New office, new birds
For those of you who are interested, I’m no longer working at the Planetarium in Chapel Hill. It was hard to leave a place that I enjoyed so much and that continues to do so much good for science students in North Carolina, but I’m happy to announce that in the second part is still true at my new gig at the Museum of Life and Science in nearby Durham. It’s a really cool place and I’m happy to be here.
Anyway, one of the perks of working at this particular science museum is that is sits on a large campus consisting of several acres of woodland into which an outdoor park is carved, complete with large animal enclosures (bears, wolves, and lemurs), a outdoor exhibit on wind and flight, and best of all for me, a functional wetland.
The wetland is a former quarry for the city of Durham. Workers eventually dug so deep they tapped into the groundwater and it flooded. For a while the city pumped it out, but eventually gave up and allowed it to completely flood. The rest is history, and the museum relatively recently built a boardwalk and interpretive sites around the perimeter. A couple times a week I’ve been coming in a half hour early to walk around the loop, and the wetland has been a productive stop with both Great Blue and Green Herons present along with a local Belted Kingfisher and the usual handful of ducks of unknown provenance.
Over in the aforementioned wind exhibit there’s a bird feeding station where I can usually fill in gaps on the morning’s list left by common feeder birds I may have missed. On any given morning I can put together a list of 25 to 30 species fairly easily, which isn’t too bad for mid-summer. I’m looking forward to seeing what migration brings as there’s no shortage of excellent habitat in the area.
I realize I’m pretty fortunate to have a good birding location just outside my office door. Now I only have to find the time to put into it…
So jealous!
My job moved offices recently and I was excited that I got a window…and then I found out that it overlooked a parking garage. I have three birds on the list so far: Herring Gull, starling and pigeon. Sigh…
Hey Corey, my "office" (aka home) in Ann Arbor overlooked a parking structure but one day I saw a Peregrine and during migration periods I'd see loads of raptors etc.
So despair not, birds will come.
To you anyway, Nate.
Nice change of jobs.
Awesome!
I just moved offices too. I still don't have a window. Even if I did, it would look out onto the city streets of New Brunswick. Our headquarters is across the street and they have lots of trees. I'll try to do some birding one of these days there.
Ah you city folks and your high flying lifestyles.
It's pretty cool. I look forward to time I can spend out there, and I've already got a list of nearly 40 species just from the couple times I've been birding before work.
Congrats on the new job and new digs! I'm in your boat: awesome birding just out the door, but I hope you are better disciplined to take advantage of it. Looking forward to your recounting of birding at work!
Two questions, which I hope don't derail any future blog posts: what's your position, and what will you be doing day-to-day?
And the biggie: Durham? Are you required to have a more congenial tone towards Duke athletics in the future?
-Mike
@Mike- The Museum has a pretty tolerant attitude towards social media in general, and does a lot of outreach and publicity that way, but I'm hesitant to reveal too much right now in this space since I've only been there less than a month now. I'll email you.
As for Duke, no way no how. Congeniality was not in the job description.
Congrats on the nice move. As you know I work from home, but sadly this year I've been VERY lazy when it comes to filling the feeders… Enjoy your new habitat bud!
@Owlman- Thanks! I enjoyed it again this morning, and found a pair of Broad-winged Hawks. Add them to the list!