PREMISE
My original summer plan was to travel to backcountry Alaska to work as a research assistant with Kittlitz's Murrelets. However, a stubborn lower back injury rendered me unfit for service, so I opted to head to Alabama early to commence my graduate research. I decided to take the long way.
THE NUMBERS
4298.2 - miles traveled
9 - peanut butter burritos consumed
261 - species of birds
14 - states
5 - life birds
7 - cans of iced tea imbibed (Georgia Peach Peace Tea being the favorite)
1 - night of sleep in a Walmart parking lot
6 - life states (Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Arkansas Mississippi, Alabama)
2 - factories toured (Noosa Yogurt and New Belgium Brewing)
27 - episodes of The Memory Palace podcast enjoyed
1 - bird-car collision (I think it was a Barn Swallow)
16 - plays of the Songs for Traveling CD
 |
| Three weeks behind the wheel |
 |
| Svelte Stilt Sandpipers slice the sky. Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma. |
 |
| Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma |
 |
| Field Sparrow bouncing acoustic balls. Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, Oklahoma. |
 |
| Western angles, nostalgia. Tulsa, Oklahoma |
 |
| Yellow-headed Blackbird staking his claim somewhere on the divide between the Rockies and the Great Basin |
 |
| Give us this day the tenacity of weasels. Great Salt Lake, Utah. |
 |
| Brutal phalarope fly-by. Great Salt Lake, Utah. |
 |
| Possibly one of the least appreciated birds in North America, the peerless Downy Woodpecker. Boulder County, CO |
 |
| Bound for the taiga, a Blackpoll, a rare-ish bird in the shadow of the Rockies. Boulder County, Colorado. |
 |
| Bighorn Sheep. Gunnison, Colorado |
 |
| Creative scoping solutions for windy days |
 |
| Antelope Island Causeway near Salt Lake City, Utah |
No comments:
Post a Comment