Update

I have not done much blogging lately. There are various reasons, much of it attributed to lack of decent Internet at home. But, rather than dwell on what is past, in this post I am looking forward to the future. This year, I have a few things planned out, and may have a few other things pop up unexpectedly, and I plan to keep this blog updated as regularly as possible with as much interesting content as I can.

You might be wondering what I have planned out. Well, here are a few things:
I have several book reviews on backlog that need posting. These will take up whatever space there is whenever I can't write my daily (read: almost daily) post.

Next month, I am guiding for the 4th consecutive year at the Sax-zim Bog winter bird festival.

In late April, I may possibly take a short trip to FL.

In May, I am driving east to western NY to attend a bird banding workshop at Braddock Bay bird observatory.

Come June, I will again be working for Mississippi Explorer Cruises as an Interpretive Naturalist.
All summer, I will be posting about the things I see on the river and some of the small things that most people don't see.

Overall, I will try to show you some of what WI has to offer through the seasons and do my best to portray it such a way that you may wish to come visit one day. :)


That's all I have for now, but keep checking back for there will be more to come.

Just in case you're wondering........

No, I didn't vanish off the face of the earth. :D   My reputation for the past couple of years has been that I can show up in unexpected places quite suddenly and without warning.  

Most of the birders in WI don't even blink an eye if I turn up in Sheboygan, Duluth, Milwaukee or some weird place like that.  So, holding to my reputation, I am now sitting in a hotel room in Green River, Utah. Talk about unexpected places. lol :D 

My Aunt in St George, UT isn't well and isn't expected to be with us much longer, so my family and I decided to leave for Utah on a moment's notice.   We left on Sunday morning and drove through to North Platte, NE. A distance of about 700 miles (yes we cover a lot of ground).  Along the way, I picked up 4 year birds.  Redhead Duck, Prairie Falcon (kiting right over the interstate), Snow Goose and Ross's Goose.  The geese were impossible to miss, considering that we saw roughly 5-8000 of them between Kearney and North Platte. North Platte by the way is where the Rowe Audubon sanctuary is (for those who aren't familiar, Rowe Sanctuary is where hundreds of people come in a few weeks to see the thousands of migrating Sandhill Cranes). 

I also managed to pick up a further 4 year birds today in the form of Black-billed Magpie, Red-winged Blackbird (yea, I know), Cackling Goose and a single Cassin's Finch just outside of Denver. 

Again, we saw roughly 3-5000 Snow and Ross's Geese today.  Unfortunately, we have been in such a hurry, that I haven't had time to stop and get many photos.  

Stopped at Lake "Mac" in Ogallala. Saw a few Herring Gulls and many Common Mergansers. Nothing else. 

We did stop at the top of Loveland Pass (around 11,800ft ish I think) but there were a lot of people there with several dogs along with blowing winds and I wasn't equipped to go hiking a long ways so I skipped White-tailed Ptarmigan until we return that way next week. 

For the first time ever, I drove all the way through Colorado without seeing a single Mountain Chickadee, Steller's Jay or Clark's Nutcracker. That's almost pathetic!  Did pick up a lone Pine Siskin though and a Black-capped Chickadee in Denver.  

What was surprising was the temperature. It hit 57 degrees in Denver, 26 at the top of Loveland Pass and 55 again in Grand Junction.  By Thurs, it's supposed to hit nearly 60 degrees in St George! Incredible.  I hope it's warmer at home when we get back. 

I'll be posting photos from yesterday and today sometime tomorrow if I get a chance. 

Happy Birding!