Howdy and happy new year all! I’m trying not to say “it” but I can’t think of anything else to say but “it” so…

“It’s been a minute, huh?”

Picking up and dropping projects has long been my MO, I’m afraid, but I guess I forgot that this blog was just supposed to be an outlet for writing in general. So with the new year comes new resolutions, which I do tend to make and try and stick to. One such, as you might have guessed, is to keep up with this blog more. I mean, I’m paying for this, ain’t I?!

So I intend to be checking in more, updating on life’s goings-on, and sharing thoughts on this and that. You know, exciting things. I also intend to get back to the radio show but that’s on hiatus while I focus on some bigger priorities in my life. I do hope to have a really cool interview episode up next month, however, that I recorded back in November.

The hunt

A couple of not-so-serious things have been dominating my mind lately. Firstly, for the unaware, amateur nature photography became a pretty big hobby for me over the course of these pandemic years. I think I’ll write a longer post on this sometime soon but, for now, know that winter in these parts brings such an array of migratory visitors and I have been invigorated to find them all!

Some time back in November or December I was driving down Holly and caught sight of something I totally did not expect. It was in a pretty busy part of the road, but there was a ditch in between two businesses with water in it that was separated from the sidewalk by a rail. Perched on that rail was a Belted Kingfisher — a sight that stuck out much more blatantly because I hadn’t realized they made their way down to these parts.

I did have my camera in my trunk, though not my long telescopic lens, but decided to make a hasty U-turn either way and try and park to snap whatever photo I could get. However, once I parked, the kingfisher flew off.

I was struck at how pretty and large the bird was. I expected something the size of a little warbler judging by photos I’d seen of it with it’s little legs and stout body. But it approached more the size of maybe a jay or swallow. Certainly big enough for me to spot it from the road and instantly realize what it was I was looking at.

After that first failure I encountered two other kingfishers on separate occasions. Once while I was driving on the causeway coming from Flour Bluff (even less of an opportunity to pull over) I spotted one sitting on a power line. The other time I was on a pre-birthday trip to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge for the first time, where I spotted one while at the top of the 40-foot observation tower. It flew into the air, did a sort of flip, and landed on a ground-level sign at a distance that even my telescopic lens could hardly deliver a decent photo.

It wasn’t until the other day I finally had some luck out at the Hans and Pat Suter Wildlife Refuge. I think I had spotted an owl out there around New Year’s Day so I’d been making regular stops ever since to see if I could get lucky again. No owl, but one evening just as the sun was setting I finally spotted a kingfisher a reasonable distance away to snap a photo of. You can see it in the lead photograph of this entry.

If you want to follow along with my nature photography adventures, give my Instagram for all that a follow: @birdcomrade.

The playlist

So like I mentioned above, Mumbler Radio is sort of on the backburner. I had intended and started up a special episode of my favorite songs of 2021 but the motivation has left me.

It’s honestly sort of a physical thing. My day job is a desk job that requires a lot of constant clicking and typing and, having done it for several years now, I think I’m starting to deal with some of the side effects of that. There are periods where the strain on my hands and arms makes it so that I don’t really want to do much more clicking if I don’t have to. So once those occasional flare-ups pass, and I have been dealing a bit with one lately, projects like the show often get put on the backburner.

But I will compensate for the lack of a show with another Spotify playlist much like last year’s. It’s a mixed bag, but certainly boasts way more songs than I was planning to feature on the episode.

In terms of favorite releases, I’d say some of my top picks for 2021 included Fresia Magdalena from Sofia Kourtesis, Afrique Victim from Mdou Moctar, Nine from Sault, Far In from Helado Negro, Mandatory Enjoyment from Dummy, Between Days from Kiefer, LP! from JPEGMAFIA, The Rich Are Only Defeated When Running for Their Lives from Anthony Joseph and The Turning Wheel from Spellling. “Little Deer” by Spellling may just be my favorite track of the year, or at least the one I found myself singing along to most in the car. There were also many compilations and reissues that were standouts but I tend to leave those out when thinking about “new” releases.

Check out tracks from those releases, and many others, below:

As always, let me know what some of your favorite releases are. I’d love to check them out.

That’s it for this update. Thanks as always for reading. I hope you and yours are well and that this new year is kind to you.

Stay strong, stay safe. I’ll talk to you again soon.

– Raul