Monday, July 21, 2014

Old Gray

I want to dedicate this post to my father, Charles "Buddy" Gambill. After going through a lot of artwork, books, pictures, etc., I wanted to share this letter that he wrote, about his birding buddy.
My cometary in red.

Having a good birding companion makes this pastime more enjoyable. Normally this companion shares the pure excitement, enthusiasm, discovery, and the countless stories that arise from Birding, let alone someone to bird with. One constant companion for the past 14 years has been Old Gray.

Old Gray at Pickerington Ponds

Old Gray and I have seen over 600 plus birds from Texas to the East Coast, birding the plains, mountains, hills, swamps, the shorelines and the open seas. Or should I say, taken me to see these places. You see Old Gray is my car, a 1987 Chevrolet Celebrity wagon with 300,000 miles on it and still going strong.

Over the years, Old Gray has made two weekends trips to Texas, from Ohio; now this is a three-day weekend. Old Gray went once below Corpus Chrisiti for Northern Jacana(spring 1993). I went on this trip. Driving through the rains/floods in Houston on the way back, water was coming into the floorboard through the gas pedal hole, but still driving behind a Semi for wake. Once pass the deep water, later we run out of gas, Dad get's picked up, leaves me, comes back with a 5 gallon bucket with gas, and a paper funnel, wheh?!?. and a  Masked Duck with a 2-hour turn around and visit with my parents who had driven up from the Rio Grande Valley to meet us. This included the now famous find a fast food stop with a 30 minute oil change place next door so Old Gray could get juiced up on the way back. The other trip was for a Blue-footed Booby(1994. I did not go) below Austin, Texas. A two hour birding tour in the area, and then turn around and head back. If you can make Texarkana by nightfall, then it's only a 13-hour drive back to Ohio. This included a Wal-Mart stop, 30 minute oil change at the store, you can get food, travel snacks, cowboy hats, Patsy Cline's Greatest hits and Willie Nelson tapes to play on the way back, one is set ready to go, rested refueled and back behind an old friend.

She went on several trips to Maryland and North Carolina for pelagic good birds on these forays where Herald's Petrel, White-faced Storm Petrel, White-tailed Tropicbird, Kelp Gull, Black-tailed Gull, Yellow-footed Gull, Fork-tailed Flycatcher along with the regular standbys. From Ohio, Old Gray has birded Maryland, Virginia, Delaware and North Carolina extensively, totaling up states lists in these regions. Old Gray is not limited just to the states; she has seen Mexico but never ventured that far and visited Canada several times. Birds seen there on weekend trips were Variegated Flycatcher, Boreal Owl and Northern Hawk Owl, missed the Fieldfare both days.

How about a quick trip up to Michigan for the Green Viloet-eared Hummingbird with the parents? Oh, they had already seen two in Texas, but why not, we can stop on the way back at Metzger Marsh on Lake Erie in Ohio and see a Piping Plover. A two hour diversion, but Old Gray doesn't mind. She gets us there an can rest when we get home.

Not to be limited to just birding, the wagon took my son and his friends to spring break in Florida one year(1995). I'm sure a birding trip was much better wear than this, but the car stuck it out, brought them all back minus some luggage and a thermostat, which by the way I had to replace after the son broke the housing trying to replace it. This is also my work car, 6 days a week, 12 months a year, with the only reprieve when we go overseas to bird. On repairs, the key word is "lifetime", second pair of shocks for the rear, lifetime Monroe's, lifetime alignment, twice a year, 4 mufflers, replaced free, all my brakes and rotors replaced free, which is really great whenever they say you need work done. Firestone doesn't make money on Old Gray. I have replaced the DogBone engine mount 5 times, and started doing that myself, 4 batteries, 6 sets of tires, the medium range of 40/50K seem to work well. Replaced one cog(plastic) in the transmission. I change her oil every 3000 miles, and it leaks a little power steering fluid, but besides that it has been a good car.

factory publication of new wagon


Old Gray is always ready to go. Under the front seat are a pair of Bausch&Lomb Elites 8x42, old style 2nd year production, great pair of bino's, kept in leather case, important for storage and wear. Under the passenger seat an old Sportmaster spotting scope 25/60 zoom with a window mount. In the rear, 2nd edition National Geographic guide, just in case along with 3 large binders that contain all the ID guides gleaned from Birding, American Birds, Fieldnotes, Bird Watching Digest, North American Birds and various Internet sources for reference. This all at hand, one is always ready to safari. Safari(an Ohio trip) it has, a quick 2 hour trip after work to catch a Marbled Murrelet in waning light, a Violet-Green Swallow in a late evening birdwalk, a Yellow Rail again after work, the Christmas Eve run for a Say's Phoebe as I was shopping, only a 3 hour diversion. This doesn't include all the chases that panned out, hours of driving only to hear it just left, more than I want to recall. The Internet has made Old Gray work a little harder with daily/hourly updates. Out of the 331 Ohio birds Old Gray has taken me to about 325ish, on the weekends we have started using the other cars, also gray, to give the work horse a repress. I still have maybe three more years before retirement, and I'm hoping she'll take me through, after all in the other cars the binos and the spotting scopes don't fit under the seats.

If I go out today to start the old car and she doesn't start, I'll have no regrets and give her a hug for taking me to a lifetime of birding and adventures. The spot where Old Gray turned 300,000 miles was the first spot, Pickerington Ponds, that I ever birded with her back in 1987, and I think the Ring-billed Ducks and Lesser Scaups were there that day also.

Written in 2001, the year of his passing.
Thank you so much Sharon Gambill for giving me these things of his. 
They will keep me retracing the steps.



Friday, July 4, 2014

Happy 4th of July!!

It's midway through the year, can you believe it!?! From the freezing cold and snowy start in January to heavy rains and humidity in June. What a 2014 it has been. "We Believe that We Will Win"

Which three presidents died on the Fourth of July?
John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe. Adams, the second president, and Jefferson, the third president, both died on the same day in 1826

I have finished up the first half of birding for the year, and have had some really great times. The places I have seen and the people I've been with are truly amazing. Thank you again for allowing me to appreciate the little things in life.

I was going back through my pictures from the Florida trip in March, and remember seeing this bird. But I thought it was something else. A non-countable species. Turns out, this is a countable Common Myna bird.

Common Myna















In 2008, this bird was accepted to the ABA list from the non-countable invasive list. Mostly all are south Florida birds. I saw the Hill Myna(non-countable) in Kendall, FL during the bird run with my grandparents in June of 1990. I still need to blog about that trip and list the life birds I saw. So with the Common Myna, that gives me BigYear2014 #294 for the year.

On July 3rd, I awoke early for the hour drive down below Lancaster, Ohio to Clear Creek Metro Park, or route 116. I was on a chase for up to 4 new FOYs that had been reported in the last week.  I remember coming here often as a kid birding, and getting many of my warbler lifers down here.
Louisiana & Northern Waterthrush in May 89', Mourning Warbler May 90', Yellow-throated April 89', Black-throated Green July 88', Cape May 89', Black-and-White May 88', Cerulean May 89', Northern Parula May 87', Yellow-throated Vireo, Wood Thrush, Henslow's Sparrow, & Acadian empidx., to name a few.

Sub-tropical climate, low hanging clouds & humid

Metro Park




From the reports on ebird.org, I headed up the Hemlock trail, northeast passage up to bridge that doubled back up the hill. There I heard the distinctive calling of Worm-Eating Warbler(foy). I managed to get good views of him calling in the tree down by the creek, but no pictures. Like the KY warbler, they sing then fly. So chasing him down is hard. But the black crown stripes and stripe through eye are easy to identify.  After that, I drove down the road towards the upper road entrance, hill area and birded the Prairie Warbler trail twice, but Blue-Wing warbler there. Still need him the last two years. Gee-sh. On the way back east on the road, I finally heard the distinctive call of the Veery(foy)!! I stopped and played my phone app, and sure enough the Veery flew right above me on the road. I got binoculars on him, but sorry no pictures either. Its hard out there to photo these forest birds. So I gained +2 more new FOYs bringing to a total of BigYear2014 #296.

First Half of 2014 Facts:
4 states visited
296 year birds
20 Life birds -- 552 total

New trips confirmed:
Early Sept.--LasVegas/Henderson NV birding
Mid Oct.--PortTownsend/Edmunds/DiscoveryPark, WA birding

Next up: ???

#2024 Big Year in Review

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