Chasing Crossbills

Yesterday, I followed up on a belated eBird alert about Red Crossbills (Loxia curvirostra) in Warnimont Park along the Milwaukee shoreline. At any time of year, this would be an unlikely bird, but this was an especially rare bird for the county. RECRs are typically western finches specializing in conifer cones, hence their characteristic bills to pry open these cones. On top of that, this would have been a lifer for me.

The odd thing is, though, I never got a message regarding their brief sojourn in the south Milwaukee conifers. Per the reports, they only munched on pine cones for an hour before bouncing. That is, they were only here for an hour on Saturday, July 23rd, a day before I got an alert. Perhaps this was an error in how I set up my alerts on eBird, but it was frustrating to be the last one to the party, so to speak.

Knowing full well they were not there, but hoping for some luck, I ventured there yesterday after work to examine the evergreens. Nothing. I did, however, see American Robins, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, House Wrens, and Eastern Kingbirds, making for a nice evening.

This isn’t the first time a chase has turned up nothing, and it won’t be the last. It’s an expected outcome of birding, occurring more often than finding the bird. It can be heart-breaking: I can build up so much anticipation that when I get to the last reported location, only to learn the species has left, I can feel pretty darn low. Once, on the trail of a Varied Thrush in Door County in the middle of a Wisconsin winter, I ventured over two hours by car to a remote crabapple tree by the canal to find a thrush-less tree. He was seen only hours before I arrived. I was distraught, even throwing a mini-fit. Nothing is as mature as a thirty-something swearing off birding and selling his optics just because he didn’t see a rare bird.

Thankfully, for me and everyone around me, I got over this. Now, whenever I go out, be it to see who’s flying around in the neighborhood or tracking down a hot lead, I maintain a good attitude and look forward to meeting the birds, even if they are common neighbors.

Except maybe starlings….JK…

Slow Birding…with Watercolors…

When I was a kid, my parents and I would drive down from Wisconsin to Florida at least once a year for vacation. We would pass through the farmlands of the Midwest into the rolling greenery of the Appalachian Mountains, and drive into the flatter red clay countryside of Georgia until we reach the Florida border. Along the way, I sat in the back, drawing the world as it flew by my window.

I laid out a palette of colored pencils and markers on the seats and prepared my notebook to capture the mountains, trees, anything that I found interesting. Granted, I didn’t draw all the time (I also brought along my Sega or Gameboy), but those early trips allowed me to look out the window.

Over the years, for whatever reason, I didn’t draw as often as I did. Maybe it was a lack of confidence in my work. I enjoyed it, but I was always holding myself to strict criteria. It’s only with returning to birding have I resumed my artistic endeavors. To be honest, it’s more like stepping into the shallow end of the artistic world than a swan dive.

Now, these drawings of a Ring-billed Gull and a White-tailed Kite will not compete with either Peterson or Sibley, but I’m proud of them because they are my drawings. They are how I see the birds. I am finding out that merely seeing birds through binos or snapping a few (hundred) photos of these birds falls short of appreciating them. Drawing and painting them has afforded me time to examine their features, scrutinize their feathers and plumage, and commit them to memory.

Hence, slow birding by watercolor!

Relaxing, this activity forces me to slow down and consider the bird in its entirety. I have found another sense of zen in drawing, not unlike a quiet walk in the woods.

I promise I will keep at this activity, since I want to show everyone a better picture.

Copyright for the media within this post belongs solely to me, Ira, with the IG account @mke_birder with this website at www.thebirdsbroughtmehere.com.

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Happy birding!

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