Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Biggest Week in American Birding - How to tell birds and birders at Pearson Metro Park

First post of several posts from our annual trip to northwest Ohio ... This will be a "quickie and cutie".

(...well ..., now in review and retrospect, probably not a quickie ...far too many stories to tell and memories to relate ...)   But, really I have great Judy pics herein to share! Keep reading ...

OK. Tonight I finally finished dumping all our photographic memory cards from The Biggest Week in American Birding to the computer and backing them up on DVDs. Impulsive am I! Gotta have a backup before I proceed. Thank goodness I had my new laptop there and backed up several memory cards before we came home; otherwise I would be even farther behind! (Can you imagine two DVDs each day and thousands of pics?!) I had planned this year to blog from the Biggest Week because I had a laptop, but I'll tell you, birding really can be exhausting! Up fairly early. No naps (!!!). And, there are always more places to visit and birds to see before we could quit each day! And then, there is the need to eat and sleep! I just had no more energy each day ...

But sometimes when we were tired out, we knew we could count on Pearson Metro Park in Oregon Ohio for a restful place to sit and bird. We especially love the Window on Wildlife! Several Ohio Metro Parks have them! Feeders out and filled. Pearson is only about a mile from the Holiday Inn Express where we stayed. (BTW applause to the Holiday Inn that had special birder rates and supports birding in the area - highly recommend!) We had one "recovery day" at Pearson MP mid-week, and then went back the morning we were leaving. We love this place! These pics are all from the last morning.

Another "shout out" to this Oregon Holiday Inn. As last year, they had the BWIAB Guide welcoming us in the lobby (Love it! Welcome indeed!), but this year they also had their own special poster welcoming birders. I really liked the poster's presence, but never really enjoyed the subtlety of it until our last morning where I was looking more closely at one over breakfast. (And yes I always used to read cereal boxes ...) Huh? I had to go closer to appreciate ... What was the "fine print"? Super! Very cute!!!

Holiday Inn poster. Cool!

Gotta love it! I gotta post on "Facebird"!
And I need to add huge applause for Kimberley Kaufman from Black Swamp Bird Observatory (BSBO) for really involving the local businesses in recognizing the HUGE impact birders have to the local economy, and arranging special rates at the Holiday Inn (they were sold out for the entire festival)!!! These guys at the hotel understand!!!

Yes, we met SO many "locals" who 'sort of' knew about local birding there, but had never done it yet, but they are now thinking about it. Plant the seeds - they will grow! We planted many seeds as well  ... We were "out and about" and dropping BSBO birder cards and expressing our excitement as we went. What fun to talk birding!!! It seemed everyone was receptive!

[... And I thought this post will be a "quickie and cutie"... What do I know what will happen when I start up ... I cannot help myself ... "rambling" is my trademark!...]

It was also fun when I was talking to a "good ol' boy" from Galveston TX out front at the hotel about my former primary passion of fishing. It all started because I liked his shirt for Hook Spit lures (love the name!). He showed me pics of the love of his life on his cell phone. No, not wife or kids, but his boat! A "flats boat". I learned a lot! His boat with a 150 hp big motor runs in 4 inches of water!!! Guess they have a way of sucking water that allows the props work on thru tubes  - not an air-boat, not big props uselessly spinning in mud like they would in the shallows here, but sucking water thru tubes to propel the boat. Very fascinating  - amazing actually!!! And as for birders, he noted that all the fishing guides in Galveston forgo fishing in the fall - and especially winter -to take birders out to see the migrating birds!!! Much more profitable than fishing! VERY fascinating!!! Always learning am I!

Hey! I want to do both!!!

Geez! Here I went again! Tonight  I just wanted to do a "quickie", but memories  keep flooding in! We had SO much fun! I will add more pics from Pearson later on in another post. Great stuff for lazy birding! Busy Indigo Buntings and two "lifers" to share!!! (Stay tuned for more pics. Great stuff! This is just another "Dr. Bob  ramble" tonight ...)

OK. Back on track. - like how I  started to write my "ramble".

While dumping photo cards tonight, the last card was Judy's card from the morning we were leaving. I think the pics tell a cute story and wanted to tell it. These are all Judy's pics from her Canon SX50 "point-and-shoot" (Great cam!).  I just LOVE my wife and birding companion!!! I think it is totally fun and appropriate to highlight her pics of our adventure on our last day! She "done good" and gave me a great story to write tonight!!!

So here goes. The captions tell my thoughts. (... read the captions!!! They tell the story related to the title!).  Judy and I love it all!!!

Birding
Not birding

Bird
Not bird
Fox (our first ever in wilds!!!)
Not fox
Birders (BWIAB trip to Pearson)
Not birders (cops training their "working dogs")
Pearson MP is a park for all - as are many other outdoors spots. It is SO wonderful to just see folks enjoying the outdoors! This place encourages everyone! During the BWIAB we met many birders there, but also so many others. And the many more times and places at which we share our birding passions with others, the more future birders we entice to try it for themselves! Even if not bringing new birders into the fold, Pearson MP is a great place to be out and about in Nature and just enjoy the heck out of every minute we are alive!. Judy really captured the essence I share here!!! Gotta love my woman!!!

Geez! Here I went again! I just wanted to do a quickie! I will add more pics from Pearson later on in another post. Great stuff for lazy birding! Busy Indigo Buntings and two "lifers" there!!!

Stay tuned for more. This is just another "Dr. Bob  ramble"...

Hope y'all enjoyed!


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very nice read, Dr. Bob :-) As a second year BWIAB attendee, I'm still greatly impressed with my experience. My aunt and uncle are 7 year veterans, and each year is "new" for them. I hope it's that way for me too (I think it will be!). I've already reserved my room for next year!

"Dr. Bob" said...

Thanks Ann!!! This was our fifth year, and now the main trip we take every year. There is SO much to do besides the Boardwalk! Maybe we will meet next year!