May, June, and July have been a swirl of travel, birding, photography, deadlines, and outdoor pursuits. I’ve traveled to the Adirondacks for four days, to the East Coast for five, and then back to the Adirondacks for another week. I’ve slogged through buggy bogs, toured isolated islands by boat and ferry, canoed winding rivers, climbed three mountains, and toured the High Peaks in a six-seat Cessna.
Adirondack Flying Services offers inexpensive aerial tours of the High Peaks
I’ve monitored migrating songbirds, swam in the Finger Lakes, serendipitously observed Delaware’s first Roseate Spoonbill, hosted international friends for ten days, stole away with my best friend, who is also a Mom, to Montezuma NWR to bird for an entire day, shot a few thousand photographs, bought a 1TB (yes, you read that right, 1 TERABYTE) external drive to store them, took a digital photography course, and met existing deadlines while looking for new opps.
While keeping up with the crazy, fun, and seemingly necessary demands of social networking, I’ve blogged too. But not nearly enough, there’s so much to tell you about what I’ve done and where I’ve gone. I hope you’ll forgive the periods of silence here, and know that in between meaty posts I’m living hard, having adventures, and making some hay. (I’m probably Twittering from the field, too: lkamms)
Things are slowing down now so in the next several months I’ll roll out posts on the birding destinations I’ve come to know and let you in on the exciting development in my backyard, namely, the family of Eastern Bluebirds that took residence in my nestbox. Today is Day 19 for the nestlings — the average day that bluebirds fledge. I already spent an hour outside this morning, camera in one hand, cuppa jo in the other, and bins around my neck. I have many nice photos to share of this growing family.
Eastern Bluebird pair feeding nestlings which are about to fledge any day (or hour!).
The fall birding festival is heating up and I’m already hearing from folks who are making their way down to SE Arizona for the Southwest Wings Birding & Nature Festival in Sierra Vista, which I blurbed about on the Away.com blog. I’m major jellus, of course, because those exotic southwest specialties and brilliant hummingbirds call to me in my dreams.
But I will be attending the Midwest Birding Symposium in Lakeside, Ohio (a cottage community in the northwestern shore of Lake Erie). This symposium agenda is shaping up to be fantastic (just look at the speakers!) and I can’t wait to meet and mingle with birding friends old and new. (Su, I know you’re out there and I’m coming at ‘ya!).
Last year I had a fantastic time birding up and down the Eastern Shore of Virginia. The Eastern Shore is a relatively unspoiled peninsula dotted with charming fishing villages and expansive natural areas. Located along the mid-Atlantic flyway, it is a critical staging area for migrating birds, especially in fall. Recently several friends asked me what the Shore has to offer, so I want to share a travel article I wrote on the Shore with you in my next post.
I hope you’ve had a summer full of fun and adventure, too. Thanks for stopping by!
Related posts:
- Birding Guide: Eastern Shore of Virginia (Pt 1) The Eastern Shore of Virginia is a critical staging area for migratory birds along the mid-Atlantic flyway. Each fall, favorable wind conditions funnel migratory birds...
- Flying High Over the High Peaks Flying at 6,000 feet over the Adirondack High Peaks was a major soul-tank filler and a great introduction to the mountain ranges we'd soon climb....
