Geese!

I had a birding tour this morning with a very nice lady from Virginia, Sue Haynes. Usually we have at least 6 or 7 people so this was a nice chance to talk about birds, specifically the research she conducted on Bald Eagles and nesting site selection. Interesting stuff.

Anyway, we saw more than we initially thought, mostly due to the weather. It was cold this morning! But we braved it and were rewarded with the first snow geese of the season. Granted they were a ways off and we had to use the big glass to get a good look at them, but they were lifers for me. Also flying around today were 10 Black-Crown Night herons that flew over us in a loose formation, I've never seen BCNH's act like that before... strange. Elsewhere on our list were: lots of Yellow-Rumps, Flickers, Kingfishers, Tree Swallows and even a Bald Eagle which quickly prompted Sue to digress into that strange biology lilt that researchers are prone to sometimes. I hope she and Gary, her husband, have a good rest of their vacation.

Great as the Snow Geese were, the bird of the day award goes to a more than obliging Cooper's Hawk that zoomed over me as I was giving an introduction to our beach walk tour this afternoon. He nearly clipped me as he skated the dunes and alit on a broken snag eight feet behind my dome. Odd is the feeling being weighed and measured by a Coop's conducting an interpretation skills inventory.

Oh, and on her way down to Hatteras today, Sarah said she saw "huge white birds sitting at Pea Island". I posed a query and she exasperatedly responded "no they're not pelicans Ben, I love pelicans."

I'm leaving to see the swans at 5.

Owling

Every so often you come across the chance to do something really fun and exciting. For me I guess that is most days I'm out birding, but I'm talking really exciting.

Owl exciting!

Last January I was fortunate enough to take a break from my at the time job on Little St Simons Island to participate in the Southwest Birding Festival in Naples, FL. I had quite a time there and with the fabulous aid of Steve Mutart on the Eagle Lakes field trip and Beverly Anderson at Tigertail Beach, I was more than swimming in new bird species. From Kestrels and hawks to Snowy Plovers and waders I cannot thank those two enough. One of the highlights of the trip, and the owl connection, came in the form of Scott Weidensaul. Scott is a wonderful speaker, an even better author and one heck of a nice guy. Needless to say, I took to his wit and open demeanor immediately. To make a long story short, later in April, I ran into Scott again as he was a highly coveted guest speaker at LSSI's own spring birding days. I relished the opportunity to pick his brain apart again and spent the next few days generally making a nuisance of myself in his presence.

It was during this time that I learned about the Saw-Whet Owl project that Scott spearheads in Eastern Pennsylvania. Since I was getting ready to move to the OBX, I knew that I was destined to beg/plead/coerce Scott into letting me come up and volunteer in the fall, which is what I just got back from. Up to date? Good, time for a cute picture then continue reading below.

The project you were reading about before you were blindsided by that disgusting display of awwwwww is sponsored in part by the Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art in PA, and run by a host of banders and volunteers who operate under Scott's federal banding permit. There is a variety of research being done on Saw-Whet's and you can read about it on Ned Smit's web site http://nscnaowls.blogspot.com/. For me, it was great to get some hands-on experience with these animals and the means of detaining them, ie mist nets. Thankfully there were many people there who were more than capable banders and I had all the help that I could get. (Much thanks to John, Gene, Tim, Ben, Corky, Mary Ann, Teresa and Phil by the way.)

Getting a chance to view these birds was very special for me and I am still spewing out my thanks to Scott, even though he is surely tired of my braying. "Owls are awesome" is my new, slightly prepubescent-esque, mantle and I am looking forward to searching for them in the woods surrounding the Bodie Island light house this winter. (Curtis Smalling, a state Audubon Biological Technician told me they are there. Nice guy, take a class with him if you get a chance, he makes Golden-winged Warblers very entertaining.)

Cheers

Starting a Blog

After many hours of debating with Sarah, I have decided that it is high time that I get with the information age and attempt some semblance of keeping my family abreast of my current tribulations. You're welcome mom. So here we go!

Today I decided to blog about birding and only birding... unless I wish to blog about something else. There is something about being able to post what you want, but I digress. Currently I am living in the northern OBX of the N.Carolina coast. I'm working for the NC Wildlife Resources Commission and this is affording me many opportunities to go birding.

Birding is something that I have only recently discovered, and I have found it a most agreeable vice/hobby/way to annoy Sarah etc. I enjoy the places that it takes me and the people that I meet because of it. Until now I have been limited in who shares in this new found joy (Maverick typically expresses his views on the subject by assuming the position at left.) but now I am sure that I will acheive international fame and fortune thanks to this little invention called the internet. Much thanks to Al Gore. And Tay Zonday... watch out.