Thanks for visiting Wingtrip. This post is a part of a project called Visualizing the Pitayal. Click here for an explanation of the project. Click here for a complete listing of all the posts in the project so far, to start at the beginning. And if you are impressed… Read More
Who the hell set my alarm for 3 AM? Right. That was me. Four hours later I was in Ephrata, Washington, doubting my sanity. There were two cars in our caravan. Five demented birders. We had about twelve hours of driving from Seattle, Washington to… Read More
Two years ago this stand was all dark trunks and loose soil, dusty with soot. The canopy here seems even more diminished, sun rays more harsh on my stubbornly and blindingly untanned appendages. Some things are the same as before, when I trip and catch… Read More
He’d been sitting there for twenty minutes, tooting at the young Red-tailed Hawk soaring over head. The hawk was attempting to mind its business, but two Common Ravens were relentlessly dive bombing it, drawing the whole forest below into a reel of uneasy glances and… Read More
“I wish our common birds were ridiculously colorful.” Ryan, Scott, and I were eating a “breakfast” of Pad Thai in Chaing Mai, on plastic seats in a street stall facing the river Pai. Opposite a Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) and not far from a… Read More
Brendan McGarry: I’m guessing that you were working hard for a short period of time and that was about it – did you have any time for recreating or was it just eat, sleep, work? Ben Freeman: We were pretty regimented due to the amount… Read More
I’d like to preface with a warning. This entry contains the manic depictions of deviants. Birding has many manifestations. Some are the gentle musing of the causal observer, no less informed, simply less hastened or statistic driven. This is a trip report of the absurdist,… Read More
Danner’s truck skidded through a huge mud puddle and we all held on for dear life. Speeding through the Pitayal at 7am I couldn’t have felt more contented. A behemoth above the desert landscape, the fig tree of the ranch loomed ahead. As AWA began… Read More
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