How do I sum up the best birthday I have ever had?! I had no clue 27 would feel this superb! The
past few birthday have felt pretty mediocre or blah-ze. I think that goes to say just how powerful positive thinking truly is. I was absolutely determined to have nothing less than a fabulous birthday this time around! Or should I say, "BIRD DAY?!"My overly-organized self created a list of 27 amazing things to do on Friday. Here is just a quick snippet of a few of my favorites:
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| Carolyn's coffee cake! |
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| Hot chocolate, heavy on the whipped cream! |
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| Walking to the mailbox in my Christmas socks and owl slippers with Kobe dearest |
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| Dancing around the house to Owl City! |
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| Birthday cards from family and 3-juice mixed drink! |
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| Super Sushi |
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| "10 Minutes Ago I saw you..." |
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| I love braids |
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| Best smell ever! |
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| Thankful journal entry |
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| 27 feels good! |
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| Maltby Cake |
The following day, we ventured to our first-ever renaissance faire! First, but not our last! Well, only if there is a birds of prey show each time.... Talk about something far exceeding my expectations! Sky Kings put on a bird show I will never forget! The show was complete with a Laughing Kookaburra, 2 Harris's Hawks, a Black Vulture, an Eurasian Eagle Owl, a White-backed Vulture, and, Lenore, some type of collared Raven.
A few highlights of each:
The Laughing Kookaburra actually laughed for us! The Harris's Hawks flew so close over our heads, we had to duck down, and we still felt the breeze over us! What a rush of adrenaline! The Black Vulture had an absolutely huge wing span! The White-back Vulture devoured a chicken leg in 5 seconds! But the best part was when the owl came out, flew to a perch, flew to another perch, then decided to fly, fly, fly, fly right over the on-stage perch and straight out of the tent into who knows where, but not in the show! He did not come back for our show, unfortunately, but what a funny turn of events! The star of the show flies away! Another amazing part was how they trained Lenore to take dollar bills from a person's hand and stuff it in a collection box. If she messed up, she could be reprimanded, and she would fix her mistake and take the next bill. What skill! (And brilliant way to get easy tips!)
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| Cute little thing |
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| Harris Hawk |
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| Harris Hawk taking off |
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| Harris Hawk |
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| Stunning! |
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| Beautiful! |
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| The White-backed Vulture was rather aggressive, despite its clipped wings |
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| Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area -- Renaissance Pleasure Faire 2015 |
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| Love Birds |
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| Surprise visit! |
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| This is what is known as the best meal in the whole entire world |
To make a long story short, we got a hold of an established and well-known birder's email around town through a birding website. One thing led to the next and, before we knew it, we had a scheduled birding outing to Montecito Memorial Park for Sunday morning at 7:30! This was a big deal. We were going to be birding with the big timer!
And then, guess what?! The big timer turns out to be a student at Loma Linda University as well, knows my husband's brother, his dad may know my husband's grandpa, and his sister is graduating from the same occupational therapy program as me! Small world!
We meet up to bird and are instantly amazed by his ability to identify birds by their call. That is my long-term birding goal that I am no where close to as of now! We started making an extensive list of sightings as we slowly strolled through the park while sharing bird stories back and forth. Shortly into our outing, his dad pulls up to join us! The four of us have such a grand time birding!
Check out our ebird list here: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S23358538.
Justin is doing another Big Year this year, but I am only working on building up my Life Bird list. This outing helped boost both of our lists!
What a perfect birthday (bird day!) present to get 13 new life birds in just a few hours! (It's going to get harder and harder to gain life birds as my list grows, but with a current list at 183 North American species and 218 world species, I still can have amazing birding trips that boost up my numbers quickly!).
1. Wrentit
2. California Quail (!!!!!!)
3. Western Tanager
4. Pacific-slope Flycatcher
5. Olive-sided Flycatcher
6. Swainson's Thrush
7. Great Horned Owl (!!!!!!)
8. Willow Flycatcher
9. Western Wood Pewee
10. Black-headed Grosbeak
11. Costa's Hummingbird
12. Black-chinned Hummingbird
13. Calliope Hummingbird
I went into this birding adventure hoping I can just see a California Quail and a Great Horned Owl. My expectations were more than exceeded!
The best part about our trip is, we not only had a great birding outing, but we made a great connection with this wonderful family in town and have made new friends! The last 3 new life birds for me were seen in their backyard because they invited us over to look at their feeders while drinking coffee! (How they make the most amazing coffee we have ever tasted will have to wait for another blog!)
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| In love |
It was at their house where I met 3 lovely and beautiful and friendly and silly racing pigeons that are going to be used for therapy! Saturn, Mercury, and Jupiter are going to be great! Now if I can only remember which was which!
Justin assured me we can get me some pigeon pets whenever we are able to buy a house. I await that day with eagerness!
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| 2 new friends! |
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| Combination of overwhelming excitement and terror it would peck my eyes out! |
Xoxo,
One very happy girl who is in love with God, her husband, family, pets, birds, rain, and all things joyful!
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