Degrees of Separation

By -
Drygalski Fjord, South Georgia Island, Antarctic Region


Oak Harbor, Ohio, United States of America

From the snow belt, Kenn writes: During our whole trip to Antarctica, the coldest air temperature we experienced was about 29 degrees Fahrenheit, or just below freezing. When our flight from Buenos Aires landed at Dallas-Fort Worth, it was 16 degrees out, and our connection was delayed by three hours because of complications in de-icing the plane. And when we finally made it back to the Detroit airport, our dear friends Vic and Lois were there to meet us, but they had braved icy winds and snow-covered roads to be there. Were we cold in the Antarctic? No! But coming home was something of a shock!

Our first morning back at home, we had to shovel a path to the bird feeders, but soon we were rewarded by returning guests: our first Northern Cardinals of the year, our first Blue Jays of the year. After weeks of novelty among the penguins and petrels and other southern seabirds, it was reassuring to reconnect with these familiar backyard denizens.

We are pulling together all our notes and our (thousands of) photographs, and we hope to start posting information about our Antarctic trip in a more organized way very soon!

Comments

  1. AnonymousJanuary 30, 2009 at 11:10 PM

    Can't wait to see some of those photos! Welcome home!

    ReplyDelete
  2. VickieJanuary 30, 2009 at 11:23 PM

    Welcome home! Sorry it was such a chilling return but love the welcome you received from your backyard.

    ReplyDelete
  3. John CarlsonJanuary 31, 2009 at 12:08 AM

    Kenn and Kim,
    I had the same reaction coming back to Montana from the Peninsula this year. It was 50 degrees colder here than it was in Antarctica. Throw Buenos Aires and Ushuaia in the mix with humidity and flowers and the shock of the northern Great Plains in the dead of winter was even greater. Looking forward to more of you stories.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Chris WJanuary 31, 2009 at 12:48 AM

    No kidding! Last Thurs, the daytime high temp here in Wisconsin hit 6 degrees BELOW zero.
    The daytime high temp on the same day at the North Pole? 8 degrees ABOVE zero. It was colder in Wisconsin than at the North Pole!!

    Also, ironically, the high temp in Fairbanks, Alaska that same day, was 52 degrees...... ABOVE zero!!!
    Coincidentally, the daytime high temp in Fairbanks 4 days earlier was -54 degrees.

    Now why can't Alaska send some of that warm air this way? They sent us all that cold they had 4 days earlier........ lol : D

    I look forward to seeing your photos and final trip report.

    Happy Birding! --Chris W, Madison, WI

    ReplyDelete
  5. KathiJanuary 31, 2009 at 6:19 AM

    Colder in Ohio than Antarctica? Say it ain't so! You should have been birding with the OOS at The Wilds: -12 degrees BEFORE you factor in the wind chill!

    Glad you are back safe and sound and can't wait for the photos. But, fill the feeders first. :)

    ~Kathi

    ReplyDelete
  6. DaveJanuary 31, 2009 at 10:54 AM

    Welcome back to the ice and snow!
    Laurie and I spent 4 days in Florida, what a shock coming back to this.
    I'm excited to see the Penguin pics!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

From Kenn's Drawing Table: Great Black Hawk

By -
Image
Kenn Writes: Some bird painters can put down just a few lines on canvas or paper and then start painting. I respect that, but it doesn't work for me; I have to have a detailed idea of where things are going before I start to lay in any color. I recently started a portrait of an immature Great Black Hawk, and the basic drawing evolved over a couple of days. On the left here is the subfinal drawing. After putting it aside for a while, I decided to change the position of the head, make the bill a little thicker, and make a few other adjustments. I'll probably make more changes in the process of painting, but at least the foundation is set in advance.
Read more

Which Way for ABA?

By -
From a state of contemplation, Kenn writes: The American Birding Association (ABA) has been an important part of my life ever since I joined, at the age of 16, back in the 1970s. The ABA was a brand-new organization then, and it served a unique role in connecting the active birders of the U.S. and Canada. Its little bimonthly magazine, Birding, was a treasure trove for me as a teenager, giving me tips on bird-finding and bird identification that I wouldn’t have known about in any other way. When I started traveling, as a hitch-hiking, teenaged birder, the ABA connected me with other enthusiasts and with prime birding hotspots, and helped to put me on a course as a professional naturalist. In subsequent years I was involved with ABA in many ways. I taught bird I.D. workshops at many of their conventions, and later I began giving evening keynote talks at these events; for a while, I had spoken at more ABA conventions than anyone else. I wrote dozens of pieces for Birding magazine, and...
Read more