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Archive for the ‘Birds’ Category

Birds and Travel Go Together

Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on January 4, 2011| Leave a Comment »

 

A northern mockingbird was my first bird of the new year. -- Photo by Pat Bean

 “Use what talents you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.” — Henry Van Dyke

Travels With Maggie

I’m a passionate birdwatcher, who keeps a list of birds I’ve seen. My life list now totals 696 bird species. It’s a respectable number for this late-blooming birder, but far from spectacular.

If you want to know more about the birding numbers game you should read “The Big Year” by Mark Obmascik. It’s a great read even if you aren’t a birder. It’s about three guys who spend a year chasing birds all across North America. At the whisper of a rare bird alert, they would fly thousands of miles on a minute’s notice.

Although I did once drive 400 miles to see one particular bird, these days I usually just bird where my travels take me. I check out bird festivals going on while I’m in the vicinity, and hook up with local Audubon chapters for birding field trips. This past year these efforts, including one day when I hired a guide to help me find the golden-cheeked warbler that I had been trying to find for three years, earned me 12 new life birds. And yes, the warbler was one of them.

I spotted this yellow-crowned night heron at the Sea Center in Lake Jackson, Texas. -- Photo by Pat Bean

This year’s birding efforts, meanwhile, have begun slower than normal. I’ve been parked in my son’s driveway here in Harker Heights all this week and a cold front moving through the area seems to have kept the birds tucked away.

At least they’re not falling out of the sky dead, as red-winged blackbirds and starlings have been doing in Arkansas the past couple of days. That’s a scary thing because birds, like the canaries coal miners carried into the tunnels with them as their bad air detectors, are indicators of an environment’s health.

My first bird of this new year was a northern mockingbird, appropriate since it’s Texas’ state bird. It was a brilliant gray and white fellow with yellow eyes that landed on a fence about eight feet from my RV window. As I watched, it flashed its long tail in the air – then pooped.

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Too Bad the Queen Missed the Park

Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , , , on December 6, 2010| Leave a Comment »

The sign stopped me, the park enchanted me -- Photo by Pat Bean

 “Peace is not the product of a victory or a command. It has no finishing line, no final deadline, no fixed definition of achievement. Peace is a never-ending process. The work of many decisions.” — Oscar Hammerstein

Travels With Maggie

Located on the Arkansas side of the Talimena Scenic Drive before it crosses into Oklahoma, Queen Wilhemina State Park was created in the late 1800s and named after Queen Wilhelmina in hopes the young ruler of the Netherlands would visit.

While the park was only 15 miles from where I had spent the previous night, it looked too inviting to pass by – or stay for just one night. That’s the beauty of having no deadlines to meet. The rain storm that blanked the area for the next few days, and which I wouldn’t have wanted to drive through, confirmed my instincts

Turtles, along with birds, deer and squirrels called Arkansas' Queen Wilhemina park home. -- Photo by Pat Bean

During one break in the storm, I walked up to the Queen Wilhelmina Lodge, where I devoured one of the tastiest cheeseburgers of my life while watching dark storm clouds build up for another burst. There’s something in me that loves a storm, and the sound of rain drumming on my RV roof is as enjoyable as a well-played concert. I was glad, however, that I made it back to the coziness of my RV, with my last bite of cheeseburger wrapped in a napkin for Maggie, before the downpour began anew.

Flowers grew all over the park -- Photo by Pat Bean

Finally the storm ended and I spent the next two days hiking the park’s trails, and watching birds and other wildlife. It was with reluctance that I finally left this special place. It’s too bad Queen Wilhelmina never visited. I’m sure she would have enjoyed her stay.

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Birding Adds the Oomph to my Travels

Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , on December 2, 2010| Leave a Comment »

 “I consider myself to have been the bridge between the shotgun and the binoculars in bird watching. Before I came along, the primary way to observe birds was to shoot them and stuff them.” — Roger Tory Peterson

Travels With Maggie

Nothing could be finer than an early morning outing with fellow birders of the Wasatch Chapter of Audubon. Ever since I seriously began birding, which was back in 1999, the chapter has had a Wednesday morning bird walk. When I first hooked up with the group, I had to play hooky from work to join them.

A California quail hides among the weeds. I spotted him on an outing to Willard Bay in Northern Utah while birding this past May with old friends. -- Photo by Pat Bean

 Shortly thereafter I was inspired to write a weekly bird column. So instead of playing hooky while I was roaming all over Utah’s Wasatch Front on these Wednesdays, I could honestly report that I was doing research.

 Since I knew next to nothing about birds, the research included a lot of that, plus the generous help of the chapter’s birding experts, Jack Rensel and Keith Evans. Both these guys had been at this sport since they were young boys – and both had tales to tell of being suspected of unsavory deeds because of wandering around alone with binoculars in hands. They grew up at a time when birding wasn’t a well known hobby, and certainly not one boys took up.

 Thankfully, Roger Tory Peterson, who put together the first field guide that made birding possible for us non-ornithologists, watched birds as a boy even before Jack and Keith’s time.

 My oldest son makes fun of my birdwatching, considering it a little old lady’s sport. Well, it can be that. But it can also involve long hikes in the dark so as to arrive in time to watch male sage grouse play drums with their chest sacs to attract the ladies, or a hike over treacherous lava to watch Flamingos at a small lake in the Galapagos.

 Birding gives my travels that extra bit of oomph. For example, the boat ride to Matagorda Island off the coast of Texas was pleasant enough in itself, but getting to see whooping cranes as well was like the salt around the glass of a good margarita. And the climb up a ridge to see a black-capped vireo at Lost Maples State Park gave me a good dose of needed exercise.

 Looking for birds in the landscape has also enriched my travels in yet other ways. One who is looking for a tiny bird in the bush is not likely to miss the moose in the stream. And when I’m visiting Northern Utah, my passion for birds gives me a legitimate reason to once again hook up with my old Wednesday morning birding buddies.

 And, as I said, nothing could be finer than time spent with them.

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100 Things I’m Thankful For

Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , on November 25, 2010| 3 Comments »

I'm thankful for hiking trails. Pictured above is the Franconia Notch Flume Trail in New Hampshire. -- Photo by Pat Bean

 

100 Things for which I’m Thankful – In No Particular Order

  1. Belly laughs
  2. The sound of rain pinging on my RV roof
  3. Family, which these days include five awesome children, 15 delightful grandchildren and three perfect great grandchildren.
  4. My black cocker spaniel, Maggie, who curls up with me on cold nights.
  5. Rich African coffee heavily laced with cream
  6. Scenic byways
  7. Cool nights that let me snuggle beneath a soft quilt
  8. Good health – and hope I can say this for many more years
  9. Hearty hugs from people who mean it
  10. A good massage from a woman with magic fingers
  11. Being a writer
  12. My association with the women of Story Circle Network
  13. A good haircut
  14. Scenic hiking trails
  15. Achievements of my kids, grandkids and friends
  16. My zest for life
  17. Walking barefoot on a sandy beach
  18. Learning something new
  19. The flash of sun illuminating the tail feathers of an overhead red-tailed hawk
  20. Hot baths
  21. My new Kindle
  22. Ibuprofen for strained muscles
  23. Discovering a new author I like
  24. Taking a grandchild on their first roller coaster ride
  25. Watching fall redress the trees
  26. Van Gogh paintings
  27. Butterflies
  28. My computer and the Internet
  29. Maggie’s quirky personality
  30. Rainbows
  31. Living in America where a woman can safely travel alone
  32. Sunrises and sunsets
  33. Funky, dangling earrings that belie my age
  34. Bra-less days
  35. Summers not spent in Texas
  36. Good memories of my mother
  37. Old friends and new friends
  38. A field of wildflowers
  39. Reese”s peanut butter cups
  40. The wind blowing through my hair
  41. My daily walks with Maggie
  42. Hot soup on a cold day
  43. A wee-morning hours chatter with a long-time girlfriend over Jack Daniels and coke.
  44. A daughter-in-law guardian angel who keeps track of my travels, forwards my mail and supplies me with my favorite coffee
  45. The honking of geese as they fly overhead
  46. Lake reflections
  47. Family meals eaten around a table
  48. My curiosity
  49. Comfortable shoes
  50. America, the beautiful
  51. Clean showers in RV parks
  52. Electricity
  53. My bicycle
  54. People who care deeply about something
  55. The wolf’s return to Yellowstone
  56. The journey between destinations
  57. A comfortable bed and a perfect pillow
  58. WordPress for hosting this blog
  59. New white sox
  60. Water in all its forms
  61. Scented candles
  62. A sky full of stars
  63. Glasses that allow me to read
  64. Pleasant surprises
  65. An honest politician
  66. Birdwatching with my birdwatching son
  67. Evenings spent around a campfire
  68. Good Sam emergency services
  69. A Jack in the Box chocolate shake, which I only discovered this year
  70. Nice and Easy, No. 99 – so I can forever be a blonde
  71. Coyote howls
  72. Wrinkle-free clothing
  73. Gentle dentists
  74. My independence
  75. The fragrant scent of a blooming gardenia bush, which always reminds me of my grandmother
  76. The diversity I find in people watching
  77. Large, gnarly live oak trees
  78. Audible books
  79. Maps
  80. A good editor
  81. Books with satisfying endings
  82. The strong women of the past who fought so I could vote
  83. A cup of Earl Grey tea
  84. The color turquoise
  85. Boat rides
  86. Antibiotics and vaccinations
  87. Smiles
  88. A frisky squirrel in a tree outside my RV
  89. Guided trolley tours
  90. My point and shoot digital camera
  91. Washers and dryers
  92. Blank journals
  93. A shady RV camp site beside a small lake
  94. A hearty 11 a.m. breakfast for lunch
  95. The music of a humpback whale
  96. Stained glass windows
  97. That there are still plenty of birds to add to my life list
  98. Helen Reddy’s “I Am Woman Hear Me Roar”
  99. The family computer nerds who get the bugs out of my laptop
  100. Readers of my blog

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Statue Gives Meaning to Travel

Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , on November 22, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Surprise discover of a Marlin Perkins statue in a small Carthage, Missouri, park. -- Photo by Pat Bean

 

Travels With Maggie

“If we are strong, and have faith in life and its richness of surprises, and hold the rudder steadily in our hands. I am sure we will sail into quiet and pleasant waters for our old age.” — Freya Stark   

Marlin Perkins

 When you’re on the road, you know you’re going to visit the Mount Rushmores and the Niagara Falls. Perhaps, like me, you even do a little bit of research about these great places beforehand to enhance your understanding and enjoyment.

These mega-star travel sites, the Grand Canyons and the Old Faithfuls, are – and should be – musts on bucket lists. But it’s the little surprises along the way that give meaning to my journeys.

In Carthage, Missouri, one of these surprises was a statue in a small park. I asked my traveling companion, a single female traveler like myself whom I had hooked up with for the day’s outing at the Red Barn RV Park, whom the statue honored. She didn’t know, but she was as curious as I was to know the answer. So we stopped.

Nothing could have delighted me more than to discover the statue was Marlin Perkins. This gentle man’s exotic animal adventures on TV’s Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom back in the 1960s and early ’70s had fed both my love of nature and my wanderlust. A native of Carthage, Perkins was among the first to bring exotic wildlife into America’s living rooms.

The bronze statue of Perkins, created by Carthage artists Bob Tommey and Bill Snow, has him kneeling with a giant pair of binoculars in his hand. As a birder whose binoculars are never far from hand, I felt a renewed kinship with this man who loved and worked to protect nature and all that exists in it.

May I always remember to allows take time in my traveling schedule for such surprises.

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The Beauty of a Dark Chasm

Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 21, 2010| Leave a Comment »

 

Painted Wall of the Colorado's Black Canyon of the Gunnison with the Gunnison River flowing below. -- Photo by Pat Bean

 

Travels With Maggie 

  “As we become curators of our own contentment on the Simple Abundance path… we learn to savor the small with a grateful heart.” — Sarah Ban Breathnach –

Black Canyon of the Gunnison

While visitors to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park may be awed by the deep narrow chasm carved by the Gunnison River below them – I certainly was – I didn’t forget to look right in front of my nose. I’m always amazed at Mother Nature’s more delicate landscape paintings, be it a single purple flower or a massive canvas of lichen, twigs, grasses, rocks soil and leaves.

I stayed in the park’s South Rim Campground, which has electrical hookups and is adjacent to a mile-long rim trail with excellent views of the canyon. Maggie and I encountered deer, squirrels and a marmot on our walks, while red-tailed hawks and turkey vultures flew above us.

 
 

I found the landscape of rocks and foilage painted by Mother Nature as awesome as the mighty canyon. -- Photo by Pat Bean

We even got a brief glimpse of a peregrine falcon flying in the canyon beneath us. Once nearly extinct, this speediest of birds has made a magnificent comeback.

Another hike took me along the canyon floor for a rendezvous with a boat, and a ride through the canyon, past a waterfall, on a ranger-led tour. Writing now about this visit to the park two years ago makes me want to go back.

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A River of Grass Vibrates With Life

Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , on November 20, 2010| 2 Comments »

   
 

An anhinga drying its wings. You'll be sure to see this bird along the Anhinga Trail. -- Photo by Pat Bean

Travels With Maggie

“There are no other Everglades in the world … Nothing anywhere else is like them … the racing free saltness and sweetness of the their massive winds, under the dazzling blue heights of space …. The miracle of the light pours over the green and brown expanse of saw grass and of water, shining and slow-moving below … It is a river of grass.” — Marjory Stoneman Douglas, The Everglades: River of Grass, 1947

Turtles and a cormorant face off for space along the trail. -- Photo by Pat Bean

Turtles and a comorant face off for space along the trail. -- Photo by Pat Bean

The 0.8 mile boardwalk trail is named for the anhinga, a waterbird that swims with only its long neck and head above water. This can give it the appearance of a snake about to strike, hence it’s nickname snakebird. We saw plenty of these birds along the trail, but many other birds as well.

If you go, be sure and stay on the trail. There are more than birds that call this area of the Everglades home.

 

 
 

Beware the jaws that snatch. Photo by Pat Bean

 

 

  Everglades National Park

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Natural Falls State Park, Oklahoma

Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on November 18, 2010| 3 Comments »

Natural Falls -- Photo by Pat Bean

 

Travels With Maggie

“To be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird’s nest or a wildflower in spring — these are some of the rewards of the simple life. — John Burroughs

Natural Falls State Park

The 1974 movie version of “Where the Red Fern Grows,” the story of the love between a boy and his dogs, was shot here where this 77-foot waterfall flows year-round. Trails take you both above and below this scenic Ozarks’ spot, which is located near where Cherokees were forcibly marched during the infamous Trail of  Tears in the 1830s.

I viewed it on a hot late spring day and relished the coolness that radiated from its flow.

The park is located off Highway 412,  six miles west of Siloam Springs, and has excellent full hook-up sites for RVs. If you can, plan to stay awhile.  

 

 



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The Fat Lady Hasn’t Sung so the Journey’s Not Over

Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , on November 16, 2010| Leave a Comment »

 

A sulphur cloud butterfly was still flitting when I reached Arkansas -- Photo by Pat Bean

“Time is a companion that goes with us on a journey. It reminds us to cherish each moment because it will never come again.” Captain Jean-Luc Picard.

And the Gardenia's were still blooming. -- Photo by Pat Bean

 

Travels With Maggie

Come take a jaunt with me, I asked, as I headed to Idaho’s Panhandle some seven months ago. Along the way I gathered new friends and five new life birds and enjoyed the company of old friends and all the other birds along the way.

I saw the gaping hole in Mount St. Helens that was created when the volcanic mountain blew its top. I fed wild turkeys from my hand and almost got blown to Kansas during a West Texas wind storm. I gazed at waterfalls and glaciers on Mount Ranier, took a boat ride on a deep lake where the Navy conducts submarine experiments, and survived a blowout in my RV.

Since leaving Texas in April, I’ve also put an extra 6,000 miles on Gypsy Lee, bringing her total now up to 112,000 miles that we’ve shared on the road together. Thankfully, she still acts like she’s got many more miles in her. I know I do.

Meanwhile, after seven months away it was good to see family again. My two daughters were first. I stopped overnight in Dallas after leaving Vernon to spend an evening with my oldest daughter. Then it was on to Camden, Arkansas, where my youngest daughter lives. I spent a week there babysitting three grandsons while their parents took off for business and pleasure to San Diego.

The boys – 9, 10 and 11 – and I had a great time. We rode bikes, skinned knees, played games and watched Disney videos together. It seemed as if their parents returned home much too quickly.

 

Grandsons Patrick, JJ and Tony look pleased with themselves after scrubing down Gypsy Lee for their Nana. -- Photo by Pat bean

But soon Maggie and my itchy feet were ready to return to the road. As Jack Kerouac said; “What is that feeling when you’re driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? It’s the too-huge world vaulting us, and its good-bye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies.”

 My travels will continue and you’re still welcome to come along.

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Eggs for the Road

Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , , , on November 12, 2010| 2 Comments »

  “A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked.” — Nernard Meltzer

Great-tailed grackles entertain me while I eat my eggs. -- Photo by Pat Bean

Travels With Maggie

   My long-time Utah friend, Kim, cooks the best eggs I’ve ever tasted. Nothing fancy, just plain eggs cooked in butter. Her whites are solid and firm while her yolks are left soft enough to spread out over the plate when broken. The image of these beautiful eggs on a plate beside a piece of buttered toast that I would use to sop up the last drop of golden goodness flickered through my head during my walk with Maggie.

I think the golden sunrise I had just viewed made me think of the gooey roundness of Kim’s perfectly cooked eggs. Or it could be I was just hungry, I decided when the image stayed with me.

Now while I consider myself a good cook – as do my grandkids who urge me to cook for them when I visit – eggs have always been my nemesis. I either undercook the whites or overcook the yolks. I think it has something to do with my lack of patience. Even so, I knew I wanted eggs before I got back on the road for the 200-plus miles I needed to drive today.

I settled for my version of a quick egg breakfast for the road without leaving a single dish to wash up after the meal. I call it my King/Donald/Jack RV Breakfast.

In a small sturdy paper bowl, I break three eggs and lightly scramble. Two are adequate unless you plan to share with a doe-eyed black cocker spaniel whom you know is going to drool as she watches you eat. To this I add two sliced cooked link sausages and a tiny bit of seasoned salt with garlic.

I pop the bowl in the microwave for one minute – covered with a second paper bowl that I use afterward to hold Maggie’s portion. In the meantime I pop two slices of whole grain bread into my toaster. When the minute is up, I take the bowl out of the microwave, stir it up (using a plastic throw away spoon) and add a bit of grated cheese and pop it back in the microwave for another 30 seconds, or until done to preference. I like my scrambled eggs soft and moist not dry.

Maggie waiting for the last bite -- Photo by Pat Bean

While this cooks, I butter my toast and put away the toaster. After giving Maggie her generous portion of the egg mixture, I laddle the rest onto the bread and sit at my table and stare out at the birds while I eat. Maggie always finishes first and usually gets the last bite of mine.
The dirty bowls and plastic silverware go into the trash and once again I find myself driving down the road. Almost before I get out of the RV park, Maggie is snoozing in her co-pilot seat beside me. We are both contented travelers.

                                                     Copyrighted by Pat Bean 

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