Have you been thinking of sending in some photos for On the Road, but haven’t quite gotten around to it? Then this announcement is for you. To encourage you guys to take the plunge, we are having the first ever First Timers Week for On the Road. Actually, let’s make that two weeks.
For the 10 weekdays beginning on June 22 and ending on July 3, let’s go for 10 days of submissions from new peeps who have never had their photos published in On the Road. After that, we’ll return to our regular schedule on Monday, July 6.
So if you would like to see your photos published on Balloon Juice for the very first time, please go through your photos, or take some new ones, and send us a collection! (You can have up to 8 images in a single post.) Looking forward to being amazed, inspired, and intrigued by views that you first timers have collected On the Road or In Your Backyard!
Albatrossity
The second week in May is the peak of migration here typically, and then things wind down pretty quickly so that only the resident birds are available to have their portraits taken. So this week’s images are a mix of migrant and resident, tinged with the bittersweet realization that it might be a year before I see some of these birds again.
On The Road – Albatrossity – Spring in Flyover Country #7Post + Comments (21)
Shorebird migration starts early in March, but is reaching the end right now. One of the last shorebird migrants, this White-rumped Sandpiper, has one of the longest journeys. These little guys spend our winter in southern South America, down to the tip of Patagonia. They are headed up to the high Arctic to breed. If they took a direct route, that’s about 12,000 km (7500 mi when translated to American). They do that in a few long hauls, up to 4,000 km and 60 hours in the air, stopping at just a few sites to refuel and then press on. One of those sites is Cheyenne Bottoms in central KS, where 90% of the world’s population is thought to stop in May. In the fall they do not show up here, but migrate east to maritime Canada, then directly over the Atlantic to South America, arriving in late August in the northeastern part of that continent. They work their way back to Patagonia along the coast, and arrive there in December. That’s one tough little bird you’re looking at there.