31 December 2015 - Year-long bird challenge results

Several people have asked me how I have done on the 2015 Birding Challenge. I am happy to say quite well. I knew going in that I was going to be unable to meet all the criteria, so I used this as a personal challenge. 

The rules?  
1. Bird every day. 
2. Post at least one list to ebird everyday. 
3. Bird in all 29 counties of Utah.
4. Bonus points for birding in 10 different locations in each county. 

I added my own personal goal of getting to 300 life birds. 

How did I do?
1. Birded 332 days
2. Posted 541 checklists. 
3. Traveled to 11 counties. 
4. Lowest number of locations in a county was 5 and the highest was 17.

And my personal goal of reaching 300 life birds?
Ha! I finished the year at 302. I found 302 today which is just in time birding. Whew. Number 302 was a rare (for this area) Brown Thrasher. Perhaps blown off course in his southward migration. 

In addition, I spent quite a bit of time in California this year, and while it doesn't count on my Utah Challenge, I hit 3 counties, 14 locations and saw 130 species of birds. 

This was a really good challenge for me. It made me get out of my comfort zone and learn to look. I found many new places and drove on roads I didn't even know existed. It was wonderful on many levels. Utah is a geological treasure trove and I hardly began to see it all. It is wonderful to know that I will do this next year as well. It is all out there waiting for me to start again tomorrow. I may be looking for birds, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying the scenery: the change from desert floor to high mountain forests and everything in between. 

So for 2016, I will repeat this challenge with the additional personal goal of reaching 300 species in Utah.  I already have 227 species, so I only need to find 73 more. I know a guy who has 293 species in Salt Lake County alone, so it should be doable. I also met another birder who has more than 100 species in each of the 29 Utah counties. Oh my. I have a lot to strive for.

But can you see the rabbit hole I am falling into? State bird counts. County bird counts. Does it end? 

In addition to that, I try to get a decent photo of each bird. Not as easy as it sounds. Here are a few of my favorites. 

Clark's Grebe with two babies on her back. 

Fledgling Scrub Jay unclear on the concept. 

Black Oystercatcher with a crab

Mountain Bluebird

Mandarin Duck

Wood Duck

Great Egret

Eared Grebe

Anna's Hummingbird

Red-naped Sapsucker

Cedar Waxwing

I am just going to quit here or else I will have 300 bird photos posted here and bore you all to death.   

Happy New Year! Good Birding to All. 

28 December 2015 - Jupiter Steam Engine at Golden Spike

Today I  drove 97 miles to the Golden Spike Monument for my first stop in a day of birding. The bird list had a couple reports from Saturday and Sunday that Sharp-tailed Grouse and Gray Partridges had been seen in the parking lot of the Monument site.  I had to go. 

I expected to see the building closed and no one there except for maybe another birder or two. Wrong on both counts. It was a zoo. There were Boy Scouts tailgating and cooking lunch in the parking lot. The parking lot was full and people were everywhere. What the heck? 

I had lucked into a steam event. It turns out that every year on the 28th and 29th of December, the park has a Winter Steam Event. They fire up the steam engine and run it back and forth so photographers can get pictures. In December it is cold enough that the steam shows. And at 4 degrees, oh yes, there was steam. 

I decided to make lemonade and joined the hordes. The  photographers were already camped out in the best spots--each trying to find a spot where they could get photographs of the engine without any people in the way. It was great fun...and did I mention cold?  

The Jupiter is a beautiful engine. A product of the Victorian Era and the Gilded Age, it is painted with the bright, original colors. The only problem was the weather, it was cold with gray clouds and flat light. Made it really hard to capture all the steam in my photos. 

The next two pictures show the ornate details. Check out the cast iron brackets and detailed painting. All the brass was gleaming. 

How it might have looked in photos from 1861 when the Golden Spike was pounded in. 

And speaking of the Victorian Era, even the handcar and track signs were decorative. The kids were standing in line to pump the handcar down the tracks. 

My day did not go as expected, but the surprise turned out to be the highlight. 

26 December 2015 - Snow, more snow and sun

On December 14, I woke to 17 inches of snow. By the end of the day we accumulated another 7 inches. I had spent an hour in an InstaCare the previous day. Turns out not only did I sprain my foot, but acquired a hairline fracture as well. There was no way I could even begin to shovel that amount of snow. I am lucky that my brother has Mondays off. In the afternoon he showed up with a friend and they blew and shoveled me out. 

See how hard the snow is coming down? That is why I had another 7 inches by morning. 

In the last 13 days I have had snow every single day but one. Twice a neighbor came over with his snowblower and cleaned my drive, but mostly it was me shoveling. Some days I would have to shovel twice because I just can't move it when it gets too deep. 

It was pretty though, everything in my yard had hats. 

 

It also got old very quickly.  December 18th was the first day with no snow. And to top it off, the day ended with a gorgeous sunset. 

Then we were back to snow. Falling snow, blowing snow and snow falling off trees.  We even had rain followed by snow. That resulted in an inch or two of heavy slush with snow on top. Oof.  Hit the Aleve after that, but got it all off the driveway. 

I didn't get mail for a week because the snowplows had pretty much buried my mailbox. I had shoveled a path from the street to the box but they didn't like that. They will not deliver mail if they have to step out of the truck, but they will step out of the truck to leave a postcard in your box telling you so. Here is my mail box after I dug it out. 

Today? It is gorgeous. No snow in the forecast for the next two or three days...subject to change, I'm sure. But I have Utah blue sky and it is wonderful. The sun is making the snow sparkle and my heart happy. 

Here is the contrast: gray and snowy or sunny and blue. 

Look closely, sparkly snow! The surprise is that this picture was taken about 2:30 A.M. 

Last night was a full moon. I was woken up at two in the morning by a weird noise and was checking it out. I looked outside and the snow was bright white with moonlight. The moon was so bright that it was casting shadows--even the tiniest branches were detailed on the snow. I wandered from window to window admiring the beauty of a cold night and a winter moon. Best present ever! It will be 2034 before there is a full moon on Christmas again. 

The only downside to my sunny days ahead is the cold that accompanies it.  Tonight we will have a low of 1 degree. Tomorrow's high might reach 17. Brr!

So what did I do on those snowy days? Made cookie tins for my neighbors. 

I will say I am completely sugared out. Not that it's a bad thing...

15 December 2015 - Letterpress Project Thought Process

While you wouldn't know it from my posts, I really do have a life outside of birding. Lately I have been spending time in my shop. Most of this time has been spent cleaning type and cases, not to mention organizing. So much work to do!  But I had agreed to print two pages for the annual calendar that the Monks and Friars letterpress group puts together. My months were April and December.  This year I just couldn't settle on a concept. Finally came up with a couple ideas and thought I'd let you follow along on the thought process. 

April Calendar Page

Jen Farrell at Starshaped Press introduced me to the work of Al Schiller. He created elaborate pictures using type ornaments. His work inspired me to follow his lead in using ornaments to create the letters for April, which would become the main art for the calendar page. 

It wasn’t pretty. How many iterations of letters can there be?  Many!  And it wasn’t easy to find ornaments for a balance of light and dark in each letter.  I generally run everything through a proof press first, using a stamp pad and newsprint so I know exactly how it will look before I commit to a lock-up. 

You may think you are looking at the same thing over and over, but each one is slightly different. I am looking for the perfect mix of ornaments. I want the weight of each letter to be overall the same. Picky? Oh, yes. 

  

 

I discovered the Basho haiku while I was looking for a quote or poem for the December page. I liked the idea of having a haiku for both pages. 

Bernhard Modern was the perfect typeface choice for the haiku, as I wanted something that would not distract from the impact of the ornament-built characters for April. 







As much as I liked my fancy new letters, the page looked too spare. Adding the ornamental row filled the space and created a visual break between the haiku and April. 

The December Calendar Page

Concept: In the 1800s, poet Christina Rossetti wrote In the Bleak Midwinter. It begins:

   In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan, 
   earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone; 
   snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow, 
   in the bleak midwinter, long ago. 

This stanza jump-started my thinking. I did not want my December to reflect any holidays, but wanted it to highlight the season--to illustrate the monotony of snow when one becomes winter weary. I was thinking about a one-color page: gray, with a lighter gray ink.

I found the perfect haiku by Matsuo Basho.

Next up, find the right font.  

Clematis.  Too fussy.  Too small on the page.  I’ll try it for my April page.

Parsons. Loved it (okay, I love anything Parsons) but the font was too large for the page. The sample paper here is larger than the actual calendar page size.  Tried it in the smaller point size but didn't have enough lower case O’s. 

Cloister Ital.  Too rigid, not the flowing look I wanted.  But I admit, I love the lowercase f. 

Keynote. Goldilocks said “Just right.” 

 I wanted a border that looked kind of windy. The only border I could find that worked for the vision in my head was very worn and one of the corners was crushed so it would not print correctly. I used it anyway.

Set Keynote again for December. Didn’t like it. It was just too small to hold up to the calendar numerals. 

Replaced it with Lydian Cursive.

Perfect.  Locked it up and printed it with white ink on gray paper.  

Needed more light for this picture-- it isn't as drab or as dark as this looks.  

Hindsight:  While the white ink on the gray paper gave the wintry feel I wanted, I can’t help but wonder what silver metallic ink would have looked like, either on the gray paper or white. It is probably the difference between an overcast gray winter day and a day with sun making the snow sparkle.

Printed both of these on my workhorse, a 10x15 Oldstyle Chandler and Price. 

3 December 2015 - Highway signage and distracted driving

I have been doing a lot of driving, mostly chasing birds. I have a goal to get 300 species on my life list by the end of the year. Since I am currently at 299, I have been chasing that last elusive tweety bird. Driving places I haven't been before, I am seeing lots of new country and it is great fun. I'm finding roads I didn't know about, and taking side trips as well.  

Because of this, highway signs, mostly warnings for motorists have been attracting my attention. I am easily amused, and some of these signs amuse me no end. There seem to be many more kinds of warning signs now, and it makes you wonder what happened that the highway departments think we need them. 

The valley is surrounded by mountains, and to get anywhere you usually have to drive up a canyon and down the other side. These long ascents and descents have signs that could make you think about staying home. 

Growing up here, I was used to seeing the sign below on the left. And when driving up the canyons it is not unusual to see rocks spilling across the road. But there are new signs replacing many of these falling rock signs that are pretty graphic.

 

Just in case the falling rocks are not enough to keep you from driving up the canyon roads, you can always worry about a semi-truck tipping over on your car. 

Utah also has many long steep grades. Upon reaching a summit, many canyons have places for trucks to check their brakes and there are usually runaway truck lanes. Driving down these roads you are often accompanied by the acrid smell of very hot brakes. 

And of course, there is winter driving--all those gotta have fun in the snow people heading for the slopes. 

Fortunately they even give you space to deal with it should the lights be flashing. 




If that isn't enough to worry about...

There are signs like this almost every half mile going up Little Cottonwood Canyon to the Alta ski areas.  And yes, cars have been swept off the roads and people have died. And even though you are not even close to a shooting range, you need to watch out for artillery fire.  

Black ice, steep roads, possible avalanches are not enough to fret about, let's think about snowplows. 

Watching for them is only the start. You have to respect them as well. We need to be told this? 

Moving away from the snow, just in case we should ever get rain again, there are signs out in the flat lands. If you watch the weather station you know that the new catch phrase is "Don't drown, turn around." Wonder how long before we see that on a sign? 

Think you'll be fine and venture down the road anyway?  Here's one of the scariest signs I have seen and it raises doubts about the safety of this area. How many people can get this kind of permit? Does that mean you are driving through an area of low or medium level nuclear waste? And more importantly--why am I on this road? 

Much of Utah back country is open range, which means livestock are not fenced in. If you hit a cow or sheep on the road in an open range area, it is your own fault. You can't complain to the rancher. In addition to the livestock there are also wildlife and critters to watch out for. 

In open range areas you will often see ranchers on horseback moving cattle around, or a shepherd with a dog or two moving large flocks of sheep. I have pulled over to watch more than once. 

Apparently these buffalo can read and obey. 

Critters are a mystery, but drivers are certainly warned about them. I have had coyotes, foxes, rabbits and squirrels cross in front of my car. Perhaps these all are part of the critter category.  Mustn't forget the ubiquitous deer. 

There are always deer, but you might find moose and elk ambling across the road. You have to hope the idiots are only shooting at the signage, and not the wildlife.

 I recently had a herd of 100 elk cross the road right in front of me. Here they are running toward the road. That'll stop you in your tracks. 

        

In addition to warnings about natural disasters, road conditions and animals, we also have to be reminded to watch out for people.  It is a wonder anyone can drive with all these distractions. 

I think this is the second scariest sign. Utah is very proud of being bike friendly, but the bikers think they are above the law. I feel a rant welling up in me, but for the sake of my blood pressure I won't go there today. But seriously, some of the canyon roads are so narrow to begin with and have no guard rails--then add the biker who has to ride right on the white line. (What's up with that, anyway?) It is really scary when there is not enough road to share. 


This sign, in Utah's west desert also makes me laugh. First, I can't remember the last time I saw a hitchhiker, and second, in this remote area with no towns for miles, who the heck would be hitchhiking? 

There is a similar sign in farming/ranching country that mystifies me. In the photo you can't even see a house. Where do these children come from? 

Another kid sign that made me laugh is the rural school bus sign. The first few times I saw them I wondered why people were shooting them with paint guns. The blood red spots were gruesome. When I was finally able to pull over and get a photo I realized the red spots were supposed to be the stop sign and red lights. Guess that one went right over my head. 

Speaking of natural disasters, this is one of my favorite signs. I saw this along Bay Road in San Francisco.  Who would have known there was such a thing? But, it doesn't exactly tell you where or which way to go, so I'm not sure how helpful it is. 

I have many more signs, but I don't want to wear you out. My guess is you'll be watching your highway signs more carefully now.