716BIRDS

I have not updated this blog in quite some time as I have been working feverishly to get a business started. I have a new website up www.nextgenerationnature.com, check it out. That happens to be the name of my new business as well, coincidence, I think not. From this point on I will start updating the new blog and eventually this url will forward to that one.

Enough about all of that.  I need work people! If you are part of a bird club, garden club or any other kind of club or group and would like to here the fantastic tale of a guy that lived in his car for an entire year in search for birds, drop me a line.

Cheers,

Matt Stenger

716birds@gmail.com

This year I wandered the mountains and canyons of the west, the coastlines, tundra, high plains and northwoods. I waded into swamps and rivers and great lakes alike. I crossed creeks and deserts, valleys and prairies in search of birds and the meaning of life.

My journey ran much deeper than check marks. Birds have always inspired me, given me cause to enter wild places and look closer. They have awed me with the beauty of there colors and songs. Birds are alive in the most spectacular way and even as child I found this intensity intoxicating. It is this wonder that inspired me to go on this journey.

On a mountain top in the Sierra Nevadas I found myself sitting, alone but for the songs of birds to keep me company. Something changed inside of me that day but I didn’t know what at the time. In Alaska the landscape stole my heart, healed it and gently handed it back to me anew. But it was on the Kaibab plateau that my most important objective started to take shape. Over the following months I stood alone on mountains and shores reliving some incredibly painful memories. but I wasn’t really alone. Some of these memories filled my heart with a rage so powerful it frightened me but the wind simply swept it away, never to return, The ocean cleansed me the deserts burned all the gunk out of my soul and by the time I landed in Massachusetts on December 30th I had been completely rebuilt from the soles of my feet up. Alone these things were insurmountable to me but nature has a way of putting things in perspective and that perspective helped me find the truth.

In the end I found a fair few birds and in doing so I discovered what it meant to be alive. I found a meaning to the chaos in my soul and was finally able to let it go, to let the world wash it away. I rediscovered myself buried beneath way to many years of grudges held and self loathing. I discovered that “fair” is not in natures vocabulary. A very wise friend informed me that “life is what you make it.” I shed the entire weight of the world from my shoulders so I could stand on my own two feet again and breath easy for once. The real success here is not the 681 check marks next to the birds I found, It’s the check mark next to my very own name.

Today Kathy and I went car shopping. By noonish we were on our way to Rhode Island to look for Black headed Gull. We checked all the usual gull spots with little luck. In fact, by the end of the day we hadn’t seen anything worth getting excited about. The sun was setting and I was ready accept My last chase as a loss as we started scanning one last area. In no time a flock of gulls flew over and sure enough, there, in the middle of a group of Ring-Billed Gulls was a Black-Headed Gull flapping past. As if that wasn’t enough, the sun hung low with a warm orange glow and the ocean bathed the shore in perfect rhythm. the moment was absolute perfection. More to come tomorrow. For now I’m going to ring in the new year with Kathy and Just relax, happy in the fact that I don’t have to sleep in my car any more.

A spectacular sunset over the Rhode Island coast to close out the big year

Happy new year to all and your families. May 2012 bless all of you as much as 2011 blessed me.

This afternoon I took a long nap. That’s why I’m up at 2:30 am. Well… that and the fact that I’m overthinking my situation and allowing fear of the unknown to settle into my gut. I’m thinking about my year coming to an end, about my lack of a job, about how I’m going to make it, about how sad I am that I have to reincorporate into a world that, frankly, I no longer understand or relate to. In between all these thoughts my mind bounces to the girl, you know the one, from Massachussettes that I met in Alaska? How on earth am I going to pull this off? My stomach churns and tightens, I focus and breath, it doesn’t work. I feel somewhat ill. I sit here on my mother’s couch feeling alienated, feeling quite a lot alone and wondering, worrying. As it turns out my sister was awake in the other room. Due to the magic of twitter we connected. That helped, but the real kicker came moments later when the Great-Horned Owls started calling from accross the street. Suddenly all the worries lifted, the fears subsided. Nature takes care of me. She always seems to know just what I need. A mountain here, a lake there, a hawk flying over from time to time and for Christmas, A pair of great of Great-Horned Owls to say, It’s all OK. I’m not sure what will happen next, I don’t wanna go back to the pointless stress, and worry of the world. There is such a pure truth in things like Owls duetting in the middle of the night. I love that part. I love the freedom it represents, I love the cold air, I love looking through my sun roof at the stars no matter how bad my knees hurt. I feel a bit trapped in this house. Like a caged bird. I wanna fly, I just have to learn how to soar in a man made world of false hope and promises, or do I?

A few weeks ago I went to Florida and struck out on some target birds. On the bright side that opened up some time to take pictures.

I heard the Budgerigars chattering while I was cruising the neighborhood. When I got out of my car to scan the trees approximately 2 dozen of them flushed. About 20 minutes later I and some other birders rediscovered them and were able to photograph them.

Budgie in Hernando Beach Florida. They look better out of the cage

This Tricolored Heron posed for about 30 minutes

Tricolored Heron At Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge

I spent an entire day at Corkscrew Swamp. I found a Painted Bunting on the feeder just a short ways down the boardwalk and I turned up Limpkin by the lakes toward the end of the walk. Otherwise the birding was not great.

Corkscrew Swamp was pretty dead but I did manage to get a picture of a Bluegray Gnatcatcher.

At Shark Valley in Everglades National Park I discovered this Little Blue Heron preening late in the afternoon.

Do you smell that?... "It isn't me"

A group of crows is called a murder, so what is a pair of crows called?

Attempted Murder?

Purple Gallinule is a fantastically colorful bird. Its huge, long toed feet distribute the bird’s weight allowing it to effortlessly walk across “lilly pads” in search of food. They are extremely active feeders, searching every nook and cranny for a delectable morsel. Few birds in the Everglades are more beautiful or more fun to watch.

HEEELLLOOOOO IN THERE

If you can't put your best foot forward then put forward your biggest.

Back in the Lower Rio Grande Valley

One can’t help but notice the puff-bally cuteness of this dainty member of the grebe family.

The tiniest, most cutest of the grebes.

Altamira Orioles are BIG. Not only that, they are Impossibly orange and on top of all of that they sing a beautiful song. You see folks, sometimes you CAN have your cake and eat it too.

The ever striking, impossibly orange, Altamira Oriole.

No less striking is the rare Black-Vented Oriole. I saw this bird in January but there is another one here now and I have a better camera and some time, a perfect combination.

The black vented side of a Black-Vented Oriole

Blue, Gray, Green, Brown, It doesn’t really matter. If there is one thing I love it’s jays. I sat for 3 hours on Saturday and didn’t see this bird. I returned to Salineno the next morning and sat for three more hours before finally getting to meet this monster sized jay. Naturally I fell in love at first sight.

It's BIG, it's brown, it's a jay. It's a Brown Jay, The only North American Jay I had not seen and one I only dreamed of finding without going south of the border. JAYS ROCK!!!

Clay-Colored Thrush is a “shades of brown” lovers dream come true

The subtly beautiful Clay-Colored Thrush.

This Golden-Fronted Woodpecker made the mistake of being hungry at the same time as the Clay-Colored Thrush. I’m not sure I would have picked a fight with a beak that powerful.

In nature, even the subtly beautiful have an attitude when someone interrupts you while your gettin' your peanut butter on.

Plain Chachalacas are boisterous birds. They can be loud, to the point that some people dislike them. As for me I find the noises they make hauntingly beautiful. when they call it adds a truly tropical feel to the area. On top of that they are agile runners, sprinting along horizontal limbs, leaping and dodging branches as they go. They are not plain at all really, I think they should be called Splendid Chachalacas.

There is really nothing plain about a Plain Chachalaca.

The last few days have been a whirlwind of driving back and forth, up and and down the valley. The pay off has been HUGE.  After searching the evening of the 15th, all day the 16th in the rain and wind and a few hour on the 17th I finally got the Golden-Crowned Warbler. It was a misty, cool morning. The only benifit to the weather was the lack of mosquitos. I was, yet again the only one out in the dismal weather when I saw a small flash of yellow on my left 2 feet above the ground. I had never seen this bird before but I new before I even got my bins on it, “That’s the bird”. Sure enough it was. Due to the rain I did’t have my camera with me, on the other hand it wouldn’t have mattered because the bird was to close to photograph! I watched as it worked it’s way throught the undergrouth and vanished.

I arrived at Salineño around 1:00. I was still giddy from seeing the warbler and hopefull to add Brow Jay as well. Two Lifers in one day, That would be an epic day. After 4 hours of sitting at the feeders my hopes were dashed. I spent the night at Falcon State Park then arrived back at Salineño at 8:00am on the 18th. I was starting to feel a bit discouraged, Would today be the day the bird didn’t come in to feed? 9:00 came and went as did 10:00 and 11:00. I wasn’t about to give though. You all know how I love jays and this is the only North American Jay I haven’t seen. A hawk flew over and all the birds in feeding station scattered. A few blackbirds and doves returned pretty quickly. I was scanning the sky the see if I could find the hawk. “There he is, on the round feeder”, Merel, the volunteer, said. My eyes snapped from the sky to the feeder. A large jay, nearly rhe size of a Yellow-Billed Magpie only slender like a jay sat eating tortillas. Before he flew off he crammed as much into his bill as possible (rare or not, a typical jay thing to do). A few minuets later he was back. I was using all 7 frames a second (I had to make sure I got at least one good picture).

That brings me to today. I made a quick trip to Bentson Rio Grande Valley State Park to photograph Black-Vented Oriole I was successful and as a bonus got some great shots of Clay-Colored Thrush as well. I will try to get some pics posted in the coming days but for now my only internet access is through my phone.

I’m frustrated, I’m actually freakin’ frustrated! I can’t find the Golden-Crowned Warbler. Who get frustrated while birding anyway? If I miss this bird it will he the 5th one in a row I have dipped on. Between Florida and here I have driven over 2,500 miles and turned up nothing since the Short-Tailed Hawk.

I just ate a can of Chef Boyardee, maybe that will help (I know I swore off the stuff but I’m like a junky). Canned “Italian food”, yeah, that’s what my day needs. At least this way I won’t be able to tell if I feel sick from lunch or from dipping on another bird.

It has been my policy throughout this year to not ask people to help me out. I haven’t begged for food or a bed even once (I think it’s kinda tacky). You have all been very supportive the whole way through, offing up your homes and meals and I am forever greatfull for that. I can still use that kind of support of course. Ken and Maryanne offered me a place to use as “homebase over the last few days in FL and that was just enough to recharge my batteries. At this point in the game I’m pedaling squares, uphill, both ways, in the snow… My unreasonable goal is to bird south TX then SE AZ then NY and MA. Is this realistic? NO! Is it reasonable? No and also NNOOO!!! But clearly I am an unreasonable person. To those who are on my list of loved ones just know I died happy (this of course assuming I don’t survive the next 18 days). Mom, it’s a joke continue breathing. This brings me back to my original message, I have not asked for anything this year but I am going to ask you all for this, my one Christmas wish, Please, come find me on December 31 and scape my remains off of whatever highway they might be laying on.

Note the look of extreme determination on my face.

Florida has largely been as I expected it to be. I found Budgerigar on the 5th and Short-Tailed Hawk on the 6th then Dipped on Red-Whiskered Bulbul and White-Winged Parakeet in Miami, and Smooth-Billed Ani in Fort Lauderdale (not that I really expected to see it in the first place but I felt obligated to try). Everglades offered one last chance for Mangrove Cuckoo and Flamingo (again, more an obligation to try than any actual hope of seeing them) obviously, I dipped on them as well.

In the mean time (less the incredibly rude Miami drivers of course) I have been having a blast taking pictures and visiting friends. I’m currently sitting in the Parking lot at Anhinga Trail In Everglades National Park watching Black Vultures. Why you ask? If you recall one of my best freinds was a Black Vulture back in my working days. They are incredibly interesting and fun to watch.

Vultures deterrent?
Vulture here apparently have an affinity for wiper blades.

On my way south I stopped near Atlanta to visit my cousin. I planned on leaving today to head south but instead I opted to join them for dinner and leave tomorrow. The thing is, I like good food, I also like couches. I took a walk around the naighborhhod and did a bit of birding along the way. I quite enjoyed spending some time watching birds without chasing them. It seems the important things in my life are becoming, well… more important. Good food and couches, sure, birding a a sane pace definatley but mostly, familiy and friends.