"Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty. I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well."
― Theodore Roosevelt
What a strangely alarming, frustrating, and yet enjoyable year 2020 has been, and I'm sure many other birders (and non-birders) would express similar sentiments. It was a year unlike any other I've experienced, personally and professionally ― the pandemic touched every facet of life. Amazingly, Dane County was host to nearly 300 bird species this year. Adding what will likely be a final 2020 County Lifer for me, this Spotted Towhee was discovered by a CBC birder last weekend at the UW Arboretum. I went to go see it yesterday with Mark and Dottie Johnson ― the first I've seen in sixteen years.
There's still a week or so left of the birding year, but I'm not sure how much listing I'll do. As good as it was, my 2020 county list pales in comparison to Dane's tribe of reliable listers, but I was able to add a fair number of new species to my home county tally:
Harlequin Duck
Ruff
Western Meadowlark
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Red Phalarope
Eurasian Tree Sparrow
Spotted Towhee
I didn't put much effort into finding shorebirds during spring or fall migration, but I did very well with songbirds. There is no contest that seeing 37+ warbler species was the ultimate highlight of my birding year. A close second was the incredible number of Nelson's Sparrows near Goose Pond. Photographing 14 tiger beetle species was another fun achievement. My outing at Spring Green for Splendid Tiger Beetles and Sauk Prairie's Ghost Tiger Beetles were two of my favorite bug hunting excursions.
Though 2020 will undoubtedly be remembered for the year of the pandemic, for many people it meant seeking refuge outdoors; reconnecting and rediscovering Nature. Having a sublime connection to the wild and wild creatures is something I've tried to express and convey on this blog over the years. Some longtime readers have thanked me for imparting this appreciation onto them. Perhaps that's one of the reasons I restarted blogging after an extended break ― I think the pandemic necessitated it to some degree.
These scenic monochromatic photographs are from a recent outing. Devil's Lake is probably Wisconsin's finest State Park. Though it has a tendency to get overrun with people during the peak season on weekends, an off-peak weekday visit can render a sense of what it must have been like to wander and explore wilderness hundreds of years ago.
This particular outing was a mission to see a Long-tailed Duck and Surf Scoter, but I was also hoping to find Townsend's Solitaires on the bluffs. Alas, none of the little gray thrushes appeared to be present. Nevertheless, the scenery alone was breathtaking and worth enduring the 6-mile hike under dreary skies and slippery trail conditions. As most Wisconsinites know, local authorities are still trying to figure out who murdered a 24-year-old Wauwatosa man at the park earlier this fall. Naturally, I took precautions ― as Indiana Jones said in Raiders of the Lost Ark:
"Oh, Marcus. What are you trying to do, scare me? You sound like my mother. We've known each other for a long time. I don't believe in magic, a lot of superstitious hocus pocus. I'm going after a find of incredible historical significance, you're talking about the boogie man. Besides, you know what a cautious fellow I am."
As for blogging in 2021? We'll just have to wait and see.
All images © 2020 Mike McDowell