Love and some verses you hear

I ventured to South Carolina to celebrate the creation of a new family. The heat and humidity were familiar, and the beauty of the festivities was present in everything: in the bouquet, the people, and the Chuck-wills-widow that called in the warm lingering night. That thing granting all this beauty was born, and with luck and hard work will abide with love.

As made of honor I shared a few words from Wendell Berry with the happy couple:

"Horseback on Sunday morning, harvest over, we taste persimmon and wild grape, sharp sweet of summer's end. In time's maze over fall fields, we name names that went west from here, names that rest on graves. We open a persimmon seed to find the tree that stands in promise, pale, in the seed's marrow. Geese appear high over us, pass, and the sky closes. Abandon, as in love or sleep, holds them to their way, clear, in the ancient faith: what we need is here. And we pray, not for new earth or heaven, but to be quiet in heart, and in eye clear. What we need is here."

From 'The Country of Marriage', selected poems by Wendell Berry

#wedding #family #friends

Giving Thanks. For Life & Beauty

After long journeys to the east coast we finally spent some time with friends and family in South Florida. We enjoyed a traditional thanksgiving filled with delicious turkey, ham, the impossible squash, the casseroles, the yams, and of course the pièce de résistance - the gravy. This may come as no surprise but I'm quite certain that I'm fired from gravy duty.

Nonetheless, it was a blessing to formulate, feast, and ferment. Thanksgiving traditions are always eagerly anticipated and these help cement the day as my favorite holiday. It reminds me to be a better communicator, to work together in the kitchen, to release the taxing pursuit of our own routines and expectations, and to simply share a meal with those you love.

And of course we did some birding. November birding in Florida is salve for the Boreal soul. Shorebirds, waders, warblers, and ducks all happily feeding. I'll share just a few highlights.

Perhaps because a member species is the iconic bird of the north or perhaps its because of their inquisitive nature and complex social structures, I'm not sure, but we both love corvids. So much so, that we chased down this endangered member of the family, the Florida Scrub Jay. This is the only bird species known to be endemic to Florida (only occurs here).

After watching the pair interact for 15 minutes, we added the bird to our 2018 big year list and I noticed it was our 300th U.S. bird species of the year! (We finished the trip at 315)

The spontaneity that is birding surprised us with two other endangered species. We had the fortune of starting one 6am birding adventure feet away from a Snail Kite eating its breakfast (apple snail) in the fog. On another we watched a petite Piping Plover roam the beach before the world woke. It's impossible to pick a favorite (okay, we sometimes have favorites), but other notable highlights included Magnificent Frigatebird, Northern Gannet, and the Grasshopper Sparrow below. You can see more photos from our trip on the photo blog entry.

#thanksgiving #birding #BigYear

Just want to see some birds?

Ovenbird

Reddish Egret

Yellow-throated Warbler

Black & Blue Warbler

Black Skimmer

Piping Plover

Florida Scrub Jay

Willow Ptarmagin_

Lesser Yellowlegs

Long-tailed Jaeger_

Northern Wheatear

American Dipper 2

Red-necked Grebe

Western Sandpiper

Black Scoter

Stilt Sandpiper

Semi-palmated Sandpiper

White-rumped Sandpiper

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher

Rhinoceros Auklet

Marsh Wren

Common Yellowthroat

Brandt's Cormorant

Pigeon Guillimot

Least Sandpiper

Cinnamon Teal

Surfbird

Buff-breasted Sandpiper

Semipalmated Plover

Song Sparrow

Parasitic Jaeger

Pectoral Sandpiper

Lapland Longspur

Harlequin Duck

Blackpoll Warbler

Red Knot

Mallard

Tree Swallow

Dunlin

Wilson's Warbler

Hammonds Flycatcher

Hudsonian Godwit

Northern Harrier

Whimbrel

Bonaparte's

Red-necked Phalarope

Red Breasted Nuthatch

Greater White Fronted Goose

Trumpeter Swan

Harlani

Peregrine at Creamers

Common Goldeneye

Male Black-backed Woodpecker

Snow Buntings at UAF

Snow Buntings

Cleary Summit N. Hawk Owl

American Three-toed Woodpecker

Anna's Hummingbird

Red-breasted Merganser

Golden-crowned Sparrow

Black Oystercatcher

Sooty Fox Sparrow

Brant

Cackling (and Canada) Goose

Northern Hawk Owl

Boreal Chickadee

Roseate Spoonbill

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

Anhinga

Hooded Merganser

Red-shouldered Hawk (Florida sub )

Black & White Warbler

Purple Gallinule

Broad-winged Hawk

Eastern Screech Owl

One of the things we love most about birding is observing birds in their natural habitats. Lists don't matter when we're outside and in the moment; it's just about the excitement and wonder of a being more charismatic than ourselves. The diversity of life strategy, appearance, and joy of being a part of it all is what inspires us to keep going out and making new experiences. If we're not too caught up in the magic of it all, Paul often manages to capture special shots that hold unique memories.

We'll keep updating and reposting this page as we bird the year away.

#BigYear #photos