Hitting the Bottom

A dear and long-time friend called this morning wanting to know a good spot to watch birds up in our neck of the proverbial woods. Having been keen to get in a little time on the local bottomland between trade shows, I was more than happy to oblige in not only telling my friend where a great spot could be found but volunteered to show her as well.

Autumn on the reclaimed riverbottom land just outside Scappoose, Oregon that is now primarily dedicated to agriculture is truly sublime. As most of the surrounding area is covered by evergreen forest, the bottomland has some of the largest expanses of deciduous vegitation and therefore the largest and most dramatic swaths of autumn color to be witnessed in all of Columbia County.


Of course, as beautiful as the local arboreal display is, the visual reminder that the area lies not far from an active volcano, Mount St. Helens in southwest Washington state, is usually sufficient to stop most visitors as well as locals in their tracks; especially on a crisp, clear day when the view is at its best.


The proximity of the bottom's agricultural fields to the Scappoose Slough, a small branching channel from the nearby Columbia River, allows bird watchers the opportunity to not only enjoy the expected open field birds of northwest Oregon, such as Northern Harrier, Circus cyaneus, American Kestrel, Falco sparverius, and, during their brief sojourn in the area, Sandhill Crane, Grus canadensis, but riverine species as well, such as this Double-crested Cormorant, Phalacrocorax auritus.

Peace and good bird watching.

Once in a Lifetime Quality

Some fifteen years ago I once bought a Filson vest.

About twelve years ago I once bought a Filson coat.

Perhaps a decade ago I once bought a pair of Filson boots.

I still have all of these items. They have served me well through years in the field and have not yet even begun to show the first signs of the hard use to which they have been put. That’s the reason I buy Filson products. That’s also the reason I’ve only bought these items once – they’ve yet to, and in my lifetime may actually never need to, be replaced.

Every year that I have been standing out in the rain, the wind, and whatever else Mother Nature may throw at me during the Christmas Bird Count, I have been wearing at least one piece of Filson gear. As my feet have pounded the ground searching for birds, butterflies, and other interesting wildlife on three different continents they have done so in Filson boots. Since I first picked up a binocular and set out into the field, more often than any other, my notebook, field guide, and other essential gear has been close at hand in the pockets of my Filson vest.


So when I got the note that told me that Filson was to open a retail store to sell their extraordinary products in Portland, a mere thirty miles from my home in Scappoose, I naturally made the trip to attend their grand opening. To an avid outdoor enthusiast, and not meaning to be hyperbolic, it was a little like making a religious pilgrimage.


Truly – for in deference to all the thousands of hours I have devoted to my own outdoor passions, Filson has stood by me every step of the way through their craftsmanship, their quality, and their absolute determination to be the best. What’s more, they’ve done the same for my father in his work as a commercial fisherman and my grandfather in his as a logger.

Filson’s slogan is simple: “Might as well have the best.” Their guarantee equally as straight-forward: “We guarantee every item purchased from us. No more, no less. Your satisfaction is the sole purpose of our transaction." In this age of marketing, spin, and obfuscation, it’s indeed comforting to know that there are still companies doing what they have done so well for so long and still absolutely dedicated to doing it in the manner in which they first began.

Those in or planning a visit to the Portland, Oregon area can find the new Filson store at 526 N.W. 13th Ave. Call (503) 246-0900 for store hours. If you already know about Filson, you’ll go. If you have yet to experience their fine quality first hand, you’ll be glad you did. You can thank me later.

Peace and good bird watching.

Time to Make a Few Changes

The time has come.

For over a year, Born Again Bird Watcher has been using some pretty standard blogging tools and relying on the "kindness of strangers" to stay alive on the World Wide Web.However as it and my business of the same begin to mature, it is necessary the blog and the website to tranfer platforms and merge into one seamless whole.

During this transition there will be a brief period of inactivity. For those who subscribe via an RSS, Atom, of Feedburner reader, I will try to do all I can to preserve these feeds but if no activity is noted after a week, please visit the actual site using the www.bornagainbirdwatcher.com address.

Thanks to all who have made this blog what it has become. I hope that when this transition is complete you will find it even better than ever before.

Peace and good bird watching.

A Few New Favorite Butterflies

Much of my "free" time has lately been spent on categorizing and sorting the hundreds of butterfly, dragonfly, and other assorted macrophotos I took during my recent visit to Texas in order ot represent Wingscapes at the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival. As a result of this activity, I have discovered a particular fondness for certain species that may not be at first found all that attractive when first sighted in the field. Please allow me to illustrate.


Often confused with the more commonly seen and highly variable Fatal Metalmark, the Rounded Metalmark, Calephelis perditalis, shows a more pronounced curvature to the forewing markings. Very small and easily missed in the dappled light, this little butterfly becomes utterly charming when observed for an extended period of time.


The Sickle-winged Skipper, Eantis tamemund, has a peculiar basking posture made further more unusual by its downturned forewing tips. When nectaring at blossoms, the dark color and forward curve of the wings give it a somewhat sinister appearance. I took to calling it the "Vampire Skipper" in my mind whenever I noticed one.

Peace and good butterfly watching.

The Lens Not Taken

Regular readers of Born Again Bird Watcher who may have read some of the initial posts on my recent trip to Panama likely discovered in them much whinging by yours truly about the fact that I did not take a sufficiently long lens with me to obtain respectable photos of the birds I saw there. I did not take this lens as at the time I did not own one.

Thus, upon my return home I made good on what I had said many times to my traveling companions throughout our journeys, both high and low, all across Panama: "So help me Ansel Adams I'm going to get a long lens suitable for bird photography as soon as I get back to the states!" Thus it is with pleasure that I can now say a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM lens has been added to the Born Again Bird Watcher photographic toolbox.

Does this new lens meet the requirements for bird photography? Let's look at some of the first results from my recent visit to the Rio Grande Valley:


Plain Chachalaca, Ortalis vetula


Northern Mockingbird, Mimus polyglottos


Blue-headed Vireo, Vireo solitarius

While there are admittedly some problems with each of these images, the source of each of their respective deficiencies can be much more readily attributed to the nut behind the viewfinder than any mechanical component of the lens itself.

Peace and good bird watching.

A Study of Truth in Green

Doing back-to-back natural history events is not easy. Having just returned at 1:30 AM this morning from the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival in Harlingen, Texas where I exhibited the Wingscapes BirdCam, I am immediately setting up the Wingscapes display once again later this morning at the National Association for Interpretation's annual national workshop in Portland, Oregon. However the up-side, as they say in the marketing biz, is that I get the opportunity to tell thousands of nature enthusiasts all about a great tool they can use to observe and from that better understand the natural world - so while it's a lot of work it's also a lot of fun.

Of course, as I captured some, if I may say so myself, superb nature photos while in the South Rio Grande Valley area, I couldn't wait to share them with the Born Again Bird Watcher readers. So before I hit the sack for the night and get a little sleep, I wanted to post two of the images of which I am most proud, and which, as a pair, best remind me of the truth to be found in the natural world.


The first is a Malachite butterfly, Siproeta stelenes, recorded at the NABA International Butterfly Park in Mission, Texas. One of the few vividly green butterflies, the Malachite is a favorite of many Lepidopterists, both amateur and professional. Of all the butterflies I have seen in my life, few compare to the Malachite's ability to convey the sublime beauty to be found in nature.


The second is an as-of-yet unidentified dragonfly devouring a freshly captured Tawny Emperor butterfly, Asterocampa clyton, at Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge. While the jade green of the dragonfly's face is hypnotically beautiful in its own right, the scene itself conveys the truth behind much of the beauty of nature - the eternal cycle of life and death.

Peace and good bird watching.

Does This Make Me Paparazzi?

Walk through the exhibit hall at the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival and you never know who you'll see. For example, on a stroll through the exhibit hall I turned the corner and found Birdchick and Kenn Kaufman giving a joint interview at the Swarovski booth.

Moblogging near notable authors, peace and good bird watching.

Four Important Words at the RGV

"Pecan Chocolate Carmel Cheesecake." Do I really need to elaborate?

Moblogging with one hand and eating cheesecake with the other, peace and good birdwatching.

Duly (Bird) Noted

One of the first things I do when I rent a car or check into a hotel room while travelling is to set the radio station to the local National Public Radio affiliate station. This way I can keep up with All Things Considered as well as discover some of the great programming offered by NPR that isn’t offered on my local public broadcasting station.

So I was especially pleased to discover that Public Radio 88 FM in Harlingen, Texas not only carries my favorite NPR programs from home but one of my favorite podcasts as well – BirdNote. Broadcast at 7:04 AM as well as 7:58 AM Monday through Friday, Public Radio 88 FM’s presentation of BirdNote ensures that all the birders living in as well as visiting the lower Rio Grande Valley have the opportunity to be both informed as well as entertained with the wealth of bird-related information contained in every BirdNote broadcast.

For those, like myself, who don’t always have the opportunity to hear episodes of BirdNote broadcast on their local radio stations, their daily podcast can be easily downloaded and enjoyed on their computers or MP3 player of choice.

Peace and good bird watching.

The Master

It just wouldn't seem like a birding festival without Clay Taylor, Swarovski's master digiscoper. Fortunately, Clay is present at the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival and freely sharing his wisdom with all visitors the the Swarovski booth as well as out in the field.

The good people at Swarovski also included an exciting new eyepiece in their display at RGV - a 25-50x model. I had the opportunity to look through one mounted on an ATS 80 spotting scope and I can honestly say, despite my frequently expressed preference for "prime" spotting scope eyepieces such as 30x or 32x Wide designs, that this new 25-50x model is indeed quite impressive. It offers the expansive field of view and deep depth of field usually only found in prime eyepieces.

Moblogging next to a collection of fine Austrian optical instruments, peace and good bird watching.