Monthly Archives: February 2019

Feb202019

Once Upon a Fawn

Apparently some of you are tired of the bird after bird after bird posts as of late.  Note even the slight detour with an amorous Skunk would appease your thirst for something new or more succinctly stated by a rather perturbed correspondence “you know, your blog is called wildlife not birdlife”.  They definitely have a point so today I will try to appease the teeming millions and go with something in the cloven hoof category – a Killdeer!   … sorry, bad birding joke.

Don’t fret, I am making good on a real hoofed animal.

Doe and Fawn discovered at ?? while on our Georgia birding trip in May 2015

Okay everyone, say it with me “….Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh”.  How cute is that!?!  Now some of you might have held back a bit knowing how destructive these animals can get when they mature.  Anyone who lives in the country like Linda and I definitely know their taste for flowers and gardens.  At our other house we enjoyed the blooms on the 100 tulip bulbs we planted for … wait for it … wait for it.. ONE day!   Then we had the pleasure of enjoying 100 bloomless stalks for the rest of the month.  One has even managed to completely destroy my first sports car (thank god for air bags and a lot of luck).  Even Linda has managed to tear up some fenders bouncing off them while they attempted to play Frogger.  However, when it comes to their baby stages, they are just plain adorable.

Doe and Fawn discovered at ?? while on our Georgia birding trip in May 2015

You usually do not simply come upon a Fawn out on its own.  Their mothers generally keep pretty good tabs on them and tend to shadow them just far enough that their offspring think they are braving their new world on their own, but in truth they are being watched very closely.  To be honest, mother is probably spending more time watching their surroundings making sure there are no predators around.  Sure enough, this Fawn was under a watchful eye.

Hit the jump to see a few more pictures (it will bring a cheer to your heart).

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Feb172019

Scarlet for Valentine’s

Once again the white fluffy stuff is coming down.  Luckily the accumulation has been manageable so far and not one to complain since it means our wells will benefit as it melts off in a month or so.  Unfortunately, not the best of timings as Linda and I had to renew our qualifications on the range this morning.  Last time it was also snowing, but 2 degrees (F) out making conditions completely miserable.  Still chilly today, but definitely better.  Now that the fingers are all warmed up, figured I’d bang out a quick post (bad pun).  Decided to wait on the previously planned post and continue with the Valentine’s theme.  This was mainly due to a few people asking for details on how our annual “Date Night with a Skunk” went.

Brian and Linda Dinner with a Skunk Wildlife Prairie Park February 2019

Quick background.  We are members of Wildlife Prairie Park, a now privately owned park focused on the wildlife historically common to the Midwest.   They have a number of captive animals and birds to enjoy and really nice grounds for walking, birding, mountain biking, trail running etc.  We happen to volunteer there helping them photographically chronicle their progress on a new bird related endeavor they embarked on last year (3+ years still to go on that).  This park used to be owned by the state, but since Illinois is essentially a fiscally failed state (scratch the “essentially” and just go with it IS a fiscally failed state), some private investors ended up taking it back and turning it around.  One of their annual fundraisers is an elaborate Valentine’s dinner complete with drinks, dancing (if you are into that), 5 course meal, door prizes and you guessed it… an evening with a local resident Skunk – a play on the love stricken Pepe Le Pew cartoon (not sure this cartoon fits in this day and age anymore).  For several years now, along with some friends we have been attending this event and yes, getting our pictures taken with an absolutely adorable Skunk.  Just in case you are wondering, de-scented and basically a domesticated version of their more common wild brethren that have a habit of causing neighborhood dogs to get tomato soup baths.  Our friend Sung took our pictures above before the night took on an unexpected elation moment only to result in a major disappointment.

Before I get to that, let’s shift to the real feature for today’s post.

tScarlet Tanager found on Georgia Birding Trip May 2015

Hit the jump to see a few more pictures of the featured bird and find out how the dinner party went.

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Feb142019

Happy Valentine’s Day from the Birding World

Hello Everyone, Happy “Spend Lots of Money on Your Significant Other” Day or minimally shower them with affection and let them know how important they are in your life (the latter being a hell of a lot cheaper .. just saying).  So a few posts back I mentioned that I had already selected the featured subject for this special day.  That foreshadowing resulted in Ron spending every available minute from that point on theorizing, hypothesizing and speculating on what I would possibly select to represent SLoMoYSO Day.  He actually had a few good guesses, but failed to put two and two together even though he already knew what birds were in my queue.  Granted, his guess of a Vermilion Flycatcher (link here) would have definitely been a fitting tribute to the traditional color of the day, I went with another option – one that is making its debut on the blog.

Anna's Hummingbird found at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, Las Vegas, NV, November 2018

Yes, a Hummingbird!  How cute is that!?!  In every post involving these delicate birds I’ve mentioned how I have to travel to get any variety in the tin.  If you live in the Midwest you basically have three choices of Hummingbirds.  The first being a Ruby-Throated Hummingbird.  Secondly, if you stand real still in a yard full of Hummingbird feeders you just might see a Ruby-Throated Hummingbird.  Now lastly, if you are feeling really lucky, and I mean really feeling lucky and cover yourself in sugar water and shimmy up the largest pole you can locate you might find yourself in a mental ward …soon after seeing a Ruby-Throated Hummingbird. I think you get the picture.

Anna's Hummingbird found at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, Las Vegas, NV, November 2018

So instead, we load up the RV and head out to better locations.  Las Vegas happened to be the spot where this specimen made it into the tin.  Over the last Thanksgiving holiday we headed out to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area to see what we could find being already elated to have checked off the Costa’s Hummingbird the day before (link here).  While coming out of the Visitor Center I noticed the unmistakable sound of a Hummingbird blasting by with full burners engaged.  Challenge accepted.  This proved to be a bit more difficult than usual thanks to choosing to leave the Beast at home and rent a 180-600mm from a local camera store.  Although it was definitely lighter than the Beast, the focus was incredibly slow making in flight shots impossible.  All was not lost, just needed to wait until these sugar freaks took a break.

Hit the jump to discover why this little bird was chosen for V-Day.

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Feb102019

Not So Shiny

A friend of mine has been getting me all teased up for a vacation trip to Hawaii.  He is headed there soon and busy pointing out all the birds from that region he’s already managed to get in the tin.  Linda and I had plans to go there for our 25th wedding anniversary, but we ended up postponing it due to other commitments.  Every year since then we have tried to plan a makeup trip – again to no avail.  Last year we decided that this would be our retirement gift to ourselves and put the trip on the shelf until we decide it’s time to divorce ourselves from the daily grind.  So every time someone mentions they are heading to the islands my fingers get all twitchy like, a tick develops in the shoulder and my eyes start to blink uncontrollably until I make Quasimodo look like GQ material.  They have some stunners of birds there that I need to see… damn, there goes that twitch again.  Oh well, I can at least live vicariously through my friend’s captures until we decide to turn our badges in.  You’ll be mine Red-Crested Cardinal .. some day… some day.  Until we get to go island hopping, I can still continue hunting for all the continental US birds that still continue to elude me.  Today’s featured bird first fell victim to my hunt back in December 2015 (link here).

Female Phainopepla found at Wetlands Park Preserve, Henderson Nevada, November 2018

Wait.. ummm, a little late on this, but for those that might be slightly concerned over wildlife with red eyes, you might want to be cautious – the light on these shots were not as conducive to getting the nice red highlights, but they do possess the dreaded early morning Vegas eyes.  If you recall back on that initial encounter, we were at Corn Creek Visitor Center outside Las Vegas, Nevada.  While birding the Mojava Desert over New Year’s, we found a Phainopepla hanging out at the top of a tree.  Those shots had to be heavily processed to account for horrible backlighting.   In oddly similar manner, we discovered this new specimen.  Like before, we were in Vegas, in Late November (close enough to the New Year’s timeframe), and once again it was sitting at the top of a tree in horrible backlight.

Female Phainopepla found at Wetlands Park Preserve, Henderson Nevada, November 2018

Hit the jump to read a bit more about the shoot.

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Feb022019

A Snowy Redemption

Definitely sticking with the game plan for this month, staying ahead of the game and getting the posts out early.  It definitely  helps when you already have the images worked up in the digital darkroom.  To be honest, short of getting the birds in the tin, the major effort in this whole blogging thingy is working up the images to make it worth my reader’s visit time.  Of course, this doesn’t always happen, case in point the horrific Cave Swallow pictures I forced upon you a few posts back.  I try my best so you can at least tell it is a bird – not to mention Ron is starting to push me with the quality stuff he is putting up over on his blog (link here).  You probably didn’t know this, but I credit him for getting me into photography while I was in high school and the reason I can navigate around a camera (although I did introduce him to back-button focus).   Today’s featured bird is a bit of an atonement for a slight I made in a recent post.

Snowy Egret found at South Padre Island Bird Viewing and Nature Center December 2016

Within the Cinnamon Teal post (link here), I unintentionally dismissed one of the most regal birds there is (at least in North America).  It wasn’t the species that dimmed my excitement, just that I was revved up to add a new +1 to the list.  I am lucky enough to have a large number of Snowy Egret shots from just about everywhere we’ve traveled along with tins full from Emiquon and other local water hotspots.  When I saw this set of Snowies in the post queue, I immediately decided this was the perfect time to bring them out.

Snowy Egret found at Galveston Island, Texas, January 2017

Hit the jump to see some more picture of this immaculate bird.

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Feb022019

Often Heard, Rarely Spotted

In preparation for tomorrow, I did some digging in my out building, found a lawn chair and dragged it out to the middle of the yard.  Grabbed a pair of flip flops, a bottle of suntan lotion, cheap sunglasses and my favorite birding reference book.  Going to be some fun in the heatwave forecasted to hit sometime tomorrow…40F.  However, there are possible clouds and rain sneaking in for the afternoon through tomorrow night.  Needless to say, I’ll take it.  It might look a bit odd being surrounded by a foot of snow that is still lingering, but I “needz my vitamin D”.  In truth, I am skeptical it is going to get that warm with this much snow and ice about, but I will definitely be lacing up the running shoes and getting a few miles in snow, rain or sunshine.  It might be a bit sketchy on the footing, but it will help the soul to lift the winter blahs.    If nothing else, I can simply recall warmer places… for instance Las Vegas.

First a public service warning to those of you that might have adverse reactions to creatures with red eyes.  As with the previous post on the Cinnamon Teal, today’s featured bird also possesses a blood red eye.  Feel free to view the rest of the post through your fingers if that will make you feel more comfortable ha!

Spotted Towhee found at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, Las Vegas, Nevada, November 2018

I was just talking to Ron tonight on how odd it is that so many birds have red hued eyes and I am not talking about the night owls squinting through strained eyes and hazy rooms trying to hit the big payout on the one arm bandits (another term that is becoming outdated with the advent of digital technology/machines).  We were wondering if it provided some evolutionary benefit, maybe better able to see at dark or perhaps provide better tracking of UV urine trails of prey (yes, some birds have that ability like the Kestrel) or perhaps it is simply a defensive mechanism – if I was a bird I would stay way the hell away from something that had red eyes – clearly bloodthirsty heathens – just saying.  Neither of us have a definitive response to the quandary which means I’ll have something to research while enjoying that lawn chair tomorrow.  If you happen to have some thoughts on red eyes feel free to let us know in the comments.  We here at Intrigued are thirsty for wildlife knowledge.

Short one tonight, but if you hit the jump, I have a few more words and one more image to share.

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