Introducing the Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia

My latest bird adventure has been helping to start an organization that I’m already very proud of: the Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia. Our mission is to conserve wild birds through scientific research; education and public outreach; and rescue and rehabilitation. Founded in January of 2012, the all-volunteer ACCA is based in Cheat Lake, WV. We are licensed by the US Fish & Wildlife Service to treat and rehabilitate injured, ill, or orphaned wild birds.

One of the best things about the ACCA is that every injured bird that comes through our door receives an immediate, comprehensive examination by a veterinarian who specializes in treating birds. The exam includes whole-body radiographs, and necessary medications and fluids are administered without delay. If surgery is required, our volunteer veterinarians and veterinary technicians are equipped and experienced to perform advanced orthopedic and soft-tissue surgeries. The birds are then nursed back to health by our staff of caring volunteers. We have some awesome volunteers—truly!! I’m so proud to be part of this group.

Additionally, the ACCA participates in and sponsors scientific research projects focusing on wild bird conservation throughout Appalachia and beyond. We are partnering with researchers and students affiliated with several regional universities.

We also work to conserve birds through education and public outreach. Our first major event will be our version of an International Migratory Bird Day celebration: Morgantown Migratory Bird Day. The event will be held on Saturday, May 5^th, at Cooper’s Rock State Forest. The festivities will include early morning bird walks, family-friendly hikes, and a live raptor demonstration by Flying Higher. The pavilion near the overlook will be filled with educational displays from other local groups, most of which will include activities for children of all ages. So come on out to Cooper’s Rock on May 5^th and celebrate migratory birds. And bring your friends and family!

The ACCA will graciously accept donations to assist us in caring for injured birds and promoting avian conservation. Even though we’re just getting started, we’ve already been able to treat and release several birds, including a Common Loon and a Black-capped Chickadee. We expect to release a rehabilitated Barred Owl in a few weeks. Of course, we can’t save them all; a Red-tailed Hawk that was alive when the finder put it in a box passed away by the time it reached the ACCA. The hawk had been hit by a car.

If you want to know more about the ACCA, send me an email. And if you find an injured wild bird, call our Injured Bird Hotline: (304) 906-5438. Also, injured birds can be taken to Cheat Lake Animal Hospital, 286 Fairchance Road, Morgantown, WV. Thanks in advance for your help!

Oh, and please “like” us on Facebook—we’ll be updating our page frequently.

Winter Blahhhh

January has always been my least favorite month; February is a close second. The excitement of the holidays has passed, as well as the excitement of the first snowfall. The greens of spring feel far, far away. Everything is gray—the sky, the trees, the roads, the Monongahela River, Cheat Lake. Blah.

Katie's dogs like winter. Katie does not.

Like many folks, I make an extra effort to keep my bird feeders filled during these cold winter months. I fill two tube feeders with black oil sunflower seeds, another with thistle seed, spread more sunflower seeds on the platform feeder, and keep a cake of suet in the cage. I haven’t had any unusual feeder visitors so far this winter, but the regular crew manages to brighten the yard a bit—even though most are (you guessed it) gray. Or black and white: Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Dark-eyed Junco. The little patch of red on the male Downy Woodpecker is a welcome sight, as is the red head of the Red-bellied Woodpecker. The Goldfinches are always cute, and I actually think I prefer their muted winter fluffiness to their sleek summer yellow.

I had a strange dream the other night: it was winter, and I suddenly noticed a Ruby-throated Hummingbird in my yard, buzzing around the hook where a nectar feeder hangs in the summer. I panicked, certain that the little bird would starve or freeze. I went to the cabinet, but I couldn’t find any sugar to make nectar.

And that was, pretty much, the entire dream. Maybe my subconscious wants migrant birds back, too.

I’d be lying if I said this winter has been without bird highlights; there have been a few. I finally spotted the Bald Eagle nest near the Pennsylvania / West Virginia border. I’ve been told that both the male and female have been spending time at the nest. And a few weeks ago I watched a Common Loon on Cheat Lake. Another part of the lake sheltered a mixed raft of Hooded Mergansers and American Coots. Mergansers always seem so dignified and tidy, while I find coots comical; maybe it’s just their name!

If you’re looking for an indoor way to escape the winter blahhhhhs, I invite you to come to one of my upcoming Cerulean Warbler talks. This Monday, January 30^th, at 4:30pm, I’ll be giving a slide presentation and reading at Chatham University in Pittsburgh. The event will take place in the Mellon Living Room in the Mellon Center. Copies of my book will be for sale.

I’ll also be speaking and giving a slide presentation at Wildwood Park in Harrisburg, PA, on Tuesday, February 7^th, at 7pm, in the Olewine Nature Center. The event is free and no pre-registration is required. For more information: http://www.wildwoodlake.org/events/.

Maybe some of my PA friends will be able to come out and see me at one of these two events! Send me a message if you’d like more information. In the meantime, stay warm, and try to remember that spring is just around the corner…I hope…

Gift Ideas for Bird Lovers (and for Birds)

Looking for gifts that can please the bird lovers on your list and help preserve birds and their habitats? Search no further! The following are a few avi-philic gift ideas:

1. Shade-grown Coffee.

Purchasing certified shade-grown or “Bird Friendly” coffee is an easy way to help preserve wintering habitat for “our” Neotropical migratory songbirds. In Latin American coffee-growing regions, the forest is often cleared to make way for coffee plantations. But some farms choose to grow their coffee shrubs in the shade of the forest’s canopy, thus preserving songbird habitat. Any certified shade-grown coffee will help protect bird habitat—but if you want to specifically target the habitat of certain species, think about the following options:

• Mesa de los Santos: This coffee comes from the Santander Department of Colombia, near the town of Bucaramanga; I visited this region when I traveled to Colombia, and I can attest to the fact that there are a lot of birds there! Coffee from Mesa de los Santos is triple-certified, which is very impressive: USDA Organic, Bird Friendly, and Rainforest Alliance. Follow this link to read more about the farm. (If you visit that site and discover that Mesa de los Santos coffee is on backorder, try CoffeeAM here. This site also includes reviews.) Shade-grown coffee from the Santander region of Colombia helps protect habitat for “our” Cerulean Warblers, Blackburnian Warblers, Canada Warblers, and others, as well as residents such as the Turquoise Dacnis-Tanager, Golden-faced Tyrannulet, and Indigo-capped Hummingbird. (Friends and family, expect a bag of Mesa de los Santos coffee from me this holiday!)
• Bird & Beans: These folks sell four different varieties of coffee; all are certified USDA Organic as well as Bird Friendly (even the decaf). Of these four kinds, my favorite is the “Chestnut-sided Warbler” Viennese Roast variety. It comes from a farm in Nicaragua. Many of our migrants spend the winter in the forests of Nicaragua, including the imperiled Golden-winged Warbler, Eastern Wood-Pewee, and American Redstart. In addition to ordering here online, Birds & Beans coffees can be purchased at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary’s gift shop in Kempton, PA.

2. Bird Feeders, Houses, and Baths – homemade or otherwise.

There are way, way too many bird feeder options to list here, but maybe it will be helpful to hear what kinds of feeders we hang in our yard. We have two tube feeders filled with black oil sunflower seed; one tube feeder with nyger (aka thistle) seed; one platform feeder with black oil sunflower seed; one suet feeder; and one hummingbird feeder that we bring inside for the fall and winter. We also have two birdbaths. This configuration of feeders attracts a wide variety of birds: Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, American Goldfinch, House Finch, Song Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Red-bellied Woodpecker, White-breasted Nuthatch, and many others. Our tube feeders are all sturdy—two are Droll Yankees and one is another brand that kind of mimics Droll Yankees. I like the Droll Yankees brand—they’re mostly made in the USA, are guaranteed for life, and use sustainable products when possible. The deer and raccoons haven’t destroyed them after years of use.

You can also make your own bird feeders from plastic bottles and other household items. Try this fun, easy project.

Birdhouses come in many varieties, too. We have four Eastern Bluebird houses, a Song Sparrow house, and a bat house. My husband has made most of them. Plans for all of these are available online; there are also quote a few how-to books about building bird boxes. Here’s an example of plans for a bluebird house.

3. Gift Memberships to Bird Conservation Groups, or Gifts from Bird Conservation Groups.

I buy my mother a gift subscription of Audubon Magazine every year. She reads each issue cover-to-cover (right, Mom?) And she even wrote a letter to the editor, which appeared in print earlier this year. I also enjoy reading the magazine of the American Bird Conservancy, Bird Conservation. You can give an ABC gift membership here. And check out The Peregrine Fund’s online gift shop. Portions of the proceeds go to help fund their worldwide research projects. There are many other worthwhile organizations and publications, but this blog is getting lengthy already…

4. Bird Books.

Have you heard about the new book by Katie Fallon? It’s called Cerulean Blues: A Personal Search for a Vanishing Songbird. Haha – just kidding. Well, not really. But besides my bird book, there are many others to choose from. Everyone loves a good bird book, right? =)

5. Something Made Locally.

You’ve heard it before: buying locally grown or produced items made by local artisans can help local communities. The politics and economics of this concept could (and have) filled books. Purchasing an item that didn’t have to travel too far has probably saved fossil fuels, which is generally good for birds. And everyone else.

Happy gifting!

Birds I’m Thankful For

Thanksgiving is a day when we pause to reflect and give thanks. The star of the day in many homes is, of course, a bird: the turkey. (The short, cruel life of a factory-farmed Broad-breasted White may be the subject of a future blog, but I will keep this posting guilt-free out of holiday respect for my carnivorous friends!) In honor of the noble turkey, I thought I’d make a short list of birds I’m particularly thankful to have seen in 2011; most are lifers and a few are old favorites, but all made me happy. Thanks to the following birds for showing up this year:

10. Great Horned Owl. Arches National Park, Moab, Utah, May 17. The weather was rough. A ranger told us it was 15 degrees colder than normal, and several groups had cancelled their campground reservations, which meant that we got a site. By the morning the rain had cleared. After a hike to a few of the famous arches, we ate peanuts and I did some yoga next to a twisted mesquite tree. I even read a few pages of Desert Solitaire. After sunset, the moon and the stars brightened the desert, and a Great Horned Owl hooted us to sleep.

9. Peregrine Falcon. Cathedral Rock, Sedona, AZ, May 19. I was watching a Red-tailed Hawk soar above the red rocks and scrub when suddenly something screamed and shot like a bullet from small cave in a sheer cliff wall. The falcon bee-lined for the hawk, who looked slow and plodding next to the peregrine. The hawk flapped. The falcon chased, and screamed, and finally, satisfied, turned and zipped back to the cave. The hawk soared off. Through my binoculars I watched the peregrine at the cave’s threshold. I could have watched her all day.

8. Pigeon Guillemot. San Juan Island, WA, August 8. While kayaking in Puget Sound, these little guys seemed to keep popping up around us at unexpected times.

7. Black-throated Grey Warbler. Grand Canyon National Park, AZ, May 20. I’ve seen plenty of Black-throated Greens and Black-throated Blues here in West Virginia, but I’d never seen a Black-throated Grey until this spring at the Grand Canyon.

6. Swallow-tailed Kite. Myakka River State Park, near Sarasota, FL, July 24.

5. Virginia Rail and Marsh Wren. Assateague Island National Seashore, MD. November 7. OK, I know I’m cheating by listing two birds here, but they showed up in the same spot at almost the same time. Both illusive but vocal.

4. Common Black Hawk, Bullock’s Oriole, and Greater Roadrunner. Page Springs, AZ, May 22. Now I’m really cheating. We saw lots of other birds on this particular outing, but the Black Hawk and Roadrunner were life birds for me. And the Bullock’s Oriole was in a nest, which seems list-worthy.

3. Magnificent Hummingbird, Painted Redstart, Lucy’s Warbler, Acorn Woodpecker, and Hepatic Tanager. Oak Creek Canyon, AZ, May 21. All life birds, and all great looks. Oak Creek Canyon, near Sedona, AZ, is a birders’ paradise. We bought a guidebook to local birding hotspots, and its directions led us right to the Magnificent Hummingbird. And we saw other great birds, too, of course.

2. Cerulean Warbler. An oak tree near my house, Cheat Neck, WV, June 19. I don’t think ceruleans breed in or around my yard, but this little guy was definitely here, and he was definitely singing. A thrill for me.

1. California Condor. Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, near Lee’s Ferry, AZ, May 15. I’m working on an essay about (in part) this experience. We saw five condors!! All had wing tags, but we were too far away to read them. I think I have an earlier blog posting about this, in fact.

I’m thankful for these birds and all the others I’ve seen (or will see!) in 2011. Of course, I’m thankful for many other things in my life, but I’m going to keep this posting to thanks-worthy birds. Hope everyone has had a lovely day!

Assateague Island Birding—and a Cerulean Talk Tonight!

If you’re looking for something to do this afternoon (Saturday, November 12), come out to Hawk Mountain Sanctuary at 4pm and hear me talk about Cerulean Warblers and my new book. The presentation will take place in the Visitors’ Center, and it should last about an hour. If you haven’t been to Hawk Mountain’s Visitors’ Center, you really should check it out. In addition to my new book, the gift shop sells dozens of other books about birds—field guides, memoirs, biographies, art books, etc. The shop also sells certified shade-grown coffee, shirts, hats, mugs, bags, Christmas ornaments, note cards, and much more. It may be my favorite gift shop of any gift shop I’ve ever visited!

Assateague Island National Seashore

I had the privilege of giving a similar talk at Salisbury University on the Eastern Shore of Maryland earlier this week. The talk was a lot of fun, and the audience was perfect—they even laughed at my jokes. My hosts at Salisbury were gracious, enthusiastic, and generous; I had a great time.

The best part of the trip was hanging out with the lovely Lisa Leslie, my dear friend and former Virginia Tech colleague. The day before my talk, Lisa and two of her friends, Ron and Carol, took me birding on nearby Assateague Island. I am not very good at identifying shorebirds; luckily, these folks were experts! And Ron and Carol had a fancy spotting scope, which certainly brought the birds into view. (I have a serious case spotting-scope envy!) Highlights of the day for me included Purple Sandpiper, Bonaparte’s Gull, Red-throated Loon, Virginia Rail (a great look), and Brown-headed Nuthatch. If you haven’t been birding on Assateague Island National Seashore—you should go!

Brown-headed Nuthatch in a loblolly pine

The complete bird list follows. (Note: all are from Assateague Island, except those followed by OC, which were sighted in various locations around nearby Ocean City.)

Red-throated Loon
Common Loon

Horned Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe (OC)

Double-crested Cormorant

Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Tricolored Heron

Turkey Vulture

Canada Goose
Brant
Tundra Swan (OC)

This one went down as "WIPO" on our bird list...

Gadwall (OC)
American Wigeon (OC)
American Black Duck
Mallard (OC)
Northern Shoveler (OC)
Northern Pintail (OC)
Green-winged Teal (OC)
Redhead (OC)
Ring-necked Duck (OC)
Surf Scoter
Bufflehead
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck (OC)

Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk

Can you find the Marsh Wren in this picture?

Wild Turkey

Virginia Rail
Sora
American Coot (OC)

Killdeer (OC)

Greater Yellowlegs
Ruddy Turnstone (OC)
Sanderling
Purple Sandpiper (OC)
Dunlin

Laughing Gull
Bonaparte’s Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Greater Black-backed Gull

Royal Tern

Belted Kingfisher

Tree Swallow

Brown-headed Nuthatch

Brown Creeper

Marsh Wren

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Grey Catbird
Northern Mockingbird

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Field Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow

Northern Cardinal

Red-winged Blackbird
Boat-tailed Grackle

House Finch
American Goldfinch

You Can’t Get There From Here

After 35 years of living in rural and semi-rural areas, I finally got to give directions that included the sentence, “You can’t get there from here.” It was awesome.

The story:

I live on a dead-end road in Cheat Neck, WV, a small community outside of Morgantown. The Mason-Dixon line is only about half a mile from here; in fact, I can see Pennsylvania from my house. To get from my hill down to “the highway” (two-lane Fairchance Road), I take a right onto narrow, poorly paved Sand Springs Road. Were I to turn left onto Sand Springs, the road would soon narrow even more and become dirt as it climbs the mountain towards Cooper’s Rock State Forest. Eventually, the road becomes deeply rutted, steep, and nearly impassible (unless you’re driving an ATV). At the top of the mountain the road again turns to pavement as it nears the State Forest, but that’s miles from here.

The other day I was driving down Sand Springs Road and a pickup truck with Texas plates was driving up. I realized he was towing a pop-up camper. I moved to the side to let him pass, but the driver waved me closer. A young man got out, straightened his Texas Longhorns tee shirt, and approached my window.

“Hi there,” I said. I suspected this man was here to work in our newly booming natural gas industry. Over the last few months, we’ve had quite an influx of young men from Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. I pass their pickups on our roads and at gas stations, and I see them on barstools at local pubs. The other day I passed a pickup truck (also with Texas plates) that had “Oilfield Trash” airbrushed on the back window. Classy. BUT, I think I will save my thoughts on Appalachia’s Marcellus Shale natural gas rush for a future blog. Back to my story:

The man nodded a hello, and asked, “Is the Sand Springs RV Park up this road?”

“Well,” I said, doing my best not to smirk, “It is, but you can’t get there from here.”

He took a drag off his cigarette and gazed up the road. “Really? Because my GPS told me to come this way.”

“No, this road pretty much becomes an ATV trail. What you want to do is go back the way you came and get on the interstate and head east. Get off at the next exit–the Cooper’s Rock exit.”

“Thanks,” he said, and began to head back to his truck.

“Hey,” I called after him, “Once you get off the interstate, you still have a few miles to go. I can tell you exactly how to get there.”

“Naw, it’s OK,” he waved, opening his truck’s door, “I’m sure my GPS can find it from there.”

I held in my (probably unkind) laughter until after I passed him. Good luck with that GPS, I thought. I imagined the digital voice saying, “You can’t get there from here. Recalculating.”

Anticipation

The date’s been starred on my calendar for many months: Tuesday, October 18^th. Perhaps the most anticipated and most anxiety-producing date on any of my calendars thus far (except perhaps for my wedding day). No, it is not the due date of a human baby, but the date that my literary baby—my first book, Cerulean Blues: A Personal Search for a Vanishing Songbird—enters the world.

I’m nervous. Anxious. What if the title is misspelled? What if there’s a strange mix up with the printer, or the distributor, or the book stores? What if I’ve forgotten to thank someone? And of course the biggest worry: what if no one likes it? What if no one reads it? What if some parts are too sad, too research-heavy, inappropriately funny, or naïve?

I assume that these kinds of fears (and others too ridiculous to admit on a blog) are normal before a book comes out. Right?

If you choose to read my book (and I hope you do, all fears aside), here’s a short preview of what’s in store for you: You will learn a lot about the tiny cerulean warbler, the fastest-declining migratory songbird in North America. You will read about its habits, its habitats, its nests, its migration patterns, its breeding behavior, and more. You will also hear quite a bit about two of the primary reasons for the cerulean’s declining population numbers: mountaintop removal coal mining in Central Appalachia, and deforestation due to full-sun coffee plantations in the Northern Andes of South America.

Juan Valdez and me at the Federacion Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia headquarters in Bogota -- yep, he's in the book, too.

The book visits several Appalachian locales—Cooper’s Rock State Forest, the Lewis Wetzel Wildlife Management Area, and the Kanawha State Forest in West Virginia, and the Royal Blue Wildlife Management Area in Campbell County, Tennessee. The last several chapters take place in and around San Vicente de Chucurí in northeastern Colombia, and in nearby La Reserva Natural de las Aves Reinita Cielo Azul (the Cerulean Wabler Bird Reserve).

You will also read some personal stuff: Jesse and Katie camping, hiking with our dog, searching for visible mountaintop removal mines. I have at least two panic attacks in the book. (Warning: chapter two is sad.) Also, you will read about rattlesnakes, beer, the Colombian military, ATVs, a parade, and much more. You’ll meet some charismatic biologists and cerulean researchers. And there’s a poem in the beginning, written by one of these wonderful biologists.

So: I hope you order the book, and I hope you like it. In the meantime, I will be pacing and biting my nails, waiting for Cerulean Blues to be born.

Orca Bait and Farmers’ Market Envy

We were lured by the odds: 75% of kayak tours in the Smallpox Bay area of San Juan Island see Puget Sound’s local orcas. Of course, our tour ended up to be part of the 25% that didn’t. But other than the no-show orcas, our 6-hour kayak adventure did not disappoint.

Jesse samples the kelp

After a quick safety lesson on the rocky beach, our small group (three tandem kayaks plus our guide) paddled along the steep, craggy shoreline. We passed silently through beds of kelp, beneath trophy homes owned by the likes of Pepsi Co.’s CEO. Our guide pointed out the house where Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman honeymooned. A small flock of Pigeon Guillemots, bobbing like black rubber duckies on the gentle waves around our kayaks, seemed unimpressed. Bald Eagles – both white-headed adults and mottled, awkward juveniles – roosted in the pines high above us. Several times, without warning, a harbor seal would pop up next to us then disappear, only to reappear (whack-a-mole style) fifty feet away. Harbor porpoises arced between the distant boats. But no orcas. Our guide had heard that they were elsewhere in the Sound, chasing migrating salmon. Good for them.

When I told my mother that we’d be kayaking with wild orcas, she’d been dismayed. “Won’t you be scared?” she asked. “What if they eat you?” Despite the fact that few (if any?) people had ever been killed by wild orcas, it didn’t seem like such a bad way to go. Someone would have a great story to tell. (Not me, of course, since I’d be all Jonah-like in the orca’s belly. Though Jonah did get out of that situation, didn’t he?)

Anyway, the orcas stayed away. Jesse and I kayaked, we drank local beer, we hopped on the ferry back to the mainland at sunset, which was, of course, beautiful. We headed back to Seattle, the location of this year’s Association of Avian Veterinarians conference; we took our trip to the San Juan Islands during the one day that Jesse didn’t have meetings, lectures, or labs.

On the other days, I mostly wandered around Seattle by myself (except for one lovely afternoon with the famous Matt Haas!). After many hours spent at Pike Place, I developed a serious case of farmers’ market envy. Sure, the market at Pike Place has been around for more than 100 years. And, yes, the population of Seattle is a bit larger than the population of Cheat Lake. Ruby & Ketchy’s Restaurant might not be the original Starbuck’s, but it’s not without charm, either. Pike Place inspired me to think about ways to improve our tiny Cheat Lake Farmers’ Market. I envision a dock next to our market location near the lake, where local men in pontoons and bass boats unload their fresh fish onto waiting mounds of ice. While we may not have salmon, crabs, or halibut, Cheat Lake can supply us with ample stocks of catfish, sunfish, and largemouth bass. Not the same, I know. Oh well.

Did we see any birds on our short trip to Seattle? Why yes, we did, but only a few. The list follows, in no particular order:

Bald Eagle

Pigeon Guillemot

Great Blue Heron

Belted Kingfisher

Glaucous-winged Gull

Caspian Tern

Mallard

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Northern Flicker (red-shafted variety)

American Goldfinch

American Crow

Black-capped Chickadee

American Robin

Bewick’s Wren

Spotted Towhee

Song Sparrow

Fox Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow

Barn Swallow

Cedar Waxwing

Wilson’s Warbler (LIFE BIRD for me)

Anna’s Hummingbird

Forty-eight Hours in Florida: Pelican Blood, Mosquitoes, and a Life Bird

When you’re distracted—say, standing amid ten or fifteen slightly suspicious pelicans—that’s when the mosquitoes attack. On our recent trip to Sarasota, Florida, I acquired no fewer than 70 mosquito bites on my legs. It looks like I’m suffering from a pox virus. But the horribly itchiness is a small price to pay for the experience I had at the Save Our Seabirds rehabilitation center and bird sanctuary.

The purpose of the trip was for Jesse to take blood samples from the captive, permanently injured Brown Pelicans who live at SOS. This has something to do with Jesse’s PhD research; I can’t say anything more about his research because of strict confidentiality agreements, but I can say that I got to “help” collect the blood samples. (Well, in truth, the professional, talented SOS staff did most of the helping, while I took pictures, handed Jesse blood tubes, and recorded identification data about the birds.)

Brown Pelicans are fascinating creatures. I learned that they don’t actually breathe through their nostrils; they breathe through their mouths. They have holes that appear to be nostrils, but pelicans use these holes to excrete the salt that they ingest when they catch fish. I got to run my finger along the edge of a pelican’s bill, and I was surprised at the roughness; apparently, pelicans can bite and scrape you with this rough edge. I also touched the pelican’s pouch, which was amazingly soft.

While all of this pelican fondling was going on, the mosquitoes were having a great time gorging themselves on blood from my legs. I knew it was happening, but the pelicans demanded all of my attention. Which is how it should be.

Another highlight of the short trip was a visit to Lido Beach at sunset. Back in March of 2000 Jesse asked me to marry him on Lido at sunset; revisiting the site was emotional (in a good way). We had our tenth wedding anniversary a few weeks ago, and it was fun to remember that night; Jesse was only 21 at the time and I, 23. I had finished college the year before, but Jesse was on Spring Break from his senior year. We were visiting my friend Jessica Noon, who was a student at nearby New College. Seems like a long time ago, now; Jesse had no veterinary ambitions, and I hadn’t yet written a word of literary nonfiction. A lot has happened in ten years…

And now for the life bird! In between making blood smears, messing with the centrifuge, and mumbling to his microscope, Jesse found time to go birding with me at Myakka River State Park, about 15 miles inland from Sarasota. Late July is definitely the wrong time to go birding in Florida—breeding season has passed, migration hasn’t started yet, and the birds are no longer singing—but we did see some nice birds. I got a life bird—a Swallow-tailed Kite. I thought it was an Osprey at first because it was circling above the lake, but then I found the bird in my binoculars and noticed its unmistakable swallowtail. (Our complete bird list from the trip is below.)

Are the steaks ready yet?

So, if you’re ever in the Sarasota vicinity, I highly recommend that you visit Save Our Seabirds (it’s open to the public), and that you support their work with a donation. They treat about 1,000 injured birds a year—not just seabirds, but raptors and songbirds, too—in addition to the permanently injured birds who reside in their sanctuary. (You can also “like” SOS on Facebook.) You shouldn’t miss Myakka River State Park, either—in addition to hiking and bird watching, you can rent bicycles, canoes, or take a fan boat ride. There’s a concession stand that sells beer, and the gift shop sells bait, bug spray (vital!), and alligator-themed clothing, mugs, shot glasses, etc.  And the park seems to be home to a colony of curious black vultures (see the pic above!); I imagine that park officials may occasionally grow tired of the vultures’ antics, but I loved watching them check out the grills in the picnic area.

Without further ado, the bird list…

Myakka River State Park:

Double-crested Cormorant
Anhinga
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Cattle Egret
Black-crowned Night Heron
White Ibis
Black-bellied Whistling Duck

Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Swallow-tailed Kite
Red-shouldered Hawk
Mourning Dove
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker

American Crow
Fish Crow
Tufted Titmouse
Carolina Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Northern Mockingbird
Northern Parula
Black-and-white Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Common Grackle
Boat-tailed Grackle

On Lido Beach:

Black Skimmer
Brown Pelican
Willet
Laughing Gull
Rock Pigeon
Quaker Parrot

Two State Parks to Visit This Summer: Cathedral and Blackwater Falls

Last Friday we loaded the dogs into our Pod (aka our Toyota Yaris hatchback) and followed the Cheat River—we drove east and south, the river flowed north and west. In just over an hour we arrived in the small town of Aurora, West Virginia, and the day’s first destination: Cathedral State Park.

Cathedral State Park (so named, I assume, because its ancient virgin hemlocks create the feeling of being inside a church with soaring ceilings) was almost deserted when we pulled into the parking lot.  The only other visitor was an elderly man sitting on a bench near the lot, reading a newspaper. Cathedral is a small park—only 133 acres with 6 miles of trails—but its virgin hemlock groves are legendary. A sign in the parking lot claimed that the average age of the park’s hemlocks is 325 years.

Jesse, Mr. Bones, Liza Jane, and I happily tromped into the forest (two of us wagging our tails, two of us smiling) and were immediately swallowed by the cool, ferny, mossy-ness of the place. The trails, which were wide, flat, and easy, wound between enormous trees (not just hemlocks, but others as well) and followed gentle Rhine Creek. Many old hemlocks were perfect for hugging; when else will you get the chance to throw your arms around a living thing that’s 300 years old?

Cathedral has no campground, no cabins, and no gift shop, which may explain why it was so empty—but I’m not complaining! The park does have bathrooms and two nice picnic shelters, neither of which were in use. We heard many birds: Broad-winged Hawk, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Parula, Pine Warbler, and more, although I admit that we weren’t really keeping track. I imagine it’s a good birding spot in the spring. We also saw a flying squirrel that appeared to be injured, but we couldn’t get him; he shimmied awkwardly up a tree trunk and disappeared. We wondered if he could have been an endangered West Virginia Northern Flying Squirrel…poor little guy.

I’m going to take this opportunity to plug a new book, Among the Ancients, by author Joan Maloof. This book explores old-growth forests in the eastern United States, including Cathedral State Park’s forest. Among the Ancients is published by Ruka Press, the same folks who are publishing my book this fall.

After exploring most (well, probably all) of Cathedral State Park, we headed twenty miles south to one of West Virginia’s most popular state parks, Blackwater Falls.

Blackwater Falls State Park, in Davis, West Virgina, is quite a bit different from Cathedral. For starters, Blackwater Falls was crowded; we saw license plates from PA, VA, OH, and MD. Of course, it’s great that people want to explore nature, and it’s encouraging to see so many folks striding along the (gulp) paved trail and wooden stairs…but I think I prefer the quite coolness of Cathedral.

Blackwater has everything the vacationer could ask for: a 54-room air-conditioned lodge, 26 cabins (3 which are pet-friendly), and a 65-unit campground. The lodge has a restaurant that serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The park has two gift shops, filled with everything from maps and tee shirts to shot glasses and ashtrays, all emblazoned with images of the park’s iconic waterfall. Oh yeah, and the park has an indoor pool, too, with a fitness center. Motor-coach tours are available, as well.

All of this annoys my inner Edward Abbey. I suppose that if it takes an indoor pool to get people to visit a state park, then go ahead and build an indoor pool. But really—an indoor pool?? It seems to me that the Blackwater River is right there; can’t we just swim in the river instead? True, we may lose one or two folks over the falls…and, sure, there’s probably some acid mine drainage in the river water…but still. An indoor pool? Grr.

I digress. My purpose here is not to criticize, but to say that in spite of all the “improvements,” the rush of the water over Blackwater Falls is a sight to behold. And the water really is black (well, more accurately a tannish-brown color, but “Tannish-Brown Falls” sounds unpleasant). The water gets its color from the acid in fallen hemlock and spruce needles. I encourage you all to suffer the stairs and pavement and vending machines and go see Blackwater Falls—you won’t be disappointed. And on the way home you can stop and get ice cream at the Purple Fiddle in Thomas—always necessary after an afternoon spent hiking in the July heat.

If you live near Morgantown (or even if you don’t), Cathedral State Park and Blackwater Falls State Park are closer than you think—within a two-hour drive of Morgantown. Take a trip! You won’t be disappointed.