The weekend birder

After a weekend of intense nature play, whether it be birding, botanizing, or simply investigating what's going on in my back yard, the reality of going back to work can often be a shock to my system. The world that I was so deeply immersed in for a day or two seems like a distant memory after plunging back into the world of customer service and problem solving that is my day job. This is not to say that I don't like my job, but there are times when making that transition can be difficult and almost painful. A little bit of my own Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, I suppose.

Was it a dream that I saw more Rough-legged Hawks in one day than I'll probably ever see again in a year? Was it my imagination that I watched them soar and hover, glide and hang, showing off their magnificent hunting prowess? Raptors that were tiny blips in my binoculars, invisible to the naked eye, became clear within the focus of a borrowed spotting scope*. Will I be able to retain the memory of these beauties, so that if perchance I see one again I will be able to identify it? Yes, I and my birding friends watched these hawks steer with their wings and stall with their tails, their heads constantly in motion, scanning the ground below for prey. Yes, I pondered the fact that we needed high-powered magnification devices to be able to see them well from afar, to make out their field marks and their coloring, all the while knowing that the eyesight of these avian masterpieces was probably far better than any of our scopes.

Light-morph Rough-legged Hawk hunting over open field near the Wilds in Cumberland, Ohio. Black "wrist" patches are the diagnostic field mark of this raptor.
The wind and the cold of the day was real - yes, I remember that. And we all stood outside and endured it, dashing from one location to the next, hopping in and out of our cars, all for the chance to see something as wonderful as a Bald Eagle, for the faintest hope of seeing a Golden Eagle. Being that it was my second Bald Eagle sighting in a week, it made up for missing out on the Golden. Sweet little Bluebirds brightened the dreary landscape, of that I am sure. Later, a Northern Shrike echoed the slate gray sky. How gratifying that the last bird seen on this trip was an addition to my life list, a wonderful way to close out the day.

Birders braving the cold - hardy souls, every one of them. A total of 120 such hardy souls gathered together on this day.
Birding Saturday morphed into Birding Sunday when I awoke to fill the feeders and stood outside for thirty-plus minutes, listening to the birds wake up. The songs of Tufted Titmice and Eastern Towhees rang clear and strong, and White-breasted Nuthatches surrounded me on all sides. It had the faintest feel of a summer dawn chorus, and reminded me that I should get up early more often. A Carolina Wren approached me cautiously, curiously, wanting to sample the bird dough that I had just put out, but not quite trusting enough to come to it while I was standing so close at hand.

Out the door I went after lunch, down the road to help a friend with his work at banding his feeder birds*. We recorded data that will contribute to his ongoing research, and I got to learn about aging and sexing Goldfinches, the proper way to release a bird, and how cranky birds can get when they get caught in a mist net, among other things.

The crankiest of them all still seems like a figment of my imagination. Her high-pitched squeals of displeasure echo in my mind, a sound I'll not soon forget.

Getting toes untangled. Who's foot could this be?

One unhappy Pileated Woodpecker, cursing the net that caught her
One thing I already knew to be true, without anyone having to teach it to me - the experience of a bird in the hand is priceless, no matter how fleeting.

American Goldfinch and Dark-eyed Junco being held in "photographer's pose."

* My heartfelt thanks go out to Julie Z. for letting me use her extra scope whilst birding at the Wilds, and to Bob P. for letting me observe and participate in his weekly banding effort. And thanks to ALL of my birding friends who are helping nature become a bigger and better part of my life.

Southern white rhinos at the Wilds

An added bonus to our birding trip to the Wilds was a chance to see a very special animal, a baby Southern white rhinoceros. She was born on Halloween night 2009, weighing in at 70 pounds upon her entrance into this world. She's the daughter of a female who was also born at the Wilds, 5 years ago. To learn more about Southern white rhinos and why conservation efforts like those taking place at the Wilds are so important for their survival, go here or here (will open in new windows).


Mama and baby were inside when we got there, but they wandered outdoors within a minute of our group's arrival.


Have no fear, though, because that baby wanted us to see her! Well, she wasn't quite sure about that...


She would stick her head through the flaps, and then retreat.


In..?


... or out?


Finally she made up her mind. It's so interesting - here's this rhino who's only a few months old, and she's already got quite the personality. I thought it was a pretty brave move on her part to come on in without checking with mama first.


"C'mon mom, we have to go back inside! These people want to pet us!"

The animal management specialist told us we could touch them if the animals presented themselves to us. No problem. There were a total of 7 rhinos in the building, and most of them were up for contact with us.


Baby at eye-level, communing with a human.


She really enjoyed having her horn rubbed!


I mean, really, REALLY loved it!


This is one of the other rhinos in the building. Will you look at the size of that beast?


And check out those horns! That's one deadly weapon there.


I found myself fascinated by their body parts. Like rhino toes...


... and rhino ears.

But the best are rhino eyes...

Birding the Wilds

Yesterday was the Winter Extravaganza at the Wilds, sponsored by the Ohio Ornithological Society. The temps were mild for January, and lots of folks showed up, but our group did not see a whole lot of birds. There was apparently a Golden Eagle spotted in the area, but it was not meant to be for us to see it.


It wasn't for lack of trying, that's for sure. We made many stops on roads close to the Wilds (roads that are actually on land owned by American Electric Power), and searched and searched, but we just didn't see much bird action at all. We did spot a Horned Lark (quite a few, actually), which was a life bird for me. I did a little boogie for it.


This guy. He's awesome. I tell him, "so we're gonna have to leave at, like, 6 a.m. to get there on time." "Okay," he says. Look at him in his Midwest Bird Symposium hat and Bird Watcher's Digest binocular harness. I'm so glad he came to the Wilds to go birding with me!



There were lots of spotting scopes around yesterday, a necessary tool of the trade. Especially when trying to pin down a bird that's somewhere out in the middle of huge expanses of grassland and hills like this...




Before lunch, our group saw Horned Lark, American Kestrel, Eastern Bluebird, European Starling, Blue Jay, Trumpeter Swan, Rough-legged Hawk (dark morph) (AND lifer!), Red-tailed Hawk, and Downy Woodpecker. Folks were hoping for more raptors, but there just wasn't much activity.


What're y'all lookin' at?


There are lots of lakes of varying sizes around the Wilds, but there seemed to be only one that had some unfrozen water, and of course that's where all the waterfowl went. Accordingly, all the scopes were lined up after lunch to observe said water and waterfowl. I could only identify the Canada Geese and Trumpter Swans. Even through a scope, they were still pretty far away, so it was difficult for me to know what else I was seeing (this girl's no good with her waterfowl ID!). I heard folks say there were Ruddy Ducks, Ring-neck Ducks, some kind of Merganser, Mallards, and perhaps a Green-winged Teal.


Oh look, I managed to get photos of some birds! Two Trumpeter Swans, and if you notice the road behind them, there are some Canada Geese to the right of that road. I know... booooring.

Aside from seeing birds, we were able to get some good views of several of the species of mammals that are managed by the Wilds, including a meeting with a very special southern white rhino. Here's a sneak peek:


Stay tuned!

Is nature drawing this turtle out of her shell?

During the summer I shared some facts about myself (see all 7 random things about moi), one item which surprised some of you: I am an introvert. In addition to that, I can be quite shy, especially around people I don't know. So I surprised myself a few years ago when I attended a weekend-long overnight camp for grown-ups known as Becoming an Outdoors Woman (BOW for short). I had been aware of the existence of such activities for a few years prior to that, but I had to really work up my courage to sign up for and actually attend this event. There would be lots of ladies there I didn't know. We would have to share sleeping quarters. I would be there by myself, with no "buddy" to lean on. =gulp!=

The driving reason that got me out the door and to the event was being close to nature, and perhaps more importantly, learning new things about nature (and about myself). And you know what? This introvert survived, and had a lot of fun in the process. So much so that I attended a similar event the following year (this one hosted by the National Wild Turkey Federation). More fun and learning ensued. Another great benefit: an increased sense of self-confidence and independence. I've never found myself to necessarily be lacking in these two areas, but I have found that I am stronger than I had first thought. And both events were held in great outdoors locations, which made me feel quite at home.



Ladies gathering prizes after skits at the BOW event in September 2006.


Some ladies refining their canoeing skills at the Women in the Outdoors (WITO) event in September 2007.

This time last year I was still reeling from my first visit to the Wilds, where I attended their first-ever Photography Camp (a program that was so successful that they offered it on 2 separate weekends this year!). It was an incredible experience on many levels. Due to the nature of the program, we got a slightly closer look at the animals than one might on a normal "public" excursion at the Wilds. We got to spend more time with the animals than I think is the norm, and the buses stopped whenever we asked them to (photo ops are unpredictable with wild animals, you know). I was truly moved by the majesty and beauty of all the different animals we got to experience and photograph. On top of that, I learned quite a few things about photography. Nothing earth-shattering, I will admit, but enough to make me more comfortable with my camera and to give me more "shooting" confidence in general. Oh, and I was around more people I didn't know. But by this point, I didn't care. I didn't have to think twice about signing up for this camp. I had finally gotten the "being with strangers" jitters out of my system. Thank goodness!


Herd of bison ambling along in front of our bus at the Wilds, September 2008.

Close encounter with a bison. (Julie, if you're reading, these pictures are for you.)
In an effort to continue my outdoors education, I attended the Birding by Ear camp at the Wilds in May of this year. Yet again it was information and sensory overload, but in the best way. We were a MUCH smaller group at this camp (10 plus the group leaders), so it was harder for me to keep to myself as I have learned I can do in larger groups, but that was okay. We were all there for a common purpose, so that made it a little more comfortable.

Our group of like-minded birders, trying to find who is singing in the trees (the Wilds, May 2009).
There was a new element to this outing though - I would be meeting a fellow nature/bird blogger for the very first time (Jim McCormac was one of our group leaders for the weekend). So, in a very small sense, there was someone there I knew, albeit it only via the miracles of the interwebs. Jim (and Al Parker, our other group leader) made sure we all left there entertained and with lots of facts in our brains.

My most recent nature-loving/nature-learning experience, as you may have guessed, was the Midwest Birding Symposium held up at Lakeside, OH several weeks ago. This is the first time Dave has accompanied me on one of these trips, and I was delighted that he had such a good time. There was so much to see, and more bloggers to meet, and lots of really nice birding folks to be around.

A packed house in Hoover Auditorium at the 2009 Midwest Birding Symposium.

So to answer the question posed via the title of this post, I guess nature is slowly pulling me out of my shell. It is the common theme for all of these outings, and I have been so glad that I attended each and every one of them. Who knows where my love and nature and pursuit of knowledge will take me next!

What has your own love of nature inspired YOU to do that you might not have thought possible?

the Wilds birding weekend wrap-up

This will be my last post (I think) about my weekend of Birding by Ear at the Wilds. I cannot say enough good things about this place. If you live in Ohio, or if you are ever passing through, please consider visiting the Wilds. You certainly will not regret it. The staff there are great and are passionate about the land and animals there. I guarantee you will learn a lot if you go.

A Carolina Wren built her nest in this little bucket that was inside the dining/meeting yurt at the education camp.

While 90% of the weekend was spent concentrating on birds, there were plenty of other things to see while we were there. All kinds of wildflowers abound (including invasive species like Autumn Olive, Multiflora Rose and Phragmites). I got photos of a handful of them.

Foxglove Beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis)

Umm... I'm afraid I don't know this one, but it certainly looks to be a member of the Pea family.

Birdsfoot Trefoil (Lotus corniculata)

Yellow Wood Sorrel (Oxalis stricta)

Yum... the wood sorrel leaves taste like Granny Smith apples!

Our trip leaders for the weekend, Jim McCormac and Al Parker, were absolute fountains of knowledge, not just about birds, but also in regards to just about any other natural thing we saw around us. Someone spotted this snapping turtle alongside the road, and the bus had to be stopped to it could be annoyed... um, investigated. That's Al holding the happy snapper.

During the last hour or so of our weekend at the Wilds, the birding kind of went downhill and it turned into a natural history free-for-all where we started looking at anything that moved. It was at this point that I realized how "good" Jim had been at containing himself during the rest of the weekend. You see, even though Jim's really good with the bird thing, he's really a botanist... who also happens to like dragonflies and butterflies and moths and frogs and... you get the picture. He's self-proclaimed ADD when he's outside, and jumps from one thing to the next rapidly. I'm not complaining, mind you... it's just hard to keep up sometimes!

unidentified captured frog

Okay, this is where things start getting really fuzzy for me. Birds and flowers I'm pretty good with, butterflies and other insects... not so much. I have some ID guides, but I'm only just getting into these things, so don't quote me on any of these IDs.

a skipper of some sort, maybe Silver-Spotted Skipper

Great Spangled Fritillary on clover (I'm pretty sure about this one)

? Perhaps a female Common Whitetail or female Twelve-Spotted Skimmer ? (why did I not take notes?!)

This is a Bluet of some sort, of that much I am sure. I remember the term Bluet being tossed about and I was confused, because I didn't see any Bluet flowers around. Then I realized it must be the damselfly on the leaf. This might be a Familiar Bluet.

I didn't have the lens I usually use for close-up work on my camera, so I had to make do with my longer zoom lens. This made getting the kind of close-ups I would prefer not really possible. But you get the idea.

And finally, I leave you with yours truly, pictured with "my" Grasshopper Sparrow.

Photo courtesy Jim McCormac