Bill Scheible (North Pocket)
Bill says he has always enjoyed nature and the outdoors but waited until he was 50 years old to seriously take up birding. Initially he was captivated by “listing” and travelled widely in search of birds, visiting six continents and all 50 states.
Generally he prefers to bird alone or with friends, but foreign trips usually require travel with an established birding tour company. He reports that “As many of my parts have begun to rust or even fall off, my travels have become curtailed.”
Since moving to Rose Villa in October, 2019, he has counted 92 species within 5 miles of his refrigerator. The birds are out there, folks! “You can observe a lot just by watching” (Yogi Berra)
Birders often have a “spark bird” — a memorable sighting that served as a springboard to a new hobby. My bird is the Scarlet Tanager — a neotropical migrant that nests in forests of Eastern US and Canada. Despite its flashy color, Tanagers are often hard to locate in dense foliage.
This hormone addled male Wild Turkey is strutting his stuff in my yard in Iowa. Once hunted to the point of being a rare sight, wild turkeys have recovered nicely and are frequently seen in appropriate habitat.
Here is a Crowned Woodnymph, one of over 300 species of hummingbirds. These are found only in the Americas. This fellow and his relatives came to feeders at a mountain lodge in Colombia. Seeing numbers of these avian gems up close is quite an experience.
The Steller’s Sea Eagle (Japan) is the largest eagle in the world, eating small Toyotas for breakfast. These birds breed in Siberia and winter in Hokkaido, frequenting ice flows and feasting on salmon. It’s probably the most magnificent species I have seen in my 25 year pursuit.
This is the American Redstart (Iowa). Every Spring, birds that Winter in central or South America return to breeding grounds in the US and Canada. The month of May is an invigorating time for birders. Unfortunately, climate change and habitat loss have dramatically reduced the numbers of these birds. It’s been estimated that 30% of birds in the US have been lost since 1970.
The Swallow-tailed Kite (Iowa) is an iconic bird that nests in the SE United States. Its appearance in Iowa is a rare event and it brings birders from all over the state in an attempt to see the bird. Vagrancy, where a bird shows up in unexpected places, is a well-known phenomenon and one that captivates birders nation wide.
