Top Ten Lifers of 2008: Number 6

If you're a birder I'm sure you have been guilty of scanning the pages of your field guide and dreaming of seeing certain birds. When I was in Bolivia I saw my first creeper but I still dreamed of seeing one in my home country. So at Number 6 I present you with my lifer Brown Creeper Certhia americana.

Painting by Louis Agassiz Fuertes

This fall I decided to take a spur of the moment trip to the Midwest to see my drinking buddies. I knew that I could easily pick up a couple of lifers but I wasn't going to focus my trip on birds. My main reason for being there was to relax, have some fun time with my girls, and see real fall colors. That being said I knew I would be disappointed if I went home without seeing a couple of new birds. To my surprise one of the first birds of the trip would be my lifer Brown Creeper.

The creeper was in a mixed flock of kinglets, titmice, and chickadees. And yes, that was my first confirmed Black-capped Chickadee. I really must think about getting out of the Southeast more often. So there I was on a path all alone staring down my first Brown Creeper. It was definitely a big highlight of the trip though the apple orchard, camping, and concert wasn't half bad either.

We're half way through my Top Ten Lifers of 2008. Check back tomorrow for another selection of not one but five birds all lumped together under Number 5.

Apples Make Us Happy

I've seen apples growing in North Carolina but I've never actually been to an apple orchard. While in Wisconson we stopped at my very first apple orchard for some apple sampling right outside Devil's Lake State Park. The Ski-Hi Fruit Farm has been in business for over a hundred years and owned by the same family to boot. They grow 35 varieties of apple and sell a mixture of other goods such as honey and fruit jams.

Just like wine tasting we sampled 5 or 6 apples before selecting the $5.00 bag of Empire apples for our trip. Just look how happy apples can make people. I love it!

Skywatch Friday: Devil's Lake State Park

The sky's of Wisconsin were just beautiful on my recent trip. Here's my submission for Skywatch Friday. A view of Devil's Lake as seen from the Tumbling Rocks trail.

(Click on the picture for a full view.)

Exploring Illinois

The Rock River was the first thing I saw after waking up in Illinois. The river was running strong as a few fishermen lazily fought against the flow. The brushy area by the river is where I picked up my first life bird of the trip, White-throated Sparrow. It was hanging out with a few other sparrow species jumping up and down through the vegetation. I couldn't have asked for a better morning.


Once everyone was awake we headed over to the Lorado Taft Field Campus where my friend Heather works as an environmental educator. The campus is found at the Rock River's edge in Lowden State Park. The park was once an artist colony called the Eagle's Nest. Lorado Taft built the statue you see above known as the Black Hawk Statue or the Eternal Indian. It's 50 feet tall and quite a sight on the edge of this river.

The Taft Campus is really set up well for birding. The staff stocks the many feeders found throughout the property. I could see many common species feeding including White-breasted Nuthatch, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Tufted Titmouse, and Black-capped Chickadee.

The most impressive lifer of my trip was by far the Brown Creeper. The Taft campus gave me many looks at this small bird. I don't travel much out of the Southeast so I added not only this bird but also the Black-capped Chickadee to my list for the weekend.

After a couple hours of hiking through dried stream beds and meadows the group split in half. Heather and I continued down to the river's edge. The sun was setting and providing wonderful colors to peak through the leaves. I had a wonderful time in the Midwest with my friends. The rivers, the birds, and the people I met will be remembered for a long time.

Autumn in Wisconsin

Welcome to Devil's Lake State Park, Wisconsin. Here's what the drive in looks like:

Recently on my trip to the Midwest we hit up the Devil's Lake State Park . The weather was perfect for camping with nice cool weather and sunny skies. First thing first, we set up the campsite and then headed down to the "beach" to have a picnic.

Our campsite above and the beach at Devil's Lake State Park below. It was really windy down by the water.

After our lunch of hummus and tomato sandwiches we hit the trail. My WI tour guide Melanie assured me that these were not mountains that we were hiking but when you're flying in from the flatlands of Florida everything looked like a mountain to me. We went up and up and up until we finally hit the top of the ridge that overlooks Devil's Lake.




The view from the top was spectacular. All the fall colors gave the landscape a surreal feeling. Above is the only group shot I managed from the whole trip (l to r): Melanie, Katie, Heather, and myself.

After hitting all the overlooks and being silly with our cameras we headed down the ridge to the lake's edge. On the way back we took the more leisurely Tumbled Rocks trail. It's here that I fell in love with the Baraboo Quartzite. Check out those purplish rocks.


After a full day of traveling and hiking we headed back to our home for the night in the Northern Lights Campsite. After many patient attempts we finally got a nice warm fire. Katie and Melanie made baked apples and we all enjoyed each other's company before heading to bed in our tents.

I really would have enjoyed staying at Devil's Lake S.P. for another day or two. There's over 29 miles of trail and we barely even scratched the surface. But we had miles before us and other adventures ahead. So we said farewell to the beautiful yellow trees and hit the road.


Check back later this week as I highlight a few more fun adventures in the Midwest including apple orchards and some hiking/birding in Illinois.

Wordless Wednesday: Wisconsin Pumpkin Patch