ABOUT ME -
My name is Amy and I'm a birder living in central Florida with my husband, Arthur. Besides birding I love to travel. I was fortunate enough to live in Arthur's native Holland for nearly 10 years. We spent a lot of that time traveling around Europe and beyond - birding, scuba diving and having a great time generally exploring our world. Before moving to Florida in mid-2011, Arthur and I lived in the Chicagoland area, close to where I grew up, for nearly three years. While in northern Illinois I became involved with a local birding club and volunteered with a fantastic wildlife rehabilitation center and at a summer bird banding station. I hope I will be able to do some of these same activities in Florida! On this blog I write about my own wild birdwatching & backyard birding experiences, interesting bird news, and a bit about the birding-themed gifts for in our shop here and at Birdorable.
Unless otherwise stated, all books and other products reviewed on this blog were purchased or independently acquired by the reviewer. Readers who make a purchase by clicking on links in product reviews or featured t-shirt posts (T-Shirt Tuesday) may result in the blogger receiving a commission or referral fee.
Last year on January 24th I failed to find a new bird in the Bird-a-Day Challenge, and the game was over for the year. Yesterday I didn’t go out birding, so I had to pick something from the day’s yard list. My bird of the day was the American Robin; and so the game continues today with my first day birding at the Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival.
Strategy dictates that the “best” bird of the day is chosen for the challenge, and that typically means the rarest bird that hasn’t been used for the challenge so far. Very often, it’s difficult to pick which bird to add to the list – and remove from the taking as the game progresses. I picked American Robin yesterday because I had already used up some of the “better” birds previously in the game: Gray Catbird and Cedar Waxwing are much more hit-or-miss than the robin of late. But American Robins don’t spend the summer here (as if I’ll get that far in the game!) and they typically leave earlier in the spring than other winter birds seen yesterday (Yellow-rumped Warbler, Tree Swallow, etc) – so they were the best choice to check off in the challenge.
January 4th: Black-and-white Warbler in our yard
So far this game has been messing with my birder mind.
When I found a Limpkin at Lake Monroe Park on January 8th, I knew it was the bird of the day, even though it was early in the morning. I don’t find Limpkins on local outings very often, and I was sure I wouldn’t find anything better later while peeking at yard birds throughout the day. But I had to bike home from Lake Monroe Park first. I found myself half-hoping the Wild Turkeys and Northern Bobwhites would keep out of my view. Those birds were one- or two-hit wonders last year, and though I am ALWAYS on the lookout for them to cross my path, I kinda sorta did NOT want to see them after I got Limpkin in my mind for the day. A birder who doesn’t want to see seldom-found patch birds? Crazy.
January 8th: Limpkin at Lake Monroe Park
Regrets? I’ve had a few. Well, maybe just one.
When I saw a Gray Catbird on the Spring-to-spring Trail back on January 5th, it was my first catbird of the year, and only my third one since moving to Florida. Since recording the Gray Catbird as my bird for that day, I have seen Gray Catbirds six more times; it seems I’m seeing them every third day or so. We even had one in the yard – two different days! A better choice for that day might have been Eastern Bluebird (recorded just 3 times; used later), or maybe Killdeer (also 3). But it’s too late for that!
January 12th: Eastern Bluebird at Gemini Springs
I’m relieved to get further in the game this year than 2011, even though I didn’t really think it would be too hard. Onward to February!
The Big Year comes out on DVD and Blu-ray one week from today. I’m excited to be able to offer my readers the chance to win a copy of The Big Year on DVD! It’s super-easy to enter – just leave a comment below! The giveaway is open to anyone with a U.S. or Canada street address. Past blog contest winners are eligible. The winner will be picked via random drawing on Tuesday, January 31st; post your comment by 11:59PM on January 30th to be eligible for the drawing.
To help promote the release, Fox publicity came up with this cute personality quiz for birders. If you take the quiz, let me know which bird type you are. I’m a Bar-tailed Godwit.
Several other bird bloggers are giving away a copy of The Big Year on DVD. After leaving your comment below, check out these posts from other bird bloggers to increase your chances of winning!
The Big Year is coming to the home market on DVD and Blu-ray on January 31st. The Blu-ray includes an extended version of the movie, as well as some other extras not available on the DVD version.
In the extended version of The Big Year, the story is told not via Brad Harris but by the narrator of the intro in the theatrical version (John Cleese). Because of this, certain scenes are edited a bit differently, and the movie has a slightly different feel from what was shown in cinemas last fall. The relationship between Brad and Stu is still pivotal, but it has a less one-sided feel (an improvement). In the extended version we also learn just a bit more about Brad’s personal life, which may have been awkward if included in the narrated-by-Brad version of the story.
The narrator talks during many of the scenes that Brad narrates in the theatrical version of the film. In these scenes and in others, John Cleese’s narrator often uses bird analogies when speaking about the characters of The Big Year. Some of these are a bit cheesy, but for the most part they work. In a movie about birders, it makes sense to compare important moments in the lives of the main characters to the pivotal moments in the lives of birds.
Parts of the extended version are framed by scenes featuring a Ruby-throated Hummingbird; the female bird’s migration in particular transitions between certain parts of the movie in a very effective way. The bird is CGI and looks beautiful.
These small differences between the theatrical and extended versions of The Big Year actually make a big difference in the story; I loved what I saw in the cinema but I may have loved the extended version even more. If you enjoyed The Big Year in cinemas last fall, you’ll probably enjoy the extended version, too. And if you didn’t get a chance to see it (its run was quite short!), I suggest you give both versions a try. I give The Big Year extended version 5 Goldfinches out of 5.
Thank you to Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment and Think Jam for providing me with a screener copy of The Big Year for review.
Threadless has another great clearance sale going on right now with shirts as low as $9. As usual there are some cool bird ones among the dozens of sale tees. Here are some of my favorites.
Bird Brain ($9 on sale) is a detailed anatomical drawing hummingbird mashup. To see the design details, click through to the original submission, where the artist wrote this shirt makes a fantastic way to impress that pre-med / ornithology co-ed you’ve had your eye on all semester.
The Northern Black-capped Gumchewer is on sale for $9. I think this funny design of birds chewing bubble gum is my favorite shirt of this bunch. May have to buy this one before the sale ends!
Song Bird is also on sale for $9. The bird kind of looks like a Limpkin with short legs (and something wrong with its head). Click through to the original submission to read the artist’s cute description of this whimsical design. In part: Native lore credits the long necked bird with the origin of music.
The Incredible Hawk is available on sale shirts ($9) and hoodies ($24.50). The hoody has a neat shield design on the front pocket area with the full “angry bird” design on the back.
Field Study 01 ($9 on sale) is a really beautiful design with a couple of very unfortunate spelling errors. The silhouettes are accompanied by a key, and two of the bird names are misspelled. Bummer.
The Messenger is on sale for $9. Like many other Threadless designs, this one is available on other products like iPhone cases, prints, and laptop skins, too, at society6.
Owls Ask Too Many Questions ($9 on sale) is really popular, though its not my favorite. The girly style is nearly sold out (just one left as of this writing).
Bird Nests ($19 on sale) was part of a imaginary sports league challenge. The back of this shirt has a circular logo for the Fighting Bird’s Nests along with the slogan “Go Nesty Go!”
The sale ends on January 25th at 10AM Central, but since quantities are limited these styles might sell out before the sale is over. If you see something you like, better not wait!
I see Snowy Egrets at my local patch all the time, but until earlier this month, I’d never seen one at the beach. Arthur and I were relaxing on New Smyrna Beach on a cool afternoon when we noticed a large white bird heading our way along the waterline. It was hunting, successfully, small fish as it proceeded down the beach. I took a few photos from where we sat; later Arthur got a bit closer for some action shots and a short video. Its hunting style looked a bit frantic, but it was very successful!
photo by Arthur de Wolf
photo by Arthur de Wolf
photo by Arthur de Wolf
video by Arthur de Wolf
I’ve submitted this post to this week’s Bird Photography Weekly. BPW is a regular collection of user-submitted bird photos from all over the world. The new edition comes out every Sunday. Go have a look at this week’s submissions!
Arthur and I went kayaking at Gemini Springs this morning. It was probably the birdiest kayak route we’ve ever had, with herons, egrets, ibises, coots, gallinules and others lurking at every bend. We even saw several relatively scarce species: Green Heron; Limpkin; and American Bittern – three of them! Tree Swallows, Belted Kingfishers and Osprey hunted from above. In the four-mile round trip paddle I was surprised to see more Tricolored Herons (over a dozen) and Glossy Ibis (a flock of about 50) than I’ve ever seen before. Numbers of Wood Storks, White Ibis and Snowy Egret were also surprisingly high.
Despite all this abundance I think the most interesting thing I saw all morning was this Great Blue Heron, a very common bird.
It was standing up to its lower body in the water. Hmm, I never saw a GBHE hunting from this depth before. Interesting.
After a moment it was clear the bird was not hunting at all. It was bathing! What an operation! Unfortunately I am useless when it comes to taking photos from the kayak. As soon as I reach for my camera, the kayak starts spinning, or moving directly towards the creature I want to photograph. So I only managed this splash action picture before stabilizing my kayak and watching this big beauty proceed with a very active bath.
Afterwards it stepped up on some nearby reeds to complete its preening duties. I couldn’t find any information about Great Blue Heron bathing habits on BNA Online, bummer. I did find a nice photo series of a Great Blue bathing on Flickr, though. Check it out: Great Blue Heron Bathing.
The annual Bald Eagle Watch at Starved Rock State Park is coming up later this month. I am posting this as a public service to all of the visitors who land on my blog looking for updated information about this event. You can find the details on the Illinois Audubon Society site, or read on.
Bald Eagle Watch Weekend
2012 Dates: January 28-29
Location: Starved Rock Lodge and Illinois Waterway Visitor Center
Admission: Free
Events include live raptor programs by the World Bird Sanctuary and the Illinois Raptor Center. There will be other vendors and programs at the event, which takes places at the two different spots noted in the map below. The Illinois Waterway Visitor Center is north of the river; Starved Rock is to the south. See the IAS Bald Eagle Watch Brochure for other events and further details.
For a while I was considering the docent program at the Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens. The zoo, in Sanford, is just about 10 minutes away from where we live. Arthur and I paid our first visit to the zoo earlier this month, to see what the park is like and to see some of the raptors and other birds in the zoo’s programming.
Every Saturday and Sunday there are two scheduled bird programs.
At 11:30AM we saw the “Bird Show” on the Magpie Jay Stage. Here we learned about several different species which were either brought out on the glove or flown. Both Florida native species and birds found elsewhere were included in this program.
Two birds flew. A Harris’s Hawk flew between perches around the audience, and a Red-shouldered Hawk flew between handlers across the spectators.
Red-shouldered Hawk
Other birds in this program were the Guira Cuckoo, found throughout South America, and the Black-throated Magpie-jay, found in Mexico.
Black-throated Magpie-jay
The incredibly long tail feathers of the Black-throated Magpie-jay
Guira Cuckoo
Three birds native to Florida were presented: an Eastern Screech Owl; a Red-tailed Hawk, and the previously-mentioned Red-shouldered Hawk. These three were all permanently non-releasable birds with injuries; the Red-tailed Hawk was originally found in our new hometown of DeBary. I was interested to learn that in our part of Florida, grey phase Eastern Screech Owls are more common than red phase, which is the type in their program. This bird was originally found in the eastern part of Volusia County.
Eastern Screech Owl
At 1:00PM we went to the “Raptor Encounter” program, which was a short informal program featuring Ray, a Florida Bald Eagle with a permanent wing injury. The handler was joined by a fellow zookeeper who told us about Bald Eagles in general and about Ray specifically.
Bald Eagle
Bald Eagle and handler
The zoo has a number of other birds on display, though I’ll admit my focus during this visit was mainly on the birds in the educational programs.
Two Bald Eagles were on display in a completely open exhibit; both are non-flighted but we watched them move around with ease among their open-air perching.
We also saw three macaws in a different open-air display, including a snoozing Green-winged Macaw.
The Central Florida Zoo is involved in 11 Species Survival Plans, working on captive breeding critically endangered species, an impressive number for a small institution. Though the zoo is relatively small, we enjoyed our visit. The docent program looks like a good one; unfortunately the timing of the training this winter/spring doesn’t really work out for me / us right now. The training usually takes place twice a year; we may think about it again in the fall!
The Big Year will be coming out on DVD and Blu-ray in just a few weeks, on January 31st.
I really enjoyed the movie both times I managed to see it during its theatrical run, which was unfortunately quite short.
The first time was a midnight screening opening day where Arthur and I were the only attendees. Just three weeks later we caught it again, this time at a second-run cinema with a handful of other viewers.
I’m looking forward to seeing The Big Year again in the comfort of home in just a few weeks, and I’m especially looking forward to seeing the extended version and what extras the producers will be including with the release. Extras slated for the Blu-ray include a behind-the-scenes feature, 14 deleted scenes, and a gag reel.
The publicity department at Fox is gearing up for The Big Year release; here’s hoping that DVD and Blu-ray sales perform better than the initial box office run! If you’re gearing up for the upcoming home video release too, here’s a cute graphic Big Year / New Year’s Resolutions Checklist you can print out as a reminder. January 31st – save the date!
I was looking at bird houses an Amazon.com the other day when I ran across this Perky-Pet feeder. The Tufted Titmouse on the left side seems to be having trouble using the feeder.
