I’ve been wanting to blog since my fantastic trip birding Poplar Island on the Chesapeake Bay last week but have been running full steam ever since. It was a really fun day out in the field, but I’ll have to save my report for another day.
The title listed above is today in a nutshell! Watersheds, crockpots and owls, oh my! Sounds like a non sequitur doesn’t it?.. But isn’t a mom’s life simply a series of non sequiturs? Actually, I think I’m a professional at non sequiturs…LOL. Now I even know how to spell it correctly. 🙂 Continue reading →
Work. sleep. family. fitness. friends. (And let’s add BIRDING too– or whatever your *passion* might be!)
“Pick three”, I’ve been told.
Hmmm… As a mom, ‘family’ ~always~ is at the top of the list and for me ‘friends’ need to be in there too.. And if you know me well enough.. then you know that Nature Nancy NEEDS to have ‘birding’ in there too.. And you may know that I’m loving my new job — so I need to include that as well… So, that means there’s nothing left for ‘sleep’ & ‘fitness’. Hmmm. <Insert head scratch here>
Last week, sleep had to take a back seat.. as friends (and work) needed some more attention. I did try to beat the system and sneak in some extra sleep, however. 😉 I have become an expert at setting a three-minute timer on my phone during the day and taking a nap for those three minutes. I’m not sure that that qualifies as real sleep, but I’ll take what I can get. (And yes, I CAN fall asleep for a good portion of those three minutes. Just ask my son… Out of curiosity and fascination, he’s actually watched me achieve this feat first-hand more than once. 🙂 )
The lack of sleep finally caught up with me though and the tone of the week took a downward turn. A mommy friend was just diagnosed with breast cancer. . Whenever I hear news like this, I feel as if I’ve been punched in the stomach. I was planning to go birding that day and blog all about it– but instead there I stood in the grocery store, the get well cards fading into a blur as my eyes welled with tears. I was searching for just the right card and flowers as a ‘pick-me-up’. I needed to do ~something~, anything for this friend.. and birding/blogging would just have to wait.
I ducked into the next aisle attempting to dry my eyes. As a steady stream of tears began to fall, I found myself pretending to read the cans of Raid (of all things) that happened to be in front of me, just to avoid drawing any attention to myself. My attempts to juggle my lack of sleep, birding, teaching, friends and family had all caught up with me… but I knew I had every right to cry, even if I wasn’t spread so thin.
I feel much better after finally getting a good night’s sleep and I know my friend is going to knock the socks off her cancer!
Last week was a sobering reminder to me that a Mom’s Big Year of birding involves a whole lot more than just the birds.
This past weekend was one of those that you want to bottle up and save for a rainy day. My brother-in-law got married (Yay Mike and Elizabeth!) and it was a weekend full of fun times with family and dear friends. Lucky for me, I have a ‘built-in’ birding buddy in the family—so, Uncle David and I had a chance to duck out and go birding in between the festivities! (Yay us!) The weather was not our friend this weekend (as you can see by our ‘drowned rat’ look in the photo)… but we went birding anyway.:-)
All smiles despite the rain! Pouring rain
The family festivities were based about an hour south of DC—which some of my friends would consider the complete and utter end of the earth. Well, Uncle David and I drove an ~additional~ 45 minutes south to Point Lookout.. the southernmost point in Maryland’s western shore. My metropolitan Jersey friends would no doubt feel like they were truly at the end of the earth!
Pt. Lookout Lighthouse on a dreary day.
Point Lookout
Our birding highlights included no new ticks for Mom’s Big Year.. but we had some great looks at a beautiful flock of cedar waxwings as well as about 200 great blue herons that took to the sky while we were there. It appears there must be a rookery and they were spooked by a passing eagle or something. It’s always great to squeeze in some birding with Uncle David any chance I can get! I know that having a sharp, fun, skilled and ‘always up for an adventure’ birding companion in the family is not something to take for granted. Every birder should be so lucky as to have an Uncle David.
David and I agreed the highlight of our morning spent at Point Lookout was our stop at Buzzy’s Country Store on the way home.
And trust me, a step back in time… at the end of the earth… is deserving of a blog post all its own.
Well, now it’s time to play ‘catch up’. The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity with my trip to Florida, a BIG snowstorm here in the northeast and the start to the spring semester for my new environmental science class. All fun for me!
Florida was fabulous! The Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival was a hit on SO many levels! I had a great time working with Wildside Nature Tours to bring incredible birds together with equally amazing people! I led 5 straight days of field trips for the festival and truly had a blast! Each trip and its guides and participants were unique. Everyone was engaged and made it such a rewarding time for me. It’s always so much fun reconnecting and leading trips with old friends and colleagues and meeting lots of new friends too!
Here are some highlights:
The Lake Apopka crew on Sat had a blast in spite of mostly rainy day!
Wildside Nature tours at the booth.
Later gator!
White Ibis
Meeting Noah Strycker– who just set the new World Big Year record.
Coleading with Louise and Carlos for the Viera Wetlands trip- Always fun and such an honor leading with these two!
Great Egret
Fun at the trade show with Greg ‘Big Year’ Miller.
Little Blue Heron
Thrilled to be leading with Kevin Karlson- Here he is kicking off our shorebird field trip Thursday
Fun times and great birds with the Viera crew on Sunday
A billion tree sparrows at Viera
Leading the shorebird trip at Merritt with Michael and Raymond! Super fun!
Roseate Spoonbill
Common Loon
Scouting before Thursday’s trip
Wildside Nature Tours guides
The Dream Team at Merritt Island
Viera Wetlands with Louise and Carlos
Black Skimmers!
My flight home was cancelled on Sunday due to “Snowzilla”. We had 30″ of snow blanket our home in Maryland! As I was fretting and wringing my hands about my cancelled flight and the possibility that I might actually MISS my FIRST class of the spring semester/my new job (eeek!)… Skye, seabird counter extraordinaire, looked me square in the eyes and with his jovial smile said one word to me.
Lemonade.
That’s all I had to hear to give my attitude the 180 degree turn it needed. Cancelled flights yield more time for birding… and more birding I did! I took the extra time and thanks to fellow Wildside guide, Steve, had the great fortune of seeing a bird that I’ve been dreaming about seeing since I was 5 years old…. a male painted bunting!
Painted bunting, Photo credit http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=31115The first couple weeks of teaching my new class have been fabulous. I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how incredibly motivated my UMBC students are!
This week on my day off, after getting the lunches packed and the kids off to school, I took a deep breath and realized it was the first day the house was quiet since my trip and after the kids had been home for 10 days straight due to the weather. It was a warm morning. The snow was covered by a thick blanket of fog as it started into a steady rain.. It was the PERFECT day to pull the covers back over my head and go straight to sleep again. And that I did.
By about 9:15 am I reached for my phone to check email as I was pondering all the things on the ‘to-do list’ that had been pushed aside in the whirlwind of activity these past few weeks. The mile-long list (including the unsent holiday cards!) made me pull the covers even higher over my head as I entertained the idea of another hour or two of sleep in my warm, cozy bed.. With the quiet in the house after all the hustle and bustle, some extra zzz’s were just way too tempting for this overtired mom.
A fellow local bird club member had just sent an email reporting 12 + Pine Siskins at his feeder. Knowing it was a bird I needed to see for the year and one that only came to feeders on occasion and could be missed…. I literally kicked my feet straight up in the air, covers flying off the bed and shot straight up. Fifteen minutes later, I arrived at his house and got the bird.
Pine siskin, courtesy of Jeff Culler
There was only ONE thing on this planet that could get me out of that bed that morning.
I just landed in sunny Florida for the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival! Special thanks to Kevin Loughlin and Wildside Nature Tours for bringing me down to lead field trips here for the next 5 days! So much FUN! I can’t wait!
Looking forward to seeing some great birds and meeting and reconnecting with lots of fun and exciting people on this first out-of-state trip for my ‘Mom’s Big Year’!
I bought this stone last spring, just after the Mom’s Big Year seed had been planted during a fun and inspiring conversation with Greg Miller*. I had time on my hands at that point.. enough time to pick this stone up and put it down 7 times before I finally decided to treat myself and buy it. Since then, my ‘Imagine’ stone has fueled dreams of flying off to far away and exciting places all over the country to see rare birds and equally exciting people.
I no longer have the luxury of extra time, as this week I begin prep for my first big trip of Mom’s Big Year. Now everything is kicking into gear.
Happy New Year! Wishing you all peace, health and joy in 2016!
It’s been a great start to Mom’s Big Year so far!
I kicked off January 1st doing what I’ll be doing a LOT of this year… …..Birding! (Just writing that puts a *huge* smile on my face.)
I joined 18 members of our local bird club at my favorite local spot, The Howard County Conservancy at Mt. Pleasant. Since Friday, a couple of exciting birds have appeared on the scene at various local hotspots, including a Ross’s Goose and a Redhead Duck- both unusual for our area! Check out the barred owl too!
Barred Owl, Photo by Howard Patterson with phonescope adapter
I’m super excited to get going tomorrow! You’re all invited to join me on my journey and follow along via this blog- if you’re not already. (Just select the blue button on the right or elect to follow via email). I am completely humbled and deeply moved by the outpouring of support I have received from so many friends near and far! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the personal notes of encouragement and offers to house me, bird with me, and support me along the way. I’m sure feeling the love!
Last week, sleep had to take a back seat.. as friends (and work) needed some more attention. I did try to beat the system and sneak in some extra sleep, however. 😉 I have become an expert at setting a three-minute timer on my phone during the day and taking a nap for those three minutes. I’m not sure that that qualifies as real sleep, but I’ll take what I can get. (And yes, I CAN fall asleep for a good portion of those three minutes. Just ask my son… Out of curiosity and fascination, he’s actually watched me achieve this feat first-hand more than once. 🙂 )
I was searching for just the right card and flowers as a ‘pick-me-up’. I needed to do ~something~, anything for this friend.. and birding/blogging would just have to wait.
but I knew I had every right to cry, even if I wasn’t spread so thin.
Mom's Big Year 