Vacation Birding II

To continue with our adventures "back east", I forgot to tell you about something else my lovely wife did for me. While we were talking to Tim Griffith in his Wild Birds Unlimited store, he showed us the new Crossley ID Guide for Eastern Birds. They haven't distributed the Western Guide yet, but as Tim says, about 40% of the birds in the Eastern Guide are found in the west as well. Tim actually used the Crossley Guide on our birding trip the following day. The cool thing about the Crossely Guide is that the pictures are photographs, like the Audubon guides, but have several different angles, in flight, male and female. So when you look on a page for a particular bird, you see that bird in a flock, on a wire, in flight, on the water as well as posing nice and big for the camera with it's family. This proved very helpful on several occasions as we got a glimpse of a bird flying into a tree line, or trying to hide in reeds and grasses. When we looked there was a picture that looked very similar to what we were trying to figure out what it was.

When I got home from the birding trip with Tim, talking like a schoolboy about our adventures, lying on the table was the Crossley ID guide, with a note on the inside cover and signed by Tim Griffith. See why we have been together 30 years?

Anyway, from Indiana, we drove our "new" car south to Georgia where more family live. There again, I can't tell you how nice these people were. They made it a point to show me places to go looking for birds. We rode bicycles through large wooded parks where I was able to get the Red-headed Woodpecker, a lifer for me and got me excited. My nephew-in-law(?), who was riding with me said, "Shoot, if that's all you want I can show you where there are lots of them near the house. They're everywhere." He was right, they were rather common for Georgia, but not so much for California. Same thing for the Pileated Woodpecker, Eastern Bluebirds, Eastern Meadowlarks, and more. Indigo Buntings were a target bird of mine, and they were literally everywhere. For them it wasn't very exciting, seeing their normal birds, but for me even the ubiquitous Northern Cardinals were worth a stop and look.

Georgia was also pretty humid and warm, but not quite like we experienced in Indiana. We were taken out on a boat for part of the day one day, and floated and talked lazily in the warm water. I was surprised to see a few Canada Geese still hanging out on the lake. I was able to see Turkey Vultures and Black Vultures soaring along the shoreline while we enjoyed the sun and water.

They pointed me to a trailhead and soon I was hiking along the Chattahoochie River where people were floating on all sorts of devices, including kayaks, canoes, inner tubes, air mattresses and more. Some were fishing while the current took them downriver, while others dozed. I hiked along the shore and found myself in a thick forest with deer moving in the shadows, birds on the branches and peoples voices in the distance. It was beautiful.

(The view from the trail along the Chattahoochie River)

(The trail along the Chattahoochie River)

After our visit we decided to drive along the Gulf Coast toward home. My wife looked on the map, (yes a paper, real map), and looked for anyplace that had NWR (National Wildlife Refuge) after the name. We discussed our time constraints, distances, money and more and agreed to stop at certain places where we may have the best chance to see some of my target birds. I wanted to see Swallow Tail Kites, Aninga, Roseate Spoonbills, and more.

On our way I read a little about the area and it explained the difference between a swamp and marsh. Basically, a swamp is a wet forest, where a marsh is more of an ever changing wetland. Huh.

I think I saw a Mississippi Kite while we were traveling along the freeway, as the bird I saw looked a lot like the Kite in my new Crossley Guide. However, I didn't trust my 70 mph identification and didn't count it on my list of 30 lifers.

We were trying to find one of the NWR's and driving through farmland when I did see something flare off to the right. I asked my wife to stop and I jumped out with the bino's. Yep, off in one of the open fields was a small flock of Black Bellied and Fulvous Whistling Ducks. I saw some more later, but always in singles or pairs, not the eight or ten I saw on the farm. Off we went again.

I found out something on this trip that I knew in my head, but it didn't really sink in until I experienced it for myself. Birding is dangerous in the south.

In the desert, the terrain is open and you can see for miles. Landmarks are large trees, boulders, or mountains. In the south, once you are in the forest, swamp, etc, many times you are engulfed in thick forest and grassy undergrowth. Beautiful but hard to keep your bearings. Also, in the desert there are things that bite. In the south, there are things that will eat you. I found alligators in Alabama, Louisiana, and got up close and personal with one in Texas. In one pond I counted 28 in Aransas, Texas.

I was hiking along the coast trail in Aransas looking for Roseate Spoonbills, when the trail got grassy and brushy, then overgrown with trees. I came around a blind corner naively trying to look over the growth the see the beach and hopefully the Spoonbills, and met an eight to nine foot alligator resting just off the trail. I didn't try to measure him accurately, it is an estimate. Big should suffice. That got the adrenaline going, but I did take a couple pics with our little pocket camera.

(Big ol'gator in Aransas, Texas. I didn't get a picture of the pig.)

While I was edging around this fella, I heard a grunting noise in the brush behind me. That got my adrenaline free-flowing. Having nothing to use as a weapon, except for my small bino's attached to a harness on my chest, and a camera the size of a credit card, I turned and shouted at the wild pig making its way through the brush. That was enough for him, and I heard him go through the brush away from me grunting and snapping twigs as he moved on. Now I noticed the sun was setting, and the trail ahead was going deeper into overgrowth. I just knew that I would find the other dangerous animals they had been warning us about during the whole trip, water moccasins. I moved rather rapidly along the trail, eyes glued to the ground looking for any irregularity in the leaf litter. I finally made it to a wooden plank trail and was able to see the beach, but no Spoonbills. I finally showed up at the car as the sun was dropping behind the horizon, much to my relief and calming my wife's imagination. Like swimming in the ocean, it is a good idea until you are out there and remember there are sharks there too, this was a good idea until we remembered we were miles from anywhere and just about the only people in the park. I did get a good pic of an alligator, though.
The experience did raise my respect for you birders in the south, though. Give me a rattlesnake any day.

You might be a birdnerd if...you forget you are in alligator country and don't to look down until it is too late.

Vacation Birding

Hey guys! It took a while to get to the new post because we took a short vacation. My wife and I flew to her sister's in Indiana for a visit, and to buy their car. They had just purchased a newer car, and we bought the old one from them.

My sister-in-law is a relatively new birder, having put up bird feeders in her back yard and becoming aware of the species coming to visit. We have talked on the phone and exchanged emails about what kinds of birds she should expect to see, what to look for in the way of identification and more. So, I thought I would do two things to help fan the flame if you will. I brought her my copy of the Sibley guide to birds, and my old spotting scope that I rarely use anymore. As it turns out she can sit on her patio and look over a couple acres of open grassland that is bordered by tall trees on two sides. It is very comfortable to sit on her patio and scan the flocks of Red-Wing Blackbirds, Sparrows, Cardinals, and Dickcissels.

While we visited I picked up a couple lifers just watching her back yard feeders. One was a Brown Thrasher(Toxostoma rufum), who was a regular visitor each morning I was there.

My in-laws were so very gracious and hospitable, they made sure there were birding locations nearby that we went to nearly every day we were there. They live near the "Tri-State" area of Indiana, so they literally can be in Kentucky, Indiana, or Illinois within an hour. So we hiked and birded John James Audubon Park in Kentucky, Weselman Park in Indiana and Hovely Lake. I added the Indigo Bunting(Passerina cyanea), and Carolina Chickadee(Poecile carolinensis) at the Audubon park. My wife picked up a Kentucky Woods Bourbon Barrel Cake, which satisfied our sweet tooth.

My sister-in-law buys her feed from Tim and Margi Griffith who are owner/operators of the Wildbirds Unlimited Nature Shop in Evansville, Indiana, (email; wbuevansville@gmail.com or website of www.wbu.com/evansville). She really wanted me to meet Tim as he is knowledgeable about birds in the area. One day we drove to the store and found Tim. We talked for a little while about birds, birding locations, and he wrote down a couple locations for us to visit. Then he asked us to wait a minute, went to the back of the store and returned a short time later. He asked me what I was doing at 5:30 the next morning. When I answered in my very articulate, "Uhhh..." He said if I would meet him in the parking lot at 5:30 the next morning he would take me to a place to see the Blue Grosbeak, and other potential "lifers".

I cannot say enough about this as I am a born and bred California boy, who wouldn't take a complete stranger out in the woods to do anything, much less "bird". However, he offered, I accepted, and by golly we were somewhere deep in the corner of Indiana where there were open farmlands, riparian areas along a riverbank, marshland. It took a little work, but we did find the Blue Grosbeak,(Passerina coerulea), several egrets, Blue Herons, and many Dickcissels. We saw a couple coyotes as well that seemed very healthy. People were driving up and down the dirt roads and to my amazement several stopped to talk to us. It was as if I was in my home city where I met several people I knew and caught up on what they are doing, only these were complete strangers. An odd experience for me.

It was along one of these dirt roads that I saw one my most exciting lifers, the Prothonatory Warbler (Protonotaria citrea). A beautiful little bird with a yellow body, and gray-blue wings. There were Wood ducks, Black Terns, Eastern Kingbirds, Eastern Meadowlarks, Henslow's Sparrow(which I would not have gotten without Tim's help)and more at this magical place. I wish I could tell you where it was, but we drove on dirt farm roads without markings for so long I can't hazard a guess. So I would suggest that if you find yourself in or near Evansville, Indiana, you contact Tim or Margi Griffith at the above websites or at (812)476-BIRD, and they will help you out.

(Tim birding early in the morning.)

(This was where we saw the Prothonotary Warbler. Tough to find in this stuff.)

As we were leaving, we flushed a Northern Bobwhite to run along the road for a good look. We had heard them all morning calling their name, "Bob White!" but hadn't seen one until we were leaving.

Tim was telling me how much trouble he gets into when he is birding and is late for opening the store as we returned to the parking lot. We weren't too late, and he immediately set about the opening process as the car barely came to a stop. He took time to shake hands and wish me luck, then off to work he went. I hope Margi and the others working in the store went easy on him as he performed a work of kindness to a fellow birder. I was so surprised by his offer, and appreciative of his knowledge and enthusiasm. Saying Thank you is not enough.

Weselman Park and John James Audubon Parks are old growth forest that has been protected for many years. As such they are beautiful, and full of life. At the Audubon Park my sister-in-law and I hiked a couple of the trails, and found toads, turtles, skinks as well as Chickadees and Blue Jays and more.

(Marcie, my sister-in-law hiking in John James Audubon Park, Kentucky. Note the Grapevine and Poison Ivy growing on the tree.)

This is where I learned Eastern Birders have many more challenges than Western Birders. Western Birders have heat and dust to contend with, and sometimes wind, but Eastern Birders had the oppressive heat and humidity combination that sucks the breath from you by 8:00 or 9:00 in the morning. We hiked several places in deep forest with a thick canopy of trees overhead that did nothing but hold in the thick humidity. I was dripping sweat and fogging my glasses. Add the most annoying millions of mosquitoes and ticks and there are a lot of distractions for the average birder in that part of the country.

Also, the old growth forest houses a ton of great wildlife, but makes the birding very difficult as it affords a lot of places for birds to hide. There were several times that I could see leaves moving, catch glimpses of a bird in the branches, but they were so hidden I couldn't make the id. This is why birders from these parts are so good at birding by ear. You can't see to make an id!

This brings up an old story that I love. A birder friend of mine was brushing up on bird calls by using a CD in his car stereo while driving along a long stretch of road in Utah. He was stopped by the local gendarme because apparently he was weaving over the broken white line. When the officer asked if he had been drinking, he answered no he hadn't. When he asked if he were tired, the birder said no, he was listening to bird calls on his stereo and got distracted. He turned up the stereo so the officer could hear. The officer laughed, "That's a first for me, you can go. Have a nice day!" He walked all the way back to his car laughing.

You might be a birdnerd if...you use bird calls to get out of a ticket.