McKinley Expedition: Delaney & Team Take Another Weather Day
Posted by: Jack Delaney, Jess Wedel, Calvin Jiricko
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 11,000'
Day 10 - Strong Winds and Snow Persist
Today is another weather day, so the blog is about birds.
Birding is the act of intentionally wandering around outside and looking for birds. People who engage in this hobby are called birders. There are many types of birding, some enjoy seeing local birds that are native to where they live, others enjoy making a life list of all the unique birds they’ve seen in their life, and for some - the most extreme birders their goal is to complete “A Big Year”. There are many types of Big Years but the most popular and competitive is The Lower 48 American Bird Association Big Year. The Big Year starts on January 1st each year and ends on December 31st. The goal during this time frame is to see or hear as many unique birds as possible in the contiguous United States and up to 50 miles offshore. There is a fantastic documentary about this competition available for free on YouTube called “Listers”, I highly recommend you give it a watch.
Now here is a list of bird facts that I can remember to spice up the end blog…
- The Loggerhead Shriek is a small carnivorous songbird that uses thorns of plants and the spikes of barbwire to impale its prey.
- The Golden Finch is the state bird of Iowa.
- The Common Murre is a pelagic sea bird that can dive upwards of 300 feet below the surface.
- Horned Puffins nest on sheer ocean cliffs and lay eggs with a flat side on them, so the eggs don’t accidentally roll out of the nest.
- Blue-Footed Boobies have one of the top 5 funniest bird names.
- Bald Eagles have been known to sink their talons into fish that are too large to fly away with and are unable to release their talons, so they are pulled underwater and drown.
- Roadrunners are one of the few known predators of rattle snakes.
- At least one songbird dies every year on the West Buttress route of Denali.
- Varied Thrush can sing through two sets of vocal cords simultaneously, allowing them to sing incredibly complicated bird songs.
- Marbled Murrelets nest dozens of miles from their ocean habit, exclusively in old growth forests near rivers. This allows their chicks a higher survival rate due to the fact old growth offers more protection for nesting and when they’re pushed out of their nests to learn to fly, they plop into the river below.
- Red-Winged Black Birds are territorial and have been known to attack elementary school students walking to their friend Andrew’s house.
- The Steller Jay was the key to the first Russian expeditions knowing they had made it to Alaska as the Blue Jay family of birds is endemic to North America exclusively.
- And finally contrary to popular belief, the mosquito is not the state bird of Alaska, it is in fact the Ptarmigan.
Cheers,
Jack and the well-rested team.
