Quick Geek Out About Julie Zickefoose

Sometimes I look around and I hear that Talking Heads song "Once in a Lifetime" going through my head and I ask myself, "How did I get here?"

Hanging out with Julie and Bill last week is a prime example. I remember reading Julie's articles and seeing her artwork for years in Bird Watcher's Digest and thinking, "I bet she'd be a cool chick to hang out with." And the fact that I do get to do that now--well, it takes everything I have not to "geek out". I think I did okay last week, until I got to go into her studio and saw a proof of her book that is coming out this fall. This book looks so cool, a collection of stories and essays combined with her artwork. It's as if you are going to come across a hard cover edition of her nature journal. I always thought it would be neat to do a book that way, fill it with great information, factual and not too schmaltzy and fill it with beautiful bird images and Julie has accomplished that. You might want to give a head's up to your local bird store to see if they are going to carry it this fall, it's sure to be a great gift item for the holidays. I can't remember the title, but it's being published by Houghton Mifflin. I was so honored to be in her studio and to get a sneak peak at her upcoming book, I loved the yellow breasted chat, the bullfrog, the golden eagle soaring on the title page and she even has a print of starlings duking it out--you know it takes talent if an artist can do starlings and get you to appreciate their beauty.

I think the geek out has officially passed. This is going to be a great book--I'm so excited. There are so many great books that are going to come out in the next twelve months. Carrol Henderson is doing a book on what started about an egg collection in Iowa and has now turned into a history of bird watching. That's going to be an amazing book as well. He's been showing me snippets of what he has been collecting for the book. Last week he showed me a pair of 100 year old binoculars (boy we've come a long way, baby). The history of these eggs are just unbelievable and this going to be a great read.

Towage and Mansfield Signage

We learned the reason why the trusty Saturn was towed. We left on Wednesday morning. On Thursday morning, the city cleaned the streets and we didn't see the signs since we were gone. I'm sure we could fight it, but it would cost more money to fight it than to pay the $218 to get it home. GRRRRRRR.

So, to lighten the mood, I'm inluding some of the interesting signage that can be found around the fair town of Mansfield, Ohio:


Holy cow, if this is a problem, what's going to happen if the city decides to put a smoking ban into effect? This was on the door to a family restaurant where we had breakfast. I think it's a reasonable request.

This was advertised on a sign outside of Porky's Drive In. Perhaps Mega Pot is the reason the folks in Mansfield are so friendly? Incidentally, there was no request for customers using oxygen tanks to not smoke.

Ratch A Fratch Er Frick A Frack

The title of this entry makes little sense unless you read it with a Yosemite Sam voice.

Cinnamon has chewed an almost escape-sized hole through the bunny gate (left). She has grunted at any efforts to give her a treat. She is very cross and is doing nothing to help my current mood. Meanwhile, Kabuki the cockatiel is angrily ringing the bell in his cage to alert me of his displeasure over our absence.

A half hour ago Non Birding Bill and I exited our airport cab and noticed that our trusty Saturn was nowhere to be seen. We live in a metro area and park on the street with little to no problems and should have seen it outside of our apartment building. I always tend to choose sensible cars like minivans and station wagons because no teenager wants to steal one of those and go joy riding.

Where was our car: either it was stolen or towed. I hoped for the latter as opposed to the former and to some relief that is exactly what has happened. I'm not sure why it was towed, there were no snow emergencies while we were gone. People often park for a week or more in the same spot so I don't think that was the reason, I wonder if our alarm went off and annoyed neighbors? Who can say. I'm a tad irritated but relieved that it wasn't stolen. Better to at least know where it is. NBB is picking it up right now. I'll be curious to learn what he found out about the towage.

Where The Heck Is The Birdchick?!?!

Sorry for the lack of updates for the last few days. I went from being out in the sticks with Bill and Julie and having internet access to the small town of Mansfield in northern Ohio with hardly any internet access--I thought Panera Breads were everywhere. Anyway, we have found some momentary access before boarding our plane home and I promise lots of updates within the next twenty four hours...then it's off to Utah on Wednesday. Sheesh.

NEST ID: I am so sorry to promise to id a nest and then not post for four days--such guilt over a blog. The nest and eggs in the previous entry belong to a song sparrow. Bill found the nest in his yard while we were filming a segment.

I hope everyone had a nice weekend and a note to those who may have sent me an email in the last four days expecting a reply: if you don't get that expected reply by this Thursday, please resend it. My inbox is still downloading mail and it's at 134...135...136...you get the picture.

I am told by our pet sitter that we are in for some major disapproval. Cinnamon has chewed through her bunny gate that restricts her access to mischief in our apartment. She must have found out about visiting Chet.

So, what does a birdchick do in Mansfield, Ohio without hot birding spots and internet access--she takes up Sodoku--and starts referring to herself in the third person (somebody slap me). I am a major puzzle junkie anyway--I have to really restrict myself around cryptograms, but without any kind of mental stimulation, I was weak and picked up a couple of books on Soduoku and can't put them down. It's a sickness, I need help. Fortunately, it's spring migration so I think I can kick this cold turkey...so to speak.

I did get some sort of birding in. I got the following "lifer" this morning:

Quick and Dirty Entry

Some things you may not realize about the famous Chet Baker from just reading about him on the internet:

Chet is a lot smaller in person than he seems over the internet, and fits most comfortably in your lap. That is Non Birding Bill above sitting with Chet. If you have not checked Bill of the Birds and Julie's entries, they are confirming that NBB (above) is an NB. This is the only time NBB has ever visited or hung out with any of my birding pals. And it's all because of Chet. He would not be in this part of Ohio were it not for the chance to meet the internet's cutest Boston terrier.


Chet's fur is a lot browner in person. If he looks a tad remorseful in this photo, it's because he's just been scolded for rolling in something stinky and no longer smells like chocolate covered cherries.

Chet is not used to entertaining guests all day long. He usually spends his days napping unless Julie goes for a walk and then sleeps soon afterwards. However, during our stay he has been bending backwards to keep Non Birding Bill entertained while all the birders enjoy the outdoors. I think he will be happy to finally sleep once we leave. He looks so tired, poor puppy!


Chet NEVER disapproves, no matter how we try and bribe him with treats.

"I don't approve of that!"

I've been having a blast here (it's like my own personal Sharon camp), something new to explore around every corner from trillium, to newts, to birds, birds, birds and more birds! Today I set out the NovaBird Camera hoping to get a towhee but got something even better: a field sparrow, it totally made my month:


Some chipping sparrows also showed up:


Speaking of sparrows, any guesses on who made this nest and laid these eggs?

This will be identified in the next entry.

Non Birding Bill has found a companion in Bill and Julie's youngest, Liam. Here they are at the computers, my little Mac Boys:

Thompson and Zickefoose Like It Rough

Is this Non Birding Bill or Fredo from the Godfather? It's actually NBB performing at the Minnesota Fringe Benefit.

Non Birding Bill and I are in Ohio to film a segment on a big sit and poor NBB thought it would be fun to do an extra segment and accompany Julie and Bill on a walk in their woods. For an intense bird watcher, this is the time of your life--scrabling over hills, splashing into streams, sliding down in mud--let me tell you, those two like rough in the woods. But for folks who are mildly interested in the outdoors, it's pretty "hillish" as NBB would say. Holy cow, we are pooped--even Chet Baker is tired. Bill of the Birds is now making us some tasty grilled cheesy salami sandwiches.

It was fun to see things they had talked in their blogs like the tree from 1902, the ice cave and general Chet Baker wackiness, but it was work trudging up and down hills and NBB had the video camera and tripod. Julie is a wealth of knowledge in the woods pointing out not only birds but butterflies and wildflowers. NBB was a trooper and did survive, as did the camera. The sun filtered through the naked trees giving the woods a mystical glow. The weather here is absolutely gorgeous, sunny and in the 70s and new spring birds showing around every corner--gnatcatchers, wood thrushes, bluebirds, I'm getting the biggest kick being able to listen to towees and field sparrows from the deck. I told NBB that I probably was not going to come home with him, that we've given it our best shot being married eight years and all but I think I'm going to stay here in southern Ohio for the rest of my life.

The pond right outside the guest room is chock full of toads and we listened to them trill as we fell asleep last night, it's like having a live relaxation tape. That is until the very intense thunderstorm rolled through, the lightening was spectacular. The toads are pretty mellow and I was able to photograph them flirting with each other and few other unmentionable activities. There are now long strings of toad eggs floating near the pond surface.

Okay, not time for a shower and to film another segment.

A Great Day To Be Alive

A quick request to readers of this blog. I discovered over the weekend that a mutual friend and I share a dream of starting an apiary. The discovery comes about a month too late. I can't find any honey bees for sale. If anyone in the Minnesota or Wisconsin area knows of any resources for helping me start an apiary--preferably with Italian bees, please send an email to sharon "at sign" birdchick "dot" com.

Thanks!

Today was just an awesome-oh-my-gosh-it-feels-so-good-to-be-alive day. It was our first 70 degree day in the Twin Cities and I had a morning meeting with some of my favorite people today. One was with Carrol Henderson from the DNR's Non Game Department. If you haven't done your taxes yet, don't forget the Chickadee Checkoff. And if you are saying, "How can I think about the checkoff when this week is tax week and I haven't filed yet?" I sympathize, we haven't filed yet either. I just found out the damage from our accountant tonight--it's part of my euphoric mood. I LOVE my accountant. Because Non Birding Bill and I both do freelance and are arty types who don't pay as close of attention to money as we should, when we have filed on our own taxes the last several years and have had to pay large sums to the government. This year we decided to get professional help, because let's face it, would you go to an accountant for birding help or theater advice? No. So why should a birdchick and a theater director/writer do their taxes--we're not money experts? Our accountant is getting us a federal refund--a refund for cryin' out loud! I actually had to sit down when he used that word. We will have a very minimal state tax payment, but it is so miniscule compared to the past few years. I'm so happy, I feel like an eagle that just found a roadkill deer! Dan the accountant is so wonderful! I love him as much as is humanly and legally possible for a married woman to love an accountant. Dan, you rock, you rock big! Cinnamon was so shocked when I told her the news, she couldn't even disapprove:

My other meeting was with Mark Martell of Minnesota Audubon. Mark and I are hatching a couple of plans, one is an event in July that will be a "Buy a Duck Stamp Day" at a National Wildlife Refuge. I'm thinking of this as more of a party with music, birding and booth displays. Since it was so gosh darn beautiful, we decided to take the meeting out to the Chain of Lakes and TS Robert's Bird Sanctuary. It's a fun bird sanctuary that is relatively close to my home. While there we found some horned grebes and shovelers out on Lake Harriet. We ran into a couple "lunch break" birders--with decent equipment and binoculars. (I used to go around and ID bird feeders "That's a Woodlink Hanging Copper Top Feeder on a Hookery Shepherd's Hook Pole and an Erva SB-1 Domed Squirrel Baffle and now I beginning to ID binoculars, "Hey, Mark, that dude has a Nikon Monarch 10 X 42.") Mark mentioned that years ago when he was trying to erect an osprey platform on Lake of the Isles, that if you were walking around with binoculars and scopes, people thought suspiciously of you--were you a pervert looking into people's homes? Now, in less than 25 minutes we encountered two people birding with Nikon and Swarovski optics.

Part of the fun of birding in my neighborhood are all the signs making sure you enjoy the outdoors so it doesn't bother others in the outdoors:

I did violate this sign a tiny bit. When Mark and I saw the grebes, we couldn't remember off hand how to distinguish red-necked from horned grebes. Both had been recently reported on Lake Harriet. Neither of us had a field guide, so I called NBB at work and had him google the info. The were horned grebes.

Here was another sign:


I don't think the sign means the area is under surveillance by birders looking for warblers. I think it's to warn that no shenanigans should be happening in the woods, just wildlife viewing and maybe a little jogging.

When we wrapped up our meeting and started heading back, we found a large raptor sitting in the sun on a low branch of a tree in a cemetery. The sun washed out the bird and it was fluffed a little. At first glance, it could have been dismissed as a light red-tail, but we don't have too many of those regularly in this area. Binocular and scope revealed it to be a fat and sassy female Cooper's hawk. Check out the bird's chest, you can hardly see any of the orange that should be there:

Okay, now enough of all this celebrating, I need to start packing. We head out of town on Wednesday. We're spending Easter weekend with NBB's parents and stopping to visit a couple of friends on the way.

Girl Bonding Over Woodcocks

Last night was the best night of woodcocking yet this year. Went out with my friend Amber, it was last minute. The moon was bright, and not only did we hear woodcocks, but we heard Wilson's snipe and coyotes (fairly close coyotes at that). The male woodcock we were watching really put on a show. Another male came in, and there was a slight tussle. Our guy was peenting away and as soons as the other male dropped in, his peent changed tone. It's hard to take woodcock machismo seriously since they wobble like Weebles when they walk, but they give it their all. At one point, our dude shoved his tail in the air like a wren, dropped his wings and wiggled them up and down. He then gave a sputtering call that sounded like Burt from Sesame Street if he were laughing after inhaling some helium. H chased out the rival male and gave his flight display. You go, boy!