http://www.surfbirds.com/blogs/madmonk/ Journal of birding in Northern Arizona and beyond en-us 2005-02-26T15:50:41+00:00 http://www.surfbirds.com/blogs/madmonk/archives/002084.html Hey ya'll, Don't know how much of a blip this'll make on the cosmic radar, but given my impending move to Mongolia, I'm going to gently retire this blog. But lest my 2.5-3 readers find that this news dictates they... MadMonk 2005-02-26T15:50:41+00:00 http://www.surfbirds.com/blogs/madmonk/archives/001822.html Birding is at its worst when it becomes arbitrary and conceptual, full of what we Buddhists call discursive thought. Consider, for example, my teeth-grinding slog toward my 500th life bird. Internet queries had kicked up a guy named Chris who... MadMonk 2005-01-14T12:51:54+00:00 http://www.surfbirds.com/blogs/madmonk/archives/001796.html Blogging's been tres erratique, I know, but current events have forced it a little lower on the priority scale. Looks like I'm going to Mongolia for sure, with a working departure date of March 19 on a indefinite stay. So... MadMonk 2005-01-08T23:48:42+00:00 http://www.surfbirds.com/blogs/madmonk/archives/001610.html Arizona is a famous producer of cognitive dissonance. Woke up this morning and had to brush fresh snow off my windshield so I could go get cat food for my little yowling girl. Sullen clouds obscured the hilltops all day... MadMonk 2004-12-05T23:46:27+00:00 http://www.surfbirds.com/blogs/madmonk/archives/001606.html I don't even know how to process this, but it looks I'll be going on an extensive journey next year, to include Mongolia, Eastern Tibet and South India, perhaps followed by an extended stay in Mongolia. The trip is a... MadMonk 2004-12-03T19:47:39+00:00 http://www.surfbirds.com/blogs/madmonk/archives/001591.html Birding friends are great. But birding friends who build fabulous houses in one of the country's hottest avian meccas and invite you for a long weekend indicate a karmic reward for which you are certain you are not worthy (but... MadMonk 2004-11-29T02:27:51+00:00 http://www.surfbirds.com/blogs/madmonk/archives/001574.html Watch out. The next report may be hell freezing over. It's been raining for two solid days here in Sedona and the Verde Valley, snowing like crazy up in Flagstaff, provoking rumors that the Arizona Snowbowl will open for skiing... MadMonk 2004-11-23T03:50:49+00:00 http://www.surfbirds.com/blogs/madmonk/archives/001541.html Here's the list of 99 species seen during Tom Linda's and my weekend exploring the Sulphur Springs Valley, Chiricahua Mountains, San Pedro River and Avra Valley Wastewater Treatment Ponds. Lifers are in bold and state birds are in italics: 1.... MadMonk 2004-11-15T02:29:21+00:00 http://www.surfbirds.com/blogs/madmonk/archives/001540.html Just back from a three-day jaunt to far SE Arizona with my birding buddy Tom Linda, mind reeling from new habitats, life and state birds, and sketchy lodging and vittles. Got off a little later than planned Friday, the first... MadMonk 2004-11-15T02:19:24+00:00 http://www.surfbirds.com/blogs/madmonk/archives/001530.html It's a measure of my illness that I would drive 70 miles round trip, twice, in order to add a bird to my Arizona list that used to nest in my yard in Maryland. The bird in question is an... MadMonk 2004-11-11T05:18:15+00:00 http://www.surfbirds.com/blogs/madmonk/archives/001525.html Long time since the last entry. Not too much birding, as I was working hard prior to our election and I've been catatonic for this last week. Today I read that the polar ice cap's melting even more and I'm... MadMonk 2004-11-09T05:32:16+00:00 http://www.surfbirds.com/blogs/madmonk/archives/001353.html Well it's a wonder I have any time for an entry at all, having just slogged through and deleted a mess of spammed comments for online gambling. It continues to astound me what birds will arrive almost at my doorstep... MadMonk 2004-10-02T23:10:10+00:00 http://www.surfbirds.com/blogs/madmonk/archives/001176.html Scooted back to Ashurst Lake for another look at the Long-tailed Jaeger and, hopefully, the Sanderling I dipped on yesterday. I'm happy to report that both were on fine display. The Sanderling is, completely unexpectedly, my third lifer this month,... MadMonk 2004-08-30T01:07:41+00:00 http://www.surfbirds.com/blogs/madmonk/archives/001168.html Checked in at my local internet bird forum at 3:30 p.m. and just blinked at it. A total four-alarm bird had been seen at Lake Ashurst near Flagstaff at 10 a.m. by a reliable birder and not one of my... MadMonk 2004-08-29T06:06:53+00:00 http://www.surfbirds.com/blogs/madmonk/archives/001165.html The leading edge of the southbound migration is beginning to drop into Arizona, but that doesn't mean that seeing the birds isn't fraught with danger. I was in Flagstaff yesterday on business. What business, you ask? Well, interviewing someone for... MadMonk 2004-08-28T05:55:03+00:00