The Trip Begins

Sunrise over the Chiricahuas 3-11-10 as seen from the Burger King in Wilcox, AZ. (Photo by Kathie)

These photos belong to the story On the Road to Kentucky posted a few days ago. 

I filled all the feeders the day before we left. 3-10-10

Vacant lot next to the Hotel in Texarkana. This was my first view of Arkansas. I counted birds here on Friday morning. I was delighted by the flowering trees. 3-12-10

I saw plenty of mockingbirds on this trip, but this was my first one of the trip and my first in Arkansas. 3-12-10

A brown thrasher sat on the same fence.

 

The view down the side street.

  A lone dead tree silhouetted against a brilliant blue sky in the same vacant lot.  Little did I know this would be the last blue sky I would see for a long time. 3-12-10

I like the sculptural quality of dead trees.  I like them in general.  I think they tell a story.  Perhaps I admire their long lives.  Even in death this tree is useful as a food source and a dwelling.  Perhaps it is the Velveteen Rabbit Syndrome, admiring the scarred body for the life it has lived.  Who knows what stories this tree could tell.  That is the charm and the mystery of it all.

Birds Seen in this Location:

Location: Texarkana La Quinta Inn
Observation date: 3/12/10
Number of species: 10

Black Vulture 6
Turkey Vulture 1
Blue Jay 1
crow sp. 2
Northern Mockingbird 4
Brown Thrasher 2
European Starling 5
Field Sparrow 1
White-throated Sparrow 2
Northern Cardinal 6
House Sparrow 14

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

Birding CT: The Airline Trail, Old Hartford Rd.

(Airline Trail 7-7-08)

Click on photos to enlarge for best view

It took moving to the west to realize how like a rain forest New England is. Now as I walk down the Old Hartford Rd. section of the airline Trail in Colchester I feel like I am entering a long green tunnel. My sister has run on ahead of me. I am following at my own limping pace with camera and binoculars. The steamy summer air is in such contrast to the dry desert air of Arizona, though at this time of year the Monsoon moisture can rival this New England Humidity.

I pass the sign that designate this trail and wander trough walls of green. At first I am not seeing many birds as there is some kind of construction going on past these tangled green walls. I can hear the roar of heavy machinery and it drowns out all the other sounds of nature, but eventually I am past it, and bird song fills the air again. This remnant of a train track from days gone by burrows though the granite hills of Connecticut. I can see the bisected holes that were drilled in the rock in order to blast a level path through. Now, many years later these granite walls are covered with the multi-colored moss of time. It clings to the rock in shades of rust and green. Its neighbors are the lichens eating ever away at the solid granite.

The mixed forest of New England has been beaten back to the edges of the trail, but wild flowers and dog berry bushes are interspersed with meadow grasses along the edge.

Wildflower 7-7-08

Shooting data: Lens: VR 70-300mm;

Focal Length: 300mm; 1/125 sec - F/5.6

Dogberry 7-7-08

Shooting data: Lens: VR 70-300mm; Focal Length: 300mm, 1/20 sec - F/5.6,

Dog berry is a plant strong in my memory from childhood. I remember being told not to eat the berries, luscious though they look, for they are poisonous to children, but before the berries the honeysuckle bloomed and we would sip the nectar from the tube shaped flowers. The sweet goodness is like a drop of liquid from the gods and we could never get more than a tortuous taste of it. It strikes me now how Christmasy this summer plant is. When snow falls silently on these woods this plant will stand bare branched and gray to receive the its winter blanket and all traces of its summer brilliance will be gone.

Downy Woodpecker 7-7-08

shooting data: Lens: VR 70-300mm; Focal Length: 300mm

1/200 sec - F/5.6; Image cropped and enlarged

I walk on past trees and trees and trees. Finally near a little brook the birds become numerous. Until now I have only seen a robin and heard a few birds off in the woods, the usual blue jays and crows mixed with the occasional chickadee. Now I spot a downy woodpecker pounding away at the dead wood of a rotted tree. Grapevines are growing wildly everywhere giving me the feel of an eastern jungle.

Shooting data: Lens: VR 70-300mm; Focal Length: 70mm; 1/125 sec - F/5.6

The vines climb over an arching branch creating a green arbor above from which the dead vines from last year dangle like the loose hair of a forest nymph.

Eastern Chipmunk 7-7-08 by Kathie

Shooting Data: Lens: VR 70-300mm

Focal Length: 300mm,

1/40 sec - F/5.6

Image cropped and enlarged

Farther down the path an eastern chipmunk sits at alert watching me as I pass by. It sits atop one of those moss covered granite walls where greenery is growing out of every nook and cranny. There is not a view to be had around here that is not framed in green until I get to a spot on the trail thick with oaks. Then everything changes.

Here the gray sunlight filters down inhibited by foliage for the tent caterpillars have thoroughly denuded all the trees. Moths fly about in this open area newly emerged from their chrysalises. They look like confetti falling from the forest sky in some perverse celebration of destruction. It is a life renewing ceremony for them as they will mate and lay eggs for the next round of destruction next year.

The Brook Below 7-7-08 by kathie

Shooting data: Lens: VR 70-300mm F/4.5-5.6 G,

Focal Length: 70mm; 1/100 sec - F/4.5

My sister has run her three miles up and now passes me on her way back to the car. I am almost to the bridge so I tell her I will walk that far and turn around to walk back and meet her. Here the bridge arches over Senate Brook below. The bridge abutment built years ago from the same New England granite is also covered in the same mosses that I saw growing on granite outcroppings along the trail. Dark amber water flows far below me and on a branch I spot a flycatcher hunting insects over the water, but I am unable to get a shot off or identify which species it is before it disappears farther down the river and into the woods.

Bridge over the river 7-7-08 by Kathie

Shooting data:Lens: VR 70-300mm F/4.5-5.6 GFocal Length: 70mm; 1/125 sec - F/4.5

Before me the path leads onward. My endless curiosity pulls me on, but here comes my sister with a bottle of water. We need to go. She has to get back to work. We walk in companionable conversation back to her car. While she has run 6 miles (plus the one she ran to come back and meet me) I have walked but one. I feel as if I have been lost in a time warp or another world. On the way out I am captivated by this flash of orange amidst the endless green. This wild lily is like a shooting star or a firecracker in the dark woods of my hometown.

(Wild Lily 7-7-08 by Kathie)

Shooting data: Lens: VR 70-300mm F/4.5-5.6 G

Focal Length: 300mm; 1/125 sec - F/5.6

Author's Note: Today's post is from a series of post chronicling my recent trip to New England. Posts from Sycamore Canyon will be interspersed throughout the week. To read all the posts having to do with this trip, just click on the New England, Colchester, or Connecticut labels below.

Birds Seen on this walk:

1. Downy woodpecker-1
2. Blue jay-1
3. American crown-2
4. Black-cpaeed chickadeee-9
5. White-breated nuthatch-1
6. American Robin-1
7. Eastern towhee-1

July 4th Send-Off

On the morning of July 4th I packed my bags for my trip to the east coast and the annual Adams Family Road Race. Gus had packed the camera the night before but as I hurried about with last minute preparations I glanced out the den window to see the smallest little Gambel's Quail hatchlings I had seen yet. I quickly unpacked the camera, attached the 70 to 300mm lens and snapped of these darling photos. A perfect send off, don't you think? After all, this is a birding blog and a lot of toads have been making an appearance here lately!

So small! This little one looks like a fluffy golf ball with legs!

Two little chicks. You have to figure that patio block is only an inch or 2 thick!

It wasn't until I looked at these photos on the computer that I noticed something strange about the daddy's head. (Click to enlarge for a better view. )

So I cropped and enlarged the bird's head , then checked other photos of the male. Yep! he does have 2 plumes on his head! A 2-plumed Papa! Does that make him more desirable to the ladies?

2008 Adams Family Road Race Results

It’s the evening of the annual Adams Family Road Race.

The various members are gathered at the traditional starting line.

Tension mounts as the racers await the arrival of the latecomers. One family is stopped on the other side of the Connecticut River awaiting the opening of a draw bridge that is broken but set to re-open at 7 p.m. While the race was supposed to start at that time, it has now been delayed. Couch Long has arrived for the start of the race, but he only has a small window of time. Discussions are underway to decide what to do, for we can’t wait until dark to run. As ideas fly about among family members, news comes that the bridge is open and the runners will be here in 15 minutes. However, Coach Long cannot stay and so we say good-bye as we await the arrival of Al, Rachel and kids.

Coach John Long with former students Mary Grace, Stephen, Kathie and Chris

The stranded family soon shows up and now the fun begins. The Adams Family stretches across the starting line, minus the oldest brother, Rick, from North Carolina. The runners range in age from 51 (that would be me) down to 5 years old. All my siblings are looking fit and trim. Apparently I did not inherit that gene. I know I won’t beat any of them, but I would like to beat my time from last year, which is 40:11. I have been walking and even jogging some before I came, but on the day before I left, I hurt my left knee while running through the desert. Then, 2 days ago my brother Stephen showed me how to stretch my IT band, which is a strap of muscle, and tendons that run from your hip to your knee, the same knee I injured. My upper thigh has been hurting ever since.

Gus stands ready with the camera. Renée stands ready with the stop watches. She calls out,

“Runners get ready!"

"GO!”

And we are off.

Gray muggy skies hang above us as we plop, plop, plop, our feet down the road. Already my siblings, my son, Alex, and the various grandchildren, nieces and nephews have disappeared around the corner. I am left watching two five-year-olds outrun me as I plod onward.


The road around the lake winds up small hills, around corners and down small hills. In its 2.8 mile course I pass beneath huge maples, oaks, and alders. There are little cottages dotting the lake with bits of open lawn and rose bushes growing, but much of the road is through thick woods with the damp smell of summer brooks and bogs. Once on the dirt road portion of the run all is silent except the thudding of my feet. I walk up the hills and run down them, trying to get the most distance out of the gravitational pull. I walk to catch my breath, then jog to pick up speed. I find my mind wandering to the surrounding and to what I will write in my blog and then I remind myself that this is a race and to “Focus!” I jog a little faster.

I’ve been in 3 car accidents in my life and so my right leg is my weaker one and it usually depends on the left to take up the slack, but today it is the left leg that is injured and the right leg must work harder. As I run I imagine the conversation between the two of them:

“Hey, Lefty, what’s going on over there? You’re falling down on the job! Pick up the pace!”

“It ain’t gonna happen, Righty. Not this year.”

“Well I can’t do it. Everyone knows I’m the weaker leg. Come on, you can do it!”

“Sorry Righty, it just ain’t gonna happen. This race is up to you.”

Righty grumbles and drags a bit, and my two legs plod on.

The final stretch of the race is where the back road of the lake meets the main road at a T. It is here that my brother Stephen meets me and jogs alongside to encourage me. I always appreciate that he does this, and he does it almost every year I have run. Everyone else has finished already. Once again I am last. Stephen tells me that Alex won, which is what we all expected, and Stephen was Second. He is only a year and half younger than I am, but he has won this race 7 times in the 12 years that we have run it. My sister consistently finishes in the top 5, and she is there again this year in spite of having neck surgery just a few months ago.

My time for this year is 41:28. I didn’t beat my last year’s time after all. I am disappointed, but hopeful. In my perpetual optimism, like Charlie Brown with his football, I believe I will do better next year.

To view the Adams Family Road Race Results with photos read below or click on the highlighted link for just the 2008 stats.

Renee checks the stop watch.


The first runner appears.


1st Place Alex (20:02)

2nd place Stephen (20:53)


3rd place Chris (21:58)


4th place Al (23:16)

5th place Mary Grace (25:52)


6th place Bernie III(26:28) and 7th place Kyle (26:29)


8th place Bernie II (26:56)

At the finish line awaiting the final runners.


Donna comes in 9th with a time of 32:21

(she is much faster but she stopped to walk with her grandchildren for awhile)



Kathie finishes 10th with a time of 41:28.


Chris and I before the race.

Many thanks to Gus for all of tonight's photography and to Renee for being our timer. Thanks to Stephen for starting and maintaining this family tradition and to Stephen and Donna for buying and sharing their new cottage at the lake with us where we had a wonderful barbecue afterwards and reminisced long into the night while fireflies flickered among tall trees at the edge of the woods.

The Adams Family Road Race

It's the morning of the Adams Family Road Race. From all across the United States the Adams Family has gathered. Kathie flew in on Saturday, July 5 in the morning. That evening it was back to Bradley International Airport to pick up Alex as he flew in from Ft. Lewis in Washington State. Alex has just returned from a 15 month tour of duty with the army in Iraq. It will be the first time some of the family has seen him in 4 years. For his mother, Kathie, it was her first time seeing her son since he arrived home. Renee, Alex's older sister arrived on Tuesday night, and Gus arrived around 10:00 a.m. today.

Stephen, the middle brother and founder of the race has been here since last month. The Adams Family Road Race was his idea over 11 years ago as a way to keep his aging siblings, including himself, in shape. Stephen first conceived of a web page to chronicle the Adams Family Road Race. From his efforts with that first page TriFind.Com was born. Largely self taught, Stephen created the American Triathlon Calendar out of frustration when he went searching for triathlons to compete in as training for the Adams Family Road Race and couldn't find any to sign up for. He could only find race results. TriFind.com has now grown to be the largest Triathlon Calendar on the Internet. Stephen is very competitive and he wanted to beat all of his siblings in the race. A look at the statistic will reveal the year he lost 20 lbs and did just that. Kathie suffers from no such delusions and is quite happy to even finish the 2.8 mile run.

The Road race has become such a family tradition that our old high school cross country coaches have even attended and help keep time. Mr. Lander and Mr. Long were both teachers and track coaches from Bacon Academy in Colchester. Now retired, they may show up once again tonight to time the race and watch their former students and athletes run (or walk as the case may be). When the race is finished the family and friends will gather at Stephen and Donna's new cabin for hotdogs and hamburgers grilled over a firepit. Race Results will be posted here and on the Adams Family Road Race web page.

Gus will be the photographer of the event, and Janice Adams, the matriarch of the family will watch her gaggle of children, grandchildren and great-grand-children as they race around the lake and sprint panting for the finish line.

On a personal note I must acknowledge how proud we all are of my Mother who raised the five of us by herself after my father abandoned her with 5 kids back in the 60's. My oldest brother was 10 and my youngest was only 2. My mom didn't even know how to drive a car, but she learned, went to college to become a teacher, got a job and got off welfare. She taught first grade in the Lebanon Elementary School System for 25 years until she retired. You're the best, Mom!

Hello From Connecticut!

I was greeted by gray skies and humidity when the plane landed on Saturday. I saw my first birds before we even got home--3 Canadian geese on someone's front lawn in Glastonbury and a great blue heron that flew over Rt. 2 on our way to Colchester. My son, Alex, who is just home from Iraq and on leave flew in Saturday night. He's the most important bird I have seen so far. What a sight for Mom's eyes to see his smiling face as he walked down the hallway in Bradley International Airport. You can bet I hugged the stuffing out of him after his 15 months in Iraq.

On Sunday we drove out to Lake Hayward where my brother, Stephen just bought a cottage. Every year for the past 12 years our family has gotten together to run the Adams Family Road Race. All 5 of us siblings ran cross county in high school and it was my brother Stephen's great idea to get us all together once a year to run the old cross country course. Of the 5 of us, he is the middle child and currently the fasted. I'm second oldest and the slowest, but I plug on anyways, determined to be included. My skinny little sister can run circles around me, and I am very proud of her. However, all bets are on Alex to win the race this year. He ran with Stephen on Sunday night and that kid can run like the wind!

At Stephen's new cottage I saw a rose-breasted grosbeak and 6 tufted titmice. A ruby-throated hummingbird politely appeared at my sister's hummingbird feeder just so I could see it! I counted birds sitting eating my breakfast outside my Mother's house this morning, and then I walked the Airline Trail off Old Hartford Road while my sister ran. I heard more birds than I saw but it was a pleasant walk anyway, and I photographed some wildflowers to boot. However, the moths were as thick as fleas and most of the oak trees were denuded from the tent caterpillars before their metamorphosis.

This evening I took yet another walk about the streets in town. I found myself being observed as much as I was out to observe the birds. I walked behind a nearby restaurant where there is a wooded area along the edge of the parking lot in my search for birds. As I stopped to photograph a squirrel lying along the branch of a tree I happened to look up at the building behind me. It was actually a 2 story house and a man was leaning out the second story window watching me watch the birds! I jumped back, startled and apologetic. I didn't know there was a house there and I was technically standing in his back yard. He didn't seem to mind, though, and cautioned me to watch my step as I cut though to yet another parking lot down a small embankment.

From here I walked through the town office and police station parking lot. The manicured lawns are surrounded by tree where I often seen birds. Tonight the robins are out in force and before the night was over I would count 28 of them. I guess the people of this town must not get too many birders passing through because I got such stares and even questions about what I was doing. One gal asked me what I was taking pictures of and if it was my hobby. A child asked if I was a photographer. A man sitting on his porch drinking a glass of red wine asked what kind of birds I was looking for. Another man wanted to know if I was lost and needed help! (I really think he wanted to know what I was up to. As soon as I told him I was trying to identify a bird in the thicket he lost interest!)

My route took me past the schools I went to when I was growing up. So many memories fought with my desire to spot and count birds. A pair of Killdeer ran across the parking lot of a new school that has been built in the field that formally held our highschool race track when I attended here. So many changes, but the old skating pond is still there on Halls Hill Rd. Only tonight it is ice free and full of lily pads with a Canadian goose family on the shore. As twilight starts to descend I look out over the water trying to find a few last birds. The geese walk towards me, begging for food I assume. When I offer none, the mother goose starts to hiss and snake her head at me. I stand my ground. Is she concerned for her goslings safety, or is she just mad that I didn't feed them? Finally she and the rest of her brood walk away and continue to graze on the tender shoots of grass that grow around the pond edges.

As I continue down Halls Hill rd I come to the corner of Pleasant Street where I will turn towards home. Suddenly I spot something flying rapidly above my head. There are six of them and I am trying to decide if they are birds or bats. Their flight is swift, their bodies dark and chunky and their wings pointed and boomerang like. They remind me of the Vaux swift I have seen in Arizona and I realize that I am seeing the Chimney swifts of the east coast--lifers for me! So, my evening ended in triumph as I head back to my mother's house which was once my grandparents home. Like all family homes, it is chock full of memories, along with the accumulated stuff of 70 years of life.

Just a note: I have read everyone's comments and I thank you all for your well wishes. I will come and visit you when I can. As you can see, I can get into my blog, but I don't know if I will be able to post photos until I return. Rest assured, the camera is snapping away, and Gus was finally able to get rid of the dust spot from the lens, so all photos from here on out should be free from distraction!