When I returned home in late May of this year from my Texas expedition, I expected it to be a couple of months before I would embark on a new adventure. My goals were to finalize preparations for new tenants, and MacGyver a few RV upgrades, and then roll out to meet the world again. Unlike most of us, the Covid-19 pandemic has not had the same impact on my lifestyle. “Stay-at-home” directives confined most of us to a geographic prison. As my home is on wheels, I can isolate in a more mobile fashion. However, the universe had a different, less glorious plan for me.
My trip to Texas rewarded me with many new images of birds I met on the expedition. I returned from Texas at a faster pace than normal, with a mission to get home in a relative hurry to take care of some business, rather than the sensible process of editing images for the web and spinning my yarns before continuing on my journey. I didn’t know it at the time, but after returning home I spent too many hours at the computer weaving stories and presenting pictures, and I developed a severe blood clot in my left leg. The blood clot shed particles that found their way into my lungs and required me to spend a few days in the hospital. The medical community has kept me pinned down at home for the past 4½ months, but I’ve reached the point in the healing process that I’m able to put myself on the road once again. Now I can look forward to a lifetime process of watching out for a repeat performance of this not-so-fun medical outcome.
During my recovery I spent a lot of time revising the descriptions in the bird image galleries on my website. I used the extensive collection of images gathered from my Texas expedition as a means to revise and enhance the descriptions in the Species Galleries. When first I developed the presentations for the Birds I Have Known galleries, the required work was so vast, I left out many details from the descriptions just to get through the process of building the presentation of what is now 451 bird species. While on my spring 2020 Texas adventure, I collected images of 155 bird species, 43 were of birds I’d not met before. During my recovery I’ve been able to update over ⅔’s of these descriptions in the web galleries. As time permits I hope to augment and enhance the rest of the gallery descriptions, but I must confess, it’s a lot more fun to travel and collect fresh subjects.
My RV MacGyvering is nearly complete (for now), and the call of the road is sweetly beckoning me to meander once more. I have Idaho friends I plan on spending some time with, and then who knows? With the approach of winter, the weather may prove to make some of my decisions for me.
I’ve been sharing the updated galleries on Facebook at a rate of one species per day. I feel that pace makes up what could be construed as too many emails to share without the perception of rudeness. Following is a list of a few of the recent galleries I’ve updated: Least Sandpiper, Double-Crested Cormorant, Common Gallinule, Greater Yellowlegs, Cassin’s Sparrow, Royal Tern, Greater Roadrunner, American White Pelican, and many more. I hope these presentations can provide a greater understanding and appreciation of the birds that share our world.
