Word Games

On occasion, I do post things other than birding-related.  With the development of "internet english" we're starting to see some uses of certain words get confused with others.  Here is a piece I wrote last night that details the correct usage of some of the common mis-uses of words:


It's You're not Your and Yours not You'res, 
Theirs not Theres and There's not they'res. 
It's, its and its' are not all the same, 
and y'all know all y'all or all y'alls game. 
Use of Lose is loose at best, 
but I'd advise to give advice and not to rest. 
Ask who's and whose when you know not whom, 
but be sure those affected have an eff

ect on the room.
Further's not farther but farther's too far,
Fewer is less, but not less than the few.
Would of and Could of, Should've been banned.
But our principal is principle in that command.
Then isn't than and than can't be then,
because then we'd be lower than low in our den.
Since we have started and because we are here,
We're not the same as at one time we were.
Continually changing at continuous pace,
our language out-plays us and laughs in our face.
Whether's not if and you may, and you might
But I wish y'all good grammar, and to all y'all a good night!

Recent happenings in the midwest

Barred Ow

Hasn't been terribly much going on, or even very much to blog about lately.  Work has gone on as usual these past few months and birding has slowed down and sped up according to the season.

My work season ended this past weekend with a couple trips to see migrating waterfowl. Thousands of Swans and ducks populate pool 7-9 on the Mississippi River every fall on their migration south. Every year, we take people out among the ducks to view the passage of scores of birds.  The migration still goes on, but our work season is done. It has been another awesome year working out on the river, but now I must find other things to do until the season starts again.  Amazingly, my schedule has filled with trips, Christmas Bird Counts, guiding gigs, festivals, etc. It's amazing that I actually have time for any leisure birding anymore.  I'll be updating on the key events of the winter as they draw closer, but it should be a fun year.

This year, winter finches of every species have been reported in large numbers far to the south of their normal winter ranges.  Pine Siskins have become common lately and Redpolls are increasing in number.  Red Crossbills have been reported into mid-continent states and Evening Grosbeaks are currently experiencing a massive irruption year with reports as far south as Chicago.  Pine Grosbeaks also appear to be starting a large-scale incursion into the south with reports into central and southern Wisconsin and Minnesota.   The owl year is shaping up to be a good one with lots of Boreal Owls being banded in Duluth and at Whitefish Point and one caught last night at Linwood Springs in Stevens Point!  Reports of Great Grays have been farther south than usual and hopefully we'll get an influx of Hawk-owls soon.  A Gyrfalcon has already been seen in Northern Minnesota and it is my hope that one of these magnificent birds will hang around for the winter.  Bohemian Waxwings are another that have staged a massive irruption this year and are spreading far south of where they're normally found.

Hopefully, this winter will shape up to be an awesome one and hopefully I'll be able to pick up every one of these species on one of my several trips to Duluth this winter.  


Til then, I'll keep you updated on the happenings in the awesome world of birding.

A day with Nigel Marven

Below is a post I wrote for The Eyrie in Jan of 2010, about a day I spent guiding Nigel Marven, the world-famous TV host, in the mountains of southern Arizona when I was living down there in 2009.
It was a day I shall never forget.  Enjoy!

The persistently beeping alarm on my phone brought me back from the realms of dreams.  For a second, I wondered why I had bothered to set it the evening before. Then I remembered. I glanced at the clock. I was supposed to meet Nigel Marven in half an hour.

  I lay back on the pillow for a second, remembering the day he first called me.  I had come home in the afternoon one day to find the light on the message machine blinking. The caller had a distinct British accent. "Hi Chris, this is Nigel Marven. I'm calling to see if you're available to guide a couple days nextweek."  My jaw had dropped open in disbelief. Nigel Marven?  THE Nigel Marven..... was calling me?  I knew I had been having a lucky summer, but surely not that lucky!  I had quickly called him back and arranged the day and place.  

 I hopped up and grabbed a package of the ultimate quick breakfast food, Raspberry Pop Tarts, to munch on while I filled the feeders for the morning.  After a quick check to make sure the solar panels were in position, I jumped in my car and headed off down the 2 mile stretch of road to the Portal store.

 Nigel pulled up a few minutes later. "Hi Chris, Nigel Marven. Nice to meet you."  I replied, "and very pleased to meet you Nigel."

 It had been some time since Nigel had visited southeast Arizona and he had quite a mixed list of target species. Some were lifers, but some were also species that he hadn't seen for several years.   

 I grabbed my scope and camera and we took off. The plan was to head up to Sierra Vista and hit up the canyons for hummingbirds, then on to Patagonia and Madera Canyon. 

 Beatty's B&B was the first stop for looks at White-eared and Berylline Hummingbirds. Nigel knew Tom Beatty from a hummingbird show he had filmed several years ago in which Beatty's was the film site.  After finding our targets, we made a quick stop at Mary Jo Ballator's for excellent looks at Lucifer Hummingbird.  

Deciding that we could get Botteri's, Cassin's, Rufous-crowned and other sparrows back in Portal, we hot-footed it to Patagonia. The Sinaloa Wren ended up giving us some trouble. It was not in a cooperative mood at all, but, after hearing it sing for half an hour, we did finally manage a quick scope view as it flew out of the nest.  

 The Patagonia Roadside rest proved its worth: The Thick-billed Kingbird was sitting on its predicted perch.  It has been, and still is, the single most reliable bird I have ever seen. It always seems to perch on exactly the same perch in exactly the same place, every single time I have looked for it.  

 Running short on time, we decided to head for Madera Canyon and hopped on the highway for Nogales. Passing through the border patrol checkpoint proved interesting since I hadn't guided a foreigner before.  Apparently, Nigel hadn't encountered a checkpoint before which made it all the more amusing.  "Y'know, I left my wallet and passport at the hotel."  He said.  I hadn't expected that. I wasn't sure what the border patrol had the authority to do, but I assured him it would be fine.  We pulled up to the checkpoint and an officer asked if we were American citizens. Nigel replied "No, I'm not. I'm from Britain. I'm Nigel Marven. You know, I'm a host on Animal Planet. I do the walking with dinosaurs show."  The officer didn't appear too impressed. "Oh, you're Nigel Marven?"  Nigel replied, "Yes, and I forgot to bring my passport...... I left it at the hotel."  The officer appeared slightly amused at this. "Oh, you forgot your passport?"  "Yes, I left it at the hotel.”  The officer shook his head and asked me, "Are you an American citizen?"  I replied "yes" and he waved us through.  "See?" I told Nigel "that was simple."   Nigel just shook his head, slightly surprised that it had been that easy.  

 We arrived at Madera Canyon just as dark clouds were building on the horizon. Our search for Rufous-crowned Sparrows began with complete silence. It was early afternoon and everything went quiet for a siesta. Then, the dark clouds moved in, temporarily cutting off our search. Knowing that the showers would not last, I suggested waiting it out. Nigel agreed and we ran down to the Green Valley gelato shop to escape the heat of the afternoon and enjoy the excellent selection of gelato ice cream.  

 About an hour later, the showers subsided and we headed back out.  This time, the mesquite was full of song. At the first stop, there were well over a dozen Rufous-winged Sparrows singing full blast. I quickly located one perched high on a mesquite and put the scope on it. After spectacular views, I managed to get a couple decent photos.

 With darkness closing in, we headed out for the three-and-a-half hour drive back to Portal.  It had been a good day, with all target species being mostly cooperative and great looks at many.  It was very similar to a day with any other birder. The only difference being some of the stories he told about his adventures while filming wildlife in various places, and of his upcoming special about Burmese pythons that he had been filming in the Everglades only a week before. 

 He is definitely an interesting guy and someone I would highly recommend meeting if you ever get the chance.  His "Walking with Dinosaurs" show was one of my favorites during the time it aired on TV.  His latest show is about finding a jaguar and is filmed in the Brazilian Amazon.   If you wish to know more about Nigel Marven, visit his website at: http://www.nigelmarven.com/

 For those who have not heard of me, I am a young birder, photographer and writer based out of southern Wisconsin.  I spent four months during the summer of '09 working as a local birding guide while living in the small town of Portal in the Chiricahua Mountains of Southeast Arizona.   

My Flickr page can be found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/swallowtailphoto

My blog url is: http://swallowtailedkite.blogspot.com/ 

Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park.  That was where my family chose to make our vacation destination this year. I was pretty happy because the birding would be awesome, I had a few friends that lived out there, and, best of all, it wouldn't cost me much.  I had been to Glacier twice before. Once for about a week in '04 when we had spent some time and hiked a bunch of trails and spent time there.  The second time was a few years later on our way back from Banff National Park. Unfortunately though, this was earlier in the year and the Going-to-the-sun Road was still closed in most of the upper elevations. This was the first year we would be back to do some more exploring.

If you haven't been to Glacier yet, I would highly recommend visiting.  The scenery is spectacular and the birding is pretty sweet.   If you visit in July like I did, you should hit the wildflowers pretty nicely.

At the top of Logan Pass, the Glacier Lillies were blooming:

In the lower elevations, you can find Thimbleberry blooming in July and fruiting in August:

In the high mountain valleys, Mountain Bluebells can be found in large numbers:

and Indian Paintbrush makes up a good percentage of the flowers at all elevations:

Throughout the park, mountain streams run, carrying rainwater and meltwater from glaciers and snowfields. Most of them tumble through a jumble of stones, boulders and fallen trees:

In the thick forests blanketing the slopes, birds like Varied Thrushes can be heard, their songs echoing through the glades, Chestnut-backed Chickadees forage in the thick cedars, Western Tanagers call from further up the slopes, and Boreal Chickadees call their lazy "schlicka-zee-zee"

The beauty of the park cannot be told in words, and images only tell half the story.  In this and a few future posts, I will try to convey at least some of that beauty.

Til next time, Happy Birding!

Apologies for not posting more.....

Hey everyone,

I haven't been too active in the blog world lately and I just wanted to explain why:

I've been working more this year and this whole last month has been extremely busy for me.
Also, my internet service provider at home just re-vamped their entire service policy and now I have fast internet, but at the same time, they cramped the amount of space so much that just checking email, Facebook messages and other basic functions is taking up my entire daily limit of space.  It doesn't help that in my house there are 4 people attempting to use the internet at the same time.  This translates to about a total of three hours of usage per person spread over the entire day. This equates to checking messages about 3 times a day per person.

Hence, I have about a month's worth of blogging backlogged as well as several other things I haven't been able to get done due to lack of internet.

It doesn't help that WiFi in town is also limited and extremely inconvenient for anyone needing to get anything done beyond checking email.

So please bear with me on this.  I have several book reviews that I am attempting to get posted as well as some trip report backlog from May and some daily posting type stuff.

I am also going on vacation soon and should have regular internet for at least a few days of that trip and will try to get somewhat caught up there as well.


Thanks for understanding and please keep following for more updates!