US Road Trip!

On June 17th I left Austin to start traveling around the United States. My plan is to continue up until the holidays in November and December when I will be with family. Then next year I might continue or settle down in whatever new place I hope to discover on my trip.

If you want to follow along on my journey the only place I am updating daily is on Instagram. @scottdavidgordon

Here’s a panorama from Fall Lake in northern Minnesota to give you a taste of the amzaing natural beauty I’ve been witnessing. I wish I had not waited so long to see all of these places but am glad now to have to opportunity to do so. Please check out my Instagram to see more!

Fall Lake looking towards the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northern Minnesota

Fall Lake looking towards the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northern Minnesota

Golfing in Florida

The last time I went golfing was probably 3-4 years ago. And It was with the same cousin here in Florida. The only reason I know how to golf is from taking some lessons as a teenager at the YMCA in Pennsylvania while visiting my grandparents for the summer. Somehow those few lessons have stuck with me enough to be able to have a good time on the fairway and not totally fail every shot. Actually, there are a lot of experiences and lessons learned while visiting PA. from ages 11-17, starting when my parent got a divorce in 85’. How grateful I am to have been able to get to know and spend so much time with my grandparents on both sides. They are all gone now.

Saw some interesting wildlife on the course, and the weather was perfect. As far as birds go, there was the standard fare that you see almost anywhere in this part of Florida. Ducks, geese, coots, gallinules, and Ibis. The most prominent, raising big a ruckus at the 12th hole putting green, was around 20-30 Egyptian Geese. They’re really beautiful birds with a distinctive dark eye patch and overall attractive coloring. They originated in Africa and when brought over to the US for zoos and the like, got loose and established feral populations. According to Wikipedia, the Ancient Egyptians considered them sacred. It’s doubtful the golfers pay them much mind other than when the birds are honking loudly on the sidelines or a nearby roof, as the player tries to sink their final putt.

There were also some huge invasive green iguanas in trees and on the ground. They look like dinosaurs and are fairly docile but I know many people in this state do not like them and they can do a lot of damage. Not one of them ran out to grab any of my golf balls so I was happy. Overall a beautiful morning! I didn’t play too horribly and got some quality time with my cousin.

David Allen Sibley

There must be 100’s of different bird guides available, but my favorite by far are the ones written and illustrated by master birder David Allen Sibley. Being an artist and having a love for painting of all types myself, probably has something to do with it. It’s hard to believe, but David hand-illustrated and painted every image in his guides, and I just love looking at them. According to the Audubon website he “painstakingly draws what he sees in the field—900 species for his most recent field guide—first in pencil and then in gouache paints. Sibley has been hailed as the heir to the great birder and artist Roger Tory Peterson, placing him in a long line of artist-naturalist hybrids that leads straight back to John James Audubon himself.”

Don’t get me wrong, photos of birds can be jaw-dropping. There is just artistry and uniformity to his paintings that I find very visually appealing. And the way all of the information is laid out works well and I find myself looking through the guide I have, cover to cover, over and over again. There is just so much to contemplate!

Found this splendid painting of a Carolina Chickadee by David on Pinterest.

Found this splendid painting of a Carolina Chickadee by David on Pinterest.

 

So if you have a bird feeder and are curious about what you are seeing, or if you want to get serious about birding, I highly recommend David’s books. When you get your hands on one I suspect you’ll appreciate the years of research and practice drawing and painting that obviously went into them. Birds are amazing and I’m grateful to have a guide to understand them better.

“I wanted a book that would show every plumage and every subspecies, at rest and in flight. A book that would give details on the plumages and habits of each species, describe songs and calls, and show the complete distribution of each species, all on the same page and all in a format that would allow easy comparisons between species.”
— David Allen Sibley from the preface of his 2000 edition guide.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for your support.

Loxahatchee

This morning I put in almost 10,000 steps, slowly exploring the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. According to their website, “the refuge consists of 145,188 acres, or 226 square miles, of Everglades ecosystems including a mosaic of wet prairies, sawgrass ridges, sloughs, tree islands, cattail communities, and a 400-acre cypress swamp. These lands provide habitat — food, water, shelter, and space — for more than 250 species of birds, 60 species of reptiles and amphibians, 40 species of butterflies, and 20 types of mammals.” My main goal was bird watching, but I did happen to spot two alligators sunning on mud.

If you are interested, I will talk about the birds that I saw and anything notable while encountering them. The most prevalent and numerous were the Common Gallinule, American Coot, and Purple Gallinule. More than once I was startled by their alarming calls from the water line very near my path. When not reacting to me they were swimming around like ducks and eating vegetation from underwater. The Purple Gallinule reminded me of a very large pigeon in shape and the iridescent coloring of their feathers.

The largest birds descending in size were the Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Anhinga, and Little Blue Heron. They were mostly out in the open and easy to observe. The Anhinga in particular really surprised me. I heard a splash and turned around to see 10 inches of its head above water, with a small fish skewered on the end of his upper bill. He then submerged for 10-15 seconds, came back up, and then seemed to disappear underwater, not to be seen again. It was hard to believe I was seeing a bird that stays underwater that much. Makes sense someone nicknamed it “Snakebird,” because that is how it looked.

There were a few birds that I was not able to identify. The more I get into birding the more I realize there is to learn. But when you love something and it is exciting the motivation is there. The last bird I will mention from this part of the refuge is the Loggerhead Shrike. What a handsome predatory songbird, mostly gray coloring, with black and white, and a precise mechanical song.

The Cypress Swamp at Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge.

The last area I visited was the 400-acre cypress swamp, a small vestige of its historical range before Florida was transformed into what it is today. It’s an area covered in shallow water, with Cypress Trees, ferns, Spanish moss hanging everywhere, lichens, and all other sorts of swamp plants. It was eerily quiet while I navigated the constructed boardwalk, and I imagined how it might be much more active and noisy at night. Just when I had about given up seeing any birds, I was surprised by the appearance of three different types of woodpecker in a matter of minutes. A Pileated Woodpecker, which always seems surprisingly large, a male and female Red-bellied Woodpecker pair, and what I think was a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. What a great way to spend half my day!

Weekend at the Coast

This weekend I traveled down to the gulf coast of Texas with a friend to do some camping. The choice of where to stay was mostly dictated by the popularity and lack of availability of almost all of the campsites in the whole state. It’s a beautiful time of year to be out of doors. We settled on Lake Corpus Christi State Park, which only had a few spaces left. It would not have been my first choice but it worked out wonderfully and I’m so glad to have expanded my view of how nice the Texas coast can be.

The Corpus Christi downtown bay-front as seen from a deteriorating barrier wall around the marina.

The state park was great and allowed us a home base to explore the city of Corpus Christi and pay a visit to the Padre Island National Sea Shore. The weather was perfect and it was fortuitous to be away from home and outdoors when the election results came in. We watched Biden’s speech at our camp picnic table with a nice fire going. And it was easy to look up and see a hint of the Milky Way, some planets, and lots of stars. All of the other campers were well behaved, which made it very relaxing.

Malaquite Beach at the Padre Island National Sea Shore.

Malaquite Beach at the Padre Island National Sea Shore.

Miles of dunes covered in flowering plants along the beach.

Miles of dunes covered in flowering plants along the beach.

After living in Texas for over 30 years of my life, I lament the fact that I have only been to the coast a very few times. Growing up in central Texas I just never heard anything nice about it. In high school, Padre was the hedonistic spring break destination, which I never participated in. Then you hear about oil spills and the like and it just never sounded that appealing.

Well, I was absolutely impressed with the nature and beaches that I saw and wish now I had made more frequent trips. One thing I love is birding, and at the state park, I saw three gorgeous birds, that you would only see at the southern tip of Texas and into Mexico. The tropical Great Kiskadee and Green Jay, plus an uncommon Audubon’s Oriole. So colorful and exciting to behold!

There aren’t a lot of photos to share since my intention was to mostly stay off my phone and just have an experience. It’s interesting being a photographer because people often assume you will prioritize capturing the most amazing images wherever you go. Maybe some do, but I was just happy to get out into nature and look, listen, breathe, and be. I highly recommend it.