Due to the unfortunate reality called “school” that affects
most people my age, I have not been doing too much dedicated birding
lately. However, because of the
demands of being in the midst of cross country season, I have been running in
excess of 40 miles per week, providing excellent opportunities for “Sweaty
Sanderling” birds. Despite this
quantity of running, I have only seen two new SWSA birds since my last posting
to this blog in July . . . Red Crossbill and Northern Pygmy-Owl. This post is written to commemorate the
finding of the latter species.
My cousin was visiting from Austria and we spent a day
exploring Rocky Mountain National Park.
We returned home late and missed our XC practice on that fateful day of
October the 3rd. An
overly tired Welch, stiff from a long day in the car insisted we run after
dinner. This was inconvenient in
many ways . . . one, it doesn’t
feel to good to run after a meal, and two, it was nearly dark. But I had to run, and run I did. A half-mile in, I felt like puking due
to the unseemly amount of elk, beans, vegetable stir-fry, and other delicacies
I had consumed only minutes earlier.
The feeling didn’t subside until I finished the 7-mile slog of a run,
but I would find it to be well worth the discomfort.
In the rapidly fading light, I passed our driveway, dropping
off Welch, who had a shorter distance to run. Here, I heard a lone Green-tailed Towhee meow its final
salute to the passing day. I kept
running. Soon after, I heard
another call, this one welcoming the night. This, my friends, was the call of one of the most awesome
birds on planet Earth, the toot . . . toot
. . . toot of the Northern Pygmy-Owl. I hollered for Welch, but he had
already retreated into the well-lit interior of the house. “Sucks for him,” I sadly thought as I
finished my run.
--
SWSA Totals
Miles Run: 957
Species: 184
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