Let's Misbehave

Our "faculty recital" was a big hit at OSU this month. People loved it!

It was a lot of fun to prepare and to perform. Here's the program headline.




The plan is to repeat some of the songs and add more.

Some Gigs

In addition to playing piano at church, I've had a few other gigs recently. I played for auditions and rehearsals for Cinderella at Crescent Valley HS. I played for Martha's Mom's funeral and another one for my friend's father. I'm playing this week for auditions for Rent at the Majestic Theater. But the most work is going into rehearsals for Let's Misbehave - a cabaret performance that features Brad Townsend singing some favorite tunes along with some other musicians. We have our first gig at OSU on May 19.

Sounds of Spring

We've had a very wet year so far with a lot of flooding in low-lying areas. That includes Finley Wildlife Refuge where the main road has been closed several times. During the Christmas Bird Count, we were concerned about how dry the Refuge was. There were doubts by the Refuge staff about whether some areas would be able to support returning species. Then the rains came and came and came.

With thing drying out a bit, and with the refuge now open everywhere, I went to Finley yesterday with the goal of seeing as many species as possible.

Bottom line: 50 species!

Many winter residents are still around, and quite a few summer residents are back. It was great! Among the returners are Orange-crowned Warblers, Turkey Vultures, Greater Yellowlegs, Band-tailed Pigeon, Rufous Hummingbird, Swallows, Common Yellowthroat and others.

The best part of it is that the air is filled with songs and calls as everyone stakes out territory and looks for a mate.

Gyrfalcon

OK, so it has taken a new addition to my life list to wake me up and get me posting again. Since the last post, I've been busy birding in Oregon, California,and Brasil. I've been busy helping with auditions and rehearsals for the Crescent Valley High School production of Cinderella. We've had two house guests, Magic and Ginger. Life is very full.

The new bird on my life list is a Gyrfalcon. It was discovered on a routine raptor count by a local expert birder. I had to wait to return from Brasil to see it, but I DID see it yesterday. The location is on McFarland Road south of Finley WLR. It's not very close to the road, so viewing is at a distance. But it's an obvious ID with a scope.

Here's a photo of the general situation.

I haven't yet seen a great photo of the bird. But it's fun to watch it hunt and fend off birds like Northern Harriers that want to harass it. Birds are SO territorial right now.

This is another rare bird that has attracted a lot of attention. When I went to the site yesterday, there were about a dozen cars with birders from Portland, Salem, Corvallis, and Eugene. A few of them ended up in a photo posted on our email list.

Signs of Spring?

After the deluge we've been experiencing, it's great to have a warmer and dryer day. For the past week, the Song Sparrows have been singing. Today, a Yellow-rumped Warbler was singing and singing and singing from the top of a tree near our house. The other birds also seem to be warming up for spring. The Black-capped Chickadees have been noisy all winter, but now they are giving their complete "chick-a-dee-dee" song. The Anna's Hummingbirds are getting noisier and more aggressive around our feeder. A new flavor of suet is causing quite a bit of activity. We even had two Red-winged Blackbirds show up there this morning. Signs of spring?

Wild Weather

We've been having some wild weather in January. After complaining about how dry it has been this winter, things changed. We had snow then rain and flooding. We're in the middle of a pineapple express series of storms. The sun is shining at the moment, but the wind blew the decoration off of our upstairs deck last night.

With road closures due to flooding, it's been slow birding this week. I did manage to go to Finley and get some photos of the snow.

It was interesting to see the ducks and geese walking across the ice at Cabell and McFadden.

Unfortunately, the flooding closed the Corvallis schools. Our final weekend of The Mystery of Irma Vep was cancelled.

November 2011

November was an interesting month.

Advent began early (27 Nov). For about the 10th year, I played my version of the David Lanz version of O Come O Come Emmanuel at communion. It's Martha's favorite, and I get more requests for it than anything else each year.

Cali and I went on 25 walks for a total of 32.8 miles over 11 hours and 52 minutes. It's getting colder and wetter, so we take advantage of the nice days!

We're settling into the winter resident birding pattern in the Willamette Valley. The Cackling and Canada Geese are here in the tens of thousands. At home, I saw 17 species (compared to 15 in October). With Cali, I saw 22 species (23 in October). I started tracking Finley observations in November - 47 species. Overall, I saw 62 species in Oregon in November (57 in October) and 102 worldwide. My trip to Brasil included 23 species. Trips to San Luis Obispo and Palo Alto Wetlands produced 28 species in California.

New York City

Martha and I spent this week in New York City. We walked about 34 miles in the five days we were here. We stayed at the Westin Times Square at 8th Avenue and 43rd St.

On Monday, we walked over nine miles. We wandered around Central Park. We walked five miles as we went from the south end at 59th St to the north end at 110th St. The park is 2.5 miles long, so we obviously didn't take a direct route.

Central Park has some interesting bird habitats.

We were there on a beautiful day, and I identified 19 species. Two were "lifers." I saw my first White-throated Sparrow and my first Great Black-backed Gull. I also saw a few eastern species that I hadn't seen in a long time (Blue Jay, Northern Cardinal). My life list is now at 320 species.

On Tuesday, we were treated to a great view from the top of the Empire State Building.

We also saw two fantastic Broadway musicals this week. Totally different but totally awesome!

Cali couldn't be with us (of course), but she would have like to eat a Pooch-ini.We saw a lot of dogs of all types and sizes on our walks around different parts of Manhattan.

Hymns

One of the interesting things about being the pianist for the 9am Mass at St. Mary's is that I get to play a piano solo every week while the choir takes communion. I don't really do any planning for this. I just play whatever is in my head as Sunday approaches.

Last Sunday, I played "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms." I've found that a lot of people in the congregation really enjoy hearing older hymns like this one.

After Mass on Sunday, I woman came up to me to let me know how much she appreciated that tune. It was the anniversary of her mother's passing, and that hymn was played at her mother's funeral.

Pretty awesome.

Opening Night!

We opened A Grand Night for Singing last evening to a modest but VERY appreciative audience. The whole show experience has been awesome, and we opened well. The Corvallis Gazette Times gave us a good review after seeing our first rehearsal in the Majestic Theater on Monday.

Some cast photos:

August Arrives

We've been enjoying having Magic as a guest for the past couple of weeks. She and Cali get along very well. I feel like Ben Hur when I walk them.

For birders like me, a new month means a new chance to start monthly bird lists. Cali, Magic, and I took a long walk this morning on the Goldfinch Ave trail. It was a very quiet start to our monthly list on Cali walks - just 13 species.

This afternoon, I took Martha to Cabell Marsh at Finley Wildlife Preserve to see the American White Pelicans. These beauties have been hanging around for the past six weeks or so. But today, they decided to leave after we arrived.

No problem - we'll go back to see them again.

August 1 count: 23 species

After a summer of Swainson's Thrush singing (but no sightings), I've heard nothing from them in the past week.

Things are changing.

A Grand Night for Singing

We're in rehearsals for A Grand Night for Singing. The cast is outstanding - five of the best singers in this area. The music will be piano (me sharing with Cathy Sams), a bass, a flute, a clarinet/sax, a harp, and a drummer. We open in about three weeks, so this is the time when things get intense.

I was in my first show (Call Me Madam) in high school - played trumpet and was student music director. Five years ago, I got involved in shows again - playing keyboard in Jesus Christ, Superstar. Since then, I've done shows in our local high schools (Little Shop of Horrors, Seusical The Musical, Sweet Charity) and local community theater (The Producers). I also get called to play for auditions, since I'm one of the few piano players here who can sight read and play from chords.

Grand Night is an awesome experience - working with the best is, well, the best.