Birthday Tribute to Julie

Happy birthday to Julie!

Who is, among other things...

A wonderful, loving Mom

A mother to thousands of baby birds

A science chimp

An amazing artist

 An enthralling writer

An Internet phenom

A writer of irresistible songs

And fantastic singer of same

A talented pennywhistler

A gardener with green thumbs (and hands, and feet)

A healer of broken plants and animals

A world traveler

A sought-after nature guide

A world-class speaker/presenter

A paddler of backwaters

A runner of country roads

A crazy dog lady (Boston terriers only)

a wanderer in the woods.

and a beautiful, loving (and fun-loving) partner.

With love,

B

 Here's a beso from our evening primrose.

 

Happy Birthday to Julie!

Happy birthday to the amazing gal we know as Julie Zickefoose! She is known the world over by a variety of names, and by her many wonderful works. Crazy Dog Lady is just one of the names she goes by—and proudly—since she has bonded with our Boston terrier Chet Baker about as strongly as the white is bonded to the rice.

She is the Science Chimp who leads the science club at Salem Liberty Elementary and gets young f0lks to tune into the amazing living things all around us.


She is the living embodiment of Scooby-doo's friend Velma, shown here with Daphne solving a mystery involving Old Man Wiggins.

She is called Mommy or Mom by a couple of the sweetest kids ever to wear dorky hats.


Crazy Bird Lady is another moniker. When this red-headed woodpecker showed up at our feeders last winter, Julie immediately hung a bird house up for it, held in place by bungee cords. The woodpecker, recognizing that this was the CBL, immediately moved in for a week-long stay.

She is rarely referred to as being tall—at least in physical stature. Yet she is a towering tree in terms of wisdom and talent. Here she is cracking us up on Easter Sunday while posing for a photo with my mom, Elsa.


Years ago, when we were first talking by phone about an art project for Bird Watcher's Digest, I found out that Julie was a musician, which made her vastly more fascinating to me. So I courted her with my best rawk song.

Now Julie plays in a band with me and several other special people: Craig and Wendy (Jessie and Kage not pictured, but equally special). We Rain Crows have fun always.

She plays the pennywhistle like a pro—sometimes morphing it into a jazz stick when the mood strikes her.

And she's not above throwing down some sweet dance moves, as she is doing here during a Hog Island seminar.

Crazy Turtle Lady is another nom de nature. As is Crazy Bat Lady.

In the fields of nature writing, painting, and sharing, she is outstanding. And out standing.

And sometimes she is also out lying in her fields of endeavor.

And she is the best person I've ever met at self-actualizing. She is rarely happier than when she is alone in her little kayak, floating among the birds and butterflies and turtles. Now if only she could bring Chet Baker along in the boat....

We love you, Jules! Happy birthday from all of us. We bask in the wonder of all you share with us, and consider ourselves so lucky to be a part of your world.

NEW NORTH AMERICAN BIRD SPECIES DISCOVERED!

The newly described Dun Mountain Warbler, Pseudoseiurus monochromis, as painted by bird artist Julie Zickefoose!

Dear BOTB Readers:

I’ve been holding this story in for weeks. I’m about to burst with excitement. How often does a bird magazine editor get asked to announce a newly discovered species—in North America?? It’s every bird magazine editor’s best dream. But enough of my yakkin'. Here's the big news!

Ornithologists from the National Bird Observatory (NBO) in Osprey Chalk, Connecticut, are pleased to announce the discovery of a North American bird species that is new to science. The dun mountain warbler (Pseudoseiurus monochromis) was recently discovered by bear hunters on all-terrain vehicles trying to reach forested habitat on the far side of a 10,000-acre mountaintop removal site in southern West Virginia. The species was described by ornithologists from the NBO, who were alerted to its existence when the West Virginia bear hunters (who were being filmed for a reality television show) remarked on camera that "it was the only thing we seen that was alive for miles around."

"This species has apparently moved into the expansive wastelands left behind by mountaintop removal (MTR), and is thriving there," said Patrick Fitzmichael, director of the NBO and chairman of the E. R. Hare Citizen Science Endowment at the NBO. "We found more than 35 nests in southern West Virginia in just one weekend of searching. We think that this population grew out of remnant bands of birds that were living and apparently breeding above the treeline in the Appalachians on scree slopes where no one in their right mind would ever go for birding or anything else."

The natural history of the dun mountain warbler is most unusual. It nests on barren, rocky ground in mountaintop removal sites, laying its eggs among the stones and exposed clay. It flips rocks and pebbles looking for invertebrates, colonizing recent MTR sites, scavenging prey from reptiles and amphibians to insects, even following earth moving equipment with an alert expression and pertly wagging tail, waiting to see what is stirred up by the digging.

The plumage of the dun mountain warbler is described as dirt-brown and gray—or dun—which helps the bird and its cryptically colored eggs to blend in perfectly with their surroundings. Little is known about the dun mountain warbler's courtship, but field researchers were able to catch a short recording of its song, which is described as "a loud beeping tone similar to a piece of heavy earth-moving equipment backing up."

A spokesperson for the Consolation Coal Company reacted this way to the announcement: "We've known for years that our efforts to turn unusable tree-choked mountain habitat into nice, flat, open areas would be good for the environment. If a bird lays a egg on a mountain, what happens? It rolls to the bottom and breaks. The baby bird dies. We're happy that nature is finally realizing that our mining operations not only mean jobs for the local community, but they also make good places for birds to nest. Now THAT's family values, which is what we've always stood for."

Thus far, the dun mountain warbler seems to find its center of abundance in southern West Virginia's coal country, and NBO is mounting expeditions to neighboring states of Kentucky and Tennessee to survey MTR sites there. The future looks bright for this specialized but opportunistic species as mountaintop removal proceeds apace. The Obama Administration has recommended a study to determine if the species needs more breeding habitat. "We're ready to approve more than 150 MTR mine site permits if it means we can help this rare warbler survive and even thrive in the future."

The birding community reacted with great enthusiasm. Jeffrey Giordano, president of the American Birders' Society said. "This is AWESOME! A new bird for our members to chase after. This will certainly be our Bird of the Year for 2013!"

Bill Thomas III, editor of Birders' Watching Digest said, "This is the feel-good birding story of the year! More habitat for an endangered species--and a NEW one at that!"

The Old River Birding Festival in Oak Harbor, West Virginia, will be offering customized tours to see the Dun Mountain Warbler from now through September. Contact the festival at www.birding-wv.com.

Happy Birthday Julie!

Happy belated birthday to mi esposa, Julie Zickefoose, who is an amazing person doing amazing things—some of which I'll share with you now:

She loves things like baby sea turtles (above) and baby box turtles which she tended for years until they were ready for release on our farm (below).

She teaches our kids about the truly wonderful things in nature. Like tadpoles (above) and badlands (below).
She's as at home hanging with birding glitterati (above) as she is sitting on the kitchen floor, in a winter power outage, making suet dough by headlamp (below).

She can rock out with The Rain Crows (above) or zen out in her kayak, barely speaking for hours on end (below).

She's not afraid to take chances, like photo-bombing with the local coppers at the county fair (above) or snorkeling in shark-(and dork-)infested waters (below).

She gets as much joy from her garden pod full of flowers (below) as she does in a really great piece of North Dakota strawberry-rhubarb pie (above).

And she dearly loves her friends, human and otherwise....

Happy birthday, Zick! May you live as long as (or longer than!) our old driveway oak.