The BFF birding trip 2009

Last Thursday, Gretchen and I left for Cape May about 7 p.m. Spirits were high, despite the fact that I’d just phoned the campground and found out that we would have to sleep in the car (“car-camp,” as Gretchen called it) that night because check-in ended at 7 p.m., and we didn't want to lose out on Friday morning birding.

I didn’t think it would be soooo terrible.

I was wrong.

We got there about 1:30 a.m., thanks to a too-long dinner stop in Harrisburg (oh well!). That wasn’t the terrible part. The terrible part was that I discovered it’s impossible for me to sleep in the driver’s seat. Call it conditioning, call it too excited to sleep, call it steering wheel in the thighs, but I got about 2 hours of sleep that night. Gretchen, however, slept like a corpse. In fact, she may or may not have slept through:
--my 3 a.m. bathroom run to find an open convenience store
--my second bathroom run a couple hours later
--my moving of the car a couple of times to minimize light
--the rave party with live band and circus acts
--the rare but severe earthquake that struck the Jersey shore that night
In short, she was OUT while I was wide awake until about 4 a.m.

We awoke at 6 a.m. the next day, across the street from Uncle Bill’s Pancake House. After a little early-morning bathroom break, during which I found out that there was a public restroom not 50 yards from where we were parked (rage!), we had a great breakfast. We then headed to the Second Ave jetty to look around. I’d seen Black Skimmers and several kinds of gulls there the last couple of times I was in Cape May, but this time there wasn’t much: a few Forster’s Terns flying around, some Laughing Gulls, and a lot of first-year Herring Gulls. That pretty much was the tally for the whole weekend, which looked a lot like this--cloudy and cold:
What a start to a very long weekend of endless walking, warbler neck, and rain. We cooked over the campfire all weekend, with the exception of some burgers I grilled. I had pre-cut all the veggies, so food prep was easy and our meals were delicious. So at least we ate well!

Birding was pretty rough the whole weekend; a lot of rain, the cold temps, and perhaps the early date conspired to make birds scarce. No Sanderlings chasing the surf, no flocks of Black Skimmers on the beach, few birds at all on the marshes, and hardly any warblers or songbirds to be found. I hope this weekend is better, for the World Series of Birding. On a good note, Gretchen got to see first-hand how nice other birders are when you meet them in the field; we shared observations and tips with several people along the way, and everyone was very nice.

In all, we birded at CM Point (beach, pond, nature trail); Higbee Beach (where we were almost eaten alive by mosquitoes); Sunset Beach; the Meadows/Nature Conservancy; Second Avenue jetty area; the CM-Lewes Ferry area (on the CM side); and even our campgrounds in Rio Grande, a place which proved to have a few surprises in store for us.

Here’s my list of 48 species:
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Carolina Wren
Northern Cardinal
American Robin
Mute Swan
Canada Goose
Common Grackle
Boat-tailed Grackle (LIFER!)
Great Egret
Red-winged Blackbird
Fish Crow (LIFER!)
Tree Swallow
Purple Martin (LIFER!)
House Sparrow
American Goldfinch
European Starling
Forster’s Tern
Little Blue Heron (LIFER!)
American Oystercatcher (LIFER!)
Swamp Sparrow
Yellow Warbler
Mourning Dove
Gadwall
Laughing Gull
Herring Gull
Double-crested Cormorant
Northern Mockingbird
White-throated Sparrow
Bald Eagle
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Killdeer
Blue-headed Vireo
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Gray Catbird
Piping Plover (LIFER!)
Northern Parula (heard)
Glossy Ibis (LIFER!)
Great Black-backed Gull
Sanderling
Chimney Swift
Worm-eating Warbler
Great Crested Flycatcher
Yellow-crowned Night Heron (LIFER!)
Tufted Titmouse
Blue Jay
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Common Tern (LIFER!)

Only nine lifers—far short of the forty I’d hoped for. But considering the conditions, I think we did all right. The dumb thing is that I realized that I’ve not counted several lifebirds on my giant list (like the Least Flycatcher I saw with Zick at Oil Creek), and so my tally of 186 is WRONG! I just went back this morning and corrected my errors, adding several species I’d apparently lost along the way by moving my big list from one spreadsheet to another (usually by memory—I know—feel free to laugh yourself silly; this time, I went back and checked my posts).

So once I added these eight lifers to the big list, my real and certified! count is 199. 199??!! One away from 200? Sheesh. So the next lifer I see will be the one. If only we’d seen the Black-necked Stilt that was supposed to be wandering around the Meadows, or the Say’s Phoebe that was seen at a couple of spots on Cape May!

This is my first time at the spring migration in Cape May, and I can tell you that it's VERY different from the fall. In the fall, there were just so many birds everywhere, even in the rain and cold. The ponds at the Meadows and at the lighthouse were always full of all kinds of ducks and shorebirds; this past weekend, however, the ponds were relatively bare. I don't know if we were just there too early or what, but we didn't see much in the way of migration.

Baby G in full rain gear.

My big disappointment of the weekend (besides not getting 40 lifers) was not getting to bird at the Beanery. It would’ve cost us $39 each to do so, as they require a CMBO membership and didn’t offer any kind of day pass. I think we might’ve seen more boreal birds there, but who knows? It might’ve been relatively empty, like a lot of the other places around the island. So we didn’t go there, and I’m bummed. I really like that place—so many good birds! We also didn’t drive the hour to Belleplain, preferring to stay in Cape May and enjoy our weekend there.

Now for some highlights:
1. You wouldn’t believe how we saw the Yellow-crowned Night Heron: a pair of them flew into the trees over our campsite! One of them stayed and watched us all weekend, hanging out in a big pine near us. I did get some decent photos of him, along with some other birds.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron in breeding plumage:


He was so beautiful.

A TV, hangin' at Cape May Point (photo for Lynne):

Young Herring or Great Black-backed(?) Gull and a lifer, an American Oystercatcher, showing us his badonkadonk from the concrete ship at Sunset Beach:
An Osprey--we saw a few of these:
Another lifer, a Piping Plover, photographed from waaaaay outside his protective roped-off area:
More lifers! Purple Martins (and a dumb HOSP) on their front porches near the Education Center at CM Point:
Yet another lifer, a Fish Crow--one of the million who "car"-ed their way through the entire weekend above our campsite:
A Laughing Gull photographed on the CM side of the CM-Lewes Ferry:

A Ruby-crowned Kinglet refused to be photographed:
A Carolina Wren singing his heart out--these were plentiful all weekend:


A Great Black-backed Gull at the Meadows, with some Forster's Terns in the background:

2. Gretchen and I said some crazy things that will stick in our memories for the rest of our lives. Here are a few examples of the birding-related comments, because even out of context, they made us laugh all weekend long:
“Oh holy crap… oh holy crap… oh holy crap!… oh wait. It’s a leaf. I thought it was a molting Summer Tanager. Crap.” (DG)
“If I see one more grackle, I’m going to gouge my eyes out.” (Gretchen)
“Can you please stop yelling ‘bird sex’ so loudly? You’re scaring the birds.” (DG)
On our way back, Gretchen made the same mistake I made last year when I drove back from CM through Philly/Harrisburg: she missed the exit for Harrisburg. (This time, I was sleeping!) We ended up on the turnpike for an extra hour or two, but it all worked out in the end.

3. It seemed like death was all around us all weekend. We found this tiny turtle near the hawkwatch platform at CM Point:
Dead-—we were too late to save him. Springtime can be so hard on the little ones. Any idea what kind of turtle this is? He was mostly black with red little speckles in a pattern on his underside and around the edge of his tiny though perfectly formed shell.

Another day as we walked on the Second Avenue jetty, looking between the huge blocks of rock to see what shells and stones had washed into the crevices, I encountered this:Having watched the waves crashing rather violently on the jetty, I figured it must’ve been easy for this little shark (maybe a nurse shark?) to be swept right onto the jetty and into this crevice by a big wave. He wasn’t alive, but that didn’t make it any easier. I got Gretchen to pull him out:I touched his skin a little bit—because how many people can say they've touched a shark? His body was very rubbery by this point (he was a little ripe), but the skin itself was tough and abrasive. Gretchen threw him back into the water so he could at least rest back in his home.

4. We stopped by this alpaca farm, hoping to be able to love up the cute little guys, but we didn't get any closer than this:
Probably for the best--we might've been tempted to snag one and put him in the car!

All in all, an exciting if soggy weekend. We got back last night about 8 p.m., exhausted, sandy, and happy to be home.

UPDATE--Checking out the Cape May sightings blog, I'm wondering if that was a Lesser Black-backed Gull (he was kinda small, but I had no other black-backs to compare him to). And I'm wondering if among those Laughing Gulls were some Bonaparte's. Only the Lesser BBG would be a lifer, but ???. Pete Dunne led the Meadows walk this morning, and I wanted to go soooo badly--but I had to come back to work!

Last stop before Cape May

I'm leaving this evening for Cape May, for my long camping weekend with Gretchen. I thought I should once again check the weather--oy vey:

It's changed almost every day I've looked at it, but this is the worst by far. Rain all three days!? Really?

Well, I guess whatever happens happens. I've birded in the rain out there before, with the Flock two years ago (our first migration).

Just hope the tent doesn't leak.

I got a real bargain last night at Target: an inflatable mattress, twin-sized, with onboard pump (4 D batteries) for... get this!... $7.54! It was on clearance! SWEET!

I'll try to get some good pics!

Birdies all around me, but no time to see them!

oh no! rain, rain, go away!

This morning I opened up my email to find 171 emails from the PA birding listserv. I know--crazy! Still, apparently every warbler and bird that hangs out in PA just arrived this weekend, and everyone in PA saw them EXCEPT ME. I was busy toodling around doing things like having brunch and going to the lake with my new gal! I saw a few birds here and there, but nothing like the warbler fest that everyone else saw. It seems that while I was goofing off, having fun, the birds were arriving and unpacking their little bags. I've really got to get in on this action!

I'm wondering if I could possibly make myself wake up super early and do some birding before work. Hmm... I HATE waking up early--not a good trait for a birder. Wait! Come to think of it, I could take a couple hours of authorized absence time some day this week, go birding in the morning, and just come in at like 10 or 11 instead of 8:30! Now THAT'S an idea! My little gears are turning!

This coming weekend, Gretchen and I will be in Cape May, and I'm really hoping to get a lot of lifers. I may have mentioned this before, but I checked the Cape May list and found that 40 of the "common" and "fairly common" birds seen there in the spring would be lifers for me -- can you imagine? When I went to Cape May's Fall Weekend the first time (when I first met some of the Flock), I got 31 lifers. That's the most I've ever tallied, having gotten 23 lifers in Oil Creek in 2007 when I birded with Julie Zickefoose at the first Oil Creek Birding Festival. Ah, the memories of both of those weekends will be burned into my brain's hard drive forever!

So the thought of potentially getting up to 40 lifers in one weekend is quite exciting--what a challenge! That would put me well over 200--FINALLY. I think Baby G (that's Gretchen's street name! Mine is, quite fittingly I think, D-Thug) and I will pretty much exhaust every minute of every day birding.

OH NO! I just checked the weather for the weekend this morning at weather.com and was really disappointed to see that they have rain down for every day except Saturday. DANGIT! I'm hoping that changes as the week drags on. Keep your fingers crossed for us in Cape May, and for the Flock down at New River in West Virginia! Come on, weather gods!

A little weekend birding, and a work thing

On Sunday, my new gal and I went walking in the Toftrees state gamelands from about 4:30 to 6pm. We didn't see a whole lot, but it was a nice walk. Here's the list:
Eastern Towhee
Cedar Waxwing
Dark-eyed Junco (shouldn't they be in the hills and/or flying north now?)
Northern Flicker
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Song Sparrow
Tree Swallow
Northern Cardinal
American Crow
Common Grackle
Blue Jay
Eastern Bluebird
Canada Goose
Black-capped Chickadee
Mourning Dove
Mallard
Red-winged Blackbird
Red-bellied Woodpecker (heard)
The next day, someone reported seeing some Savannah Sparrows there, and I honestly think I saw one--but I just can't be sure that it wasn't a Song Sparrow. I didn't take enough time to really stare at him to make sure, so I'm not counting him. Also, the light was so crappy (overcast) that I didn't get any photos. I'm hoping to do some birding this weekend, when we're expecting some sun, so maybe I'll have some good pics next week.

- - - - -
Every year, my workplace has a Kids to Work day, and they always focus on environmental themes, which is pretty cool. This year, though I'm unsure of the theme, I found out that they'll all get a bluebird box kit and will be putting them together! I kinda wish I could snag one of those myself, but I'm sure they're all counted out. Still, it's nice to work for a company that cares about the environment.

Splotchy's Eye Meme

So my pal Splotchy said I could do his new Eye Meme, in which one should

1. Post a picture of your eyes.

2. Tag a few people.

Now... Look into my eyes.... you are getting sleepy... very sleepy...

Bird couples--it's not all paradise!

Did you hear this story on NPR? It was on a few days ago, and when AB (that's the woman I'm dating; I'm trying to be discreet and only use her initials for now) heard it, she thought of me and my love of birds.

It seems some birds, though mated, will commit adultery (to use human terms) and that some bird couples try their best to thwart their partners' roving eyes!

Birds seem like models of monogamy — building their nests, hatching their eggs and raising their young together. But it turns out, in the avian world, adultery is not uncommon. And both males and females may have a wandering eye.

Ornithologists Nathalie Seddon and Joe Tobias of the University of Oxford have been studying the songs of the Peruvian warbling antbird. In their latest research, published in Current Biology, they report that an antbird couple will sing a harmonious duet when confronted by an intruding rival pair.

But if an unattached female enters the scene, the antbird "wife" starts jamming her mate's song. She interrupts her spouse with her own music, to his great frustration.

Dr. Seddon believes these findings could provide insight into the development of human music.

WOW! Imagine--these birds are just like those sad couples you see sometimes, where the guy is always checking out other women and the woman lets him know she's not happy about it!

Now I don't know if I agree with the idea that human music development might've been affected by these little displays of jealousy. That seems to imply --what?--that perhaps humans started doing this same kind of singing (?) when they experienced similar events in their own relationships? I don't know about all that. I'd have to hear more about this theoretized link.

Still--I find it fascinating that love relationships in the bird world can be so similar to human ones, even if the motives behind the actions might be different. I try not to anthropomorphize animal behavior; I'm guessing the female is only working to keep her partner in line to ensure that he's around to help with the brooding and care of their young, hence better chances of survival. I'm sure the female bird isn't thinking, "My GOD, he's looking at that Phyllis Antbird AGAIN! Doesn't he still love me? Is he gonna break my heart?" (hee hee) But the partner still sees something she doesn't like, and she sure lets him know about it. Pretty neat.

There is a big indicator that the writer of this story doesn't know a lot about birds; the lede of the story is kinda silly. We birders know that not all male birds stick around to help out the female after the necessary deed is done. Northern cardinals may mate for life, but I'd guess such devoted couplehood isn't that common in the animal world.

Still--this is some pretty amazing research, don't you think? Birds are so cool.

Previews of coming attractions

It feels weird, knowing who reads this blog, to write about my plans for Cape May at the end of the month; after all, many of you will be taking your own adventure to West Virginia -- which I was supposed to do as well, until finances got in the way. So -- I'll write about the plans, but just know that my little birdy heart is still wanting to be in WV with the Flock at the same it wants to be in Cape May with Gretchen. I feel a little torn in two.

I love you guys!

That said, things are going well in preparation for the Cape May trip. We have our deposit down for a campsite at Beachcomber Camping Resort, 4 miles from Cape May. We're thinking that we shouldn't take Domino, because we probably wouldn't be able to bring her birding with us. Not that she isn't a great dog to bird with, because she is -- she stays right by Gretchen's side and is very quiet; she's a very mellow old girl. But I'm sure we probably couldn't take her on the boardwalk at CM Point, or to the Meadows, etc. So I'm kinda bummed, because I was looking forward to getting a picture of her on the beach--she would love that--but it's probably best that she stays home with friends.

So that's handled, and the campsite is handled, and we've outlined several birding trips we'll be going on to make sure we see as many birds as possible. We'll also ride the ferry to Lewes DE and spend some time on the shore there, as Laura said that's the best place to see shorebirds. It's gonna be truckloads of good birding, and I can't wait.

And by the way... remember how I said I wanted to meet someone who was actually interested in birds? Well, I did (update: and it's not Gretchen! She's my bff; this is another woman I'm referring to)--she's terrific! Things are kinda weird because I'm moving away in a few months, but in the meantime--we're just going to enjoy our time together. So if my posts get all gushy and happy, now you know why!

No peents, but some other birds

Well, despite our efforts to find some woodcocks on Saturday, we didn't even hear a single peent. It was windy and cold, which might've had something to do with it. Still, we saw
Eastern Phoebe (FOY)
Eastern Bluebird
Ring-necked Duck
Red-winged Blackbird
American Robin
American Crow
Northern Cardinal
Turkey Vulture
Song Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Tree Swallow (added this later--I forgot we'd seen one--also FOY)

Then it just got too cold so we went home.

Perhaps my adventure that night led to my illness--I think I have a sinus infection now. The cold had still been hanging in there, keeping things snotty, and when I woke up yesterday I felt as though someone had punched me in the face. The soonest I could get in to the doctor's is tomorrow afternoon, reinforcing my opinion that it's easier to see the Queen than it is to see a doctor at my doctor's office. Grrr. Meanwhile, I'm completely plugged up and my face is killing me.

We'll try again next week for woodcocks, assuming I'm well by then.

I also heard an Eastern Phoebe singing across the street from my house, so that's a new yardbird for me. My yardlist is quite pathetic, but here it is:
Eastern Phoebe
Black-capped Chickadee (pair, hollowing out a hole in a tree near my window)
Turkey Vulture
American Crow
Tufted Titmouse
Northern Cardinal
Common Grackle
House Sparrow
European Starling
Not exactly like the old Marsh House list, but still--not bad for in the city.

Weekend birding plans

Gretchen and I are going to Bald Eagle State Park tomorrow to look for woodcocks!

The park holds a birding festival (really tiny) each year, a woodcocks and grouse festival--and this year, it's April 18. So I figured that maybe the woodcocks are already there, especially because they were already calling at Middle Creek last month when I went there.

I hope to have some photos for you Monday!

Feeling proud

Back in February when I went to Texas, I went birding as often as I could courtesy of my sister Mary who was kind enough to take some days off work, drive an hour and a half from Austin, and wake up and drive me around at ungodly hours of the morning just to look for birds.

It seems, however, that I was not the only one who gained from our trips together. Mary is now beginning to bird too! She's gotten a new camera and some binoculars, and she's taking regular trips out to the many birding areas near her house. I couldn't be more proud when she calls me up to talk about where she went and what she saw. Even her boyfriend Jim is getting into it, calling her about a Red-headed Woodpecker who seems to be hammering out a cavity in one of Jim's oaks. Imagine: A RHWO as a yardbird! I told her to tell him I was jealous.

She's even sent me some pictures. She's still learning about the incredible difficulty of taking pictures of birds in the field, but she's trying hard. Here are a couple of pix of a mystery bird:

Any ideas? A wren of some sort? A big warbler? A vireo? Remember -- this is a Central Texas bird.

Some of her pics are really good ones though. Look at all these beautiful Northern Shovelers: (who are apparently Southern as well)
And here's a Carolina Chickadee:I had only seen Black-caps until I went down there.

And this one is for Lynne--I've never seen so many TUVUs roosting together in my whole life!
I can't tell whether they're all TUVUs or there are some BLVUs mixed in. But here's a little TUVU action:
Suppertime!

It's so neat to find out that my enthusiasm for birding, as well as the beauty of the birds themselves, has taken root in other people. Kat was never very interested in it at all, but someday I'm confident I'll find someone who loves birds or is at least willing to just open up and let them win her heart.

It's also fun to pass along some of the things I've learned since I first was beginning to bird and started this blog. My advice to Mary so far has pretty much been "practice practice practice" with the camera and concentrate on fieldcraft (learned from Mike McDowell), and try to skulk around and get as close as you can (learned from the amazing birdstalker herself Mary in North Carolina).

I'm proud of Mary, and of my bff Gretchen who'll be birding Cape May with me at the end of the month, for their willingness to try something that most people think is for dorks and/or old people.

All photos courtesy of Mary Guzman.

Friday Night Nibble!

Playboy.

Bunny.

At your service.

Where've I been?

Sick in bed, that's where. With a bad cold.

(I refuse to call it a "flu" because I've never had the flu before. I've never had anything where I've been throw-uppy and diarrhea-y, so I've. never. had. the. flu. So no, I'm not getting a flu shot, so quit asking me.)

(But I have had pneumonia.)

(And bronchitis.)

I think the worst part of being sick AND a curmudgeon, like I am, is that now all those people who were coughing around my cubicle last week are all whispering about ME --"why doesn't she just go home and quit spreading her germs!?" Which is what I was saying about THEM last week. Big jerks. If they'd stayed home when I'd grumbled/asked them, I wouldn't be sick!

Hmph!

Prayers and hopes are answered!

I went into the vet's office last night expecting the worst. It's kinda in my nature to be a pessimist; it's only when I'm outside among the birds and trees, or when I'm with my dear friends like The Flock or my Matty McMatterson, or when I think about our wonderful new president, that I'm upbeat and happy and hopeful.

And so it was with heavy heart that I walked with my little Son, Moon, and Stars™ in Ellen Scholz's All Creatures Veterinary Care Clinic. I knew we had an uphill battle, fighting an infection that had affected Niblet's skull, so I was prepared to hear bad news.

Boy, was I wrong.

Indeed, Dr. Scholz was surprised at how fast and how well Nibble's incision has been healing! She then cleaned out the fake-ear opening she made, pulling some hair and some scabby stuff out of the site. Then she flushed the wound: NO PUS! Niblet's beating the infection! Everything came out clear, and we're on the road to a full recovery!

I can't tell you how relieved I was to hear this; I became giddy, joking with the doctor about how strong my little man is, how he can poop more poops per hour than any other bunny known to man! How he can eat a carrot faster than a speeding bunny! How he can put a hole in my shirt lickety-split with one nibble! I was so happy.

So here's my sweet bun, back home from the vet's office, having a little treat because he was such a brave boy:He didn't have to be put under anesthesia or anything for the stitch removal; they just held him and he was very brave about it, barely even flinching. That's my tough little guy!

This morning, I squirted his antibiotics onto his pellets and he ate them up like a good boy:So you can see where he's bald still, the affected area from the surgery. And the little red spot is where he has his fake-ear opening. I asked Dr. Scholz about what the goal is, and she said we'll keep him on his Baytril for another week, plus there's this steroidal ointment I have to squirt into his fake-ear opening once a day for a while, and then we have to go back for another check-up in two weeks (and she'll file down his molars--more on this later). Ideally, everything will still be clean, and the hole will be there to release any kind of drainage from his inner ear etc., and then he'll be a normal little bunny! (or as normal as a cute-as-a-button earless bunny can be)

The molars thing: His front teeth are actually fine--he's been eating his hay and his fruit-wood sticks and stuff, and he's fine. But apparently, bunnies' molars don't meet flush and so where there's no meeting (and thus grinding down), the molars tend to get a little "peak" on them. This must be filed down from time to time. So that's what she'll do in two weeks.

The best thing is that I finally had a night where I didn't suffer from the reflux I've been having for the last two weeks or so. I'm weird with stress; my mind and my emotional well-being are rarely affected by stress. My body, on the other hand, shows stress like a badge of honor, with searing pain in my neck or shoulders, or the old standby gastro-esophageal reflux. That's always fun. I actually threw up the night before the appointment, it was so bad. But last night, happy and with Nibble munching his hay contentedly, I slept well and without too much pain.

We still have our check-up in a fortnight, but I'm confident that things will be fine. Niblet and I will take good care of his little fake-ear opening, and we'll watch Buffy on DVD, and we'll welcome the coming spring together while we listen to the Ella Fitzgerald CD that Lynne, that sweetie and lover of turkey vultures everywhere, sent us to show she was thinking of us:It even has one of our favorite songs, "It's Only a Paper Moon!" Once again, all is right with the world.

Well, except for the fact that we had snow flurries this morning....

Niblet update on an important day

Today's important because he's getting his stitches removed. The appointment is this evening at 6:15, and I'm vaguely remembering from his surgery appt that Dr. Scholz said he'd need to be anesthetized again for the stitch removal, as well as for a tooth check. Seems I haven't been giving Niblet enough apple and pear wood sticks to chew, and his teeth are just a hair (heh) too long. So she'll be taking care of that tonight as well -- at least I think I remember that. I really was pretty wacked out on the day of his surgery. I wouldn't be surprised to find out I'd forgotten to wear pants that day, but I don't recall any screams or stares.

I don't recall them, anyway.

I hope I'm not right about the anesthesia, because it's really traumatic to see him go under and then have to wake up and stuff. His little soft body goes so limp, and it makes me scared and sad.

This morning, I tried to look closely at the incision site because it seemed a little puffy to me, but I touched it and he ran away. Now I'm really worried that underneath, he's developed more pus and stuff, hence the puffiness. Let's hope not.

Full report tomorrow, probably with new pictures (I'm hoping she'll clean him up a bit and he won't be all bloody and stuff). Think of my little Son, Moon, and Stars™ tonight, friends.

Barnegat Light ordeal--close to home!

This morning, one of the more prolific commenters on the PA birding listserv informed us that HE was the one who fell between the rocks on the Barnegat Light jetty! He got some spectacular images, but oh, at what a cost!

If you're interested in his account (and photos), visit his site. At least he retained his sense of humor!

Indoor birding with bun

Thanks again for all your prayers and positive thoughts for me and my wee bun. I still haven't been able to bring myself to post a photo of him post-surgery, but I did want to give you an idea of the situation, so I've modified this little photo:So the red area is all shaved now, with some dried blood and such. (calming breaths) The little blue area is approximately where Dr. Scholz created a new opening to Niblet's inner ear. She had some difficulty, as normally she would've stitched the opening to his ear canal; however, as Niblet had no ear canal left, thanks to the infection, she couldn't do that. Still, the little hole is there, and we're due at Dr. Scholz's office on Thursday evening to get Niblet's stitches removed. At that point, I'm hoping to learn whether the infection is being minimized by the antibiotics and how Niblet's treatment will proceed.
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I don't know if there are any documented cases of sleeping sickness in Bellefonte PA, but I honestly believe I was bitten by a tsetse fly this weekend. I slept and slept, Niblet right beside me, and when I wasn't sleeping, I was obsessively making bird lists and thumbing through bird guides.

During the sleep-intensive weekend, Niblet and I aired out the house some, what with our temps being in the 50s. Niblet is back to his usual eating and drinking habits, which is a big relief. At first he wasn't too keen on the medicine smell in his pellets, but he's gotten used to it. He's eating his greens, accepting with relish the bits of strawberry I've taken to giving him, and nibbling up the small amount of pellets (with meds squirted on them) I give him in the morning and the evening. At night, when I get in bed and settle in to read or do a crossword, he jumps up there with me and that's when I squirt chloramphenicol ointment into his newly created ear hole. He's so brave, not even flinching when I do this. What a good little boy!

Meanwhile, Gretchen and I have decided to do our camping trip in Cape May instead of a state park in PA. Same price, and with the two of us splitting gas and costs, it'll be an affordable and fun way to get a great birding trip in before I leave for the West Coast!

All of my Flock friends will be in West Virginia, whooping it up with BT3 and Zick and Chet Baker -- which I will miss intensely! -- but this way, costs are kept down and I'm not away from Niblet for quite as long. The official dog of beginningtobird will be with us as well:
This is Domino wearing Laurie's winter hat. Gretchen and I have taken to calling this photo "Driving Miss Nommy." "That's not the way to the Piggly-Wiggly!"

I asked Niblet if he wanted to come camping with us, but he said there was no way we'd catch HIM camping out in a tent among the common cottontails and such. He has his standards. So his Auntie Anne will be coming over to take care of him while I'm gone.

When we weren't napping, Niblet and I were watching Buffy on DVD and making a list of potential lifers I'll have a good chance of seeing in Cape May. According to my Cape May checklist, there are 40 birds that are common or fairly common at that time of year that would also be lifers for me. It'll be harder to ID some of the peeps and such, without a real field trip leader with us, but I'm also going to be studying my copy of BT3's Identify Yourself to make sure I'm as prepared as possible to tell the difference between a Semipalmated Sandpiper and a Least Sandpiper or whatever.

Most of the birds on my list of 40 are peeps and other such shore and marsh birds. There are also a couple of warblers, some sparrows, and six or seven songbirds I'll be looking to see. I can't wait to go to my favorite spots on the cape--the Beanery, that marshy area owned by the Nature Conservancy? maybe? (I think it's called the Migratory Bird Refuge now), the big pond at Cape May Point, and of course the beaches at Cape May Point and Sunset Beach. We might also take the ferry over to Lewes and back for a "mini-pelagic," though I'm not sure we'll be able to squeeze that in. I wonder if Liz and Jeff Gordon will be home; I'll have to check. (How lucky am I to have gone to high school (and been in a children's theatre production of The Frog Prince) with Liz Gordon back when she was Liz Fleming? She played the wicked queen; I played a sprite named Spree. Ah, memories!)

Gretchen and her family used to go to Cape May every summer, so it'll be old home weekend for her too. We're both so excited about the prospect of doing some heavy-duty birding together, especially since she got a pair of Vortex binocs!

Newest news of the Nibble

Niblet is doing well two days after his surgery. The cage confinement didn't last too long, however; I got home yesterday and found his greens (and the strawberry) untouched and some massive disapproval in evidence on Nib's face. I was worried--when a bunny won't eat, you know the end is near.

So I let him out and he back-feet-flipped me off and hid under the couch. I ended up moving his greens and stuff near the couch and he ate them right away. He even finally ate the pain-med-suffused strawberry, but not until sometime after 1 a.m. I still haven't seen him drinking anything, however, and that worries me.

This morning he was lively and did his usual morning ablutions (litty, nibble on hay, litty, nidge my head to wake me up, litty, litty, disapproving looks, litty). I chased him for some 20 minutes before finally giving up on dosing him directly; I squirted the pain med and antibiotics into some pellets, left him a big pile of greens, and said "All this better be gone when I get home from work!"

No response from under the couch.
I'll give him one thing: he's stubborn like his mama.

Last night, a friend came over and we went for a walk in the cold night air. We cruised through downtown Bellefonte (like New York, only ... NOT) and found some pretty scary window-shopping:

Great Horned Great Eyed Great Nightmare Owl?

There were also some really creepy dolls, but it was too dark to capture their images. That, or the camera simply couldn't capture their spectral presences.

Once again, Niblet and I thank you so much for all your good wishes, and I'll keep you posted. At this point, I'm hoping that when we go to get his stitches removed on Thursday, Dr. Scholz will say that the infection hasn't worsened (no more pus has developed). She mentioned something about a draining mechanism to keep it all at bay, but honestly--I was a little in shock while she was talking about the future, so I'm not sure what the future holds. All I know is that we're taking it one day at time, one dosing at a time, and we're hoping for the best. I'm just not ready to lose my little love. (Will I ever be ready?)
Going birding tomorrow morning, I think--I've been obsessively thumbing through my Eastern birds guide trying to figure out the best places to get these birds before I leave for the West. I'm wondering whether a trip to Cape May is possible, so that I can get some more terns and gulls and stuff. Maybe another mad-dash day trip, but without the getting lost parts? Laura, what do you think?

Meanwhile, I'll just have to content myself with local birding. And if it kills me, I'm gonna see an American woodcock, dangit, not just hear it!

Niblet update

Well, it was a long day of anxious waiting yesterday, to see what would happen when Dr. Scholz went in for her exploratory surgery on Niblet's non-ear. The results were not good. It seems the infection that brought about the abcess has been there lots longer than the abcess itself. It had completely eaten away Niblet's ear canal, and there were signs that his skull bone was infected as well.

I had two choices--1. put him down without letting him wake up from the anesthesia, and 2. go for an experimental treatment, in which Dr. S would construct a permanent opening by which we could access the infection and inner ear directly and thus treat the infection. Obviously, I couldn't just let him go--not without giving him a fighting chance. So we chose to fight.

I don't want to talk too much about the specifics of the operation except to say that I was there for the end of it and watched Dr. S sew him up. There was some bleeding from the bone, and that was worrisome, but it's stopped now. I took a photo of Niblet's half-shaved head, but it was still pretty bloody (she didn't want to wipe it too much for fear of starting the bleeding again) and I just didn't think you should see him that way.

Instead, you can look at him the normal way, eating some notes I took on a book about archeology:He's such a little imp!

He is very active and alert, and he wants to run around and be his happy little self. However, I have to keep him in his cage for at least a day or so while the bone stops bleeding for good. He needs to rest and relax and heal. He's not too happy about the cage, or the meds I have to squirt into his mouth, but I'm determined to take the best possible care of him.

Already he's started protesting in his little ways: his newest trick is to dig fiercely in his litty, kicking dirty Yesterday's News litter out of the cage and onto my bedroom carpet! He also won't take his meds the easy way--I was squirting them onto some pellets which he would then eat. Well, he seems to have wised up to this trick, and now he raises his nose at his pellets. Imagine! This bunny, who normally flips out for pellets like they're his crack or something, is now refusing to eat the pellets! Sheesh. I was a half-hour late to work this morning, chasing him around the apartment, under the couch, etc. I finally got the antibiotics down, but he squirmed away before I could give him the pain med. So I just poked the syringe into a strawberry and squirted it in there, and gave him the strawberry. I'm sure he'll eat it (I hope).

So wish us luck, pray, think good thoughts, light a candle--whatever you can do for my little Son, Moon, and Stars™. He's got to beat this bone infection. He's too full of life, as my dear FranSheIs said on the phone with me yesterday, to just go down without a fight.

More birds than I've ever seen in my whole life

this photo idea came off a lot better in my head than it did in reality

NOW UPDATED! with pics!

Middle Creek was soooo worth the long drive (~3 hrs), which of course is NOTHING compared to the "Horned Guan Death March" (lol) that Birdchick and Mike Bergin went on. Poor souls! I never would've made it up that mountain. They would've had to leave me there to die in the dust.

Still--it was a long drive, and I didn't know either of the people I was with, so you know my shyness was on display. . . . as if. Unfortunately, my brain snapped into "talk like your life depends on it!" mode, which means they got to hear all sorts of ridiculous Delia-lore. I won't bore you with it, but let's just say I think Maggie, Anne, and Deb (left to right) probably think I'm a psycho-clown:
Oh well.

Anyway--we arrived at Middle Creek around 3 in the afternoon, and I got my first look at Snow Geese and Tundra Swans! The official count was about 50K birds that day, which pretty much blew my mind. I even got video of a little swarm-up (a plane flew over and spooked 'em). [Can't get the video to "do"--grrr!!! Photos must suffice. Hmph.]
It was mind-blowing, seeing so many birds all in one place. There were dozens of people there too, all to watch this spectacle--which was neat.

I took lots of photos of the pure white geese, the pretty blue-morphs, and the huge Tundras. We also saw a Bald Eagle out on the water; he sat there for at least a half hour, just hanging out. We saw several baldies that day, all over the place, including one on a nest (no photo of that; we could barely make her out thanks to the fading light). We did not get to the see the Short-eared Owls that apparently EVERYONE ELSE on the listserv saw that day, but I did get to hear an American Woodcock! It was pretty dark, so there was no seeing them, but still--an ear lifer!

All told, I saw 30 species Saturday, and my lifers for the day were Snow Goose, Tundra Swan, Common Merganser, and the ear lifer American Woodcock.

OH--forgot to mention this yesterday: we drove around the trail and encountered this field of fake birds, which even featured some moving decoys flapping up:
What did it mean? How did it work? Upon closer inspection, we found the culprits:We couldn't figure out whether they were hunters or park-hired "attractors," working to get the birds over to this other section of the park. ?

On Sunday morning, I got up and despite the rain, I decided to visit Bald Eagle State Park to see if there were any interesting ducks or other waterfowl. The lake was waaaaaay down, which was weird to see; no idea where all the water went. I saw a flock of about 70 Tundras fly over at one point--on their way home to the extreme north, I guess. Wonder if they'd been at Middle Creek with me yesterday.

I saw a little raft of about 30 Ring-necked Ducks, 6 Redheads, and then 3 "mystery ducks" -- UPDATE: Not ducks! Hooded Mergansers in winter plumage!


Told you the pics weren't too great.

Oh--I forgot to show you this little "rescue kit": So you use that plank that says "ICE RESCUE" on it as a ski, pushing with your shoe'd foot, and then turn the plank over and it somehow serves as an anchor (I don't see how--there aren't any nails or anything on it to anchor it--blind faith?), then I guess you push that ladder out there (that part's not in the instructions!). Luckily, there was no lake, much less ice, so no one needed this mentally challenged Texan to help him out. Whew!

So--pics now here, and ID done. Meanwhile, how was your weekend?

San Antonio wrap-up

If this isn't a House Sparrow or a Field Sparrow next to that Black-crested Titmouse, that'll be another bird on my list! Any guesses? (It's probably just a house sparrow)

It was quite a week for me in San Antonio: I saw my family, much of whom I'd not seen in four years; I saw my parents' new home; I birded; I had good Mexican food; and I met a bloggy hero, Karen Zipdrive. I'm smiling as I type, just remembering all the good times.

I wish I could post a few more photos from my last morning of birding, but I left my USB transfer cable at my parents' house so I can't get the pics off my camera! Dangit! I'll include some other photos, though, and give you the birdy recap.

Total species seen: 35
Lifers seen: 6

Kinda disappointing, but it IS rather early, even in Texas I think. We had great weather (in the 80s) every day except my first Saturday (60s and cloudy/rainy) and my last Saturday (50s with a serious windchill). Still, there were a lot of cardinals and mockers everywhere, but not a whole lot of other birds.

My list, with lifers highlighted in red--there was some confusion in my brain as to whether I'd already notched a Blue-headed Vireo; I had. However, I realized I had not gotten a Carolina Chickadee, so that made up for it:
American Kestrel
Bewick's Wren
Black Vulture
Black-crested Titmouse
Blue Jay
Blue-headed Vireo
Carolina Chickadee
Carolina Wren
Common Grackle
Eastern Phoebe
European Starling
Field Sparrow
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Great Egret
Great Horned Owl (heard only, not seen, dangit!)
Great-tailed Grackle
House Sparrow
Inca Dove
Killdeer
Mallard
Mourning Dove
Northern Cardinal
Northern Flicker
Northern Mockingbird
Northern Shoveler**
Orange-crowned Warbler
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-winged Blackbird
Rock Pigeon
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Turkey Vulture
White-winged Dove
Yellow-rumped Warbler
**the mystery duck from my other post; thanks to the commenter who suggested that--I saw it again on my last day and checked out his huge bill and knew instantly

Not a bad haul, I guess--considering I had no idea where I was half the time. I'm sure there were other birds everywhere I went. I am certain I saw some sort of thrasher or thrush at one point, but I didn't see it long enough to get an ID. Also, I am almost certain I saw a Red-bellied Woodpecker; however, according to the SA Audubon Society's listing, it would've been rather a rarity. I only got a quick glance, but I'm pretty sure that it was a Red-bellied. I wanted to make it into a Ladder-backed, but I couldn't do that either; I just didn't get a good enough look.

Tomorrow, I'll be heading to the Lancaster PA area to visit Middle Creek, where there are up to 80,000 migrating Snow Geese at this time of the year! It snowed on Tuesday, however, so the birder I'm going with said it might be down to like 15,000 -- "only" 15,000. AS IF! My mind is already reeling at the thought of seeing that many birds (much less geese) at one time. I'll take pics, and I'll try to get a camera cord so you can see them. Can't wait!