Adventures of an Aythya Americana

Horned Larks in a corn field southwest of the 128th Avenue and Bingham Street intersection 1/24/21 Snow Buntings (primarily white, in background), Lapland Longspur (fourth bird from the right), and several Horned Larks feeding in a field 1/24/21  On a cold Sunday morning on January 24, 2021, I received a text message from a birding friend named Lonny. T he conditions (cold and snowy) were good for seeing a flock of Horned Larks that morning, so Lonny let me know in a text that he was on his way to see if they were at their common locale of 128th Avenue and Bingham Street in West Olive . I had previously informed him of my bad luck of being unable to get a good look at a Horned Lark, so I appreciated that Lonny was very willing to make sure I would have my chance to see them.    Snow Buntings and Horned Larks taking flight 1/24/21 Minutes later, I found out via text that Lonny's hunch was right: he saw a large flock of Horned Larks , Snow Buntings , and even some Lapland L...

As an alternative to Instagram and text messages filled with bird photos, I decided it would be fun to start a blog where I could include the photos I was able to take with some fun facts about the birds and the experiences finding them. I could then provide a link of these experiences to family and friends. I am certainly known for having a few failed blog attempts, and this may certainly become one of them. Nonetheless, for the time being this seemed like a fun endeavor, so here is my attempt at a first post. Blog names are always difficult, and I debated for a long time what I should title this blog. Fortunate for me, the inspiration came in the form of a Redhead duck I saw on Sunday, January 31 at Holland State Park . The Latin name for this duck is aythya americana , so I thought it was a fun play on words to name a blog that describes the adventures of a redhead human trying to find redhead ducks and other birds, hence "Adventures of an Aythya Americana".  A posse of...