2013 Review (Part 1)

Hello All! I haven't updated my blog since right after I returned from Alaska back in July. You may notice that my blog now has a new name! It is no longer dedicated only to my Alaska trip, but now to my adventures in general! So much has happened in 2013! I will be writing a 3-part post about my year and my goal is to somewhat regularly update my blog throughout 2014 so keep checking back :)

In 2013, I spent over 132 nights away from home on various adventures. From sleeping in a fluffy bed in an extremely fancy hotel in Houston, Texas to in a car parked in the parking lot of a closed gas station (in I don't even know what state!), I've been somewhere other than Lexington, Ohio every month this year! I have visited or driven though 3 countries, 14 states, and 6 provinces! and I birded in almost all of those places too!

January
At the beginning of the year, I set a birding goal of getting 100 species in January, in Ohio! I set out on January 1st to find as many species as I could in my yard and around the Clearfork Reservoir. Luckily the reservoir wasn't frozen solid, so I was able to pickup some waterfowl species! I ended the first day with 39 species, and had 68 by the end of the first week! On January 9th, (my birthday) my friends Gary and Jason took me out for a day of birding around Mohican State Park and nearby areas. I was treated to seeing the amazing flock of Evening Grosbeaks that overwintered at Mohican last winter, along with a Black Vulture (one of my favorite birds!) and a life bird... Common Redpoll! We later discovered that we had in fact also seen a Hoary Redpoll that day, which would have also been a life bird! I ended that day with 75 species for the month/new year. Later in the month, I spent ten days in Bowling Green, Ohio staying with two of my close friends, Todd and Kelley. It was great visiting with them, and a had a few opportunities to bird around the town and to go up to Lake Erie with Josh and Mark, my birding friends from BG.

Josh, Mark and me at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge on January 17, 2013

I picked up some easy birds like the Peregrine Falcons that nest on the courthouse clock tower and Great-horned Owls that nest in the park but I was also able to get some new life birds! Specifically, Long-eared Owl in Northern Wood County, and Northern Saw-whet Owl at Wintergarden Park in Bowling Green! Both birds were a ton of fun to find and see!! It took me until January 29th to see my 100th bird, which was a Snow Bunting. By that time, I didn't allow myself to bird or go outside for the rest of the month because I had gotten so far behind on homework, but I had at least reached my goal of 100 species in January!! That was also the first and last semester that I will ever take online classes. It was far to easy to be out birding rather than doing assignments online!

February
In February, I took my first trip North to bird in the middle of winter along the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Gary, Margaret, and I left Ohio to meet my good friend Ethan up in Michigan. We spent three days birding areas that Ethan was scouting out for a trip he was guiding the following several days. In all, it was a crazy and fun trip! I saw several new life birds and at times, I felt lucky that I made it back home alive ;) We braved a morning of -22 degrees while watching Pine Grosbeaks at a feeder and traveled through several blizzards to reach our destinations! Hoary and Common Redpolls, Northern Hawk Owls, Snowy Owls, Boreal Chickadees, Snow Buntings, Sharp-tailed and Ruffed Grouse, Bohemian Waxwings, Northern Shrikes, Common Ravens, a Black-backed Woodpecker, beautiful Glaucous gulls and a Long-tailed Duck were among the awesome selection of northern winter birds that we were rewarded with!!

Feb 4, 2013 Gary, me, Margaret and Ethan (-22 degrees) in Chippewa County, Michigan

a trail we hiked off of the Peshekee Grade near Marquette, Michigan

A Bohemian Waxwing eats a berry in Marquette, Michigan on February 5th

We were greeted by a very cooperative Northern Hawk Owl in Rudyard, Michigan

One of several Snowy Owls outside of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan!

Pine Grosbeaks foraging for seeds under feeders

Snow Buntings gathered on a wire

Later in February, I attended the Ohio Ornithological Society's Owl Symposium which was held at the Mochian Lodge. It was a lot of fun to be out searching for owls and learning from experts including Denver Holt from the Owl Research Institute. One of my field trips, led by Greg Miller was very productive... we saw blue and white phase Snow Geese, Ross's Geese, and a Barn Owl!!

Feb 16, 2013 Snow Geese and Ross's Geese flying over Funk Bottoms Wildlife Area during the OOS Owl Symposium

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas with your families, no matter how/why you celebrate the holiday! My next 2013 review post will include my trip to Guatemala and the time I spent volunteering in Ontario, Canada at a migratory bird banding station on the Lake!

O-H-I-O

So, I made it back home in Ohio! I arrived home Sunday afternoon and I have been busy sleeping, visiting friends and family, and editing photos since I got home! I hadn't updated my blog much on the way home because of a lack of internet access!

On the way home we drove through the Yukon Territory, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and finally Ohio!

A gorgeous Swainson's Hawk!

Through the Yukon and British Columbia, we saw a wide variety of animals, including many black bears, stone sheep, caribou, a herd of bison, a moose and more! In Alberta, we stopped in the Calgary area. I know two people from Calgary and I was able to get a hold of them in advance. Logan Gibson directed me to his Great Gray Owl location where he gets some amazing photos. We spent a few hours searching for the owls but they weren't out the night we tried. The next day the other person I know from the area, Laurie Rutter, took us to some of her local birding hotspots and we saw some great birds! I saw two more life birds, bringing my total for the trip up to 80 new species! The two were Black-necked Stilt and White-faced Ibis!

White-faced Ibis

In Minnesota we stayed for a night in Duluth. I had a chance to meet up with my friend, Erik Bruhnke. We had dinner at a local restaurant and he recommended some spots at Sax-Zim Bog for Margaret and I to look for some more birds! We ended up hearing two Connecticut Warblers, and I saw a Boreal Chickadee and Grey Jay among some other nice birds!

Erik and I in Duluth, Minnesota, of course in nerdy bird shirts :)

I am in the process of putting together an album of some of my favorite pictures/moments from the trip, on the recommendation from a friend! I'll post the link here within a few days probably, so check back!

Also, although I started this blog to record my trip to Alaska, I have had some friends suggest that I keep it up! So I will periodically be updating with interesting birding articles that I find, and reports from other trips that I will most likely be taking in the near future!

Thanks so much to everyone who followed my adventure across the country!! Also, a huge thanks to Margaret Bowman for making the whole trip possible!

Heading home... I just typed up a post and it somehow got deleted in the publishing process... I will update as soon as I can! We have been heading home since July 11th and are currently in Calgary, Alberta!

American Black Bear cubs!!

Bison herd (some of probably 100+)

Stone Sheep

I BANDED A BOREAL OWL!

Banding a Boreal Owl chick with Dave Russell in Fairbanks, Alaska

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Day!!

Yesterday was the best day of the trip yet! We birded Creamer's Field in the morning where we saw 60+ Sandhill Cranes and a pretty nice sized flock of Common Redpolls. In the afternoon, we met up in Fairbanks with Jill and Dave Russell and Aaron Anderson who research Boreal Owls up here. We went out with Dave and Aaron to check three nest boxes. At the first box, one of the two chicks was peeking out of the hole. This was a life bird for me and Margaret. The near-fledging chicks were taken out, weighed and measured and I got to hold one of them! At the second box, the chicks were much younger. They were so cute! Two of them got banded and one was still too small to band. Along the way we saw a cow and calf moose crossing the road and a BEAUTIFUL Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk soaring! At the third nest box both chicks needed banded, and I got to band one of them!!! We went to the Russell's house for a wonderful spaghetti dinner made by their daughter, Amanda, and then had a fun evening drinking "the best ever" margaritas and discussing birds, birding and big years! Here are some shots of the owls!!

A nearly fledged baby Boreal Owl peeking out when we arrived!

Getting weighed

Mama Boreal Owl

Getting measured

Today it was rainy almost all day so we did some grocery shopping, stopped at the Fairbanks airport ponds for some birding and went to the University of Alaska Fairbanks Museum of the North. It was a wonderful museum with a lot of local natural history information and artifacts. There were also exhibits of Denali/Mt. McKinley climbs and the Aleut evacuation. It was extremely interesting!

Some Mammoth and Mastodon bones and skulls!

The University of Alaska Museum of the North

Denali National Park!

Today was awesome!!!

We left Trapper Creek this morning and drove to Denali National Park! It was too cloudy to see Mt. McKinley, but it was sunny to start out (a rarity up here) so I went for a hike! Margaret was not feeling up to a hike so I went out alone and chose a "moderately strenuous" trail through a spruce and birch forest along the ridge of a mountain! I was probably not in shape enough for a 400ft elevation change with 15% grades, but was beautiful and a ton of fun!! And hiking through the spruce trees, I was able to find a SPRUCE GROUSE!! Another life bird for me! It didn't take long while I was hiking for the blue skies to turn to poofy grey clouds that quickly began pouring rain. I got soaked, but it was a lot of fun anyway, and the rain even helped keep the mosquitoes away! Below are some photos from my hike!

After we left Denali, we drove though Healy and saw THE Fairbanks 142 bus that was used in the Into the Wild movie! An exact replica of the one that Chris McCandless actually stayed (and died) in. If you don't know what I am talking about, go read Into the Wild, and then watch the movie! It is an excellent book, and I don't even like reading. A little farther down the road, we actually passed Stampede Trail!!! The road that he hiked into Denali on and where he stayed in the bus for the summer. When I first found out I would be coming to Alaska, I hoped I would be able to see some of the places Chris McCandless was, like Denali and Fairbanks, but I NEVER imagined seeing the bus from the movie or seeing the actual Stampede Trail! I wish I could have hiked down that way a little bit but it was raining, and getting late anyway.

On the way to Fairbanks we saw a moose with a calf and then as I looked out on a little pond at some ducks, I saw ANOTHER moose getting a drink of water! Tonight and tomorrow night we are staying in Fairbanks. Tomorrow afternoon we will head out with some researchers who study breeding Boreal Owls. We will even get to watch them band some chicks out of a nest box!! I can't wait!

Of Birds and Mosquitoes

Yesterday we didn't do any driving, we relaxed in Soldotna, walked around town, and birded some at Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. We went on what was supposed to be a guided hike with he NWR naturalist, but since it was only Margaret and I and since the naturalist's husband is an ornithologist, it turned into a bird walk down an off-trail path to see breeding Aleutian Terns.... LIFE BIRDS for both Margaret and me!! While we were looking at the terns and completely drenched in deet, thousands of mosquitoes were buzzing around our heads, bouncing off our arms, landing on our jackets, and biting my legs through my pants! Totally worth it :) Aleutian Terns are pretty distinct and pretty awesome!!

Braving the mosquitoes for a life bird at Kenai NWR!!

Today we drove from Soldotna over to Seward and then headed north towards Denali. We made it as far as Trapper Creek, AK. On the way though Seward, we stopped to bird along a road that was right on the edge of the water. We saw another harbor seal along with six Marbled Murrlets, a Black Oystercatcher, and   lots of Harlequin Ducks, including at least 3 males in breeding plumage!!

Marbled Murrlet in Seward, AK

Tonight we are at mile 114.6 on the Parks Highway and Mt. McKinnley was supposed to be visible from mile 115.6 so I walked down the road once we set up camp but all I saw was trees and no mountain view of any kind. It was nice to get out and walk anyway and even though the sky was totally blue to the north, I made it back just before the hail started from the storm coming in from the south!

Pretty scenery along the roadside

330 Year Birds for 2013!

Here are some trip numbers:

I have been gone for 23 days
I have seen 225 species of birds since I left Mansfield, Ohio on June 12th
72 species have been Life Birds!
84 have been new 2013 year birds
I have added birds in 8 states
and 2 Canadian provinces.

These have contributed to me seeing 330 species so far in 2013 and 362 life birds!

Today we left Homer and birded at a few locations between Homer and Soldotna, where we are staying tonight. We didn't see anything new or especially exciting,bird wise, but we did see another Harbor Seal and another Moose! I got out of the car to walk down a trail to try to see the moose better but it had vanished. I did see some evidence of a moose being around though!

My size 7.5 shoe with a fresh moose footprint!

We drove through Anchor Point, Alaska today, which is the most western city in the US that can be accessed from a highway! We also went to the most expensive grocery store I have been in yet, in Soldotna. I spent $29.08 on apples, bananas, a loaf of bread, and a Halibut filet. I cut the filet in strips and breaded and fried it tonight for dinner! It was caught in Homer, so I'm assuming it was fairly fresh and it was DELICIOUS!! It was the best fish I have had yet!

The view from the campground in Homer where we stayed last night!

HAPPY 4th!!!

I haven’t had reliable internet recently so that’s why you haven’t seen any posts from me. It has been an eventful few days though!!

Two days ago we mostly drove and didn’t do any real birding. Even still, I saw some Common Redpolls while I hopped out to take some pictures at a rest stop!! They are one of my favorite winter birds and I saw my lifer Common Redpoll on my birthday this year, I saw them again in the Upper Peninsula and finally had one on my feeder in March!!

Yesterday we drove through Anchorage to Homer, Alaska. Alaska is SO beautiful!! (Not that I doubted it would be!) We stopped outside of Anchorage to bird at Potter Marsh after we passed a MOOSE on the highway munching on leaves!! Potter Marsh was beautiful and I saw some nice birds! Probably the best were the pair of Artic Terns with their fledgling!! I watched (and took photos) as one of the parents continually caught small fish for the baby. The baby begged but the adult must have been trying to get the fledgling to eat on its own because instead of feeding the baby, it just dropped the fish in front of the baby! The baby continued begging and the adult continued dropping fish on the rock next to the baby! I also saw some fuzzy baby Mew Gulls!

Notice all the fish on the rock left by this fledgling Arctic Tern's parents!

Last night we stayed at a campground right on the Homer spit. I wandered along the spit and looked at lots of amazing artwork being sold by local artists. After I was bored with shops and people, I walked along the beach back towards the campground. I was talking to my mom on the phone and I nearly dropped the phone while grabbing my binoculars when five birds flew above my head… Brant geese!!! I knew what they were before I got my binoculars but they were life birds for me so I wanted a good look!! I got a great look and I was excited because these are geese that I had been searching for last fall in Ohio!!

This morning we went out on a boat to look for sea birds and other marine animals! It was a TON of fun and I saw several new life birds and mammals! I even saw a sea star, which hopefully one of my marine biology friends will be able to identify for me! My favorite animals of the trip were Tufted Puffins and a Harbor Seal!! So awesome! I also saw sea otters, pigeon gillemots, common murres, black-legged kittiwakes, pelagic cormorants, bald eagles, black turnstones, glaucous-winged gulls, a few herring gulls and a common raven! I even got to see one of the young bald eagles get a pigeon gillemot!

Common Murres on Gull Island 

An immature Bald Eagle right before its Pigeon Gillemot dinner!

Sea Otters hanging around Gull Island in Homer, Alaska

After the boat trip, we went birding at Wynn Nature Reserve. It was a beautiful park with a pretty nice trail system! Although, at one point we accidentally started following the trail maintained by the moose instead of the trail maintained by the park and ended up turning around when we reached a bog! I didn't see any moose, but I did see plenty of moose turds and I picked up some moose fur! Moose fur is hollow to keep them warm. I never knew that! (Or if I did, I forgot!)

Some type of Lupin in Alaska

Another lovely glacier view, this one is from Wynn Nature Reserve in Homer, Alaska

Alaska at Last!

I AM IN ALASKA!!!

I am currently sitting outside at the Sourdough Campground in Tok, Alaska, enjoying a Gray Jay in the tree next to me! I think he wants a snack, but unfortunately, I have nothing with me. I did enjoy Caribou chili in a homemade sourdough bread bowl for dinner! Here's a picture of a Gray Jay that I saw this morning...

We arrived in Alaska yesterday afternoon and stayed at a campground in the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge. There weren't many birds around but we learned that there was a very late (major) snow storm in mid-May that occurred once many of the birds had arrived or while they were still arriving. It likely killed a lot of passerines and waterfowl that were coming in had no place to land because all of the lakes were still totally frozen. Surveys that will occur later this summer will be able to show the real damage from the storm.

In addition, when we arrived in Alaska, we were informed that there were fires in the area. Climate change has been causing increased fires in Alaska. Hotter and drier conditions make lightening storms deadly. There are currently 90 fires burning in Alaska. Thankfully, we haven't come across any yet, but we did see smoke settling in a valley where a fire had been burning.

In the hotter weather yesterday, I swam in Deadman Lake! The water was super clear and it didn't seem at all like I was swimming in a lake. Here's a picture of the lake:

Whitehorse, Yukon (The REAL Best Place on Earth)

Today we spent the whole day in Whitehorse, Yukon. I woke up this morning around 2:45 and it was STILL light outside!! It never got dark last night, if I wasn't so tired, I may have stayed out to enjoy it! This morning, we birded in the campground to start, but the birds were not out singing or moving. We walked around and explored downtown Whitehorse. I am not usually a fan of cities at all, but I love this city!! I really feel like I could fit in happily here. We went to Alpine Bakery, which is mostly organic foods and snacks. I got an amazingly delicious chocolate walnut roll. Afterwards, we drove around looking for a place called the Fish Ladder. We got there in time to watch a fish filleting and grilling demonstration! I tried a really tasty Arctic Char with spruce maple seasoning! If you are interested in a new flavor for you fish, try adding spruce tips, maple syrup, grainy mustard, and salt/pepper to taste. I also squeezed some lemon juice onto mine... and I think I could have eaten about 3 whole fish, it was so good!

Whitehorse, Yukon

While we waited at the Fish Ladder for the Yukon Birding Club, a porcupine showed up outside!! It was so cute, and since it wandered in behind a fence, I was able to be about 2 feet away from it! We met up with the YBC and entomologist Syd Cannings for a field trip to a local pond to look for birds and damselflies. It was a TON of fun!! I ran around catching dragonflies for a while, saw my lifer Gray Jays and Olive-sided Flycatcher, caught a Wood Frog, spotted a White-winged Scoter (a year bird for Margaret), saw a Red Fox, got some great contacts for coming back up here to do some research, learned a lot about local plants and insects, met some really cool people, and overall, just had an AWESOME time!! One really interesting thing I learned is that most of the birds in this area are Eastern birds (Myrtle Warbler, instead of Audubon's, Yellow-shafted Flicker, instead of red, Slate-colored Junco, instead of Oregon, etc.) This is because of the way the glaciers receded. As the moved down, they still blocked the western species from expanding their territories, but the eastern species were able to expand westward from the north. By the time the glaciers were gone, the eastern species had already taken over the area so the westerns couldn't move in! Other areas near here to the south have all of the normal western species, but up here, they get a lot of the same birds we see in Ohio! Cool, right!?

Syd Cannings teaching the YBC about Damselflies

Me properly holding a live dragonfly so I could examine it better!

Green Bog Orchid

YBC catching insects in a local pond

After we left the YBC field trip, we went back in Whitehorse and explored the S.S. Klondike and found some Mew Gulls and Arctic Terns!

S. S. Klondike

What an awesome day!! Tomorrow (Sunday) we are heading to Alaska and probably won't have internet for a few days. I will post again as soon as I can! Until then, check out some of my trip photos on my facebook page!

Why did the Ruffed Grouse Cross the Road?

To get to her chicks!

Here she is crossing in front of the RV on the Cassier Highway (We were stopped!) to chase after her ~8 chicks that ran to the other side! My best guess is that the chicks were 3-4 days old.

Ruffed Grouse female

We are on the AlCan and made it to the Yukon Territory!! We are staying two nights in Whitehorse, Yukon. The Yukon is awesome! Everything I imagined it to be and more... Tomorrow we are planning on going out on a bird/dragonfly walk with the Yukon Bird Club as long as we can find the location! We will also be heading out to explore the Yukon in the Whitehorse area and look for birds at some local hotspots!

I took this photo of myself in the beautiful Yukon Territory

In addition to the Ruffed Grouse, we also saw a Northern Hawk Owl today in a recovering burned area. He was awesome and just sat in the tree hunting while I got great looks through my binoculars and snapped some photos! Margaret and I saw both of these birds on our trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in February with Ethan Kistler and Gary Cowell, but it was fun to see them again, and find them on our own! I must have good luck at spotting Ruffed Grouse, because I was the one that found them both times!!

Northern Hawk Owl

Getting close to Alaska!

Yesterday was a ton of fun! We drove up the Cassier Hwy part way, then turned onto the Glacier Hwy to Stewart, BC/Hyder, Alaska. We spent the afternoon birding and sightseeing in Stewart/Hyder. I saw four new life birds! Northwestern Crow and Mew Gull in British Columbia, and Varied Thrush and Pacific Wren in Alaska! Varied Thrush is an awesome bird with a really neat and unique song! Visit this link to see and hear a Varied Thrush: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/varied_thrush/sounds

Yesterday morning we also visited some first nations people's totem poles and a really old, beautiful church and bell tower (see below). The Cassier Highway is proving to be extremely beautiful! Today, even though it rained the whole day, we saw some incredible scenery and even saw some good birds and a second American Black Bear!!

 As beautiful as the area is, I am extremely disappointed and saddened by the amount of clear cutting going on up here. It is unbelievable how many trucks go by filled with logs, how many timber yards have thousands and thousands of trees piled up and how many lovely mountain-sides are completely bare, torn up, and ugly.

Tomorrow we head up the rest of the Cassier Hwy to the Yukon and hopefully make to the Alaskan Hwy!