My identify is Chaz and I am from Flin Flon, Manitoba (in Canada), however I reside in Tadoule Lake, Manitoba the place I work as a Land Guardian for the Seal River Watershed Alliance. I’ve at all times been an avid fan of the land however wasn’t at all times a consumer of the land till I found the Reserves by work, which wasn’t initially Seal River.
Final yr, after I discovered I used to be going to Audubon’s Seabird Institute on Hog Island I started performing some analysis to organize for my journey. And I will be trustworthy, I wasn’t positive what I used to be going to be doing as a result of “ornithology” was a reasonably new time period to me. Nevertheless, I knew it was going to be a terrific instructional expertise as a result of it was a subject I knew completely nothing about and was one thing that may assist me in my discipline.
The journey to Portland, Maine alone was a blast! I’ve by no means actually left Manitoba except for seeing a little bit of Saskatchewan so being in Toronto was an expertise by itself. Sounds bizarre but it surely was. After we arrived in Portland, I had arguably one of many freshest and greatest meals of my life—you’ll be able to’t beat the contemporary seafood in Maine, is what I’ve come to be taught.
I met lots of wonderful folks on this journey who did not choose me for not realizing a factor about birds, as a substitute, they took me beneath their wing to show me. The truth is, I am nonetheless in touch with a number of of the folks I’ve met, and so they assist me with my pictures and something birding-related, which is nice as a result of it seems I LOVE birding and pictures! As soon as I discovered my love for birding, I began sharing tales of ptarmigans since apparently, that is on everybody’s checklist. I see all of them winter, however once we see ptarmigans which means our freezers are going to fill quickly—AKA Caribou season.
One of many final days on Hog Island, we have been out on a hike, and when it was concluding I noticed a black shadow in a tree. I pointed it out to a different attendee and he was like “Ahh, simply mould” but it surely seems it was a porcupine—which we’ve got hundreds of thousands of the place I stay—however everybody went loopy for it. I assume generally we take as a right what’s in our personal yard.
The largest factor I took house with me was the talent to establish birds—male or feminine, juvenile or grownup, and though I am not good at it, it has positively helped me very a lot. The journey had very minor hiccups, which each journey does. However wow, everybody made positive to go above and past. At first, I used to be actually excited to go to America, however after I returned that did not matter a lot. All I talked about was Hog Island and the birds. Seeing Atlantic Puffins, watching tagging, being up shut and private with birds, and studying from the very best; it was actually an honor. I will be trustworthy although, now I feel I annoy some folks with how a lot I discuss birds.
I’ve been using chook identification since I returned house. I exploit Merlin and eBird nearly day by day. I am as much as 114 species as of this write-up and have even seen a few uncommon birds. And I by no means depart my home with out binoculars or a digicam now.