Birding & Motorcycling the World

Lake Huron drive

2007-10-25T18:51:00.001-07:00

Today’s tour took me and Rosie north along the Lake Huron shoreline to Pinery Provincial Park. Though the temperature was a chilly 5 degrees, I was bundled up nicely in several layers. On the way to Pinery, I toured along Kettle Point Indian Reserve, and drove the hard sand of the Ipperwash Beach area, flushing a Bald Eagle feeding on a dead fish on the beach.

Pinery Provincial Park is one of Ontario’s finest parks and one I should spend a lot more time in. This is where our family camped every year in my formative years and I often take it for granted. It’s got spectacular sand dunes and miles of sandy beaches and pine/deciduous forests loaded with interesting plants and animals.

There’s a nice ‘fall colour’ drive you can take in the Pinery with some nice twisty turns. One has to stay alert for sandy spots and slippery leaves on the roadway. I felt my bike slide a few times. I took a nap on the sand dunes, then walked the cedar trail where I bagged a pair of Tufted Titmice! My hunger was assuaged with a wonderful cheeseburger at MacPherson’s Restaurant in Port Franks (one of the few places where the patties are still handmade).

On the way home, I stopped to check the progress of the Ravenswood wind farm where six wind turbines are being installed. All of the blades, turbines, and other parts are there lying on the ground like giant tinker toys. It’s exciting seeing the project come together, one that I helped bring to life in my own small way by conducting the bird migration study two years ago.

Bike beside one of the three blades that will capture the wind.

New birds today:

Horned Grebe
Snow Goose
Wood Duck
Green-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
American Wigeon
Canvasback
Ring-necked Duck
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Tufted Titmouse

Total Bird Species: 130
Total kilometres: 6,300

BMW International Rally in Wisconsin

2007-07-19T18:14:00.000-07:00

Just got back from my first real motorcycle trip. One week, 2100 kilometres. I left home, crossed the Bluewater Bridge to Michigan, drove across the state 400 km to Ludington, caught a ferry, the SS Badger and took it across Lake Michigan, disembarked in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, slept in a Super 8 motel after getting soaked in the rain.

The next day, I carried on to West Bend, Wisconsin, via the Kettle Morraine Scenic Drive. I arrived safely at the fairgrounds where almost 10,000 BMW motorcycles were gathering, almost all of which would be camping.

The rally was very exciting. And astonishingly quiet! I expected a motorcycle rally to be rather noisy but these bikes all purr! The only time I heard a loud noise out of a bike was when a Harley intruder gunned his engine. BMW’s of every kind were in evidence, from vintage 1 cylinder pre-war models to sidecars to the latest 150hp speedsters and highway cruisers. Everyone was so well-behaved! No rowdyism here. Everyone seemed to be asleep by 10pm.

I signed up for a 6 hour advanced riders course where I was able to refine my driving skills on a parking lot, driving around orange cones. I also attended various seminars on safety, travel, and maintenance. The ChainGang (headed by Steve Johnson) held a wrenching seminar where we got to see a chain and sprockets replaced. Several vendors were present, as well. I splurged on new Michelin Anakee tires and bought a tall Cee Bailey windshield and a tankbag. Jackie, a dutch BMW rider and tire salesperson, posed with my bike.

After a couple of exciting days here, I moved north to Upper Michigan, through Menominee, Escanaba, and Manistique, ending my longest day of travel in cold winds (600km) at Trout Lake where my old birding buddy, Russ Bright, has a summer cabin. He was quite surprised to see me as all the local Harley riders were complaining of the cold. It was a tough drive but the thought of a cold beer and a free place to stay kept me driving on and on.

Russ and I spent a day birding the Lake Superior shoreline from Tahquamenon Bay to Grande Marais where we found a rare Piping Plover and an unusually early Whimbrel. I went swimming in the lovely cool waters of Lake Superior!

I continued driving northeast, crossing the border back into Ontario at the Soo, then along the TransCanada highway to Espanola and south across Manitoulin Island. Here I stopped to visit a guy I work with in Sarnia who has a cottage hidden away in the woods. He wasn’t home, so I continued on to the South Baymouth dock to reserve a spot on the Chi-Cheemaun ferry to Tobermory. Someone pointed out that my license plate was gone! It had broken off.

A quiet ferry crossing, disembarkation in Tobermory, then a few km drive to old friend John Haselmayer’s Bunkie on the Lake Huron shoreline. Several of his friends were visiting, so there wasn’t any room inside. I pitched my tent near the shore. Here we had good times playing guitars around a campfire with a glass of scotch and a few beers.

The next morning, I packed up and drove about six hours until I arrived at my doorstep, a week after I departed. A safe and uneventful first trip!

When I got back to work the next day, Terry, the guy who wasn’t home in Manitoulin, produced my missing license plate! It had dropped off in his driveway, 500 km away!

Birds added to List:

Common Loon
American Bittern
Common Eider
Hooded Merganser
Bald Eagle
Broad-winged Hawk
Merlin
Ruffed Grouse
Semipalmated Plover
Piping Plover
Whimbrel
Sanderling
Least Sandpiper
Common Snipe
Common Nighthawk
Chimney Swift
Belted Kingfisher
Hairy Woodpecker
Alder Flycatcher
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Winter Wren
Eastern Bluebird
Hermit Thrush
Nashville Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Pine Warbler
Palm Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Scarlet Tanager
Savannah Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Eastern Meadowlark
Brewer’s Blackbird
Purple Finch
Evening Grosbeak

Total species observed: 120
Total Km on bike: 5,674

Pelee Island

2007-07-06T15:31:00.000-07:00

A little longer trip this time… 150 km from Sarnia to Leamington. I left at 5:30 in the morning, right after working a nightshift. It was 12C, pretty darn cold at 100 km/hr, and it being July, I wasn’t quite prepared clothing-wise. I put on every shirt I had under my light Fieldshear coat, 6 layers in all, and was still kind of chilly. There were interesting long shadows of my bike on the golden wheatfields as the sun rose. I must be prepared to take pictures of this sort of thing in the future. I also have to figure out a way to record my brilliant thoughts on paper or tape while driving.

Two hours later, I arrived in Leamington and warmed up with a coffee at Tim Horton’s. I have to admit the drive was a bit of an ordeal. Sore ears from the helmet, sore butt, wind noise, a sore neck from getting my helmet-encrusted head blown around… I still have to acclimatize myself. How do these iron-butt riders drive 1000 miles a day when I can’t even get 150 km in without whining?

I rode onto the ferry ‘Jiimaan’ where I was told I had to fasten the bike down myself as the transportation company takes no responsibility if it falls over. I fastened Rosie down to a couple of steel tiedown rings on the deck, and rode across Lake Erie to Pelee Island. I noticed that many of the tourists on board were either beet-red from sunburn with white around the eyes from sunglasses (like a reverse raccoon) or all pasty white-skinned in the case of a group of Mennonite women who looked like they'd been shunned by the sun.

I spent the next couple of days exploring the island’s vineyards and coastal roads. While having a sunset cruise through the Merlot fields on Ruggle’s Run, I noticed the bike start to wobble. I thought it was the irregular dirt track at first, then discovered my rear tire was flat! Panic! Then I remembered I’d brought along a tire repair kit purchased recently on Ebay. With the tiny pliers provided, I pulled out an old square nail that had punctured the tire. Then I inserted a plug, and blew the tire up with a CO2 cartridge. That got enough pressure to drive the bike to a gas station air pump for a full inflation. I was feeling rather choughed.
.

I headed back to my camp on the south end of the island and the bike started wobbling again. The tire had gone flat! Fortunately, I discovered this in front of Guy Lafferty’s house. Guy is an excavating contractor and motorcycle afficionado with a garage full of tools. For the next two hours, we removed the wheel from the bike, repaired the INNER tube leak (I thought I had a tubeless tire!), then reinstalled the wheel. Guy saved my ass and wouldn’t take a penny for his work. If it weren’t for him, I’d probably still be stranded there as I don’t think anyone else knows much about motorbike tire repair on the island. I got a valuable education. The tire bead was very stubborn and even with 3’ tire irons and vicious hammering with a bead breaker, it took quite a while to break the bead. I don’t know how people manage to do this on the side of the road.

The whole experience reinforced the need for more tools and emergency equipment on a road trip (as well as some basic repair knowledge). I’m looking forward to next week’s journey to the BMW rally in Wisconsin where all the territory will be new!

Right: Old Lighthouse on Pelee Island

New birds seen on Pelee Island...

Black-billed Cuckoo
Yellow-billed Cuckoo

House Finch

Cedar Waxwing

Carolina Wren

Purple Martin

Eastern Kingbird

Eastern Wood Pewee

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Spotted Sandpiper

Ring-necked Pheasant

Great Egret

Species so far: 82

Kilometres:3,415

Victoria Day Ride

2007-05-22T08:39:00.000-07:00

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It's Victoria
Day, a national holiday in Canada, celebrating the Queen of England's birthday (Elizabeth II or possibly Victoria's birthday, not sure which).

I went on my longest ride today, 110 km. That doesn’t seem like much but I’m working my way up. And it wasn’t that painful as I visited 4 friends so that broke the trip up.

First, I stopped at my brother Paul’s new house in the country. He and his wife were busy planting a garden. Next, I went on to Mark McNabb’s house in Petrolia. He was editing the last movie we shot: “The Mystical Adventures of Billy Owens” on his new High Definition editing suite. Looks great.

Then it was on to Oil Springs to visit my old high school chum, Guy Lalonde, On the way there I stopped at a bridge over a creek and found an Eastern Phoebe, the first new bird for the day.

Then it was on to Doctor Greg Sherwin’s house on Lake Huron to polish off a bottle of Bordeaux region Merlot. While there, his daughter Jill visited, then came Simone, a lovely young woman who I almost killed in my sailboat 25 years ago (by sailing foolishly into a storm at midnight).

While we drank, a Caspian Tern and several Forster’s Terns flew by, as well as a lone Ruddy Turnstone.

A wonderful day for riding…. Sunny, cool, perfect for all that safety clothing I donned.

New Birds:

Caspian Tern

Common Tern

Ruddy Turnstone

Chipping Sparrow

Brown-headed Cowbird

Baltimore Oriole

Black-and-White Warbler

Yellow Warbler

Red-eyed Vireo

Warbling Vireo

House Wren

Veery

Gray Catbird

Great-crested Flycatcher

Mute Swan

Total Species: 68 Total Km: 2751.

Sewage Lagoons

2007-04-28T13:37:00.000-07:00

Sewage Lagoons

Sewage lagoons are great places to find birds, especially ducks. They're often the only 'wetland' for miles, and as such, become an oasis for water-loving birds.Today I visited the Brights Grove sewage ponds. I discovered a break in the fence, so I felt obligated to ride my bike through the gap and drive down the laneway to the ponds.

The ponds were covered with ducks: Buffleheads, Scaups, Mallards, Ruddy Ducks, and Blue-winged Teal. Other birds are beginning to arrive back from their southern winter vacations. Soon, the floodgates will open and migration will be fully underway.I'll be heading to Pelee Island for the next few weeks to celebrate the spring migration.

New birds for the list...

Red-shouldered Hawk

Double-crested Cormorant

Killdeer

Turkey Vulture

Blue-winged Teal

Northern Flicker

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Barn Swallow

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Total species so far: 52

Back on the Road

2007-04-16T19:04:00.001-07:00

After a few cold months, I'm back on the road. My bike is now sporting a couple of large Pelican camera cases mounted on Moto-sport Pannier Racks so I'm ready for a road trip.

A trip to the Sarnia Bay and Canatara Park led to a few new birds for the list...

Song Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
American Goldfinch
American Robin
Hermit Thrush
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Brown Creeper
Tree Swallow
Eastern Phoebe

Total so far... 43 species

More mild weather

2007-01-03T14:13:00.000-08:00

I just keep riding and riding! Winter refuses to come. Today was 8C and sunny, a beautiful day to ride. I'm trying out my new helmet that just arrived from Japan: a Shoei Hornet, a gleaming white full-face, dual sport type with sunvisor.

I'm leaving Canada in a few days to search for the near-extinct Ivory-billed Woodpecker on the Choctawhatchee River in NW Florida.

New bird today: Long-tailed Duck
Total so far: 33 species

New Year's Day Ride

2007-01-01T12:50:00.000-08:00

The weather continues to be unbelievably mild (7C today). Not a flake of snow has dropped in the whole month of December. I took a ride along Sarnia's waterfront today (the St. Clair River and Lake Huron) and added 5 birds to the list:

American Coot
House Sparrow
Lesser Scaup
Common Merganser
Common Goldeneye

32 species so far.

An old man stopped to talk to me when I was scanning the water for ducks but I had my helmet and earplugs on so I couldn't hear a word he was saying. I just nodded my head at judicious times and that seemed to work.

On the way home, I pulled up at a stoplight next to another motorcyclist who was 'braving' the winter weather. When the light changed to green, I coolly throttled up... and went nowhere! I was in neutral! Not so cool!

Winter Wind Turbine studies begin

2006-12-15T14:36:00.000-08:00

I earned some money on the bike today! One of my part-time jobs is doing Environmental Assessments for proposed Wind Turbine farms. Locating Wind Turbines in areas where they won’t chop up birds is of paramount importance, so I’ve been hired to do bird surveys to ensure that the planned locations aren’t in the middle of migration flyways. This morning, under gray skies and high winds (Beaufort 5), I drove the bike to my project area just outside of Forest, Ontario, and surveyed the fields and forests for the first of my winter visits.

I drove 120 km for the total expense of about a gallon of gas. Normally, I would have taken my big gas-guzzling Buick Roadmaster. The downside of riding the bike, for this kind of work, aside from getting cold, is the noise. Hearing protection on a bike is mandatory, due to wind and engine noise. But being able to hear birds is an important part of survey work, so each time I stopped, I had to take off the helmet, the balaclava, and the earplugs.

Birding Tip #1: When blowing snot out of a nostril onto the road, cover the lenses of your binoculars!

Birds added to the BMW list today include:

American Tree Sparrow
Northern Pintail
American Kestrel
Rough-legged Hawk
American Black Duck
Northern Harrier
Horned Lark
Bonaparte’s Gull
Rock Pigeon
Great Blue Heron

Total bird species: 29

Last warm ride of the year?

2006-11-29T17:49:00.000-08:00

Temperature all week has been well above 50 F. Today it got up to 63 degrees (18C)! Not bad for the end of November. I know Global Warming is evil, but if you're gonna get it, Canada is the place to be! Weather's supposed to cool off to freezing tomorrow.

I've been riding Rosie all week. Here are some new birds we've seen together:

Ruddy Duck

Redhead

Mourning Dove

Cooper's Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

Black-capped Chickadee

Blue Jay

Dark-eyed Junco

Total so far: 17 species

Serious birdlist begins

2006-11-23T12:18:00.000-08:00

I took Rosie out for a short spin today to the Bluewater Bridge. The odometer turned 2000 km.

I installed a yellow seat that I managed to get a good price on. Just for a different look. Okay, enough fooling around! Today I start my official BMW birdlist. This will consist of birds seen from the bike or from a place I've travelled to on my bike. Today I went to the Point Edward lighthouse at the southern part of Lake Huron where it empties into the St. Clair River. There wasn't much around. Here's what I got...

Ring-billed Gull

Mallard

Herring Gull

Bufflehead

Red-breasted Merganser

Canada Goose

Downy Woodpecker

European Starling

Great Black-backed Gull

Total so far: 9 species

Welcome!

2006-11-23T07:31:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my new blog. This blog was inspired by the recent purchase of a BMW F650 motorcycle.

A couple of months ago, I chanced upon an interesting TV series called 'Long Way Round,' a humorous and entertaining account of two Brits, Ewan MacGregor and Charlie Boorman, who travel around the world on BMW motorcycles. My employer, Dow Chemical, simultaneously announced that they would be shutting the plant down in the next couple of years, forcing me into early retirement. This wonderful news inspired dreams of my own extended travels: maybe I could take a scooter around the world. In the spring, I began riding a vintage 1973 Vespa around Pelee Island. I investigated the new bigger, faster Vespas at the London dealership and was astounded to find that a 250cc model would cost me more than $8000! On a whim, I dropped into the nearby BMW dealership and sat on a Dakar motorcycle. It didn't cost much more than the scooter and travels much faster and carries more cargo. It felt so right! No longer would I look like a circus bear driving a tiny scooter!

A few weeks later, I located a good used BMW F650 and bought it. I've named her Rosie (after Rocinante, Don Quixote's horse).

November in Ontario's not exactly the best time to be riding, but I've already put 500 kilometres on it and I'm having a riot. I just bundle up with several layers. Yesterday, I took the bike off-road, down some deeply rutted paths with foot-deep puddles. The tires aren't designed for mud and I slid all over the place and dropped the bike twice. I came home soaked, the bike covered in mud. I hope to keep riding until the salt hits the road.

My goal is to someday drive this baby around the world, birding, photographing, and meeting people. Of course, I'll post it all on the new blog!