New River Festival - Belated Post #1

Julie Zickefoose on the hunt for golden-winged warbler at Muddlety....

Geoff Heeter, on the hunt for a Cerulean warbler...

Facebook has killed my blog. It's true. I am woefully late in getting this post (the first of two about the May 2011 New River Nature and Birding Festival) done. It is so much easier to put a pithy post or two and a quick photo on Facebook then to juggle the slow-loading and cumbersome Blogger site to put together a blog post. Besides, writing a blog post is more demanding intellectually (yeah, yeah - no comments from the peanut gallery on the quality of my writing, please) than a quick sentence on FB. But the wonderful New River Festival and the gathering of those wonderful women (and new man, Doug Sanchez!) who constitute The Flock deserve some attention. This trip fed my soul. Just like it did in 2009.

New River Gorge bridge (as seen from the boat in Birding By Boat field trip)

This year I did the Birding by Butt, Birding by Boat and Muddelty field trips. My goal - a Cerulean warbler. The Cerulean has been my nemesis bird for five years. I missed seeing it in 2009 at New River when everyone was racking them up by the dozens. I deliberately chose Muddlety since that mountain is known for breeding Ceruleans and may be lost to mountain-top strip mining any day now. Muddelty, Geoff Heeter and Julie Zickefoose (I was in total birder geek-dom) did not disappoint. Upon hearing that it was my target bird, Geoff and Julie put their trained ears and amazing talents to work and soon picked up a singing Cerulean. They worked hard to get me on the bird and I had satisfyingly long looks at a single male working a treetop just off the road. Yes, I cried. Hard. Sometimes good birds can move you to tears. And my friends, Susan Kaiholz-Williams, Laura Hardy, Kathy Hutton and Doug Sanchez were there to share the moment. It could not have been more perfect. Sometimes the birding gods hand you a lifer. And sometimes, they make the moment absolutely unforgettable.

Jim McCormac pointing out birds before we board the boats.

Birding the parking lot at Burnwood after breakfast. We never lose an opportunity to look for birds - even while waiting for our bus.
Another unforgettable moment occurred while wandering the grounds of Opossum Creek Retreat after breakfast at Birding By Butt. Walking with Doug Sanchez (welcome to The Flock, Doug. You fit in perfectly!) and Susan Kaiholz-Williams, we came across a yellow lady slipper. Susan remarked that it looked like a yellow scrotum. I said it had Hasidic Jew side curls. That's all it took. We all broke into uncontrollable giggles for long, long minutes. I will never be able to look at this beautiful wildflower the same way again.
Yellow ladyslipper (aka Yellow Scrotum Hasidic Jew Flower)

Other life birds at New River included black-billed cuckoo (wonderful looks at Opossum Creek) and golden-winged warbler. Thanks to Julie Zickefoose for getting me both of these birds. Once again, New River didn't disappoint in the sheer volume of birds, the beauty of the mountains and river and the amazing company. As Jeff Gordon once said, "this place is like summer camp for birders". Yes, it is. It really is.

Arizona and Life Bird #300

This May (a few short weeks away!) brings two wonderful birding trips to my bird-deficient work-intensive life. The first is a half-week at the always-popular New River Birding and Nature Festival in Fayetteville, West Virginia. Accurately described by Jeff Gordon, ABA President, as "summer-camp for birders", New River is warbler heaven in one of the most beautiful places on earth - green, rolling mountains, white-water rivers, gorgeous sunsets over the gorge, breathtaking flora and a gathering of the noisiest, most gregarious and boisterous group of birders ever to assemble in one place - The Flock. Spending any amount of time with these wonderful women (and a few men) re-energizes my soul and I miss them terribly. The Cerulean warbler is my target bird for this trip - I missed it on the 2009 New River trip and it has been my nemesis bird for five years. I know Geoff, Keith, aka Paco, and the other trip leaders will make sure to find it for me. If I can put in my request now, I would like them to deliver a Cerulean to my hotel room as I drink my morning coffee. Now that is the kind of service one can expect at New River and Opposum Creek!

Vermillion Flycatcher

After one and a half days at home following New River (just enough time for laundry and a quick cuddle with the cats and the boyfriend - in that order), I fly to Arizona for my first west coast birding experience. At Thanksgiving last year, my bird mentor, Uncle Jim, casually mentioned that an Arizona trip with him and his lovely wife, Laura, was a possiblity in the spring of 2011. I agreed, assuming that like all good intentions, it would never occur. But I should never underestimate the lure of a life bird - Uncle Jim needs the Mexican chickadee and the juniper titmouse for his list. His good friend and fellow birder, Nell, knows Clifford Cathers, owner of Economy Birding Services, Inc and voila - a few emails, phone calls and plane reservations later, Jim, Laura, Nell and I are joining Cliff for a four day tour of southeastern Arizona.

Most of the birds on this trip will be lifers for me since I have no western species on my life list. Regardless of the number of lifers I collect at New River, the Arizona trip should put me over 300. I hope the 300th bird is a special one - my 200th bird was a Florida Scrub Jay at the Space Coast Festival in Titusville, FL. What will make the 300th bird so special is not the number, but the fact that I will be with Uncle Jimmy when I get it. It can't get more perfect than that.

Stellar Jay

The itinerary that Cliff prepared for us includes the Chiricahuas, Santa Rita Mountains, the low desert near Continental, Madera Kubo, Tubac, Rio Rico Ponds, Pena Blanca Lake, Madera Canyon in the evening for some owling (yes!!), Miller Canyon, Ash Canyon, Huachuca Mountains, Willcox Cochise Lake and Rustler Park. Wow! I will be one tired little birder - but with an amazing list.

Species we are targeting include gilded flicker, gila woodpecker, ladder-backed woodpecker, Gambel's quail, pyrrhuloxia, ash-throated flycatcher, vermillion flycatcher, brown-crested flycatcher, Lucy's warbler, Bell's vireo, verdin, curve-billed thrasher, cactus wren, black-throated sparrow, hooded oriole, Northern bearded tyrannulet, Albert's towhee, greater roadrunner, rufous-winged sparrow, red-faced warbler, Grace's warbler, olive warbler, Hutton's viroe, plumbeous vireo, Western wood pee-wee, white-throated swift, broad-tailed hummingbird, hepatic tanager, Western tanager, greater pee-wee, pygmy nuthatch, hermit warbler, Townsend's warbler, red-shafted flicker, dusty-capped flycatcher, elegant trogon, Mexican jay, acorn woodpecker, flame-colored tanager, Scott's oriole, magnificent hummingbird, broad-billed hummingbird, bewick's wren, bridled titmouse, juniper titmouse, Mexican chickadee, sulphur-bellied flycatcher, Arizona woodpecker, black-throated gray warbler, black-headed grosbeak, Cassin's kingbird, black-capped gnatcatcher, tropical kingbird, Western kingbird, gray hawk, common ground-dove, berylline and white-eared hummingbirds, least grebe, bronzed cowbird, black-chinned hummingbird, elf owl, western screech owl, whiskered screech owl, lesser nighthawk, common poorwill, Lucifer hummingbird, Montezuma quail, zone-tailed hawk, Botteri's sparrow, Anna's hummingbird, Western bluebird and short-tailed hawk. Whew! ALL of these would be life birds for me. Intense? Yes. Exhausting? Yes. Exciting? YES!

Juniper Titmouse (a target species for this trip)

I have purchased three new field guides for Western US and Arizona and am studying like mad. I don't think I will be nearly ready enough, but with four experienced birders to assist, I am looking forward to hitting 300. West Virginia with The Flock and Arizona with Uncle Jim. How lucky can one birder get?

It Could Have Been Much, Much Worse

The recent flash flooding in West Virginia made me grateful that while we were at the New River Festival, we only had to deal with occasional rain. We may have complained about the inconvenience (if not out loud, we were complaining on the inside), but we didn't lose our homes, our loved ones or have to deal with the immense loss of property and/or livelihood that residents of six West Virginia counties are now dealing with.

The Washington Post said "Mingo County was hardest hit by flooding, after downpours dumped several inches of rain Friday and Saturday. It had about 300 structures destroyed, 1,000 with major damage and 2,000 with minor damage. Wyoming County had 150 structures with major damage. Boone, Logan, McDowell and Raleigh counties were also under the state of emergency."

The New River festival was held in adjacent Fayette county. I was lucky to have met such wonderful people, spent time with such beautiful birds and visited such a magnificent place. Now my thoughts and prayers are with the residents of West Virginia as they struggle to recover from this flood.

Map courtesy of censusfinder.com

Counting Birds and Friends

Wakerobin trillium (photo by Tim Ryan)

New River was amazing in so many ways. First and foremost, I attended the festival for the birds. It is my goal to get to 200 life birds this year (before attending the festival, my ABA life list was 178). Living in eastern PA, I already have a lot of warblers on my list, but there were a few that were target birds for me - cerulean and chestnut-sided. I actually need to concentrate more on shore birds to get those numbers up and New River was not really the place for shore birds!

Secondly, I was attending the festival for the Flock. I met some of the Flock at the Cape May, NJ Autumn Migration Festival last year. After "lurking" on their blogs for over a year, I finally met them in person and they welcomed me with open arms. Now I am a full-fledged Flock member. But a lot of the Flock were new to me:

Jane from Wrenaissance Reflections
Mary from Mary’s View
Nina from Nature Remains
Tim from From the Faraway, Nearby
Kathie from Sycamore Canyon
Kathy from Life, Birding Photos and Everything
Kathleen from A Glorious Life
Jane from Jaylynn’s Window on Nature
Barb from My Bird Tales

Jeff from Jeff Gordon

Bill from Bill of the Birds and

Julie from Julie Zickefoose

Then there were friends that were not Flockers - Geoff Heeter, Dave Pollard, Keith Richardson, Connie Toops and my hotel next door neighbors and breakfast-at-Burnwood buddies, Dave and Kristi (thanks for pointing me in the direction of the good coffee!).

I don't know what was more exciting - the life birds or the life friends. Sharing a love of birds and nature brought us close online but being such caring and warm people made for easy laughter and true affection.

But back to the birds. I saw 12 life birds on this trip. Ten at the Festival and another two at the cabin in Renick.

Yellow-throated vireo, yello-throated warbler, Northern waterthrush, Louisiana waterthrush, black-throated green warbler, Canada warbler, bobolink, ruffed grouse and chestnut-sided warbler and Swainson's thrush were my Festival birds. American woodcock and yellow-bellied sapsucker were my Renick birds. On the Greenbriar River trail I also think I saw a Swainson's warbler and magnolia warbler, but without a positive ID, I can't count them.

My two days in Renick were restful and delightful. I love spending time with my uncle and his daughter (both from Maryland) who bought 80 acres on a mountain in WV ten years ago and built a beautiful vacation cabin. It is a misnomer to call it a simple cabin - it's a gorgeous log home with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, a field stone chimney with a woodburning stove, wraparound deck with a porch swing, copper trimmed kitchen and homemade quilts on the homemade wood beds. The home is decorated with animal heads, antlers and skins from my uncle's successful hunting trips (he makes his own bows and arrows!). It's not as yucky as it sounds. I have gotten 10 life birds on their property alone (including these last two) and they humor me with long walks in the rain in the Monongahela Forest and Greenbriar River trail.

Handcarved wood bed with Christy's hand-stitched quilt.

Barry and Christy on the Greenbriar River Trail.

They are interested in wildflowers and trees the way I am interested in birds. They taught me much about the flowers we saw so now I can ID some of them myself. Marsh marigold, trillium (all kinds), star chickweed, serviceberry, squirrel corn (my favorite of all the flowers we saw), may apple, hobblebush, hemlock and red spruce, swamp buttercup, dwarf bearded iris, wild geranium, golden ragwort, yellow buckeye (my favorite tree), Japanese honeysuckle, multiflora rose and wild ramps. As a chef, the ramps and the morels on their property were more interesting to me than the flowers.

But the birds rule all! My life list is now up to 190. Ten more to go this year.

New River Festival - Picture Sampler

Although I posted twice while at the New River Festival, I spent the better part of today going through downloaded pictures, handwritten notes, smudgy from the deluge of biblical proportions all week long, and the postings of my Blog Family. Posts about birds and friends are stewing in my mind. I want to give posts the time and effort they deserve since the Festival gave so much to me. So in the meantime, here are some pictures- just a sampling of the 200+ photos I took in West Virginia.

After the Festival, I traveled to my uncle and cousin's vacation cabin in Renick, WV to spend another 2 days doing some hardcore birding (okay, a bit of relaxing, too!). I learned a lot about trees and wildflowers while I was there, so I will post those pictures soon.

Looking in vain for the f***ing Swainson's warbler. Damn bird. Good people.

Keith Richardson, tour guide extraordinaire, imitating Lynn's look of joy as she gets another lifer.

Susan and Dick watching a millipede crawl up Keith's hand. When the rain makes looking skywards tough, birders look to the ground for insects and flowers. We are an adaptable bunch.

Two members of the Flock, Susan and Lynn, posing in front of General Lee's tree. We were laughing so hard, I never read the sign to learn the historical significance of the tree. Oh well.

Listening for the bobolinks in the meadow. Amazing field trip and one of the best experiences of the entire festival.

Susan and Chet Baker. What a bundle of warm puppeh love (I'm talking about Chet, not Susan - she's a bundle of love of a totally different kind - but they both give great hugs!).

Friends and Birds

scenic overlook at Smokey's on the Gorge

New River Festival couldn't have been more perfect. Well, we could have done without the week of non-stop rain. But it was a great opportunity to meet friends (old and new) and see lots and lots of birds. I added nine life birds to my list:

Northern waterthrush

Louisiana waterthrush

Swainson's thrush

Yellow throated warbler

Chestnut sided warbler (this one made me cry - so beautiful and I had looked for it for three years - a special shout out to Keith who made it his mission to get me on this bird. Thanks, Keith! You are da' man.)

Bobolink (with a song like R2-D2 - unforgettable)

Yellow throated vireo

Black throated green warbler

Ruffed grouse

I did not see my target bird - Cerulean warbler. But I have a few more days visiting relatives in West Virginia, so I am hopeful.

We had lots of laughs - too many to post now. I will spread that out over the next few weeks.

Susan and Laura hamming it up for the camera.

I learned quite a bit thanks to our wonderful guides- Jeff Gordon, Julie Zickefoose, Keith Richardson, and Connie Toops. This was the first time I met Julie Z. in person although I have been reading her blog for a couple of years. On one field trip, she borrowed my bandana to dry the rain off her camera. I told her I would never wash it again. Yes, I am a starstruck bird groupie- Pete Dunne and Julie Zickefoose: my heroes.

New River - Finally!

Arrived at New River Birding and Nature Festival yesterday afternoon after an 8-hour drive through pouring rain. Spent the dinner hour(s) with members of The Flock - catching up, eating, listening to a birdsong presentation by Wil Hershberger, taking pictures and laughing. I haven't laughed so hard in months. I met lots of new Flock members to add to ny Bloggy Life List. I will talk more about that in later posts.

This morning at 6am, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed after a good night's sleep, I headed over to Opossum Creek Retreat for my first "field trip" - Birding by Butt. Now that's my kind of birding. Sitting on the porch, sipping coffee and watching the birds fly in. There was a nice long walk through the woods once the rain let up. And we watched Bill Hilton, Jr. of Operation Rubythroat (headquartered in South Carolina) trap and band hummingbirds. He put teeny, tiny bands on teeny, tiny hummingbird legs. Quite impressive.

In the mist nets he caught goldfinches, indigo bunting, chipping sparrow and most impressively, a palm warbler. Here are male (left) and female (right) goldfinches caught at the same time and ready for banding.

After banding them all, he released them and I got to hold and release a female goldfinch. That's a first for me - holding a live, wild bird in my hand. She was so tiny, so intense, so beautiful. It was a special, special moment that I will never forget. Bill says we shouldn't get emotionally attached to wild birds - too late! I'm attached.

Me and the female goldfinch sharing a moment before her release. Look at the goofy grin on my face!

Birding was good for my first day and in the rain - 38 species and 3 life birds (in bold):


Blue gray gnatcatchers (on the nest)
Northern cardinal
Eastern phoebe
Rubythroated hummingbird
Hooded warbler
Black and white warbler
Black throated blue warbler
Scarlet tanager
Eastern towhee
Brown-headed cowbird
American robin
Northern mockingbird
Eastern bluebird
Pileated woodpecker
American goldfinch
Northern parula
Chipping sparrow
White breasted nuthatch
Yellow throated vireo
Ovenbird
Wood thrush
Pine siskin
Tufted titmouse
Hermit thrush
American crow
Red eyed vireo
Mourning dove
Palm warbler
Blue jay
Red shouldered hawk
Indigo bunting
Downy woodpecker
Yellow rumped warbler
Carolina wren
Turkey vulture
Black vulture
Swainson's thrush
Yellow throated warbler

More tomorrow - plus more pictures!

Countdown to New River Festival

Now I'm getting nervous. New River Birding and Nature Festival is a few short days away! As Susan says, "Is anybody ready to pee their pants yet?". I have been incredibly busy with work (budget season with a cantankerous CFO) and family obligations (hosting Easter weekend for 20 people) that I didn't see New River sneaking up on me.

Suddenly I have a to-do list a mile long to get ready for my 8-hour drive and my week with the Flock in West Virginia. Get the oil in the car changed; buy bug spray and sunscreen; assemble electronics (GPS, laptop, cell phone and camera) along with all their assorted chargers; buy a West Virginia road atlas in case the GPS fails me; decide which bird books to bring; pack the Teaching Company CDs (European History and European Lives from 1715 to 1914 is my latest purchase) to make the car trip entertaining and informative (I hate long distance car travel); put bottles of water and the Freez-Pak in the freezer for the cooler in the car; buy snacks for the drive; check that the hotel has wi-fi; stock the house with frozen pizza, Gatorade and Mountain Dew for the housesitter who has a particularly monotonous diet; buy enough cat food, litter, suet and bird seed so the housesitter can take care of my animals; remember to buckle the stone chicken in the passenger seat so she can be the New River flock mascot (thanks Susan) and pray that I don't get stopped by a trooper on the way down. Explaining a cement chicken riding shotgun may be hard to do.

I have the 1/2 week package at New River, so I don't arrive until Wednesday evening and my first field trip, Birding by Butt (gotta love it!) is on Thursday morning. Then it is Cranberry Glades on Friday and High Country on Saturday. After checking out of the hotel on Sunday, I will be driving an hour or so to Renick, West Virginia, to spend two days with my uncle and cousin who built a vacation cabin there. I have done some pretty sweet birding on their property (7 life birds on my last visit), so I anticipate another two days of birding after my three days at the festival.

Mostly, I am nervous about meeting the rest of the Flock. I met Lynne, Kathi, Susan, Laura and Delia last fall in Cape May, NJ at the Autumn Migration Festival. I was a lurker on their blogs for almost two years and never had the nerve to comment or introduce myself. Now they have opened their arms and their huge, wonderful hearts to me and I feel like a freshman at a new high school, worried about fitting in. There will be other members of the Flock that I will be meeting for the first time, like Mary. Sweet, wonderful Mary who moves me to tears with her blog posts and gorgeous pictures.

So the tension builds as the trip approaches. Part of me is nervous but most of me is so damn excited I can hardly stand it! Lots to do, lots to look forward to...

Birding Gear - It's What Makes Us Nerds

Everyone I know looks at me quizzically when I say that I am a birder. Birding is supposed to be the fastest growing hobby in the United States. A 2001 study by the United States Fish and Wildlife Association showed that there are more than 46 million birders in the U.S., more than the combined total of people who fish and hunt. Fifty-four percent of birders are female; 83% are over the age of 35; 93% are white; 60% are college-educated and more than 1/3 have annual incomes of $50,000 or more. Birders are responsible for $32 billion in retail sales of equipment (binoculars, scopes and cameras), clothing, journals, magazines, books, etc. So you'd think that we would get a little more respect, right?

Maybe it's because we often look like this:Here I am on my very first birding trip (see the smile? That's before the car sickness and the deer flies made me miserable!). Uncle Jim is teaching me how to use binoculars. He was worried about sunburn, so he lent me this hat. It worked like a charm. Kept me sunburn free, even though I looked quite silly. But you know what I remember about that hat? I saw my spark bird while wearing it. I saw a Prothonotary warbler and a painted bunting (two of my favorite birds) while wearing it. So it was a damn lucky hat.

Now, as I start assembling clothes and gear for my trip to New River, West Virginia, I realize that I will miss that hat. I wear baseball caps on birding trips all the time, but there was something special about that darn hat. :)

I just purchased a travel vest with lots of pockets

to keep all my birding supplies. I usually keep my field guide, notebook, pen, lens cleaner, cell phone (important when you are birding alone!), car keys, water bottle and insect repellent in a hunting satchel (Bob Allen rifle shell pouch that I got on sale in the sporting goods section of Wal-Mart)that hangs from a strap around my waist. But I wanted to be a little more fashion-forward and not embarrass my bloggy friends! New hiking boots (I have been breaking them in for a month now), wool socks and a new rain/ windbreaker are all ready to go. Still need a rainhat (maybe it will be a lucky hat!). It's going to be a marvelous trip!

Beginning to Blog

At the urging of my bloggy friends, most notably, Susan, I've ventured into the great unknown world of blogging. Now I am officially removed from the Lurker and Commentator list! Thanks, Susan. Although I may be cursing you later when this gets overwhelming. I certainly don't know any of the tricks to making a pleasant-to-look-at blog but I hope I will pick it up in good time. And I know my bloggy pals will offer suggestions and help.

I am looking foward to the New River Birding and Nature Festival in West Virginia in April. I will spend four days birding and laughing with friends and hope to see lots of wonderful birds. At the risk of jinxing myself, my target bird for the trip is a Cerulean warbler. My fingers are crossed that I will see one (or two!). After the festival, I am traveling to Renick, WV to visit my uncle and cousin who built a vacation cabin in the mountains near the Monongahela National Forest. Last summer when I visited, I participated in a little beekeeping - they have three hives. It was fun, if a little stifling in those darn suits.










Anyway, they harvested a record 70 pounds of honey that summer and my new nickname is the Bee Whisperer. Who knows what fate awaits me this time.

Uncle and me catching a glimpse of a scarlet tanager.