Bird Series
In January 2011, I was invited to join a new team competing in the Carden Challenge where teams compete to identify the greatest number of bird species in a 24 hour period. My song ID skills at the time were not great so I spent the next three months studying and listening and practicing. At the time, I thought I was doing it just for the Challenge. Now I realize that those months spent learning have led to some pretty fantastic work opportunities.
I was interested in birds long before I had any clue that geocaching existed. So when it came time to place some caches, what better way to combine the two interests. How many of these birds can you identify?
Eastern Towhee
Drink your tee-eee-ea!
This command comes from the Eastern Towhee, formerly the Rufous-sided Towhee. You are likely to hear this song belted out from treetops all around Carden during the summer. The handsome male likes to sit high in the tree calling for any girlfriend who might like tea and warning any competing towhees to stay away.
These birds like forest edges, overgrown fields and scrubby thickets. The female takes about five days to make a nest on the ground using strips of bark, twigs and leaves on the outside and lining the nest with dry grasses and animal hair.
With its distinctive song and handsome colouration, this bird is an easy one to learn.
The location of this cache is known as pavement alvar. Alvars are identified by limestone bedrock covered with very little soil. With pavement alvar, there is no soil but can be mosses. The cracks are called grykes and can have streams of water gurgling through them though the ones here do not.
