Born Again Bird Watcher

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Ruffing It
2007-08-12 00:15:00
After two days of reading posts on Oregon Birders On-Line reporting a male Ruff (Philomachus pugnax) that was being seen at the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge, I could delay the chase no longer. I hadn't chased a bird in some time so as this one was only an hour or so of a drive through suburban traffic away, I made the journey this morning. I'm very glad I did.Setting aside the fact that I broke one of the seventeen birding commandments and set out about ten in the morning, ensuring, as the weather has been in the eighties on the Fahrenheit scale for weeks now, that the amount of shimmer and heat distortion seen in any view of the bird I got would be severe (as a commandment scoflaw I expected this punishment). Fortunately, my karmic balance was not on the negative side and the bird was quickly located (through a time-tested rarity locating technique I call "find the large cluster of birders all looking in the same direction").As I expected, the heat at just after twelve...

A Little Aloha Was Needed
2007-08-10 00:19:00
A few years ago I discovered I had a rare medical condition known as hybiscus deficiency. This condition was diagnosed three months following my return from my first visit to Hawaii. I brought to my doctor's attention that I was experiencing difficulties hanging loose so she ordered a few tests and discovered that the level of sea salt on my skin was dangerously low.As physicians and travel agents experienced in treating this condition will all well attest, the only effective treatment is prolonged Aloha therapy. This involves following a strict diet of fresh fish and mai tais with regular infusions of steel guitar music, beach sand, suntan lotion, and the wearing of strings of fresh flowers around the patient's neck. The premiere treatment centers, not surprisingly, are all located on one or another of the Hawaiian Islands, the best of course being the world famous Halekulani where some truly amazing cures have been effected over the years and ongoing research is showing great pr...
More About: Litt

Simple Acts of Kindness
2007-08-08 20:08:00
One of the things I love most about being in the birding community is the generosity I have witnessed time and time again. Go on a trip and forget your bins? Someone will have a pair to lend you. Visiting a new area and need to know the best places to go birding? Not only will you get many helpful suggestions, you are almost sure to discover someone willing to guide you personally.Yet the spirit of the community goes well beyond these larger acts of kindness. Sometimes it's the simpler acts that really remind you just how strong of a community we exist within; the acts that it would have been just as easy for someone not to have done as for them to have done and still they did them anyway.Case in point: the identification of a yellow flower I photographed the other day at Ridgefield NWR and posted here. I didn't include any mention of the identity of the flower in the post. This was because I didn't know it. My own field guides to wildflowers either didn't include it or didn't ...
More About: Simple , Kindness

Birding Up!
2007-08-08 07:43:00
As I've been eagerly anticipating the release of the results of of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service survey "2006 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation" I'm not sure how I missed the news that last month the preliminary findings were released.For bird watchers (the largest portion of the survey's category "Wildlife Watchers") the trends appear to be positive:Nearly all 71 million who participated in wildlife watching participated around-the-home. Among the 67.8 million around-the-home participants, feeding wildlife was the most popular activity. It was enjoyed by nearly 56 million individuals, 78% of all wildlife watchers. Nearly 45 million people (63%) enjoyed observing wildlife, while 18.8 million (26%) enjoyed photographing wildlife. Another 13.3 million (19%) visited public parks or natural areas to enjoy wildlife, and 14.5 million recreationists (20%) maintained plantings or natural areas for the benefit of wildlife.Comparing the 2006 Surve...
More About: Birding

eBird + iGoogle = Oh wow!
2007-08-08 05:31:00
Both the blogging team of Mike, Charlie, and Corey at 10,000 Birds, and Rob at Birdchaser (a hearty Born Again Bird Watcher welcome to Birdchaser as a new addition to the BABWBR, by the way) brought to my attention today the joining together of two powerful forces for the furtherance of compiling and sharing data on birds: eBird, and Googl e.Google, through its popular iGoogle Web 2.0 (or at least Web 1.5) homepage, is now offering the Rare Bird Google Gadget. This handy little add-on to your iGoogle page provides a feed of recent rare bird sightings from over the previous seven days for the area selected by the user. The data feeding the, well, feed is drawn from eBird entries made by the thousands of eBird contributors throughout the United States (sorry Canada, maybe soon...).Acting on the information from 10,000 Birds and Birdchaser, I immediately added the gadget to my own iGoogle. It is decidedly, in a word, cool. Granted, Oregon is not exactly breaking down the doors at the mo...

Mail Call - World Birdwatch
2007-08-08 03:03:00
Four times each year, the good people at BirdLife International publish World Birdwatch, a globe spanning, English language publication covering the myriad of worthwhile and interesting projects undertaken by BirdLife and its more than 100 partner organizations. World Birdwatch is sent automatically to all members of BirdLife's World Bird Club as well as being available for sale through some of their partner organizations. However, as I have never seen a copy for sale in any National Audubon Society nature store (Audubon being the partner organization in the United States) I have found it much easier to maintain a membership in the BirdLife World Bird Club to ensure that I never miss an issue.Behind the cover bearing a striking photograph of a calling Red-legged Seriema (Cariama cristata) on the recently released June 2007 issue a wealth of bird conservation news can be found.In "The Strange Tale of the Tyrant and the Gaucho," the threats to species relying on the rapidly dissapear...
More About: Mail , Call

First Visit to Ridgefield NWR
2007-08-07 02:47:00
My good friend Jim Danzenbaker and I had not seen one another for the better part of a year. He and I first met at the 2002 North American Ornithological Congress in New Orleans, Lousisiana. Coinciding with the beginning of the congress just happened to be Hurricane Isadore. Jim (then working for Brunton, now Western Hemisphere Marketing Manager for Kowa), Clay Taylor (Swarovski's naturalist and digiscoping guru), and myself, along with a few hundred professional ornithologists and assorted grad students were flooded into the Intercontinental Hotel for a couple of days.The upside was that after the storm subsided, there was a fall-out of migrating birds that staggered the imagination. In a tree just in front of the hotel, right in the middle of the business district of downtown New Orleans, we recorded, Prothonorary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea) Magnolia Warbler (Dendroica magnolia), Ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapillus), and of all things a Whip-poor-will (Caprimulgus vociferus). The th...
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A Little Acoustic Break
2007-08-04 06:57:00
After the better part of a day of bird watching out at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, I sat down to sort through all the digital photos I took of the trip. But the day was getting long and the sorting was going slowly, so I put aside the idea that I would be able to get them all organized for a post tonight and took our daughter to an acoustic folk performance by our good friend Joe Anderson down at the local cafe, the Coffee Bar.We've known Joe since he was nine years old. Since that time he's grown into quite a man and one heck of a musician. He played a hour's worth of folk and blues classics, many I'd not previously heard and others I'd not heard in years. I've heard quite a few of these small venue gigs over the years; I like them for their intimacy and their lack of a need for amplification. All there is is the musician, the instrument, and the audience - no intermediation is needed.People often ask why my wife and I live in a small town when we have both lived in ...
More About: Acoustic , Break , Litt , Brea

Flocking to Cape May
2007-08-03 05:15:00
Migration forecast for October, 2007: a historically large flock of birding bloggers (Avispecto graphimanius internetus) is calculated to be observable in late October in Cape May, New Jersey. Researchers studying this phenomena, scientifically called the First Birder Blogger Conference, have determined that the optimal place to observe this previously unrecorded occurence will be the 61st Annual Cape May Autumn Weekend, also known as THE Bird Show. Peak numbers are expected to be visible October 26-28.Birding bloggers not normally migrating through Cape May but now wishing to join in this inaugural convocation should send an e-mail message to Birdchick with their name, address, and phone number.As there is expected to be a discount involved for participating bloggers, certain guidelines have been established in order to prevent "misidentification." In order to qualify for the discount, the blog must have been started sometime before January 31, 2007.The blog must have regular updat...
More About: Lock , Locking

Truly Gonzo Bird Watching
2007-08-02 06:29:00
One of the things that has long been missing from American bird watching is the participation of any widely known celebrities amongst our ranks. In Britain, Bill Oddie, Kate Humble, and Simon Barnes are widely recognized as avid birders. However in the U.S., if indeed there are any stars of the large or small screen among the feather fascinated, they are very quiet about it indeed.At least until now. It seems that none other than the Motor City Madman himself, Mr. Ted Nugent, is a life-long sufferer of "Catbird Scratch Fever."In the pages of Bird Watcher's Digest Online, Mr. Nugent gives readers an insight into how he understands bird watching. Not one for understatement or subtlety, his perspective may not appeal to all readers; however it may very well appeal to, and by this help to establish better understanding of shared common ground with, many who do not presently count themselves as part of the bird watching community. It is with these very people, those participating in out...
More About: Watching , Gonzo , Bird Watching

Who You Gonna Call?
2007-08-01 04:50:00
So you are walking along the road in your neighborhood one evening and you notice a dead crow at the front edge of old Mr. Finnegan’s front yard. Being a bird watcher of at least moderate awareness of West Nile Virus, you know that the discovery of dead crows should arouse suspicion and be brought to the attention of someone in a position of authority. What do you do?I was faced with a situation not wholly unlike this just this afternoon. Being a publicly acknowledged advocate of avian awareness (sorry, my assonance regulator is malfunctioning today), I am often called upon for advice on matters pertaining to birds. The owner of our local bakery noted to me that she had noticed not less than three dead crows in the county over the previous fortnight. Who should she call?I honestly didn’t know. Truly, I was a bit embarrassed. West Nile is the subject of much discussion – surely someone interested in birds should know the proper procedure for reporting suspicious signs that may ...
More About: Call , Gonna

The View from 100
2007-07-30 05:24:00
When I posted In the beginning... on February 5, 2007, I was not certain just where this whole blogging exercise would take me. I was recently transitioned from one job to another; from one in which I was considered an expert to one in which I was clearly a novice. Life was getting quite hectic from balancing both a full time career and a full time MBA program. I was in need of not only rebalancing my professional life, I was in need of reconnecting with who I really was and not simply viewing myself as a product of my occupation and my professional aspirations. I had spent so much time seeking to "be someone" I neglected to notice that I already was.Born Again Bird Watcher was my first attempt to do just that - to free myself of the negative emotions I had accumulated over the years brought about by the seemingly endless contradictions of the complex intertwining of something I loved very much (bird watching) with something I was beginning to truly dislike (the conditions under whi...
More About: The View , View

Great Grey...Hummingbird?
2007-07-29 03:08:00
It is said that the great Ludlow Griscom recommended that all bird watchers to learn the birds common to their immediate area so that all vagrant, casual, and unusual variations of common species would stand out more clearly.When it comes to hummingbirds here in Scappoose, Oregon, U.S.A. (population 5,841 - Salute!) we have three species - Rufous, Rufous, and the occasional Rufous. Well, that's not quite true; it only seems that way. In reality, we also have Allen's (supposedly) and Anna's. However if you put out a feeder and there is a Rufous in the area - forget about the other two possibilities. Heck, forget about another Rufous - they simply don't play well with others.Which is why when this morning as the family and I were breaking our fast, the appearence of a non-Rufous hummingbird caught our collective attention. Its total lack of any reddish coloring told us at once it was a more peaceable visitor. For a few fleeting seconds the word "leucistic" even flitted through my ...
More About: Great , Grey , Ming , Hummingbird

Welcome!
2007-07-29 01:06:00
From time to time, like most bloggers, I make a new addition to one of the link columns I maintain to guide readers of Born Again Bird Watcher toward other sites they might find useful, interesting, or helpful; or simply as further reflections of my own preferences and interests that I wish to share.However, also like most bloggers, I have noticed from my explorations of other bloggers' assorted link lists and blog rolls that a new link to a site I subsequently follow and immediately discover that I like very much had appeared at an indeterminate time in the past and that only happenstance brought it to my attention. (Let's face it, most of us read all new posts religiously but don't always take the time to scroll down the page to see what has been added to the links and rolls.)As many readers now use RSS feeds and other such tools to keep up with updates to their favorite blogs, the addition of a new link may go entirely unobserved unless it is brought directly to the attention ...

A Moment of Thanks
2007-07-28 03:20:00
My friend David is in the hospital. He has been very ill for some time now and it is accepted by all close to him that his condition will not improve but only worsen. Because of this, I went to visit him today.This entire scenario is not so very unusual in the scope of human existence. Who among us has not gone to visit a friend in poor health or recovering in a hospital? Yet this was different from all the previous visits I've paid to various friends in various hospitals over the years. This was a matter of utmost importance - the chance to thank someone who did something for me that changed my life in the face of the possibility that I may not have another chance after this to do so. You see, David is the person without whom I would likely never have taken up the ways and life of bird watching.For years now bird watching has been a constant thread through my life. It has been the doorway for my education in the entire realm of natural history. It has brought me most of the friend...
More About: Moment , Hank

Those Cheeky Bustards!
2007-07-25 21:52:00
Some very good bird conservation news indeed from Great Britain - the first wild Great Busta rd, Otis tarda, eggs laid in England in 175 years have been recorded as being laid by a female reintroduced by the Great Bustard Group. The two eggs, laid during a reintroduction trial in Wiltshire, were actually recorded a bit earlier this year; however in order to protect them from curious onlookers, including no-doubt well meaning but overly enthusiastic birders and any remnant oologists left among us. the news and location was kept secret until just recently.This news is indeed heartening. The Great Bustard, a "Vulnerable" species on the IUCN Red List of Globally Threatened Species, was hunted out of existence in the U.K. in the 1840s. However thanks to the efforts of the Great Bustard Group and others, reintroduction of the birds there from a population found in the Trans-Volga region of southern Russia is showing considerable promise. It was previously expected that no eggs would be lai...

Bummer
2007-07-25 04:08:00
As I had written a few days ago in Life Changes, a plan was negotiated and in place for my ten year career with Leupold to draw gracefully to a close on August 2.I was escorted to the front door this afternoon.I won't say I am not saddened by this sudden and unexpected change. Yet the birds are still singing and life goes on. I contemplate the opening lines of the the Dhammapada:Mind is the forerunner of (all evil) states. Mind is chief; mind-made are they. If one speaks or acts with wicked mind, suffering follows one, even as the wheel follows the hoof of the draught-ox.Mind is the forerunner of (all good) states. Mind is chief; mind-made are they. If one speaks or acts with pure mind, affection follows one, even as one's shadow that never leaves."He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me,'' in those who harbour such thoughts hatred is not appeased."He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me,'' in those who do not harbour such thoughts hatred is appe...
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