This is the first page of my bird list from my trip to Niagara Falls. Four intrepid birders (Starr Saphir, Lenore Swenson, Don Hill, and myself) headed way north to look for gulls and boreal birds, in particular a Slaty-backed Gull that had been reported at the control gates. This was a group of serious birders, all of the dawn-to-dusk variety and not the sorts to be deterred by the weather in Canada in January. Which is to say we spent most of the time being cold. Although I must admit that spending six hours outdoors in Central Park in January is a more brutal experience than car-birding Niagara.
The drawing is ink on gray paper, about 10×9″. Because jpegs are so notoriously unfaithful, I have put a detail below. Which is also unfaithful, but whatever. If you are interested in reading the full trip list, click the more link at the bottom.
Trip List: NYC to Niagara Falls, Jan 5-9, 2009:
70 species, excluding Trumpeter Swan
Cackling Goose (8+ Richardson’s, Ithaca, NY)
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
TRUMPETER SWAN (1 subadult, Ithaca, NY)
Tundra Swan
Gadwall
American Black Duck
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Canvasback
Redhead
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
White-winged Scoter
Long-tailed Duck
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Wild Turkey
Great Blue Heron
Turkey Vulture
Bald Eagle
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper’s Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Rough-legged Hawk
American Kestrel
Bonaparte’s Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
SLATY-BACKED GULL (at Control Gates, US side of Niagara River)
Glaucous Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Short-eared Owl
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Northern Shrike
Blue Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Carolina Wren
Eastern Bluebird
American Tree Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Eastern Meadowlark
Rusty Blackbird
House Finch
WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL (flock of 20+, Canada side of Niagara River)
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Cathy! yay. the post looks great. I visited Niagara when I was a young boy. Maybe we can return this summer.
Long-tailed Duck (nee the racist AND sexist “Oldsquaw”) has to my mind the greatest collection of old odd local, colliquial or hunters names: “CALLOO”, “COCKAWEE”, “JOHN CONNOLLY”, “OLD BILLY”, “OLD GRANNY”, “QUANDY”, “SCOLDER”, and my personal favorite “UNCLE HULDY”. Just to keep things interesting while at the shore, shout out: “there goes a line of Quandys” and see what reaction you get.
Mark
Wait, there’s more (just looked the rest up on my list I keep of such things): “Callithumpian Duck”; “Creamy Ass”; “Jack Owly”; “Knock Molly”; “Pine Knot”; and “South Southerly”. One might ask what this duck does to deserve all this? part of the answer is thier noisy and garrulous spring prenupts: hence “Oldsquaw”. Some of the names are certainly descriptive, but “Knock Molly”? It sounds like getting an Irish barmaid pregnant.
Mark
Wow. Your bird list is SO much prettier than mine!
Mine is usually an index card stuck into my field guide. 
Hey Mark,
If the sound of getting an Irish barmaid pregnant is “knock Molly” to ya, then you’ve obviously never tried. I’m a little scared of the person who came up with “Creamy Ass” though! I don’t think they were Irish….
Patrick with smilin eyes.
Patrick:
RE: Barmaids: not quite, but I have certainly seen FLOGGING MOLLY.
Up the rebels!
Mark
Wow, you’re handwriting is so lovely and clear! The sketch is just darling, as well!
Cathy, I visited Niagara on my road trip back to Tucson from Vermont. I fell in love with some of the areas that had that eery, ghost town, neglected feel on the US side. What an amazing trip you must of had. Can’t wait to see more drawings.
Catherine:
Thanks for mentioning Updike on Twitter. My favorite novel of his remains RABBIT RUN, mainly because I found it as a young teen and there was a real sense of connecting to a world of modern non-scholastic adult lit. I actually hid the fact I was reading it.
Alina et al: be sure to read: INVENTING NIAGARA.
It would be great to keep a “waterfall list” of birds seen around waterfalls; think of the places you could visit and the species you would see! or a border list: birds observed between two places.
Mark
Catherine: be honest: OK, Updike died, but so did CHARLES SCHNEER. of the two, which one brought you more fun?
Mark
Tap-tap-tap.
Mom and Dad just called to report that a robin landed on the kitchen window sill while they were having breakfast and began (not aggressively) tapping on the glass. They got up and went right next to the window, and it didn’t move for several minutes, when a mockingbird chased it away.
Five minutes later, it was back. Tap-tap-tap. They didn’t have any bird seed, so they put out peanut butter and sesame seeds, but it wasn’t really interested. A little later, it flew off.
And returned to make a third appearance before breakfast was over. Tap-tap-tap.
Any explanations?
My guess is that it saw its reflection.
or maybe the pile of worms on the kitchen counter?
probably the former.
Ah, Charles Schneer. Long live Jason and the Argonauts.
And for all of you Easterners, consider a cold-weather menu from Antarctica: http://tinyurl.com/cfmrsg
Flamethrowers, anyone?
For a freaky accounting of what it is like to work the food service and other “non-scientific” jobs in Antarctica, read; BIG DEAD PLACE by Nicholas Johnson. The night shift, ie the 6 months when the sun doesn’t rise, is quite, quite scary. And yes, people do really badly freak out, including the author. There’s a lot of suddenly finding yourself staring off into nothingness, drooling, no thoughts at all in your head and an hour has gone by. Lots of parties to help maintain sanity and people do hook up regularly, but you can only do it so many times before it gets to you. Great pay.
Jesse: Raven wanna be? Look for literature about “the lost Lenore” scattered about.
Mark
I can recommend THE TERROR (Dan Simmons), which is a fictionalized account of Franklin’s expedition for the Northwest Passage. I was a little disappointed after a second read (a few minor changes of perspective, and it could have been one for the ages), but it’s still fantastic. Read it in the middle of August, or under five blankets, and you’ll still shiver.
Mom and Dad report that the robin kept at it all day: going from window to window, tapping softly, walking slowly back and forth across the sill, stopping to listen to Mom tapping back — one thing after the next that didn’t fit getting angry at its own reflection.
Proof that it wasn’t a dream? Gills and demijohns and quarter-gills and nipperkins of birdshit.
THE PERFECT AMALGAMATION OF THE ZOMBIE THREAD AND THE ANTARCTIC THREAD
The band Zombie Zombie recreated John Carpenter’s The Thing using GI Joes. I particularly love that they used glue sticks for ice cores. As a matter of fact, I bet that was the whole raison d’etre.
G.I. JOE: Talk about 80′s non-stalgia. I was never interested. Used to groan whenever it would pop up on Saturday mornings. (As opposed to the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon — I can’t remember being more excited about a television show.) But it was so prevalent that when my Dad started coaching Little League (his name is Joseph), the kids asked whether they could shout “yo, Joe!” (one of the show’s taglines) to get his attention.
Catherine:
Is it me, or was the Zombie Zombie film actually BETTER than Carpenter’s?
Some time ago, my son actually gave me this wildly detailed action figure of the amalgam creature from the end of the film. It’s great to pose with Barbies or (better) My Little Pony.
Just had a great conversation about the Post Modern significance of Dusty Springfield.
Mark
What are you doing to my head?
Witness: FROZEN+ZOMBIES+………MICE!!!!
http://paxarcana.wordpress.com/2008/11/07/frozen-zombie-mice-will-come-at-you-extra-slowly/
Is there one additional thread we can add in here?
Mark
THREAD OVERLOAD
I’m getting ready for photorealist/photo/not photo/is anything cheating thread… making my first ever photoshop painting. it looks like a photograph. there’s really no point, but I’m doing it anyway.
What’s scarier? The frozen undead or the Sims?
http://www.slate.com/id/2102086
Remember: according to Dante, the center of Hell is the frozen lake Cocytus. So, in fact, Hell HAS frozen over. And it’s filled with the dead. The really, really bad dead, ie uber-zombies.
Mark
Eagerly awaiting the reality/art/photo thread to come after you post your work. There should be a contest for the person with the highest degree of po-po-mo arcane language in thier post. Who can be the most obtuse yet at the same time attempt to make an actual point.
Thought problem: Would a zombie prefer to look at a photoshoped picture or an actual landscape? My knee-jerk feeling is that they would always go for the simulcrum of the copy, or that they would eat the picture and then anyone in the landscape. But it’s a trick question of course.
Last zombie post: and I am serious here: In this trailer, doesn’t Herbert West remind you of Stephen Colbert? Did he model himself after West?
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=reanimator&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=
Mark
OK. My first ever Photoshop drawing is up on Birdspot Photo. I put it there cause it looks better with the photos and cause it’s not quite art. Yet. Mrrrrrraaaaaawwwwwwwghh (monster voice).
Link: http://mydogoscar.com/birdspot_photo/
That is by a wide margin the most adorable bird list I’ve ever seen.
Great blog!
It’s wonderful to see a detail of your ink work.