Off the Edge of the Map
July 4, 1996: Scottish Lowlands, Fife, Scotland
First seen while driving through the lowlands in Scotland. This most common hawk in Britain is very similar to our Red-tailed, and certainly fills a similar niche. I enjoyed seeing these familiar, yet new, birds throughout Britain.
Continue reading “Common Buzzard”
July 3, 1996: Scottish Borders, Scotland
While driving after dark, there were dozens of amphibians hopping around on the roads. At first, I assumed they were frogs, but it turns out that Common Toads are more likely to be seen on the road, during their migration events. There were so many of them, and we were continually needing to swerve and slow down to avoid squishing them.
Continue reading “Common Toad”
July 3, 1996
Although I was sad to leave York, we did have more adventures ahead of us, so I turned my attention north and east, to Whitby. To get there, we drove through the well-known (possibly infamous) Yorkshire Moors, which I loved. They are absolutely gorgeous – misty, and dark, and lovely.
Continue reading “Whitby, England”
July 1, 1996: Museum Gardens, North Yorkshire, England
This European variety is simply called Swift in Britain. Very cute, similar to our North American variety when seen in flight.
Continue reading “Common Swift”
July 1, 1996
Since Kevin was working on this day, I ended up sleeping very late (11:30), then wandered on my own into York under a light drizzle to change some currency. I discovered that the York City Centre is a charming warren of shops, pubs, and ancient buildings. After lunch and a guided bus tour, I found myself strolling through the Museum Gardens.
Continue reading “Wildlife in York, England”
June 30, 1996
After a two hour train ride from London’s King Cross station, we arrived in what would prove to be my favorite place in England. When we got off the train and walked out of the station in York, the first thing I saw was the Minster off in the distance, slightly out of focus due to the haze in the air. It was a beautiful and mysterious first view of the city. Our hotel, the Royal York, was next to the station and we were soon checked into a lovely room in this historic hotel once visited by Queen Victoria. It was fairly late in the day, so we had dinner at Pierre Victoire, and then retired to our hotel for the night.
Continue reading “York, England”
June 29, 1996: St James’s Park, London, England
Saw both eastern and western form birds.
Continue reading “Greylag Goose”
June 29, 1996
On our first day in the British Isles, we took a bus tour through London, to orient ourselves to the sights. After finishing the tour near Buckingham Palace, we walked back to our hotel via St. James and Green parks, to look for birds along the way. Some of the first birds we encountered were familiar from back home: Mute Swans with cygnets, and Mallards, but of course, many others were new to me.
Continue reading “Birding London ( England) Parks”
June 20, 1996: Saint Mary’s Lake, St. Joseph County, IN
While while walking on the sunny Notre Dame campus with my mom, we saw a pair of adults with three young birds. First we walked by them while they were foraging on the shore (they were only a few feet away from the path). Later we watched them swimming on the lake. HUGE and beautiful birds. Plus, I always enjoy seeing juvenile birds.
Continue reading “Mute Swan”
November 21, 1995: Madera Canyon, Pima County, AZ
After hiking back down, we were rewarded by seeing several of these lovely birds in the trees in and around the parking area! We later saw them throughout the park. Noisy, but attractive birds.
Continue reading “Mexican Jay”
November 19, 1995: Dead Horse Ranch SP, Yavapai County, AZ
As Kevin and I were walking through a dry, scrubby area, we heard a family of quail in the brush. Kevin walked closer and flushed them out of their hiding place. What a racket! I’d never heard anything like the sound they were making. I hadn’t seen them for more than an instant, so we continued on, looking carefully. We spotted a few of them. One in particular was bopping about on the trunk of a fallen tree. Gorgeous birds!
Continue reading “Gambel’s Quail”
November 16, 1995: Red Rock State Park, Yavapai County, AZ
Saw these while hiking up high in the mountains. Charming, beautiful birds! I love titmice anyway, they are so cute, and this species is really striking!
Continue reading “Bridled Titmouse”
May 13, 1995: Baugo Creek, St. Joseph County, IN
A striking little bird. I don’t have documentation of this sighting (it didn’t happen on this particular day), but I do remember clearly having spotted this bird at some point this spring.
Continue reading “Canada Warbler”
May 13, 1995
7 to 11 a.m.
I was up at 7 a.m. today for a solitary birding trip where I spent four hours working on patience. Much of my time was spent at one of three or four spots, just sitting still for 30 – 45 minutes, watching the birds go about their business. This was an amazing day with a LOT of lifers for me!
Continue reading “Ferrettie/Baugo Creek County Park”
May 7, 1995
Sunny, 70°F
Kevin and I took a leisurely walk through the park, and discovered a good spot to watch warblers: at the top of an embankment overlooking the creek. From the ground, it can get painful very quickly while straining the neck to get a glimpse of these tiny birds in the tops of the trees, but this lovely spot put the birds directly at eye level.
Continue reading “Ferrettie/Baugo Creek County Park”
May 2, 1995
Hazy, 65°F
After an appointment in town, I took a late morning walk through the park. I saw lots of birds by the bridge, and also found a path down on the other side of the creek which was very isolated, and gave me a great view of the birds going about their business.
Continue reading “Baugo Creek”
April 15, 1995: Potato Creek State Park, St. Joseph County, IN
Kevin spotted this bird through the trees while hiking one of the trails through the woods. It took flight, revealing the distinctive tail bands which allowed us to identify. A great sighting of an exciting bird!
Continue reading “Broad-winged Hawk”
April 15, 1995
Hazy, 50°F
Kevin suggested this expedition to take advantage of spring migration. He has become quite interested in birding and hiking with me since our trip to Florida, and this was one of the first specifically “birding” trips we went on together. We had a lovely morning, hiking trails One and Two (Two is terrific, by Lake Worster). We also followed a few deer trails, covering a total of about 6 miles, and there were many life species for both of us.
Continue reading “Potato Creek State Park”
January 23, 1995
Hazy, ~50°F
Kevin and I took a boat tour through the swamp and bayou. Things were a bit quiet, probably due to the weather and the time of year. Still, we got an idea what the bayou is like . . . it’s beautiful!
Continue reading “Honey Island Swamp, Louisiana”
January 18, 1995
Afternoon
We arrived at Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge after noon, so we only had a couple of hours to spare before heading to Orlando to meet Deb and OD for dinner. Even with such a short period of time, it was WELL worth it! Merritt Island is one of the premier spots I’ve birded thus far in my young life, certainly at this time my favorite. I will return in the future – it’s WONDERFUL!
Continue reading “Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge”
January 14 and 15, 1995
On the day we’d planned to visit the Keys, a tropical storm hit southern Florida. However, given that we only had a limited number of days before Kevin needed to be back in Indiana, we decided to drive through the Keys anyway. This was less than pleasant at first, with some really heavy rains. Fortunately, though, it cleared up by the afternoon, and we found ourselves in the middle of a gorgeous landscape. The water on either side of us as we drove over the bridges that connect the islands was some of the most INCREDIBLE shades of blue and green that I had ever seen. Beautiful turquoise. We spotted several pairs of gorgeous Magnificent Frigatebird while driving through the Keys, and saw at least one Osprey that appeared to be at a nest.
Continue reading “Florida Keys and Everglades”
January 11, 1995: Everglades, Monroe County, FL
Spotted one of these small hawks – a dark-phase bird – as it flew overhead. The tour guide even complimented me on my spotting!
Continue reading “Short-tailed Hawk”
January 11, 1995: Everglades, Monroe County, FL
Another of my special sightings of the day was this Manatee – juvenile, judging by the size. I’d taken a relatively short boat trip from Homestead, and we saw the manatee while moving above what seemed to be an eel grass bed. Although we were fairly close, we didn’t really get a very good look – the animal stayed pretty much submerged the entire time we were nearby, so all we saw was an expanse of brown skin. Still, l was excited to see this endangered and uncommon species!
Continue reading “American Manatee”
I was so excited about this trip, I woke up at 4:45 and was on the road a few minutes after 5:00, arriving at Royal Palm by 7:30 a.m., shortly after sunrise. First, I walked the Anhinga Trail – fittingly enough, an Anhinga was also one of my first birds of the day. Saw several birds here, including a really close-up sighting – 3 feet – of a Great Blue Heron in the pond at the head of Anhinga Trail.
Continue reading “Everglades National Park”
January 4, 1995
Lake Okeechobee, multiple counties (Glades, Okeechobee, Martin, Palm Beach and Hendry), Florida
All day; 65°, overcast
Stops along my route
Knowing that I’d be leaving Florida soon and wanting to make the most of my remaining time here, I spent a day circumambulating the lake, stopping anywhere that looked promising. I started by driving north from West Palm and approaching the lake from the east, then up and around the northern end, down the west side, and around the southern end. Spoiler alert: I saw a LOT of birds.
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