Category Archives: Winter2015 Trip

An iPhone Red, White, & Blue Trifecta

This morning, a few of us brave souls met at the pier for a bird walk. I had every piece of warm clothing I had brought, including “hot hands” insert for my mittens, and managed to stay relatively warm. I was keeping score on my iPhone so that entailed working with bare hands but we had a good time. We recorded 40 species – nothing particularly unusual – but like many walks, too much talking, not enough looking and listening. It was too windy to steady the camera so I decided to do some shooting in the afternoon.

I brought the iPhone adapter along and did some digiscoping. The Red, White, and Blue Trifecta ( Snowy Egret, Roseate Spoonbill, & Little Blue Heron) was the first group of birds I encountered. They were at a distance but happily feeding away. Many of the other shorebirds were too far for clear shots, particularly on a cloudy, windy day. The Great Egret posed nicely for me before flying off so I called it quits to return to the snug trailer.

A Snowy Egret, Roseate Spoonbill, & Little Blue Heron in one scope view.

 

A Little Blue Heron.

 

A Great Egret posing for an iPhone digiscope.

 

So far, I have 76 species in three days in the County and would like to break 100 this week. We’ll see if improving weather stirs up some. We plan to drive down to the boat ramp tonight in hopes of getting a look at some Black-crowned Night Herons.

Checking Out The Whoopers

Today was a day to catch up a bit since the weather is cool and rainy, so we drove into Rockport for some groceries and way too much bird feeding gear and supplies. We also picked up some comfort food (apple turnover, cinnamon roll etc) to get us through the morning.

Returning, we invited our neighbor, Gail from Nova Scotia, over for coffee and goodies. I am often surprised about the backgrounds of fellow campers: it turns out Gail is a recently-retired psychologist who specialized in dealing with special needs kids and who now is traveling the U.S. in an old VW camper, teaching herself to paint watercolors, while her husband tends the fort at home including caregiving for an aging parent. Good conversation, calories, and caffeine made for a nice late morning in spite of the weather.

One of the things you do at Goose Island is to check out the Whooping Cranes who return to some ranchers’ fields (where they are fed) just north of the park. Mary and I (and of course, Penny) motored up there this afternoon and sure enough, there were five Whoopers and about 32 Sandhill Cranes.  Here are a few shots that I took with freezing fingers in a minor gale.

The Whooping Crane flock journeys 2,500 miles south from Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada to Texas.

The Whooping Crane flock journeys 2,500 miles south from Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada to Texas.

About thirty Sandhill Cranes are also enjoying the local hospitality.

About thirty Sandhill Cranes are also enjoying the local hospitality.

Not to be outdone by exotic visitors, a couple of elegant Great Blue Herons also grace the field.

Not to be outdone by exotic visitors, a couple of elegant Great Blue Herons also graced the field.

Whoopers and Sandhills often feed together here, providing a nice comparison of size and marking differences.

Whoopers and Sandhills often feed together here, providing a nice comparison of size and marking differences.

It’s great to see the cranes each year after their long return from up north.  They are a wonderful success story.  Like the Peregrine Falcon, the Bald Eagle, the Osprey, and several other species, they remind us that we can succeed with conserving threatened species, but it takes lots of effort and more vision and leadership than we often see these days in the halls of our public servants. These elegant survivors give us hope.

Sorting Sparrows at Goose Island State Park

Our six-day trip to Texas was highlighted by:

  • Trekking down our icy driveway with last minute luggage for a 5:45 AM launch Monday
  • Whiteout with treacherous driving for 20 miles around Saratoga on the Northway
  • Awful crosswinds for the first three days
  • Black ice on I-81 in PA below Chambersburg
  • Freezing rain and 30 degrees in MS
  • Heavy rain around Beaumont and steady rain through Houston (and a backup that I luckily circumvented, pulling the Mass-h_le trick of driving up the right side of everything)
  • Four comfortable nights in La Quinta Inns which, while seeming to lower in quality as we went south, still were clean, warm, and restful.)

Once out of Houston, the weather cleared and we stopped for fuel at Buc-cees (and topped off our fat levels with some great barbecue sandwiches.  Soon, I was starting to see more birds –  and at 70 mph (on low traffic roads) I noted Eastern Meadowlarks, Great-tailed Grackles, a Crested Caracara, several Northern Harriers, many Red-tail Hawks, and the ever-present Turkey Vultures. We are now settled at Goose Island State Park for a week and whilebit’s cool and windy, the only white stuff around are American White Pelicans and Great Egrets. The park is one-third full and we have a quiet spot to relax and get the trailer organized.  And bird.

I took Penny on four walks today and the bird activity was good — too early for warblers except for many Yellow-rumps, but loaded with sparrows. Sparrow identification is not something I would list when considering KSA’s (Knowledge, Skill, Ability.) It’s not easy when they keep flying up from the tall grass to spots just out of binocular range while the Vizsla on leash pulls your arm off.  I missed more than I even got a look at.  Yet, I got a lifer, a Harris’s Sparrow.  It popped up on a bush not too far away and I got the glasses, then the camera, on it. I didn’t know what it was but went back, downloaded the photos, and tentatively identified it as a juvenile Harris’s.  Then I emailed my friends at North Branch Nature Center and Chip, the Executive Director, agreed with my call.  So it was life bird #412 — first of the year and the trip.

This was one of two juvenile Harris's Sparrows I saw this morning. Lifer #412

This was one of two juvenile Harris’s Sparrows I saw this morning. Lifer #412

I ended up with six sparrow species (and may have missed others):

  1. Song
  2. Field
  3. Savannah
  4. Lincoln’s
  5. Harris’s
  6. House

I hope to sort ducks and gulls in the next couple of days.  There are rafts of Redheads and Northern Pintails and it will be time to relearn the gulls and shorebirds. Good birding.

Slip, Sliding, Away

We have been watching the weather forecast for several weeks and were not happy to see a winter storm scheduled for the day before our departure. However, the snow was going to be followed by freezing rain, and then rain — so I figured we had a chance to get going as scheduled. When we looked out this morning, it was not pretty.

Two days ago, I had managed to back the Airstream up the driveway to a flat spot where we can load it. My neighbor Jason, seeing me struggle to get the rig up around the big rock, came up and gave some great guidance.

I hit it hard, moving stuff from the house, loading the kayak in 10 degree temperatures,  and burning through a tank of propane just warming the unit up.

The storm hit as expected and we awoke to a less than happy site — four inches of snow with a nice crust of ice.

The Airstream was covered with ice and snow this morning

The Airstream was covered with ice and snow this morning.

The truck was coated and the kayak was wondering what it was doing on the rack.

The truck was coated and the kayak was wondering what it was doing on the rack.

I spent several hours getting the driveway passable and then tackled the truck and trailer.  Temperatures were warming and little by little, the frosty units thawed out.

By suppertime, I had the rig hooked up, lights tested, and ready to move.

By suppertime, I had the rig hooked up, lights tested, and ready to move.

The forecast for this evening is for much colder weather in the morning, and the driveway I had so carefully scraped with the Kubota, and a patina from the day of freezing rain and rain on frozen ground. I decided to not chance an ice-skating party in the morning so I carefully, in low range, crawled down to the bottom of the driveway — to leave the rig there for launch at early dark thirty. Two chunks of firewood block the wheels and if we can hobble down without mishap, we’ll be off for Harrisburg, PA. I’ll let you know how our first few days go — we’re aiming for dull and non-newsworthy.

Looking Forward to Arizona Birds

As we go through the barren "stick season" in Vermont and see only a few hardy local birds, it is fun to think about what might be waiting for us out west. Here are a few of the photos I took of birds we encountered in Arizona. They are fun to look at anytime but especially on a cold windy damp night like this evening.

Last year, the first bird I saw at Gilbert Ray County Park, which is just outside Tuscon, was the Phainopela – which was a life bird. They are desert flycatchers and with their flashes of white on their wings, are fun to watch. They also are pretty songsters.

A few days later on the first morning at Patagonia Lake State Park, I saw these two Cinnamon Teal cruising along not far from shore. They were a handsome couple.

This Red-shafted Northern Flicker was one of many I saw. I also saw their cousin, the Gilded Flicker.

Northern Cardinals are vivid out here – as they are in the New England snow. It is a lot easier photographing without frozen fingers.

We plan to spend a longer time in Arizona this trip and hit some spots we have never visited. I’m getting psyched.

Florida no, Texas si

One of the nice things about traveling with your home tied to your truck is that it’s pretty easy to change destinations and itineraries. And we have – we’ve decided to forgo the carefully-planned trip to Florida and head to the Southwest once again.

In putting the Florida plan together last month, I kept running into full parks or places with just one or two spots left for a few days here, a week there. It looked like every place I reserved would be completely filled and I had visions of lines to check-in, to use the dump stations, and perhaps even the showers. Many people had commented on the congestion and traffic in general and the other day, an experienced birder friend just rolled her eyes when I mentioned Florida over Texas. That sort of sealed it for me.

The other factor is that as I studied the bird books, I noted that with few exceptions, I’d already seen most of the birds in Florida – with about a half dozen exceptions. While I like seeing birds again I also like to add new ones and there are many out west that I’ve missed in our past trips.

<a href="http://www.vtbirder.com/florida-no-texas-si/634557370163637d93d2z/" rel="attachment wp-att-2928"><img class="size-full wp-image-2928" src="http://www.vtbirder.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/634557370163637d93d2_z.jpg" alt="One of the birds I missed last year was the Tropical Parula. photo by Nate Swick" width="640" height="359" /> One of the birds I missed last year was the Tropical Parula. (Mary got it but I’ve got over that!) photo by Nate Swick

So I cancelled the many reservations I had made – took a modest financial hit for doing so – and started plotting how best to get to Texas in January and Arizona after that. It feels right and I’m already reading the Texbirds reports just to get the birding juices flowing.

We plan to leave right around the first of the year if the weather allows and will likely aim for the Rio Grande Valley for the first major stop. We want spend time in the Patagonia, AZ area again and log some time at our favorite stop, Goose Island State Park.

<a href="http://www.vtbirder.com/florida-no-texas-si/15576261305de03d4d598z/" rel="attachment wp-att-2929"><img class="size-full wp-image-2929" src="http://www.vtbirder.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/15576261305de03d4d598z.jpg" alt="Another rarity that I will be looking for is the Hook-billed Kite. photo by Peter W. Wendelken" width="640" height="422" /> Another rarity that I will be looking for is the Hook-billed Kite. photo by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/neotropicalbirdsmayanruins/">Peter W. Wendelken

Yesterday, while the weather was rather balmy for November, I moved the Airstream from the back lawn to a spot that is suitable for loading and a straight shot down the driveway. It was much better to do it now than in late December. Stay tuned for trip reports in the coming year.

Winterizing the Airstream

With temperatures forecast for 22 degrees F last night, I felt pretty smug having a wood fire going in the house and having the Airstream winterized and ready for what we know is up ahead. The fact that I worked on the project a week or so ago when it was rather balmy makes it even nicer. At the risk of much more info than most people want, let me briefly run through the process that I use on the Safari.  Every rig is a bit different but essentially, it’s a matter of getting water out of the lines and tanks and replacing it with anti-freeze.

This propylene glycol antifreeze is about $5 a gallon. It takes about two gallons for the Airstream.

This propylene glycol antifreeze is about $5 a gallon. It takes about two gallons for the Airstream.

The first step is to drain the water out of the system.  Some folks use compressed air on the lines to help with this but I just open the drains.  There is the fresh water tank drain, a plug for the hot water tank, and some drains underneath for low points in the lines.  Of course, you should have your black and grey water tanks empty or just containing some anti-freeze.

Believe me, it's much easier to drain the water tank when it is 50 degrees out than 30 and blowing snow pellets.

Believe me, it’s much easier to drain the water tank when it is 50 degrees out than 30 and blowing snow pellets.

One of the key steps in the process is to bypass the hot water tank so that you keep it empty and do not introduce costly anti-freeze into it. There are three valves and while I have it in my written instructions, I just close the open ones and open the closed one, and reverse that process when getting the system back in operation in warm weather.

The valves on the horizontal pipes are closed in winter and the one on the vertical is opened, bypassing hot water tank.

The valves on the horizontal pipes are closed in winter and the one on the vertical is opened, bypassing hot water tank.

The hot water tank plug is easy to lose -- I usually put it back in loosely after draining.

The hot water tank plug is easy to lose — I usually put it back in loosely after draining.

Now, you pump in the anti-freeze.  The previous owner installed a short length of plastic tubing that I can insert in the gallon jug, and after changing a valve near the water pump, draw pink fluid into the system. It’s just a matter of opening a faucet, turning on the water pump, and waiting for the water in the line to discharge and for pink fluid to start flowing. You do this for hot and cold on the sink, lavatory, and shower. Make sure to winterize the flexible spray hose in the sink. (That’s the voice of experience.)  Do the same for the toilet, dump some anti-freeze down all the traps, and you should be pretty well done.

This year, I caught the flush water in a pan and tossed it out the door, keeping it out of the grey tank. It took a little less than two gallons and I think it’s all set.  We’ll see in January in Georgia when we defrost and light off the system again.

Florida Plans

I’ve mapped out a three month trip to Florida. It was much tougher than planning to go to the Southwest because Florida state parks fill up fast — often I grabbed the last site available — and the state wants all the money up front. So I’m sitting with over a thousand dollars on my AMEX card so I guess we’d better go.

I got some advice from my brother and sister-in-law, some birding friends, and used two birding guide books: Birding Florida by Brian Rapoza and the slightly-dated A Birder’s Guide to Florida by Bill Pranty.

Right now, we are planning to head out right after New Year’s, subject to weather forecasts.  We take the Airstream to Georgia and then down to a big birding festival in Titusville in January.

Screen Shot 2014-10-18 at 11.20.07 AM

We then hit some good birding spots in southern Florida for February.  (The Keys were out of the question since everything there is tied up 10 months ahead of time.)

Screen Shot 2014-10-18 at 11.20.25 AM

In March, we work ourselves up the western side of Florida, hoping to hook up with some old friends from Central New York who winter there. We end up in the Pensacola area as we think about heading home in mid-April.

Screen Shot 2014-10-18 at 11.20.35 AM

One of the nice things about hauling your own lodging is that you are flexible. If we find Florida to crowded, too wet, to0 Republican (just kidding!), we can head back to our old haunts along the Gulf Coast, and just eat some of the deposits. The long-range forecast (30% cooler and wetter down south and 30% warmer up here) adds another element but we’ve done the rainy slushy winter and Florida’s got to be better.  In my next post, I’m going to pick a few target birds for the trip.

South or Southwest

Autumn is here, the leaves are starting to change rapidly, and we’ve had several frosty mornings to remind us what is up ahead. While some folks plan their winter travel all summer, it takes a few wakeup calls, like the need for a wood fire, to focus my attention on where we’ll go this winter with the Airstream. Which has resulted in a “Florida vs Texas” question — we’ve always gone to Texas and last year to Arizona, New Mexico, and California — we’ve never gone to Florida. My brother and sister-in-law, who travel widely with their restored Airstream, like the Florida state parks a lot. So, I’m leaning in that direction but also finding that many others are — and have tied up good parks half-a-year ago.

The Airstream is parked on the back lawn for repairs before the next big trip. Trees are just showing color but are vivid on the mountains.

The Airstream is parked on the back lawn for repairs before the next big trip. Trees are just showing color but are vivid on the mountains.

I have started by thinking about attending part of the Space Coast Birding Fest in Titusville, Florida and have reserved a spot at a local KOA.  We try to avoid commercial parks but there are times where the “cheek by jowl” spacing has to be endured.  Other than that, I’m thinking of probably not going to southern Florida because those parks are all full. Right now, the agenda is wide open so if you have a favorite spot, let me know.

There are lots of Florida birds I’ve never seen — Wood Stork is a good example — so I’m looking to adding to my life list. We also wouldn’t mind avoiding the long drives we made last year. We are looking forward to visiting Pensacola again where back in the dark ages, I was a budding naval aviator. It will be fun to revisit the Cubi Point Officer’s Club which is part of the Naval Air Museum but reportedly, much tamer than when I was there. (Their chocolate milk shakes were to die for!) Well, not exactly.

So, with mixed feelings, we are planning to skip the places we’ve come to really like over the last four trips — Goose Island State Park, Falcon State Park, Lost Maples State Park, and Patagonia State Park to name just a few. If we don’t like Florida, we can always jump on I-10 and head west for a couple of months.  That’s the joy of flexible schedules and dragging your home behind you.