bird finches, including Hoary and Common Redpolls, Evening Grosbeaks, and Pine Siskins.

Common Redpoll digging around in the Snow

I also saw some northern specialties such Snow Bunting, American Three-Toed Woodpecker, Sharp-tailed Grouse (three separate occasions!), Black-billed Magpie, and Gray Jay.

This Gray Jay was letting me get a lot of great photos

It really was an amazing trip. I utilized CouchSurfing, so I got to stay with a stranger/host whom I met online, and we got along perfectly. I not only got to do a lot of birding, but I made new friends and got to see a lot of the non-bird areas of Duluth :)

Duluth Birding Itinerary

I've been reading posts on mnbirds, and I've made up an itinerary for Duluth. The most exciting bird in the area right now (for me anyway) is an Ivory Gull seen on the 7th.

Thursday: Start off easy with city/urban birding. Visit Canal Park in Duluth, Duluth Port Terminal, and the Superior Landfill.
Target Birds: THAYER'S GULL, ICELAND GULL, IVORY GULL, GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL, AND SNOWY OWL. Also possibility of going to a private ("call ahead") feeder in east Duluth that has been hosting a BOREAL CHICKADEE and a VARIED THRUSH.

Friday: Go out to the Sax-Zim Bog area, which is going to be mostly birding from the car.
Target Birds: GREAT GRAY OWL, NORTHERN HAWK OWL, AMERICAN THREE-TOED WOODPECKER, BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER, GRAY JAY, BLACK-BILLED MAGPIE, BOREAL CHICKADEE, SNOW BUNTING, PINE GROSBEAK, COMMON REDPOLL, HOARY REDPOLL, and EVENING GROSBEAK.

Saturday: Go out west of Duluth an hour to Hedbom Forest Road and CR-18, then back through Tamarack. More drive-and-bird.
Target Birds: RED-NECKED GREBE and ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK. (There just haven't been may reports from here lately, but last year nearly every bird I was looking for was spotted here).

Sunday: Go up the lake to Two Harbors, then up CR-2 towards Snake River.
Target Birds: SPRUCE GROUSE, AMERICAN THREE-TOED WOODPECKER, BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER, BOREAL CHICKADEE, and WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL. Also reported historically, but not reported this year are RING-NECKED PHEASANT, RUFFED GROUSE and SHARP-TAILED GROUSE.

Monday: Last minute birding around Duluth again (see Thursday). Be at airport by 10am.

BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS have been seen throughout, so I'm very hopeful that we'll see them at some point during the trip.

Birds reported historically, but not reported in the area this year, yet, are: HARLEQUIN DUCK, AMERICAN BLACK DUCK, LONG-TAILED DUCK, NORTHERN GOSHAWK, GYRFALCON, GLAUCOUS GULL, SHORT-EARED OWL, TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE, and PINE SISKIN.

If we get snowed in the city (which doesn't look like it's going to happen), we'll check out some local city parks in Duluth and see if we can't stir up extra birds, or even just do non-birding activities.

Also, there is another rare bird alert coming out after we get there on the 17th. I don't think it will change the locations we'll be going to, unless there is a really rare bird that shows up. But it will probably change what target birds we're looking for.

Revenge of a Plover Lover

I haven't mentioned it yet in my blog, but this last year Jim Stevenson of the Galveston Ornithological Society made national headlines by shooting a lame feral cat that was hunting endangered Piping Plovers. The bridge worker, John Newland, saw him gun the cat down and called the police. He was arrested for animal cruelty. At the time of the shooting, it was not illegal to shoot feral animals (the law has since been changed because of this incident). The hitch was, the bridge worker, John Newland, claimed that the cats were his because he fed them, and it is illegal to shoot someone's pet.

So the case went to trial, and the jury was deadlocked, so the judge declared a mistrial. The DA's office decided not to re-try the case, so Stevenson was as good as off the hook. This made world-wide news in the cat fancier and birder circles and a bitter rift between the two was torn even further. A few weeks later, an attempt was made on Stevenson's life and he fled the state of Texas.

(There is a very long, well written article about the whole series of events from the New York Times here: Kill the Cat that Kills the Bird?, if you're interested in more of the details.)

But now the tables have turned. According to the Galveston County News, John Newland is cited and could face a fine of up to $500 for breaking a city ordinance forbidding anyone to own more than 4 cats. He said they were his cats in open court, so he's pretty much estopped to the ownership of them. So here's the lesson of the day... don't feed stray cats unless you want to assume full legal responsibility for them! Thanks to BirdChick for bringing this to my attention.

Read the full story here

Bus Ride to Work

Took a bus to work today and followed a robin call around for 5-10 minutes because it had been so long since I had heard one and didn't realize that's what it was (they're winter birds here) :)

I only saw one new bird species today for the public transportation bigby, a feral Muscovy Duck at Sam Houston Park downtown. I might be able to get more on my way home.