The King and I

A lot of odd things happen to me on adventures big and small.  Uncommon things happen, and even things named like the common green magpie (above) are hardly common and even seeing them is uncommon as they hide in the forest.  Take this 19 day trip to Bhutan, a small country on the northeastern edge of India on the southern flank of the Himalayas. It is a birding trip and what could possibly go weird on a birding trip?  Who would have thought I’d possibly insult the king…let a lone meet him

There are just a few things to remember when meeting His Highness, the King of Bhutan.  First, don’t take a picture.  Secondly, remove ones hat, and well, I guess there are others, but I was not told of any more.  I was never going to meet the king, so why would it matter?

So here we are birding one fine morning in Manas Royal Bhutanese Park, along the Indian border when who should come heading down the forlorn road we were birding on, but the King of Bhutan and his entourage.  What does Olaf instinctively do, snap a picture.

note the kings license plate is just "Bhutan"

We kind of figured we'd see then parade of cars on the way back since they had taken over the reserve lodge and kept us from crossing the river and the King had a function at the Buddhist temple in the little town near us.

So we kept birding and it was getting hot so we moved in the bus for a moment, to cool down and then the pilot car came around the corner, and the bus stopped and out bounded Olaf to bird and get a better view of the King's Jeep, the only American made car I have seen on this trip so far.

So, around the bend comes the king’s car and it stops!  The driver rolls down the window (they drive on the left here and the king is in the other side passenger side of the Jeep).  He leans over and asks me.  “Seen any good birds?”  The King talking to ...me!

At that moment, I had nothing to say, yes, Olaf was totally speechless.  I pulled out of it quickly. I literally forced out, “We’ve seen Scarlet minivets…..” Scarlet minivets I think to myself, where did that come from? I also force out, “and lots of hornbills.”  I then add, “but luckily, no tigers.”

“There was one on the other side of the park.”  The king responds to my addition.

“They can keep it over there.”  I snark. 

“What do you think of Bhutan?”  He asks.

“Wonderful country.”  I say.  What could I say?

“Thanks for visiting us.”  He concludes and the window goes up, and I see the foot go back in the car from the backseat of who I suppose now was a security guard ready to pounce should I do anything odd.

He drives off and I turn around to the pack of the other birders, including lead birder, Aaron Lang.  "You didn't take your hat off Olaf!"  I did not even turn back around to see the queen go by and the two princes.  I smacked myself on the head for being ...an idiot.

And minivets......smart looking birds but...that was the best bird?

Female scarlet minivet

male scarlet minivet

The hornbills are more regal birds, we have seen three species...

The great hornbill (above) is a heck of a bird, and we had seen two that day but well, 

the story was a bit lost from all of the excitement

We have seen some sights and to be honest part of Bhutan, few see.  We are the second birding group in by three days to have been in the country in three years due to COVID.  The locals are waving, and one guy stopped the bus and gave us a basket of oranges.

The collared owlet was even being showy.

As of this moment, an update, I have seen 256 lifers on this trip and more to go.

I am still getting razzed about my King story and I am unsure how I got to be the spokesman of the group, but Olaf being Olaf, Johnny on the spot that I sometimes am, who else would it be?

I think I will do 5x7s of the two birds I mentioned and send a note of apology to the King, we'll see how that goes.  Tomorrow I hope to report from "Camp Cement" a tale that well, involves a corporate CEO, his back yard, making an outhouse in his garden, and a cement plant, but food is soon ready and the bird list must be discussed and I have a frogmouth to find tonight...

Rest assure Olaf and Silja are alive and well in Asia, and the King has hopefully forgotten about my breach of etiquette 

Olaf

One Night in Bangkok....

Two hours to Houston, 14 to Tokyo, just under 8 hours more to Bangkok, plus associated transit times, ground delays, the International Dateline, a cab ride and we were there.  We left at 4AM Sunday from our RV north of Tampa.  We arrived in our hotel room at 0115 on Tuesday.  But where was there?  A hotel called the Novatell.  In it all I made two mistakes.  First, after a string of surprisingly good movies, I got my sleep well, and was entertained so that was not it.  The first mistake, it turned out was I (well we), went west, we should have gone east. I was doing the math in My head.  Tampa to London, London to Bangkok.....I went 13 time zones west, that leaves 11 east.....crap

The other mistake, was worse, I ate the United Air egg thing for breakfast......the last United Air egg thing I ate on our way to St. Thomas in 2002, led to Salmonella, and 2 decades of funny stories, and me spending a night on a beach hoping for a tidal wave, or a lucky meteor strike...anything....this one.....

Well, Salmonella takes a while....I had that one night in Bangkok, then we were off to Pattaya area 60 miles south to get over the jet lag in a place that was sort of maybe is where 1985 Orient Beach St Martin FWI meets, well an Icelandic spa, not the tourist ones near Keflavik, no the ones tourists rarely find, with the lady shower monitor in the showers making sure everything that is supposed to be washed is, and where they skimped on dressing and locker rooms. (as why would you have two?) because then you plunge into great designed baths. Here at Dragonfly, it is a great place just carved out of a swamp......

But as you are trying to find the correct and even better description you realize that nothing is making sense as you now have a fever of 103, are sitting out in 95 degree weather, and suddenly The Revenge of United Airlines hits you like a rock......

Yea, there is Montezuma's Revenge, but there is something worse, much worse, I call it United's Revenge....sigh.  

It was bad, I moaned, I threw everything we had with at it, the badger that was gnawing  its way out of me in three directions was not a full size one, but big enough to leave lasting scars.  I had dreams of being attacked by a hawk on some island well past New Zealand, who was somehow mad at me for saving a dog.  It was a Yorkshire terrier and I do not even like them.  Then there was some car ride, left and right right and left, and OMG, I woke up but I was still moving...I even dreamed I was having abdominal pain, but when I woke up, the real pain was worse!  I might have even converted to a different religion, but well, does that count during desperate times?  I also gave up beer.  Through it all, I survived.  

They could not make Thai food bland enough for my destroyed taste buds.  I ate a smoothie the first day and the banana flavor tasted like a pine tree.  Day two involved a quest for something that tasted correct, I ate a sausage that tasted like a moth ball, and grain, can I get some grain?  They offered my some pork infused porridge.....today, I gave up and drank beer (more on that later).  I am happy to report, beer, tastes like beer.....it is not good beer, but it is beer, good ole beer.

I birded from the deck of a pool with naked people sauntering past me while I randomly  called out works like flowerpecker, Milky stork, ashy drongos, Germain swiftlets, and bee-eaters to people, who did not understand me and it was not always a language barrier.  I have called out worse bird names when I was more lucid, but they do not know that.  So calling a guy a flowerpecker...I'll skip that.

Today, We walked off the reservation and got a few photos

The road into this nice little village, built 2 years ago, and open to adventurous souls willing to enjoy something not that common in Asia, unfortunately cameras are verboten, but I will probably write a travel article on it for a magazine so the marketing guy will share some stuff later

The Scarlet backed flowerpecker, not a slur!

Great myna

Asian green bee-eater

We have kind of been a menace birding here. Stirring up dogs. Stopping traffic, today, one guy either said, "Welcome to Thailand" or "Get the F#^k off my land" honestly, I was just 10 feet off the road and Don H and me argued about exactly which he said.  I think he was not so welcoming.  Don says he was being king and friendly...

We did end up on another guy's property, who invited us for cocktails, as long as we told hockey stories.  His name was Brad.  He assured me, that any pledge made while febrile about alcohol is non-binding, so he handed me a beer.  All is apparently right with the world on that front, but like I said, we may have new holidays to celebrate.

There is some snake with poison and venom.  Dengue fever, all kinds of crap and well, all that lying near death by the pool thing now means the Scarlet backed flowerpecker and me got something in common and let just say it is the color of red.

 I say we are in Pattaya, we are only close to Pattaya, Pattaya is a weird place, I cannot handle Pattaya.  The innuendo in the movie "Hangover" is closer more to Pattaya than Bangkok.  Today we had to go into the city to replenish our reserves of anti-e coli, and Salmonella medications, God, Allah, or Buddha knows what is in store for us in Bhutan, and the other couple we are traveling with needed a tweezers.   We pack light and have simple needs.  What can I say?     

An article in the British tabloid the Daily Mirror once described Pattaya as "the world's sex capital", a "modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah". This provoked anger from government officials as high up as Prime Minister, and the Pattaya police superintendent, who both denied that Pattaya is a sex trade paradise. Upset about the British media's stories, he insisted they were fabricated. "There is no such thing as prostitution in Pattaya," said Col Apichai. "Where did they get the figure of 27,000 sex workers in Pattaya? Anyone can make up this information....Thai ladies having sex with foreigners is their personal issue. If they like each other, I don't see anything wrong with what they do behind closed doors." In response, Pattaya social worker Surang Janyam, the director of Service Workers IN Group Foundation, said that estimated number of Pattaya prostitutes published in the Daily Mirror is inaccurate: "27,000 sex workers in Pattaya is way too low. We have a lot more sex workers than that." In June 2019, over twenty high ranking Police, Army and Local government officers toured Pattaya and reported the central streets safe and free from illegal activities.

Pattaya is a Minneapolis sized city on a big flat beach, (which has been closed due to raw sewage being leaked on it a few times, oh and then there was the Monkey riot of 2020...

We walked past money exchanging madness, brothel shops filled with 30 or 40 prostitutes, prostitutes on scooters, prostitutes hanging with school kids and it was not even 5 PM yet, apparently the crazies really gets going at 7PM.  We got picked up at 530, you could loose a body part down there, or them monkeys.  We got two boxes of antibiotics and a tweezers, and were safely out of town.  We lead a sheltered life, (well okay).  At 7PM I was safely in the confines of our little "village" having my single gin and tonic for the night, Silja was out cold by 8, and I am typing this listening for nightjars.

I did leave Pattaya with a question.  Mucalinda, a 9 headed serpent thing (Naga) came to protect Buddha after his enlightenment.  I am not sure why he would need protection after enlightenment but that is another question for another day.  But you offer Mucalinda, Red Fanta flavored soda?

Not Coke, not Grape Nehi, even the Fanta Orange.....just this really crappy red stuff, and not just here, the only soda I saw offered to the being at any temple was Red Fanta....

We are staying put with the blissful tranquil spot interrupted with the squeal of a newly slaughtered pig (a hog butchering facility is next door).  Or the organic delivery scooter.

Look at that, locally grown, organic, and individually wrapped in plastic.....got to love it
  

So, a bit disjointed and weird, but I have been ill.

31 lifers for both of my lists (you know what lists), should get some more, then off to Bhutan next week

Olaf

Go with Godwit

Chasing birds in addictive.  I have a funeral at the end of the week, half a continent away, and we are going to Asia birding on Sunday for a month, and I don't know why, but I went birding today.  Why? I guess because I have never seen a bar-tailed godwit in the lower 48 states.  Why else why?  because it is plover madness down at Ft DeSoto this time of year, and why else why?  My wife went with me, since what else do I (we) have to do?  I guess I do have things to do, I am literally writing 3 books right now, and well....I guess I went because I could.

What is a bar-tailed Godwit, a bird I see in and around Nome, doing in western Florida?  On their way to migration points....no.

Those Nome birds winter in New Zealand.

Today's bar-tailed godwit seemed to have fleas, was doing some serious preening and scratching

The Godwits we see in Florida this time of year are Marbled Godwits, which are bigger and are the ones from my back yard in South Dakota.  They head south to the coast, really any coast, Baja, Texas, South Carolina, Here.

Marbled godwit Ft DeSoto

But for a Bar-tailed godwit down here is a good bird, not a super rare thing, they see one or two it seems every year but I just have not chased one.  Today, chase I did.  

It was easy to find, very near where I always bird and where we typically park the car, and unload the bikes.  Today, I drove my bike up to the lagoon, shot photos and....GOT YELLED AT FOR DRIVING MY BIKE ON THE BEACH.  Okay, rules at DeSoto.  No...dogs, no covered license plates, BBQs, vendors, picnic tables, nudity, and apparently bikes on the beach, only two of which had signs to that matter...I'd say I should read the signs but I did not see any signs.

Well, I went plover watching, plover madness was evident.....five plover species and none were even killdeers.  All were easily seen.  It is always a good tutorial down there and almost always I see too many Piping Plovers for eBird.  I get emails, snide remarks, and questions, too many questions.  All of which I ignore, Ft DeSoto does not always bring out the best in me.  Rules....yea....

Winter plovers are not always easy....So let the review begin....Olaf's bad tutorial for plover madness month.

Black bellied plovers, big, like willet big, thick bill, no black belly this time of year, more of a beach  shore bird, but this one was at the lagoon 

Piping plover, small, very light plover, almost color of sand, black bill, orange-yellowish legs, band on front of neck does NOT meet.

Semipalmated plover, band meets on neck, a little orange usually on base of bill, but the piping bill and semipalms bill look almost identical from shape and size, yellowish legs, typically darker than pipings, but not always 

Snowy plover.  This bird seems to always be more upright in posture.  Bill longer and thinner than a piping and semipalm, legs are gray to dark, no band in front, like piping.  White forehead, which looks different to me from piping but basically the same, 

Where other plovers will chase the waves, it seems I see snowy's up higher on the beach and not infrequently in a little bowl they have made or found, like this one today.  Almost missed this one.

Wilson's plover has a T. Rex look about them, they just look angry and mean, while pipings and semipalms look nervous..  They have a huge bill, dark legs, usually a complete band in front, darker like semipalms

I saw 150 plovers today.  They guess there are 12-13000 piping plovers in the world, 30-35K snowy plovers, and maybe just 10,000 Wilson's plovers.  I've seen over 100 of both Wilson's and Piping plovers on this stretch of beach or in two small tidal ponds.  It is the place to go, and whether eBird likes my counts or not, I do not care.....I'm just a bad birder down here.

There are over a million bar-tailed godwits on this planet and 1/10 of that number of marbled godwits for comparison, and although these 3 plovers are much more scarce as they say....location location location....but if you bird and come to Florida, stop by here and see the little guys, and may, just maybe, a bar-tailed godwit or something else strange may be around.  Ft DeSoto is a nice beach to just soak up the sun and some cool birds.

Olaf

Honeycreeper Madness

I will just write a brief note.  I am drinking my lifer beer for bird number 820, wow, 820 birds....who'd have ever thunk?  Even with a bit of a rash of exotics, some of which I still have to tally, but it is still something good.  Today's addition was the red-legged honeycreeper

After Ian blew through, luckily sparing our camping site in Land O Lakes Florida, honeycreepers began to show up in the Keys, Miami, the Everglades, Sabine Woods in Texas, Grand Isle LA, and most recently in Jupiter and Delray Beach Florida. A friend of mine called it Honeycreeper madness.

I saw these reports and as we cruised into Tampa last weekend, I figured I'd head south right away, but the Key West honeycreepers moved north, then north again and finally I just decided to go this morning after Brunch at the local Buddhist temple.  I had no more excuses, I had to go over and see one.  One may never have an opportunity like this again.

It was an uneventful four hour trek to the Atlantic side of Florida.  Orchard Park was full of families and then as I was putting on my camera, the only birder there put me on a glimpse of the target.  It took me another hour and a half to get photos.

One could hope for gorgeous blue males in breeding plumage but I never figured on seeing honeycreepers in the USA, so I'll take green ones, immature males and females all day long.

I settled for a male black-throated blue warbler to give me that blue color for the afternoon in Delray Beach 
                               

So I got my bird, I'm drinking my lifer Grain Belt I had in the refrigerator and getting ready for a big birding trek to Asia next weekend

Cheers!

Olaf

Not evil, it is just a weevil

The Boll Weevil decimated the cotton crops of the South over a century ago.  In most places the economy collapsed and withered, just like the cotton balls out in the field, but not Enterprise Alabama. Here, the insect brought prosperity, as inadvertently as it did.  Elsewhere, the bug transplanted from Mexico caused a total estimate of 23 billion in damages and led to massive social upheaval and mass migration, in Enterprise, realizing what was ahead, they switched to growing peanuts, and the town prospered.

Today was the Boll Weevil Fall Festival in Enterprise Alabama, and yes, Olaf was there, well my wife was there too.  We came late looked on a bit and went and saw some of the statues to the local bug hero.

                           

Pharmacist weevil

Power company employee weevil

This weevil was waiting for a dental exam, Silja was in need of a cleaning so she got in line

farmers market weevil

There was also AC and heating repairman Weevil

Silja was touched by an angel in downtown Enterprise today, literally.  This older woman asked me to send her a photo of the iconic Athena holding the Weevil statue (it is named the Harald of Prosperity erected in 1917), instead Silja volunteered to take her photo.  Why was she an angel, you ask?  Well we told her we were from up north and South Dakota.  The woman proudly exclaimed, she was from heaven.  The Heaven?  Well, there is no "Heaven" in Alabama, in fact, although there are two places called Hell (one in Norway and one in Michigan) there is no city or village named Heaven anywhere in America, so therefore she must be an angel, as there is no other Heaven.  Why is an angel taking a selfie on an Iphone 11?  Maybe the shipment of I-14s have been delayed up there too?

 

Silja taking a photo of an angel in front of the Harald of Prosperity

It was not our only stop with unusual monuments,  We swung through Memphis to see the Great Pyramid of Memphis.  I was tired of three days of heavy wind so I needed a stop.

The Great Pyramid, once a odd basketball stadium (Memphis Grizzlies) is now a Bass Pro Shop and a hotel.  I needed gloves and a belt and lunch sounded like fun.  It was brave to drive the big rig in downtown Memphis at the Riverfront.  I checked the online community.  "Sure, you can camp in the bug lot.  Well, luckily I also read to just park at the Tennessee Welcome visitor center, which we sort of bailed out in when I saw the low arched sign over the road and the ominous warnings, 

=

Morale:  do not believe the internet!

We had our visit and got out in one piece, no problem.  Like Enterprise, we came we saw and we weeviled

We are 350 miles from Land O Lakes Florida and our winter campsite, seeing everything in Enterprise and since our campground is a little lo-cal, we will make it tomorrow.  Snowing at home and here, in the land of the cherished weevil, 85 today.  What a difference 1400 miles makes.

So far an uneventful trip and an angel, good day all in all

Olaf

 

The dang old Zugunruhe.

Summer is over, the better (best?) part of fall is also past and well, like a migratory bird we are getting that antsiness to head south.  In German, Zugunruhe, that migratory-anxiety, which I guess is appropriate since son, Allwin is now safely in Jena Germany, waiting his job at the Max Planck Institute.  He is now blogging about his experiences so like father like son, send me a note and I'll give the link.  

Zugunruhe is a terrible feeling, one of the worst, for me at least....what to pack, what to leave, where is what.....panic, anxiety, and just the feel of dread.

We have packed the RV, loaded up the Volvo and the bikes behind, and plan on a Wednesday departure.  We have to go to St. Paul to drop off the furry children tomorrow since we are soon off to Thailand, and then Bhutan, Tiger and Snowball will be at daughter Laurens "Cathouse" for the rest of fall.  The kiddos do not travel well and it seems better to just leave them safe and sound until we retrieve them near Christmas.

Our trip south is routine, not much added save two days in Enterprise Alabama to....see Boll Weevil statues.  The whole city is littered with them.  Okay, the strange and true.  Maybe throw in some other chance stop like the Memphis Pyramid, and it will be a quick and to the point trip.

What have we spent our last few days doing?

We went to see the author William Kent Kruger in Milbank at the public library.  He inspires and entertains, at least me, also an author and writer (although much less famous). 

 

Then we went to make sure the cabin was put to bed.  Our dinosaur stood watch, stately in the wind on Enemy Swim Lake.

Everything looks so brown, but it has been a nice fall so far.  

We painted our house, it has been a 4 week project.

I started a new book, not reading, writing, "Burnett County, Revisited" and another anthology of history of my home county in Wisconsin.  Not many more years to do projects with my mother and this may be the last, who knows.  

So anyhow, on the road again as they say, and you will hear an update in a few days. 

A unique family adventure to North Dakota

We went on a little explore into North Dakota today, sort of a family outing with our two sons before they head back home.  We saw a little of America few see, one was a rather diminutive waterfall. Mineral Springs Waterfall as it turns out, IS the largest within the State of North Dakota.  To be fair, it does not look like much, but the two and a half mile walk into it was pleasant and worth the adventure.  Who knew? 

The Sheyenne River valley is a cool place. The look of fall is in the air...

We then went to Ft Ransom, and looked for the many archeology oddities found nearby.  Pyramid Hill, a mound of conflicting origin, overlooking the Sheyenne River, much like Pilot Mound overlooks the end of the Pembina River to the rest almost straight north in Manitoba.  I have my theories but that is beyond this blog.

The Black Viking sits on top, a rather recent addition to an ancient mound.  It all started when Snorri and Bjarne--Snorri Thorfinnson and Bjarne Ness, two old cronies in Fort Ransom--decided they would put their little town on the map with a Viking monument. They were inspired both by Snorri’s discovery of Norse mooring stones along the Sheyenne River and by the example of Elmer Peterson of Jamestown College, whose World’s Largest Buffalo not only put Jimtown on the map but also lured Republican hopeful Nelson A. Rockefeller out for the dedication in 1960. Snorri and Bjarne started sculpting classes with Professor Peterson, the master of concrete, and planned to fashion the great Viking themselves. They wanted to place it atop the conical hill overlooking town from the south, an elevation Snorri thought surely was an Indian burial mound. That was when the dream began to unravel, for Bjarne got cancer, and died, and Snorri’s enthusiasm flagged.

Somehow, then, as the story goes, a Vietnam veteran named Bill Woell, down and out and living in a tipi, made connections with Snorri and other men of the Fort Ransom Commercial Club, and he offered to sculpt them a Viking.  He did the work in a farm building down by Leonard, fashioning the figure of pipe, steel mesh, and a sort of burlap-mache.  One afternoon in the early 1970s, a helicopter lowered the Black Viking into place.

It was not exactly what the Nordic stalwarts of Fort Ransom had in mind.  The Black Viking was downright demonic. He was, of course, black, and way too slender to be stolid. His spear was like a trident, his horned helmet like horns, and his eyes, they glared vacantly. “We wanted a Viking,” a local woman observed, “but not that kind.” The subsequent physical deterioration of the Black Viking testifies to the not-so-benign neglect by the community for a stunning piece of outsider art.  They now have a turn out and a sign below him.

We could not locate the mooring stone or the Writing Rock, sigh, a missed opportunity

We also went past the Scenic Theater in Lisbon ND, the oldest continuously operated movie theater in the United States.  It began operating in 1911.  "Where the Crawdads sing" is currently playing, should anyone get up this way.  It is a one of a kind place worth visiting.

Standing Rock is a rather odd deal.  What a piece of obsidianish stone is doing on this high overlook is not natural. There is a lot of money placed on it, for reasons I can only guess.  It is at an extensive 15000 year old burial mound complex (a mound is behind my son), this is about 8 miles north of the Pyramid Mound.  Who was here 15,000 years ago?  Nobody really knows.  Some speculate but they do not know.  

 

We saw the 1910 built Sargeant County courthouse in Forman, ND, to add to me nascent collection of County Courthouse photos.  The maroon trim is quite nice and considering this sits in a town of 450 people, and in a small county, its upkeep is good to see.

Plus a more recent one in Lisbon, for Ransom County, This one looks very much 1930s and upon looking it up, I was not surprised to see the building date at 1937.

I decided to not photograph birds today.  I watched but somehow felt I was intruding and could not press the shutter, the same held true for butterflies but I snapped a couple of photos anyways.  There were a few Gray Hairstreaks about.

and so diminutive Dainty Yellow butterflies hanging on in the rapidly browning of fall

Saw some western plains garter snake subspecies of the common garter snake, many were out on the roads

I also saw a smooth green snake as well, but could not get it photographed

Our picnic would have been better had not someone forgot to pack the bread

It was a good outing to the north, might be the last for a while, Allwin middle is leaving for the Max Planck Institute in Germany in two weeks and Tyko, is heading back in a couple of days to Chicago to complete his medical studies.  It has been a wonderful  idyll home with our boys.