ADVENTURE IS OUT THERE!

The Nerdy Birders have just returned from another adventure. This time we found ourselves in the mountains of southwestern Utah. Like many of our other trips, it was filled with new birds, beautiful scenery, and a little bit of danger, but we wouldn't have it any other way.

Son of a BEACH!

After our last trip to Michigan we swore to each other and to our car that we would not go back to that state for at least a year. Yet as the months went by the pain, fear, and anger began to subside. So a few weeks ago JoAnna asked if I wanted to take a long weekend and go birding somewhere. I was a little shocked that I was not immediately bowled over when she said “What about this place in Michigan.” I thought to myself “What could go wrong?"

The Mountains Are Calling and Nerdy Birders Must Go

It has been a couple weeks since our return from California. After having a some time to digest the trip I have to say that it was amazing. As usual we spent a lot of time on the road but that is what you have to do if you want to see the world while sticking to a budget.

Our trip began early Friday morning. We caught an early flight in Detroit. By the time we landed in LA it was 3pm Ohio time but still morning on the west coast. We had very little time to waste because we had a four hour drive to Sequoia State Forest were our cabin awaited. We jumped on the 405 and quickly made our way out of LA.

Biggest Week In Birding

The Nerdy Birders recently spent two days at Magee Marsh and other bird and wildlife locations in Ottawa County near Lake Eire. The spring migration of birds was in full swing. Most notably was the Warblers. Early in May Black Swamp Bird Observatory puts on the Biggest Week in Birding festival. The festival includes guided bird walks, trips out onto Lake Erie, musical acts, and even best bird tattoo contest. You can read more about the festival here.

El Capitan

JoAnna and I were talking the other day about our upcoming trip to Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks. Although we are really excited about the birds and wildlife we will see in these two iconic places we are even more excited to see El Capitan. It is difficult to understand the magnitude of this granite rock formation. Yet after a quick search on Google for "scale of El Capitan" I found the picture below that someone had created. It shows some man made structures inserted next to the granite face of El Capitan. If this is true to scale then we are in for a real jaw dropping moment.

Happy Birding! 

Metzger Marsh

I wanted to share a video that I captured at Metzger Marsh last Friday. Lots of birds were seen but I wanted to share this first. More to come later.

Enjoy!

Kirtland's Warbler

The Kirtland's Warbler is an endangered species in the United States so there are few places that this bird can be seen. One place is in the northern part of Michigan where the Kirtland's find the Jack Pines they need to breed. In the summer months it spends its time in Michigan and then in the winter it returns to the Bahamas. Yesterday the Nerdy Birders were in luck. Twitter began to blow up with a sighting of a female Kirtland's. Twitter did not really blow up it was more like a slow murmur but the Nerdy Birders heard it. The Kirtland's was spotted in Oak Openings Metropark a mere ten miles from our house.

Spring Migration

Spring is upon us here in Northwest Ohio and that means the warblers are coming through along with many other migratory birds. This is the Nerdy Birders first spring while officially birding so most of the birds passing through are new to us. So far this spring we have seen the following birds. Sorry some of the pictures are not very good.

The Great Horned Debacle

The Nerdy Birders have returned from our trip to Arizona with new enthusiasm and excitement for what this spring may bring. We are looking forward to the biggest week in birding, the promise of warmer weather, and yet another trip west to Yosemite National Park.

Arizona; The Final Leg

Day Five 3am

I was awoken by a noise that sounded frighteningly like footsteps in the parlor room. There were not any reports from past guest of any strange happenings while staying at The James Riordan house so I bravely chalked it up to an old house making strange sounds. After sleeping for what felt like a few minutes I was again startled by the sound. This time however the sound was moving. It started in the parlor room squeeeeak... squeeeeak... then it moved into the master bedroom where we were sleeping... squeeeeak... squeeeeak. It then came around the bed and stopped next to me.

Nerdy Birders Attend Church

Day three in Flagstaff began with us a little foggy, and we cursed John Wayne for insisting that we have another drink. We remembered that Tony had pointed out a great place to get a breakfast burrito, so we threw on a pair of shorts and flip-flops (optimistic in retrospect) and headed out the door. Luckily for us, Martanne’s Burrito Palace was just around the corner so during our quick walk we didn’t completely freeze. Over breakfast we discussed the hotel room closet door opening at some point during the night. I think it was JoAnna but who knows maybe it was the ghost of John Wayne!  After an epic meal we walked past the train station to Macy’s, a local coffee shop. We bought a bag of coffee and headed back to the hotel.

Nerdy Birders Meet Desert

We have taken the plunge into the depths of nerdy birding and went on a trip to Arizona. Arizona is one of the best places to observe birds. We were a little earlier than a birder would like but there were still some great birds to see and a few rarities. We not only went to observe birds but also to explore some of the great places that Arizona has to offer.

This Just In

We have a couple new birds that we have added to our life list. The first was spotted this past Sunday on the Maumee River in Grand Rapids Ohio. It was a Red-breasted Merganser. This was a good catch by JoAnna because the snow was flying which made visibility difficult and the Red-breasted Merganser can be difficult to distinguish between a Female Common Merganser. Below is the picture I managed to get after JoAnna pointed him out. For more information on the birds we have seen click here. 

'R' is for Raptor

Today the Nerdy Birders took a trip to beautiful and cold Lake Erie! Specifically Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, Black Swamp Bird Observatory, and Maumee Bay State Park. It was a productive day but a frustrating one as well.

Our first stop was at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge. Before we pulled in the entrance there were birds of pray everywhere. However we were unable to capture any clear images of the birds other then the one below. We later found out that this was a Roughed Legged Hawk. Number 84 for the Nerdy Birders!

Winter Boredom

Winters in Northwest Ohio stink. This weekends highs are in the single digits with wind chills well below zero. This means that the Nerdy Birders were forced to stay inside all weekend. We ended up using this time to participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count. It was not the most exciting event but it gave us something to do, plus it is important to participate. Unfortunately there were not any rare birds to note. However, lately we started seeing a Tufted Titmouse at our bird feeder. We believe that he/she is coming in because we have started throwing out in-shell peanuts. It is funny to watch such a small bird carry a large peanut away. We have also started seeing a Northern Flicker on our block but have yet to see it at our feeder. Pictures of both birds are below.

What The Duck!

The Nerdy Birders had a very big week. Mrs. Nerdy Birder had her 31st birthday and in addition we added 5 more birds to our life list and had some unforgettable experiences. Unfortunately we also came to the realization that we had miss-marked a bird that we had previously seen and had to remove it from our life list.

Blizzapocalypsegeddon '15

So here we are again in the middle of what they are saying could be record snowfall. With very little chance of seeing a new bird we still tried. This time we stayed close to home and walked around the Providence Dam.

Time Laps

With snow moving our way today we decided to head over to Maumee State Forest let the dogs run and see if we could get some cool pictures. Unfortunately the snow was light and with the wind it was not sticking very well to the trees. Still a great walk and it wore the dogs out. I did however position my iPhone on our bird feeders at home and set it to time laps. It was my first time using this feature and I thought I might capture some snow accumulating and the birds moving in and out. Enjoy the video!

News

Well it's official, we are crazy. A few months ago we booked a flight to Phoenix where we will spend a week birding at the Grand Canyon and the southern parts of Arizona. Yesterday we booked yet another vacation to Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks. Two major vacations in one year, what will our parents say? We managed to justify it to ourselves by saying we are still young and dumb. The more I think about it though is 35 still young enough to be making such irrational and irresponsible decisions? A better excuse comes from John Muir who wrote "...everybody needs beauty... places to play in and pray in where nature may heal and cheer and give strength to the body and soul alike." I think that we both need some time to do just that. In a few months we will be taking in views like these and re-energizing our bodies and souls.

Happy Birding!

This Is Pure Michigan

A place where the roads are not paved, the people move at a different pace, and the potholes swallow your car...this is pure Michigan. All kidding aside, our trip to Michigan was filled with great surprises and dangerous perils. To get through it we had to be extremely lucky all while being extremely unlucky. 

Our First Owl

We set out today in search for the snowy owl. Our plan was to go to Black Swamp Bird Observatory (BSBO) and get some advice on where to begin our search. BSBO has posted some updates on their Facebook and Twitter accounts so we thought that this would be a great place to start. We were notified by the BSBO staff that there were four different species of owls spotted at Maumee Bay State Park. The list included a Long Eared, Great Horned Owl, Saw Whet, and Screech Owl. After an unsuccessful trip to Camp Perry Beach to check for the Snowy owl we decided to change our focus to Maumee Bay. We were determined to come home with an owl added to our life list.

Christmas in GR

It is Christmas eve so I thought I would post a video. The video is of our neighbors house. As you can see he goes all out for the holiday. I hope you enjoy it.

Wild Snowy Owl Chase

We have been planning on making another trip to Ottawa County in Ohio specifically Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, Magee Marsh, and Black Swamp Bird Observatory (BSBO). Our plans were hastened by the fact that all three locations were having a Holiday Open House on Sunday. With this in mind we planned our trip. Later in the week BSBO began to report, via Twitter, a possible snowy owl in the Port Clinton area. Snowy Owls are uncommon in Ohio but last year there were sightings along Lake Erie from Toledo to Cleveland.

Oak Openings Metropark

The Nerdy Birders finally made it back to Oak Openings, however we decided to checkout a different section of the park this time around. We parked at the lot near Evergreen Lake where a few trail heads begin. After gathering our gear and picking a trail we headed off into the woods. This section of the park has many different habitats for birds. Of course there is Evergreen Lake, many different types of trees, streams, open grassy fields, and extremely wooded areas. For the majority of the trip we were running into different woodpeckers such as the downy and the red bellied. We did see some evidence of some larger woodpeckers but no luck finding them. Below is a picture of a red bellied that I captured early on in the hike.

Thanksgiving

Had a great Thanksgiving this year. Started off with a wonderful morning with my wife, then Thanksgiving dinner at her parents, and finally ended the day at my fathers for cards and a couple beers. It was great to step back from work, class, and homework to spend a couple days with family and friends. While I was at my in-laws I managed to get a couple pictures of a blue heron. One of them he actually has a fish in his mouth. You have to look closely to see it.