Adventures in Sweden (Part 2)

While in Sweden, I had the opportunity to bird with a local birding group. I did not bring my camera, so no photos, but it was a blast. The entire trip was conducted in Swedish, but thankfully I had studied up on the Swedish names of several common birds, so I was mostly able to understand when the leader pointed out birds. It was just a lot of fun being around fellow birders, regardless of the language difference – we all share a love of birds!

A highlight from that day was learning the song of the Garden Warbler. I kid you not, the bird sounds almost exactly like R2-D2. My mom and I called it the R2-D2 bird until I was able to actually identify it.

The next great excursion was our day trip to Uppsala (and Sigtuna on the way back). First, we stopped in Gamla (Old) Uppsala, to see the old church and the Viking burial mounds. We also ended up eating lunch there, attended by jackdaws, which are the common crows of Sweden.

Adventures in Sweden (Part 1)

After Iceland, we went to Stockholm, Sweden to visit with cousins. My grandparents were also with us, as it is through my grandma’s side of the family that we have Swedish relatives. I met cousins who I hadn’t seen since I was 4 years old, and some who I’d never met at all. It was incredible.

I have to say, the birding was also pretty great. Sure, we did a lot of sightseeing and spending time with family, but I could usually bird along the way. It helps that my family is aware of my obsession, and I am so grateful for their patience whenever I lagged behind to look at birds.

Opportunistic Birding in Iceland

One of the reasons why birding is my favorite hobby is that it is literally the most portable hobby in the world. You don’t actually need anything to bird, and the few basics that vastly improve the experience are easy to carry. Plus, you can bird anywhere as long as you maximize your opportunities.

Hence, all trips are birding trips, regardless of whether or not that was the original intent of the whole thing.

Eclipse!

We are taking a break from our regular avian programming to provide coverage of the spectacular solar eclipse that just happened this morning. There will, of course, be partial descriptions of birds, but the total eclipse is the star of today’s presentation. Our position in South Salem had a stellar view of this complete solar lunacy. (Sorry…not sorry.)

This was probably one of the most incredible things I’ve ever witnessed. As the moon slowly moved in front of the sun, the lighting just became dimmer and dimmer… It was so weird, but very exciting! The air even became cooler as more of the sun was blocked. It was fun to see how the light and shadows changed in our yard, a real treat.

Malheur NWR

For the first time in my life, I had the opportunity to go out to Malheur National Wildlife Refuge with a group of fellow birders from Salem Audubon. Now, as this was back in May (I’m a hopeless procrastinator), I’m afraid I can’t get too detailed. Therefore, this will mostly be a photo dump with some helpful comments inserted here and there.

I highly enjoyed this trip, and would recommend visiting to both birders and non-birders alike. There is just so much natural beauty here.

Birdathon Highlights

May was kind of a hectic month. To begin, I had three final exams, and my mom defended her dissertation. Then, we took off for California to do a race at Disneyland and visit family. And, of course, May is Salem Audubon Society’s Birdathon fundraising month. That crazy schedule means that I have spent only a third of the month actually at home (in broken chunks), and haven’t been particularly organized.

Nevertheless, I managed to see 171 species over the course of the month, a new personal best. This was helped by a stellar May 1, birding in the morning after one of my exams. Corban is a phenomenal birding site, and I ended up seeing 35 species that day, including a Great Horned Owl, 2 kinds of vireo, and 6 different warblers. I didn’t take any photos that day, but what follows is a photographic highlight reel from the month.

After finals were over, my step-grandpa and I headed out to Yaquina Head, which is always a great spot.

The annual Common Murre population density shot.

Brief Update

The big news is, I’m now writing for Odyssey at my school, and as I’m planning to write about birds there as well, I thought perhaps you all might be interested in checking it out. I just published my first article, which was about Birdathon over the years.

The other bit of news I have is that I’ve got two posts coming up pretty soon, which will chronicle May’s high jinks and general craziness. And that’s about it for now, I think.

Of Proverbs and Hummingbirds

Today, I thought I’d share a few things I’ve been mulling over, rather than posting the usual stream of photos and recent field trip highlights (mainly because I haven’t been on any field trips or taken many photos).

Playing Catch-Up

Hello folks, I’m sorry it’s been so many months since I’ve published anything. To make up for that, I’ll share with you now the best photos (and a video!) since my last post in May. I’m afraid it’s a little light on the bird pictures, but it seems that I’ve just had the best luck with “not-birds” in recent months. So without further ado, please enjoy the wildlife from my semi-recent trips!

In May, the murres were packed in on the rocks at Yaquina Head, as usual.

Birding U.C. Davis

Earlier this month, my mom had a conference at U.C. Davis, and my sister and I got to come along. There’s a really nice little arboretum there, and we were able to go walking in it almost every day while we were there.

Green Herons were quite common around the long pond in the arboretum. This one was sitting on what appeared to be an upside-down table floating in the pond!