A Day of Firsts

Yesterday was an awesome day!! In the morning I received an email forwarded from a new friend/birder I met during my first week here in Indiana. We met at a prairie burn that we both helped with and them met again at the South Bend/Elkhart Audubon Society meeting. Anyway, the email informed me of two rare birds in Michigan. One was a Black-bellied Whistling-Duck... a very cool bird, and definitely a good bird for the area but 1, it wouldn't be a life bird, 2, it wouldn't be a new year or even new month bird, and 3, even though I don't have the bird in the United States, I am not all that concerned with my Michigan list. (If it would have been in Ohio I would have considered going for it!) The second bird though, would be a life bird for me, so I decided to chase that one!!

Here's the thing... I may be 25, but several circumstances have kept me from getting my driver's license up until this past Tuesday morning, and until yesterday, I haven't driven in a car alone. I originally set up a plan to meet part way and carpool but then I was reminded that I had a class to attend that evening in Michigan and I had to drive to that already and the bird was only ~30 minutes from where I needed to end up. So I was somewhat thrown into making the full drive alone.

I quickly gathered my binoculars, scope, shorebird guide, and notebook, I made sure I had the right location and that I figured out how to use the GPS on my new phone before I got into the car and I gathered my notes for my class and set off on my first adventure with my new license.

I'm sure it is no surprise to anyone who knows me even slightly that my first drive alone would be an hour away to chase a rare bird! I was off to see a Snowy Plover on the beach of Lake Michigan! Excitedly, I drove up, easily found the beach, grabbed my binoculars and hopped out of the car to see the bird. I had just talked to my friend who I was meeting there, and the bird had been on the beach, easy to see. I was hopeful. When I found my friend, he wasn't looking at the bird... he was walking towards me and informed me that the bird along with the Sanderling it had been hanging out with had just flown further down the beach.

Luckily, it wasn't long before a little shorebird flew in near us. We got on it and sure enough... Snowy Plover!! a male in full breeding plumage!!! It was fantastic! I was so excited, I could hardly stand still. I just drove alone for the first time, visiting Lake Michigan for the first time, to see a LIFE BIRD, Snowy Plover!!!

Unfortunately, in my excitement and nervousness leaving, I totally forgot to pack my camera into the car! It wasn't until I was standing on the beach in Michigan that I realized I was missing it. I was only slightly disappointed, because I know I'll never forget this bird, even without a photo. I was able to get this shot of the location with my phone though! You'll just have to take my word that there is in fact a rare Snowy Plover standing on the beach!

Heading to Guatemala!

In about 6 hours, I will be boarding a plane to Guatemala! I'll try to update if possible from there, but if not, be sure to check back for lots of photos and stories of my adventures after April 2nd!!

Guatemala, 2013

Spring Migration is Upon Us!

It may still seem like winter out there, but the birds have already begun their annual spring migration back north to their breeding grounds! I had an awesome weekend witnessing some early spring migration!

You may not know that my current job is working as an intern for local photographer, David FitzSimmons. This past weekend, he was leading a bird photography workshop in Linton, Indiana, and invited me to go along to help identify and point out birds to the groups he was leading. If you haven't heard of Dave, you should definitely check out his amazing photography in his Curious Critters book series, that he wrote and published! They are wonderful books for children to learn about and begin to appreciate nature and wildlife while having fun and reading! I have given copies of Curious Critters Volume One to two of my nephews and they both absolutely love it!! If you live in Ohio, specifically, central Ohio, you should consider going to the ODNR Wildlife Diversity conference THIS Wednesday in Columbus!! Dave is the Keynote speaker, and I will be there too!

Goose Pond Wildlife Area, located in Linton, Indiana

Anyway, back to the weekend: On Friday morning, we left Ohio and headed southwest to Linton to get some scouting done, and good thing we did! Birding on Friday evening was SPECTACULAR!! The field location for the workshop was Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife Area, which is an integral stopover site for birds migrating in the Mississippi Flyway. Evidence of migration was everywhere and Dave and I estimated nearly 20,000 Sandhill Cranes on Friday evening!

Sandhill Cranes in the morning fog

Throughout the weekend, we also estimated around 5,000 Snow Geese, several thousand Greater White-fronted Geese and Canada Geese, at least a thousand individuals in mixed flocks of blackbirds, including Red-winged Blackbids, Brown-headed Cowbirds, Common Grackles, and European Starlings. I even saw and heard some early migrating individuals: a tree swallow, field sparrows, and several American Woodcocks, American White Pelicans, and Killdeer, to name a few.

Snow Geese

We spent the majority of Saturday and Sunday in the field sharing this wonderful experience with nearly 50 other people! The best part of the trip was being able to share my knowledge of birds with all of the people. The photographers came with various experience levels but across the board, nearly all were interested in, but knew very little about birds. I was able to point out life birds to many of the folks who were then able to document their finds with their images!

Sandhill Cranes forage in fields before continuing their migration north.

It was a blast seeing the excitement from photographers seeing their first Northern Pintails and American Wigeons through my scope and hearing their interest when I explained things such as how Northern Harriers and Short-eared Owls inhabit the same areas and nearly fill the same niche other than the time of day that they are active. One of the most exciting events was when we had one of the small groups watching an easily accessible Bald Eagle nest. The nest could be clearly seen from the roadside without disturbing the pair who seemed to be sitting on eggs. While I had the sitting eagle in my scope for everyone to easily see her, three migrating Bald Eagles circled above. The eagle in the nest began calling incessantly; warning the migrating birds that this was HER territory and that they should keep moving. While she warned the intruders, her mate flew in to preen in a nearby tree. This was a great treat for the photographers to witness this behavior and gain a better understanding of the eagles' interactions!

A Bald Eagle sitting on eggs

We tallied 59 species of birds for the weekend at Goose Pond and even had a chance to observe a highly endangered species, which was absolutely incredible and also a life bird for me! If you ever find yourself in Linton, Indiana or Goose Pond, I recommend stopping by Monical's Pizza Restaurant in Linton. Their specialty is their thin crust pizza, and it is some of the best pizza I have ever had (and I love pizza and eat it frequently, but I'm picky!) It was so good that after having it on Friday, we decided to go back for more on Sunday before heading out of Linton!

Sandhill Cranes

March: The adventures begin again!

It has been a long winter. I love winter and the snow, cold weather, and winter birding that goes along with it, but I haven't been traveling any. Instead, I have been working several jobs through the winter to save up for this year's adventures, and I have some fun things planned!! One of my jobs has been working for a local photographer/author/publisher. My first trip this year is going to be with him. He is leading a bird photography workshop this weekend at Goose Pond in Indiana, and I will be going along to help out and be the bird guide during that event! I am really excited because I have a decent chance of seeing a new life bird: Whooping Cranes!

Less than a week after I return from guiding in Indiana, I will be heading south to Guatemala for 20 days of birding with my friend, John Cahill, who is doing a Guatemala Big Year to raise money for cloud forest conservation! During his last big year, in 2012, he was able to find 591 species; this year he is hoping for over 600 and he is well on his way with already over 500 species at the end of February! While I am there, we will be visiting some areas on the eastern side of Guatemala, including Punta de Manabique which is a peninsula in the Caribbean Sea! Be sure to check back for photos and stories from my trip! You can follow John's exciting year on his blog:
http://bigyear.cloudforestconservation.org/johncahill

As you may know, in March of 2013 I was also in Guatemala, and while I was there for a very different reason, I fell in love with the country and I'm very excited to be going back! Check out these photos from last year's trip...

Homes in the Guatemala City dump

Me with a boy who lives in the city dump community

Black Vultures flying over the dump behind the cemetery 

La Limonada; the highly populated ghetto in Guatemala City

Turkey Vulture soaring above Lake Atitlan in Panajachel, Guatemala

Black-handed Spider Monkey hanging out while I was hiking at Reserva Natural Atitlan

Bushy-crested Jays in Guatemala, one of my favorite corvids

Delicious Guatemalan bananas!

After I return from Guatemala on April 2nd, I will be moving to northern Indiana to start working on a sustainable farm!! With a 40 acre restored tall grass prairie on the property, I assume I will be seeing quite a few grassland birds without even leaving the farm! Doing a little research on eBird, I was able to find out that I will also be about 8 miles from the top eBird hotspot in the county as well!

Keep checking back to hear the details of the birds I'm seeing and the fun along the way!

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