Nomadic Birder

Ohio Statewide RBA - February 16, 2012

2012-02-16T21:33:00.004-05:00

- RBA
* Ohio
* Statewide
* February 16, 2012
* OHST1202.16

- Species Mentioned (Caps denote a review list species):

Greater White-fronted Goose
Snow Goose
Ross’s Goose
Cackling Goose
White-winged Scoter
Surf Scoter
BLACK-TAILED GULL
CALIFORNIA GULL
Thayer’s Gull
Iceland Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Glaucous Gull
Snowy Owl
Long-eared Owl
Northern Shrike
COMMON RAVEN
Grasshopper Sparrow
HARRIS’S SPARROW
White-winged Crossbill
Common Redpoll

- Transcript

This is the Ohio Rare Bird Report for February 16, 2012.
Compiler: Ethan Kistler. Email: ohiobirder(at)yahoo.com

Sightings have been gleaned from the Ohio list-serve, rarebird.org, Cincinnati Bird Sightings Log, Bobolink Area RBA (330-763-5119), Facebook, eBird and other sources.

Species in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS ARE REVIEW LIST SPECIES. Details of these sightings are desired by the Ohio Bird Records Committee. Careful observation, not ornithological expertise, is the only qualification for submitting your data. For details and pointers see: http://www.ohiobirds.org/records/documentation.php

Greater White-fronted Goose – Three were present at Malabar Farm, Richland on 12 Feb (Gary Cowell) and were likely the same three observed at Clear Fork Reservoir, Richland two days later (John Herman). Other reports include two at Killdeer Plains, Wyandot on 13 Feb (Robert Reed) and one at Meinke Marina, Lucas the same day (Ethan Kistler)

Snow Goose – Carolyn Wulfhurst observed 3 in Licking all on 13 Feb, two were at Leesville Lake, Carroll on 14 Feb (George & Kelly Benish, fide Scott Pendleton), Five continue at Meinke Marina, Lucas on 16 Feb (Ethan Kistler) and Joe Faulkner had one in Perry the same day. A ‘few’ were also reported from Wayne but no more details were provided (Bobolink RBA)

Ross’s Goose – One report; two individuals in Franklin on 10-11 Feb (David Henderson)

Cackling Goose – Small numbers reported from around the state including two in Franklin on 9 Feb (Megan Shoemaker & Geoff Winningham), one in Hamilton on 9 Feb (Tyler Ficker, fide William McGill), one at Charles Mill Lake, Richland on 14 Feb (Gary Cowell) and five at Oberlin Arboretum, Lorain the following day.

White-winged Scoter – Two reports; one at Prairie Oaks Metro Park, Franklin (Jeffrey Pontius) and three at Circleville Quarry, Pickaway (Tom Bain) both on 12 Feb

Surf Scoter – One was found at Caesar Creek, Warren on 15 Feb (Sam Fitton, fide Mike Busam) and increased to two the following day (Jason Cade)

BLACK-TAILED GULL – The Ashtabula bird is probably still present, but after being present for three months, reports are sparse. For more information see (http://northnw.wordpress.com/bt-gull/)

CALIFORNIA GULL – Gabe Leidy discovered a 2nd cycle and 3rd cycle off Lorain on 12 Feb with the 2nd cycle being relocated the following day (John Pogacnik)

Thayer’s Gull – A descent count of nine were off Lorain on 13 Feb (John Pogacnik). Other reports include singles at Clear Fork Reservoir, Richland on 9 Feb (John Herman) and a single off Lake on 11 Feb (John Pogacnik)

Iceland Gull – Two (2nd cycle & adult) were off Lorain on 12 Feb (Gabe Leidy), where John Pogacnik had three the following day.

Lesser Black-backed Gull – Two were off Lake on 11 Feb (John Pogacnik), thirteen were off Lorain on 12 Feb (Gabe Leidy), and fifteen were at the Wood County Landfill on 15 Feb (Tom Kemp). Singles were reported from Magee, Lucas on 10 Feb (Dan Gesualdo), Walborn Reservoir, Stark on 12 Feb (Kent Miller), and Caesar Creek, Warren on 15 Feb (Jason Cade)

Glaucous Gull – As many as four were off Lake on 11 Feb (John Pogacnik). Singles were reported from Lake Shore Park, Ashtabula on 9 Feb (Joseph Mitchell), Spring Grove, Hamilton on 11 Feb (Tyler Ficker), Lorain on 12-13 Feb (m.obs), and at the Wood County Landfill on 15 Feb (Tom Kemp).

Snowy Owl – One of the Ashtabula birds continue as of 9 Feb (Shawn Collins) and a bird was discovered in Darke but details are deficient.

Long-eared Owl – Reports came from Ashland and Warren Counties

Northern Shrike – Fewer reported this week with reports coming from Belmont, Lucas, Ottawa, and Wayne

COMMON RAVEN – The individual in Knox was still present as of 10 Feb (Bobolink RBA)

Grasshopper Sparrow – Robert Hershberger had one behind his house in Millersburg, Holmes earlier this week (Bobolink RBA).

HARRIS’S SPARROW – The individual at Joseph Miller’s farm northeast of Winesburg in Holmes was still present as of 10 Feb (Bobolink RBA). For more info, call the hotline at (330-763-5119). Birders welcome, excluding Sundays.

White-winged Crossbills – Nearly 40 remain at Woodlawn Cemetery, Lucas through today (m.obs) and a ‘few’ were reported south of Mt. Hope, Holmes earlier this week (Bobolink RBA). Singles reached southern Ohio including a male in Butler/Warren on 11 Feb (Barbara Reuss) and a female in Hamilton on 16 Feb (Jonathon Frodge).

Common Redpoll – Twenty were at Lake Shore Park, Ashtabula on 9 Feb (Joseph Mitchell) and at least 35 remain at Woodlawn Cemetery, Lucas on 15 Feb (m.obs). Other reports include two in Hancock on 10 Feb (Debbie Kaylor), five in Summit on 12 Feb (Patrick Coy & Karin Tanquist), one in Lake on 12 Feb (Sally Isacco), two in Hamilton on 13 Feb (Gary Stegner), several in Allen on 16 Feb (Russell Reynolds), and a female returned to feeders in Ottawa on 11 Feb (Ethan Kistler)

- End Transcript

Good birding,

Ethan Kistler
Oak Harbor, Ohio

Book Review: Birds of India (2nd Edition)

2012-02-14T19:49:00.004-05:00

I recently received my Birds of India: Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and The Maldives (second edition) in the mail and haven’t been able to get any work done since. For those familiar with the first edition, the authors have put in an exceptional amount of work creating an even better, up to date resource and the most comprehensive field guide for the Indian subcontinent. The 226 plates (72 more than the 1^st edition) covers all 1,375 species of residents, migrants and vagrants – and better yet, the range maps and text now mirrors the plates eliminating the hassle of relentlessly flipping through pages. It also includes taxonomical name changes as well as accurate, updated range maps.

As with all field guides, there will always be cons and with this guide there was one that caught my attention. A few of the plates appear to be moderately dark (i.e. shorebirds) – this can either be the artist that covered that section or simply the printers. However, the vast majority of the plates are exceptional and precise.

Plate 82: Parakeets

Plate 124: Jays and Magpies

Without a doubt, this user-friendly guide is a must for anyone heading to the Indian subcontinent or for those who simply want to add another remarkable field guide to their library. My next backpacking trip will hopefully be the Indian subcontinent and the Birds of India will certainly be the first item packed.

Note: this advanced copy of the Birds of India was sent to me by Princeton Press for review. The paperback publishes on March 7, 2012.

Ohio Statewide RBA - February 9, 2012

2012-02-09T19:44:00.005-05:00

- RBA
* Ohio
* Statewide
* February 9, 2012
* OHST1202.09

- Species Mentioned (Caps denote a review list species):

Greater White-fronted Goose
Snow Goose
Ross’s Goose
Cackling Goose
Surf Scoter
Black Scoter
Golden Eagle
BLACK-TAILED GULL
Iceland Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Glaucous Gull
Snowy Owl
Long-eared Owl
Northern Shrike
White-winged Crossbill
Common Redpoll
HOARY REDPOLL

- Transcript

This is the Ohio Rare Bird Report for February 9, 2012.
Compiler: Ethan Kistler. Email: ohiobirder(at)yahoo.com

Sightings have been gleaned from the Ohio list-serve, rarebird.org, Cincinnati Bird Sightings Log, Bobolink Area RBA (330-763-5119), Facebook, eBird and other sources.

Species in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS ARE REVIEW LIST SPECIES. Details of these sightings are desired by the Ohio Bird Records Committee. Careful observation, not ornithological expertise, is the only qualification for submitting your data. For details and pointers see: http://www.ohiobirds.org/records/documentation.php

Greater White-fronted Goose - Scott Myers had five at Thomas Wetlands, Paulding on 3 Feb

Snow Goose - One was in Stark on 4 Feb (Betty Indriolo), seven at Funk Bottoms, Wayne on 7 Feb (Kent Miller) and one at Ottawa NWR, Ottawa on 6 Feb (Craig Moore)

Ross’s Goose - Singles were reported in Lucas, Sandusky and Wayne

Cackling Goose - Jen Brumfield had a single bird at Rocky River, Cuyahoga on 5 Feb

Surf Scoter - Singles were off Cleveland, Cuyahoga on 3 Feb (Paula Lozano) and Lake the following day (John Pogacnik)

Black Scoter - One was off Rocky River, Cuyahoga on 4 Feb (Jen Brumfield) and Brian Zwiebel had one in Lucas the next day

Golden Eagle - One was found at The Wilds, Muskingum on 3 Feb (Kathy Mock et al)

BLACK-TAILED GULL - Nearing three months, the Ashtabula bird is still present as of today (m.obs). For more information see (http://northnw.wordpress.com/bt-gull/)

Iceland Gull - John Pogacnik had an adult off Lorain on 4 Feb, which was most likely the same bird that was present the following day (Wes Hatch). John Pogacnik observed another off Lake during a lakeshore waterbird survey the following day

Lesser Black-backed Gull - A decent count of 10 were observed at the Wood County Landfill on 5 Feb (Tom Kemp). Singles were reported from Lake on 4 Feb (John Pogacnik), Mogador Reservoir, Portage on 4 Feb (Gregory Bennett), Lorain on 4 Feb (Wes Hatch) and Clear Fork Reservoir, Richland on 8 Feb (John Herman)

Glaucous Gull - Singles came from Lorain on 3 Feb (John Pogacnik), Ashtabula on 4 Feb (Cathy Carroll & Tom Frankel), and the Wood County Landfill on 5 Feb (Tom Kemp)

Snowy Owl - One was discovered on the roof of Washington Elementary, Lorain on 6 Feb and at least one individual remains in Ashtabula as of today (m.obs)

Long-eared Owl - Reports came from Warren on 4 Feb (Joe Kappa) and Harrison on 6 Feb (Scott Pendleton).

Northern Shrike - Reports came from Fairfield, Franklin, Lucas, Muskingum, Summit, Ottawa, and Wyandot

White-winged Crossbills - Good numbers continue to be present in Ohio with nearly a hundred individuals being reported throughout Lucas on 5 Feb alone. High counts include 60 at Woodlawn Cemetery, Lucas on 6 Feb (m.obs), 40-50 at Wakeman Cemetery, Lucas on 4 Feb (Paul Chad) and 30 at Secor Metropark, Lucas on 5 Feb (Mark & Sherry Plessner). Smaller numbers were also reported from Hancock and Wyandot

Common Redpoll - A flock of 17 was observed at Sunset Memorial Park Cemetery, Cuyahoga on 3 Feb (Jen Brumfield) and grew to 45 the following day (David Brinkman). The high count of 70 was observed at Woodlawn Cemetery, Lucas on 5 Feb (Ethan Kistler et al). Singles were also reported in Lorain and Ottawa

HOARY REDPOLL - Jen Brumfield had two mixed in with a flock of Common Redpolls at Sunset Memorial Park Cemetery, Cuyahoga on 3 Feb and a probable bird was photographed at Woodlawn Cemetery, Lucas on 5 Feb (Ethan Kistler & Paula Lozano)

- End Transcript

Good birding,

Ethan Kistler
Oak Harbor, Ohio

Possible Hoary Redpoll

2012-02-06T09:21:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, Cleveland birders Paula Lozano and Bob Finkelstein joined me on a quick jaunt into the heart of Toledo in search of finches. Woodlawn Cemetery, our destination, has been hosting White-winged Crossbills and Common Redpolls for most of the winter. To cut to the chase, it didn’t take long before we were watching roughly 70 Common Redpolls and 45 White-winged Crossbills – not bad for a non-irruption year!

As I reported elsewhere, amongst the Common Redpolls was a good candidate for a female Hoary. A shorter, stubbier bill, clean rump and undertail coverts, thin streaking on its flanks and a generally frostier appearance is what caught my attention. I wasn’t able to get the greatest photos that would clinch its identification but would like to hear from others what they think. So far I’ve privately sent these photos to a few other birders and the general consensus is leaning towards Hoary.

Note pale rump and undertail coverts, thin streaking
on flanks and general frostier appearance

Unfortunately, none of my photos showed
the short, stubby bill

Angle showing frostier appearance

Ohio Statewide RBA - February 3, 2012

2012-02-03T13:58:00.002-05:00

- RBA
* Ohio
* Statewide
* February 3, 2012
* OHST1202.03

- Species Mentioned (Caps denote a review list species):

Greater White-fronted Goose
Snow Goose
Ross’s Goose
Cackling Goose
Surf Scoter
White-winged Scoter
Black Scoter
Red-throated Loon
BLACK-TAILED GULL
Thayer’s Gull
Iceland Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Glaucous Gull
Snowy Owl
Long-eared Owl
COMMON RAVEN
Northern Shrike
Common Yellowthroat
HARRIS’S SPARROW
GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW
White-winged Crossbill
Common Redpoll

- Transcript

This is the Ohio Rare Bird Report for February 3, 2012.
Compiler: Ethan Kistler. Email: ohiobirder(at)yahoo.com

Sightings have been gleaned from the Ohio list-serve, rarebird.org, Cincinnati Bird Sightings Log, Bobolink Area RBA (330-763-5119), Facebook, eBird and other sources.

Species in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS ARE REVIEW LIST SPECIES. Details of these sightings are desired by the Ohio Bird Records Committee. Careful observation, not ornithological expertise, is the only qualification for submitting your data. For details and pointers see: http://www.ohiobirds.org/records/documentation.php

Greater White-fronted Goose – Kenn Kaufman observed two mixed in with Canada’s over the Magee Causeway on 31 Jan in Ottawa, Jeff Harvey had two on 28 Jan and another on 29 Jan in Mahoning, and Leslie Houser observed one in Wyandot on 28 Jan

Snow Goose – Singles were reported at Killdeer Plains, Wyandot on 28 Jan (Leslie Houser), Wayne on 28 Jan (Dan Gesualdo), and Hancock on 29 Jan (Jeff Loughman). At least three have been at Funk Bottoms, Wayne (Bobolink RBA),

Ross’s Goose – A single bird was found on 26 Jan off Prairie Lane Road, Wayne (Su Snyder & Sue Evanoff) and still remains as of 31 Jan (Bobolink RBA)

Cackling Goose – Singles were reported in Erie (Dan Gesualdo) and Greene (Sue Tackett) on 29 Jan, eleven were mixed with Canada’s at Prairie Oak Metroparks, Franklin on 30 Jan (Paul Hurtado), and four were in Paulding on 1 Feb (Scott Myers)

Surf Scoter – Nancy Anderson spotted two at Sims Park, Cuyahoga on 28 Jan with one remaining on 30 Jan

White-winged Scoter – John Pogacnik recorded two during a lakeshore waterbird survey in Lake on 29 Jan

Black Scoter – One was recorded during a lakeshore waterbird survey in Lake on 29 Jan (John Pogacnik)

Red-throated Loon – John Pogacnik observed one in Lake during a lakeshore waterbird survey on 29 Jan

BLACK-TAILED GULL – Found back on November 16th by Craig Holt, the gull remains as of 31 Jan in Ashtabula. For more information see (http://northnw.wordpress.com/bt-gull/)

Thayer’s Gull – Paul Hurtado discovered a 1st cycle at SWACO Landfill, Franklin on 28 Jan, a first county record and most likely second record away from the lakefront. It was still present the following day (eBird, fide Paul Hurtado). A single bird was observed at Lorain Harbor on 28 Jan (Tom Bartlett)

Iceland Gull – One was at Lorain Harbor on 28 Jan (Brad Sparks)

Lesser Black-backed Gull – An adult and 2nd cycle were present at SWACO Landfill, Franklin on 28 Jan (Paul Hurtado) and at least four have been observed off Lorain over the past week (m.obs)

Glaucous Gull – Paul Hurtado had a 3rd cycle at SWACO Landfill, Franklin on 28 Jan and at least three have been off Lorain over the past week (m.obs)

Snowy Owl – Fewer reports than earlier in the season. Laura Madden reports the Ashtabula bird was still present on 31 Jan. The train workers reported that two birds have been present.

Long-eared Owl – Reports came from Warren on 28 Jan (John Hull), Ashland (Levi Hochstetler, fide Bruce Glick), and The Wilds, Muskingum (Columbus Avid Birders, fide Al La Sala) on 29 Jan

COMMON RAVEN – The Knox individual continued at least through 27 Jan (Kent Miller)

Northern Shrike – Reports came from Lucas, Mahoning, Ottawa, Richland, Wood, Wayne, and Wyandot

Common Yellowthroat –Sherrie Duris discovered a female east of Toledo in Lucas on 29 Jan

HARRIS’S SPARROW – The Bobolink Area RBA reported one hanging around Joseph Miller’s property northeast of Winesburg in Holmes. For more info, call the hotline at (330-763-5119). Birders welcome, excluding Sundays.

GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW – The individual near Findley, Hancock was present as of 28 Jan (Dan Gesualdo). This is the fourth consecutive winter it has returned to Ohio.

White-winged Crossbills – A couple flocks remain in Lucas including 30-40 at Woodlawn Cemetery and a dozen at Swan Creek Cemetery (m.obs). Other reports include one in Hardin on 27-29 Jan (Carl Hoagstrom), four in Lucas on 29 Jan (Ethan Kistler) and at least eight in Seneca on 1 Feb (Tom Bartlett)

Common Redpoll – Reports came from Hancock, Lake, Lucas, Pickaway, Wood and as far south as Washington. Highest count of 23 came from Woodlawn Cemetery, Lucas on 28 Jan (Sherrie Duris)

- End Transcript

Good birding,

Ethan Kistler
Education and Outreach Specialist
Black Swamp Bird Observatory
Oak Harbor, Ohio

Black-tailed Gull in Ohio

2012-01-07T23:38:00.004-05:00

Back on November 16^th last year, while backpacking somewhere in Tanzania, I remember checking my phone and learning that a Black-tailed Gull was discovered in Ashtabula, Ohio – a first state record and 20^th species of gull for Ohio (if accepted). Being 8,000 miles away, I had to accept that fact that I’m just not going to get that bird. OK, not just ‘that bird’, but an ABA Code-4 vagrant from East Asia! Fast-forward to today, the gull remains after nearly two months! Incredible and probably one of, if not the longest, staying Black-tailed Gull in North American history. It will be interesting to see just how long it decides to stick around.

Obviously this is a state bird, well ABA bird, ok a lifer to be exact so I was pleased to return to Ohio a few days ago and see that the gull was still being regularly reported. This morning, Ryan Steiner and I ventured up there and after two hours, the gull was found. What a great bird to return to Ohio for!

Showing obvious black sub-terminal tail band (c) Chris West

BTGU resting (c) Chris West

Jen Brumfield has been tracking its sightings, movements, habits etc on her website at (http://northnw.wordpress.com/bt-gull/) so be sure to check it out for up to date information and maps if you’re heading that way.

What will be next?

Final report from Africa

2012-01-05T09:15:00.005-05:00

Peering out the window there’s a thin coating of snow and a wind chill of 21˚F – as you have probably guessed, I’m no longer in Africa. After my previous blog post two and a half weeks ago, fellow Ohio birding friend Brad Wilkinson joined me on a quick Cape to Kruger spree concluding in Johannesburg, where I boarded a flight back to the states…indefinitely. After an incredible two years living in Cape Town, South Africa, I’m now back in Ohio where I will be busy as the new Education and Outreach Specialist for the Black Swamp Bird Observatory along with several other projects.

I’ve learned that traveling and maintaining a blog concurrently is a difficult task. Preferring to blog about present day topics, I will regretfully delay concluding my write-ups on my four month backpacking trip until a further date and instead wrap up 2011 with some photos from my recent Cape to Kruger trip.

This shy African Penguin is part of a much larger colony at Boulder's Beach, Cape Town - one of only two populations on the mainland

While looking for endemic larks in the Agulhas Plains, the larks were not allowing close approach, however this African Pipit did

The national bird of South Africa, these Blue Cranes are common in the Agulhas Plains

Many great birds were found at Mkuze Game Reserve but the more widespread Lesser Masked-Weaver allowed the best photography

Countless mammals were recorded on the trip including Leopard, Spotted Hyenas, Sable Antelope and this White Rhino

Wakkerstroom is a must if you bird South Africa offering a lot of range-restricted species including Botha's and Rudd's Larks. However, the more common Long-tailed Widowbird is always a sight.

Eastern Long-billed Lark is also found around Wakkerstroom on rock-covered slopes

Kruger National Park is the size of Switzerland yet traffic jams still occur

The vulnerable Southern Ground Hornbill is the largest species of hornbill in the world weighing between 5-10lbs

Tanzania – the heart of East Africa (Part 3)

2011-12-18T18:14:00.002-05:00

Extending from the Taita Hills of Kenya south to the Udzungwa Mountains of southern Tanzania lies the endemic-rich Eastern Arc Mountains. Nicknamed the Galapagos of Africa, several of the ranges such as the Udzungwa, Uluguru and Usambara Mountains hold scores of endemics and some of the best birding in East Africa. Due to the lack of glaciations and relatively steady climate, the flora and fauna of these tropical forests had plenty of time to evolve becoming a very unique ecosystem.

After having to pass up the Udzungwa and Uluguru Mountains, I was eager to spend four days birding the East Usambara Mountains. Upon arriving back to the mainland, I met up with the owners of Emau Hill Forest Camp who offered to give me a lift to camp – a three hour journey up a terrible mountain road. Emau Hill offers a great base point for exploring Amani Nature Reserve and the rest of the Usamabaras.

Emau Hill Forest Camp

The first three days were spent birding around camp and nearby trails; you don’t have to go very far to find great birds. On my first morning I woke to the loud calls of Silvery-cheeked Hornbills and Fischer’s Turacos – no need for an alarm clock! Leaving my tent I explored around the garden adding countless birds to my trip list – Olive and Uluguru Violet-backed Sunbirds, Montane White-eye, Southern Citril, Red-backed Manikin, Yellow-bellied Waxbill, Black-throated Wattle-eye and several species of Greenbuls mostly restricted to the Eastern Arcs. This place was phenomenal!

East Usambaras near Emau

Day by day I was adding endless trip birds – Mountain and Gray Wagtails, Evergreen Forest-Warbler, Kenrick’s and Waller’s Starlings, Cabanis’s Bunting, Baglafecht Weaver, White-browed Barbet, Long-crested Eagle – my list was getting an enormous boost. The ultimate highlight though was an Usambara Eagle-Owl - one of the most difficult endemics – that I had early on the second morning calling from the opposite side of the valley.

Following a successful three days around camp I hitched a ride back down the mountain with one of the tour groups that were present during my stay. Obviously you don’t stop birding once you enter a vehicle so on our way down we were adding several more good birds including Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird, Mombasa Woodpecker, Red-tailed Rufous-Thrush, Red-capped Robin-Chat, Black-and-white Flycatcher, Little Yellow Flycatcher and the highlight of the day – Usambara Hyliota! This tiny endemic is very little known and mainly recorded in the foothills of the East Usambaras. It is listed on the endangered list as its entire population is roughly 1,000 – 2,500 individuals, according to Birdlife International, and its habitat is disappearing at a rapid pace.

It was hard to leave what I would consider my favorite region of Africa yet, but there was still more birding to be done. After returning to civilization, I took a bus 8-9 hours to Arusha and settled down at a backpackers for the night.

About an hour north of town are the Angyata Osugat Plains, east of the village Engikaret, and in the rain shadows of Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Meru. These Massai lands are well-known for one of the rarest birds on the African continent – the Beesley’s Lark. A recent split from the more common Spike-heeled Lark, these birds number no more than 100 individuals. After a much needed goodnights rest, I headed north in search of these rarities. With tips from local birding legend, James Wolstencroft, I was able to find two Beesley’s after about three hours of searching! I can’t even explain the rush that went through me as I watched one of the rarest birds in Africa with Mt. Kilimanjaro in the distance. Other birds of note include Montague’s Harrier, Kori Bustard, Temminck’s Courser, Athi Short-toed Lark and Fischer’s Sparrowlark.

Angyata Osugat Plains

Beesley's Lark

Although nothing could come close to topping the Beesley’s, I continued birding the final hour of daylight in the nearby Acacia-commiphera woodlands. Being a new area I haven’t birded, I was able to pick up quite a few new birds including White-bellied Go-Away Bird, Von Der Decken’s Hornbill, Red-tailed Shrike, Superb and Hildebrandt’s Starlings, Beautiful Sunbird, Kenya Rufous Sparrow and White-bellied Canary. Before I knew it, it was dark and I headed back to Arusha.

Drive back to Arusha

Mt. Kilimanjaro

Unfortunately, this ended my last day of birding in Tanzania as it was time for me to start heading back south - I needed to be in Cape Town by December 10th (20 days away) and I still needed to travel through Malawi, Mozambique and across South Africa.

Tanzania - the heart of East Africa (Part 2)

2011-12-17T09:06:00.007-05:00

Off the coast of Tanzania lies Zanzibar, a semi-autonomous archipelago consisting of two main islands and numerous smaller islets. The larger and more populated Unguja Island, informally known as Zanzibar, is a popular tourist destination offering white sandy beaches, shop browsing in Stone Town, and some of the best scuba diving off the coast of Africa. The smaller, less frequently visited Pemba Island to the north is less developed and more appealing to naturalists. If this wasn’t a bird/nature orientated blog, I would go on forever talking about the fascinating, rich Muslim culture of the islands but for the meantime, I will try to keep it bird related.

Stone Town

From Dar es Salaam, I hopped on a ferry to Stone Town, the largest city in the archipelago where I spent three nights exploring the historical town and the rest of Unguja Island. Although bird-wise it’s not that exceptional, there are two endemic mammals – the endangered Zanzibar Red Colobus (Monkey) numbering around 1,000-1,500 individuals and the presumably extinct Zanzibar Leopard. The local belief that the leopards were kept by witches to wreck havoc on the villagers combined with habitat encroachment caused their decline. Unguja is also home to an endemic subspecies of the Servaline Genet.

Paja Beach

Besides observing a few shorebirds on the beaches, the only real birding I did on the island was an hour at Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park, particularly to see the Zanzibar Red Colobus, being at their stronghold in this 19 sq mile park. It took no effort to find them as they were hanging along the main road and around the parking lot. Birding was considerable slow but Black-bellied Starling, East Coast Boubou and Dark-backed Weaver made a showing.

Jozani Forest

Zanzibar Red Colobus

On the fourth day I hopped on another ferry to Pemba, an island off the tourist route, which still holds on to its very traditional Muslim heritage. During my four night stay, I only saw 3-4 other ‘westerners’. Based out of Wete, the largest town on the island, my goal was to see all four endemics: Pemba Scops-owl, Pemba Green-Pigeon, Pemba White-eye and Pemba Sunbird as well as the incredibly massive Pemba Flying Fox – a species of bat that went nearly went extinct but now numbers around 20,000. To see what they look like, check out (http://tinyurl.com/892m4ut)

Upon arriving to Wete in the evening, I watched as thousands of the crow-sized Pemba Flying Foxes were leaving their roost to forage for fruit and later that night heard my first of the endemics – a Pemba Scops-owl. The following two days I easily picked up the more common of the endemics, the sunbird and white-eye just around town leaving the Pigeon – the most difficult of the four. North of Wete is the Ngezi Forest Reserve – one of the most reliable areas to find them. Due to the lack of a vehicle and dalla dallas (local transportation) I decided to chat to the locals instead as they usually know more about the local birdlife than anyone else. Shortly later I was watching three Pemba Green-Pigeons, or ninga as the locals call them, in a known roost tree. No need heading all the way to Ngezi when you have help from the locals! Other interesting birds I had on the island include Brown-headed Parrot, Mangrove Kingfisher, Broad-billed Roller and Palm-nut Vulture.

Mangroves on Pemba

Before I knew it, I was on a flight back to the mainland ending my week on the Zanzibar archipelago. It was time to head to the endemic-rich East Usambara Mountains and Mt. Kilimanjaro! (End of part 2)

(Note: sorry for the lack of bird photos, after nearly 3 months, my photo taking became lazy)

Tanzania – the heart of East Africa (Part 1)

2011-12-13T15:51:00.007-05:00

Home to some of the oldest human fossils on earth, the vast Serengeti where the great wildebeest migration occurs, Mt. Kilimanjaro – Africa’s tallest mountain, Zanzibar and it’s incredible beaches, and some of the most fascinating cultures, Tanzania should be on the top of everyone lists of places to visit.

Mt. Kilimanjaro

This geographically diverse country has everything from montane forests, tropical coast, deserts, savannah grasslands, scrub and the largest freshwater lake in the world – it’s no wonder the bird list surpasses 1,000 species! Not only that, the endemic-rich Eastern Arc Mountains and the coastal forests are part of two major Biodiversity Hotspots in eastern Africa.

The idea of going to Tanzania was on the spur of the moment. My three month travel visa for Namibia was about to expire and I was planning my route back to Cape Town via Botswana. I really did not want my trip to come to an end so after getting word of a train that takes you from central Zambia all the way to the coast of East Africa; I was on that train within a couple days! You must understand, I had no knowledge on Tanzania, the birds, the culture, nothing - I was headed to foreign lands. I did some quick research on the internet creating a basic itinerary and picked up the Birds of Africa south of the Sahara (which includes East Africa) in Lusaka before boarding the train.

Waiting for the train at Kapiri Mposhi

There’s no doubt, the train ride was one of the top highlights of my four month trip. If you want to experience Africa off the tourist route and into the heart of the countryside – take the Tazara. Connecting Kapiri Mposhi, Zambia to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, the railway was originally built by the Chinese in the 1970’s to encourage trade. Little maintenance has occurred in the past four decades leaving the train far from Western standards but it was still an enjoyable trip. November 4^th at 6pm I set off on the train with two fellow travelers I just met – a South Korean and a Zambian. We passed time by chatting, playing guitar, looking out the window and birding. The train stops every couple hours at rural train stations, which allowed us to interact with the locals, buy goods and practice our limited Swahili with the children.

Bananas for sale

Village kids having fun

Meals were surprisingly good, believe it or not, which is probably due to that fact that everything we were eating was just bought a few minutes before from the villagers and cooked by the chefs on board. It was interesting watching the live chickens be carried onboard and shortly later, a plate of chicken, nshima (ground maize flour), soup and vegetables served for only $3. About a day later we arrived at the Tanzania border where the customs agents boarded as well as money changers.

The second full day we traveled through Tanzania passing the Eastern Arc Mountains including the Udzungwa Mountain Range (home to over 600 endemic plants, 5 endemic primates and several endemic birds including the unique Udzungwa Forest Partridge) and the Uluguru Mountain Range (also home to numerous endemics including the Uluguru Bush-shrike which was only just rediscovered in 2007). Unfortunately for me, I only had a total of two weeks to spend in Tanzania before I had to start heading back south so I had to skip these incredible mountains for now. I’m already planning a return trip to be able to explore these areas along with the nearby Kilombero Swamp, which holds a few endemics itself.

Udzungwa Mountains

Fifty-five hours later after we left, the train arrived at the Dar es Salaam train station at 1am. Due to the high crime in the area, the security guards locked all ‘hundreds’ of people in the station where we all shared the hard floor for the night. (End of part 1)

Namibia Wrap-up

2011-12-11T17:07:00.007-05:00

It’s been another lengthy gap since my last update two months ago and a lot has transpired. Backpacking in Africa without a laptop, regular internet, and time makes it incredibly difficult to maintain a blog. It’s safe to say that from today on forward, I won’t be able to use that excuse anymore as I have returned to Cape Town with regular internet and will be back to the states in three weeks.

African Jacana

Starting where I left off on October 12^th, I remained in the Caprivi through the end of the month filling in those gaps on my Namibia list with help from returning summer migrants. Various highlights in those remaining weeks include Hooded Vulture, Lizard Buzzard, Long-toed Lapwing, six species of cuckoos, Rosy-throated Longclaw, and two Northern Grey-headed Sparrows at their most southern limit. Finally having time to tally up my Namibia list – I can now say that I’ve finished at 362 species (10 out of 14 endemics/near-endemics) putting me in first place on eBird for Namibia. Quite impressive for relying on hitchhiking and public transportation only! With a car, I probably could have surpassed 400 with some effort. Other highlights include the dozens of mammals such as Lions, Black Rhinos, Sitatungas, Hippos, various buck species and my favorite – Leopard.

Avis Dam - Windhoek

While staying in Katima Mulilo preparing to head back to South Africa via Botswana, I caught word of a local train that connects Zambia to Dar es Salaam on the coast of Tanzania. Within a couple days I was eastward bound - my trip just took a new direction…

Dunes near Walvis Bay

Namibia Update (Shamvura, Caprivi, Big Sit results)

2011-10-12T05:13:00.006-04:00

A lot has occurred since my last update two weeks ago. After completing my volunteering stint at Shamvura Camp I travelled a few hours east into the heart of the Caprivi region of Namibia. For the next couple weeks I will be volunteering for the IRDNC (Integrated Rural Development and Nature Conservation) training local birding guides, producing area checklists and translating local bird names into English among other activities. Currently I’m staying deep in the bush at the Sijwa Training Centre – a rustic field camp shared among other field workers with the IRDNC, WWF etc. As with a lot of my previous blog write-ups, I’m going to backtrack through the past couple weeks.

The final week at Shamvura was quite exciting with a couple more boat trips down the Okavango River and various birding jaunts in the surrounding broad-leaved woodlands. Although nothing out of ordinary was recorded, almost daily I was adding another country tick

African Openbills - Okavango River

African Skimmer - Okavango River

Southern Carmine Bee-Eater colony

Hippos - Okavango River

Leaving Shamvura Camp last Thursday, I travelled 300km east to the village, Kongola, where I was transported south to the Sijwa Training Centre along the Kwando River. This rustic, but developed camp is quite exceptional with electricity, internet, kitchen and a viewing platform over the Kwando River. For those familiar with the novel, The Beach, there’s quite a lot of resemblances with life here at camp.

Birding has been excellent as one would expect with several more country ticks including African Paradise-Flycatcher, Swamp Nightjar and summer arrivals such as Common House-Martin, Barn Swallow, Spotted Flycatcher and Willow Warbler. Last Sunday was the annual Bird Watcher’s Digest Big Sit and I registered a team calling us the Sijwa Sitting Cisticolas. Despite lacking an important habitat (Acacia scrub) and a scope, the final tally of 80 species isn’t too bad. Several mammals were also recorded including Hippo, Red Lechwe and African Clawless Otter.

View of Sijwa from Big Sit platform

View of the Kwando River from Big Sit platform

Now that I’m caught up with my blog, hopefully my posts will be published in real-time so keep checking back for updates.

Shamvura update

2011-09-27T10:04:00.004-04:00

The past couple days have yielded a dozen or so new birds for my Namibia list. Tropical Birding guides Charles Hesse and Jerry Connolly brought a tour through the past two nights and I tagged along while they birded the area. I knew it was going to be an excellent couple days when I stumbled upon my first Thick-billed Weaver on my way to greet everyone – a common resident to the region but one that has eluded me.

Tropical Birding group

The following morning we headed off to explore the surrounding forests near Shamvura. Our first stop was the nearby quarantine station where cattle are held for a period of time to prevent the threat of foot and mouth disease. A couple small feeding flocks were present but nothing of interest and the area was fairly quiet. However, upon returning to the van, we discovered at least 20 Sharp-tailed Starlings drinking from a leaking pipe – a highly sought after specialty and a lifer for the whole group. Also present was a pair of Southern Black Flycatchers, a species I’m amazed I haven’t run into yet. As the starlings moved on, we worked our way east along the B8 birding a couple locations where the habitat was still rather intact. Despite the increasing heat, we wondered around the broad-leaved forests in search of more feeding flocks. We found a few including one consisting of a half-dozen Green-capped Eremomelas – an uncommon and localized target bird. Other birds of interest include Purple Roller, Black-crowned Tchagra and a Dark Chanting Goshawk on our drive back to Shamvura. Around the garden I finally found a Purple-banded Sunbird in a good sized feeding flock – another bird that has eluded me this trip.

Observing a feeding flock

Dark Chanting Goshawk

Following lunch and an afternoon swim, the group reassembled and loaded a boat for a 3 hour trip down the Okavango River. As we drifted downstream, we counted numerous species of herons, egrets, bitterns among other waterbirds as well as Fan-tailed Widowbirds patrolling the floodplains. Plenty of great birds were recorded including Comb Ducks, African Skimmers, Collared and Rock Pratincoles as well as trip birds for me such as Wood Sandpiper, Gray-rumped Swallow and an unexpected White-winged Tern flying around the oxbow lake

From here on forward, it’s all target birding for me. My trip list has reached 320 and I hope to achieve 350 before returning to Cape Town. I’m very doubtful but if I remain up here into summer (southern hemisphere), I should be able to pick up quite a few birds including cuckoos and old world warblers.

Namibia Days 12-16 (Ovamboland, Ruacana Falls)

2011-09-25T05:14:00.005-04:00

It’s been a month since my last update and during that time I have traveled all along the Kunene, Okavango and Zambezi Rivers in four countries. After reaching my final destination, the incredible Victoria Falls, I have since then backtracked to Shamvura Camp where I’m currently volunteering. Located roughly 110km east of Rundu, Shamvura Camp is well known among birders and has a list exceeding 430 species. In the next couple weeks I’m going to make an effort to finish writing up my trip reports as well as send out updates from Shamvura Camp. I also want to apologize for the lack of bird photos – I’ve been lazy at taking photos in general and have been spending most of my time just observing. Now that I have settled down for a bit, I’ll make a greater effort to do some bird photography. Starting where I left off…

Day 12 (August 25, 2011)

Leaving the vast Namib Desert behind, I took a combi (informal minibus taxi) to Tsumeb the “gateway to the north”. This small mining town of roughly 45,000 residents is world-renown for its productive mineralogical sites where nearly 40 minerals were first discovered. I have little knowledge on minerals but from what I have read, this area is quite exceptional. Tsumeb is also notorious for being the site of the biggest meteorite in the world, known as Hoba, which weights roughly 60-tons! Being a travel day however, I didn’t have enough time for any birding so I met up with my Couch Surfing hosts for the night, a group of Peace Corp volunteers - Quinn (Texas), Gretchen (Oregon) and Rob (Florida).

Day 13 (August 26, 2011)

Starting early in the morning Rob and I hitched out of town heading northwest towards Ondongwa – the heart of Owamboland - far from your typical tourist routes. This region is home to over half the population of Namibia on just 6% of the land and as you can imagine, the environmental degradation proves it. Upon arriving in Ondongwa, Rob headed north and I continued towards Outapi where I stayed with my next host, Ben, a Swiss-German working in the IT industry along with two visiting Algerian friends of his. Today was another travel day but involved some spot-lighting of the resident African Scops-Owls.

Baobab tree in Outapi (prior post office and chapel inside!)

Day 14 (August 27, 2011)

Luckily Ben and his Algerian friends were heading to Ruacana Falls this morning, my next destination. Before getting dropped off at the Hippo Pools Camp where I was going to camp for the next two nights, we stopped by Ruacana Falls to find they were entirely dry! The water flow depends upon whenever Angola decides to release water and our timing was bad. Nonetheless, the area was still incredible and I ticked off a couple more trip birds including Black-checked Snake-Eagle and Rufous-tailed Palm-Thrush – the latter just hardly creeping into Namibia from Angola. After setting up camp, I did some birding along the Kunene River and the surrounding creeks which host the sought-after Cinderella Waxbill, a difficult bird restricted to the area. No waxbill this evening but the birding was phenomenal giving my trip list quite a boost. Some of the additions include Meve’s Starling, Montiero’s Hornbill, Goliath Heron, African Green-Pigeon and an unexpected Rüppel’s Parrot, an endemic to Namibia and Angola. I went to sleep that evening to the deep grunt of Hippos and calling African Scops-Owl and Pearl-spotted Owlets.

View of Ruacana Falls from below

Angola Border Post

Day 15 (August 28, 2011)

Another exciting day packed with scores of trip birds. I started along the river where Red-headed and Chestnut Weavers made an appearance along with a vocal group of Hartlaub’s Babblers before moving inland to a series of creek beds that drain into the Kunene. As I mentioned before, this is one of very few sites in the world where you can find the Cinderella Waxbill; a notoriously difficult bird to find. During normal years, the water in the beds dry up leaving a few scattered puddles which the waxbills visit during the heat of the day. This year however, the region received a lot of rain causing the beds to retain a lot of water. The once localized puddles became too prevalent. No waxbills were found but several other birds made up for it including Bare-cheeked Babbler, White-tailed Shrike and more Rufous-tailed Palm-Thrushes. That evening I joined a French couple (Vincent and Sarah) for a braai and learned they are traveling around Namibia photographing and filming wildlife and in the morning heading east - so was I and they offered me a lift back to Outapi in the morning.

View of the Kunene from my Hippo Pools campsite

Day 16 (August 29, 2011)

After one last failed attempt for Cinderella Waxbill, Vincent, Sarah and I hit the road towards Outapi by 8:30am. Besides a brief stop along the road to look at Yellow-billed Oxpeckers, the rest of the day was spent relaxing, catching up on emails and packing for my next jaunt in the morning – Roy’s Camp, known among birders for hosting Black-faced Babblers.

Yellow-billed Oxpecker on cow

Namibia Days 7-11 (Swakop, Wavlis Bay, Spitzkoppe)

2011-08-24T17:41:00.004-04:00

I’m currently in Swakopmund and will embark in the morning for Tsumeb – the halfway point to my next destination – Ruacana along the Angola border. It’s safe to say that the past few days have been very successful with target birding picking up endemic and near-endemic Namibian birds. Starting where I left off…

Day 7 (August 20, 2011):
After pancakes and coffee at the Cardboard Box, I set off towards Swakopmund, a popular Namibian resort town. Leaving Windhoek’s thornveld-dominated landscape behind, the shrubs started thinning and after 280km, I was surrounded by what is considered the world’s oldest desert – the Namib, a Nama word meaning ‘vast place’. Covering 80,900 sq. km (31,200 sq. miles), I’d say it was appropriately named!

Following a tour around Swakopmund with my new Couch Surfing host, Susan, I was off to bed for a goodnights rest.

Day 8 (August 21, 2011):
In the morning, Susan and I drove down near Walvis Bay to an area called Rooibank, which is known to host Dune Larks – the only ‘true’ endemic bird to Namibia. Their range is restricted to the sparsely vegetated dunes and interdune valleys with Bushman grass and !nara, a type of melon that only grows in Namibia. No longer than 30 minutes passed and we were eye-to-eye with a Dune Lark.

Dune Lark

Dune Lark habitat

Following our success we took a quick drive around the Wavlis Bay lagoon and saltpans, one of the most important coastal wetlands in Southern Africa. Due to record rains recorded in the mainland, many of the birds followed the rain inland and the saltpans were empty for the most part. Nonetheless, there were still a few shorebirds around including good numbers of Curlew Sandpipers as well as Ruddy Turnstones, White-fronted Plovers, Common Greenshanks, Black-winged Stilts and Pied Avocets.

Day 9 (August 22, 2011):
Another target bird day – this time in the barest of gravel plains north of Swakopmund. The Gray’s Lark is probably the palest and least-marked lark, which offers efficient camouflage in what some would call inhospitable habitat. After a bit of searching east of the Swakopmund saltpans, I discovered a small flock working the barren grounds.

Gray's Lark habitat

Moving on, I walked over to the Swakopmund saltpans, which proved to be more productive than the Walvis Bay lagoon. Shorebirds include 60 Chestnut-fronted Plovers, 40 Kittlitz’s Plovers, 12 White-fronted Plovers, 9 Ruddy Turnstones, 7 Whimbrel, 6 Curlew Sandpipers, and 5 Common Greenshanks as well as Greater and Lesser Flamingos, Swift Terns and thousands of White-breasted Cormorants. They’ve built large platforms for the latter to collect the guano and the sight (and smell) is incredible.

Day 10 (August 23, 2011):
Moving back inland, I got a ride 120km from a local Afrikaans girl to the Spitzkoppe turnoff where I was almost immediately picked up by a van full of Afrikaans and Germans who took me the remaining 30km to the Spitzkoppe Community Rest Camp. For those who aren’t familiar with birding in Namibia – Spitzkoppe is renown for being one of the best and most reliable spots for the Herero Chat – a difficult to find near-endemic. These bald granite peaks stand out significantly from the flat surrounding plains and with luck, one can find the chats at the base of these hills. After setting up camp, I explored around a bit before dark adding Lark-like Bunting, Montiero’s Hornbill, Common Scmitarbill, Booted and Verreaux’s Eagles to the trip list. Other birds of note include more sightings of Carp’s Tit, Rosy-faced Lovebird and White-tailed Shrike.

Day 11 (August 24, 2011):
I woke up at 6am right as the sun was rising and set a goal to be out of the camp by 10am so I could move on to Omaruru. That gave me four hours to find Herero Chat and being one of the most challenging birds to find, I was having my doubts. It wasn’t until 9:58am when I finally had one…what a relief! Very little is known about this bird and its first nest wasn’t even discovered until 1969. Last I’ve heard their taxonomic position remained somewhere in the robin, chat, flycatcher combination. Leading up to the goal bird, other trip birds include Ashy Tit, Small Buttonquail and Layard’s Tit-Babbler at its northern limit. I then walked into the nearby village to see if I could luck out in finding a ride to Omaruru or at least to Karabib to the north. However, 5 hours passed and only the 3rd car drove east – an Italian couple heading to Swakopmund – guess I’ll go back there knowing there’s a bed to sleep on! While waiting under the big shade tree – a Bearded Woodpecker joined the wait.

Spitzkoppe - not the actual Herero Chat location

To remain on schedule, it looks like I’m going to have to cross out Omaruru from my itinerary and head straight to Tsumeb. That’s alright though, the exciting areas are yet to come!

Namibia Days 1-6 (Windhoek, Etosha)

2011-08-22T17:26:00.006-04:00

I don’t even know where to begin; that past nine days have been crammed with incredible birds, mammals I’ve only dreamed of seeing and experiences that will last a lifetime. It’s hard to believe I’m already on Day 9 of my 35-40-day trip and there’s still much to see. To make things simple, I’m going to write my reports from the field in a daily format starting with the first six days.

Day 1 (August 14, 2011):
After boarding the Intercape in Cape Town, I left the Mother City to embark on a 21-hour bus ride north to Namibia’s capital city, Windhoek. Peering out the window, I watched as the landscape changed and ticked off trip birds that will not be recorded later on including Blue Cranes and Pied Starlings. By the time we reached the South African/Namibian border post, it was dark and the moonlight reflected off the Orange River.

Day 2 (August 15, 2011):
Surprisingly, the bus arrived on schedule and I was already birding Avis Dam by 7am. Located on the eastern edge of the city, Avis Dam offers a great introduction to central Namibian birds and is a pretty reliable spot for the endemic Rockrunner. Starting from the parking lot, I climbed the hill to the north getting a good feel for the common thornveld species such as Cape Glossy Starling, Swallow-tailed Bee-Eater, Chestnut-vented Tit-Babbler, Black-chested Prinia, Marico Sunbird and White-browed Sparrow-Weaver. Within 15 minutes I found my first lifer, the near-endemic Rosy-faced Lovebird, which is easily detected by its screeching calls as small flocks fly over. I slowly worked my way back to the dam accumulating a good trip list adding goodies such as my first Hamerkop – a bird that has eluded me in South Africa. Upon my arrival to the dam, I found a mixed feeding flock consisting of several species including African Red-eyed Bulbul, Pririt Batis, Green-winged Pytilia, Yellow Canary and my third lifer of the morning – the incredible-looking Blue Waxbill. Continuing along the dam wall, the day list was increasing with Short-toed Rock Thrush, Mountain Wheatear, Crimson-breasted Shrike and distant calling Orange River Francolins being tallied along with the local subspecies of Grey-backed Cisticola – a possible future split. Lowering my binoculars from the resident pair of African Fish-Eagles, a bird caught the corner of my eye as it hopped along the dam…a Rockrunner! After the excitement, I reached the end of the wall adding my fifth and final lifer of the day, a Grey Go-away-bird which is named because of it’s harsh “kay-waaaay” call.

Avis Dam

Concluding a good three hours birding, I headed into town to pick up a Namibian SIM card for my phone and met up with my Couch Surfing host – Guillaume, a French guy who, interestingly, shares an apartment with 4 Germans and a Scottish. For those who are not familiar – Couch Surfing is an alternative to paying for accommodation where a ‘host’ opens their ‘couch’ to travelers needing a place to sleep and in return there’s cultural exchange and you meet new people. You can learn more here – www.couchsurfing.org

Day 3 (August 16, 2011):
Today started off with a quick jaunt up to the Hofmeyer Walk (Aloe Trail) along the ridge that divides Windhoek main and Klein. The main purpose of this trip is for the near-endemic White-tailed Shrike, which is regularly found here. Not only did I get great looks at two different individuals, I also added a few new birds for the trip including Bradfield’s Swift, Burnt-necked Eremomela, Acacia Pied Barbet, life African Grey Hornbill and three additional Rockrunners which was unexpected.

The rest of the day was spent visiting with Guillaume and preparing for the next three days at Etosha National Park such as grocery shopping and picking up the rental car.

Day 4 (August 17, 2011):
Etosha National Park is one of Africa’s most famous game reserves and is outstanding for birds and mammal viewing. Due to its steep prices, however, I decided to only camp two nights at the Halali Camp, which would give me a good introduction to the park. Leaving Windhoek at 4:10am I was expecting it to take roughly 5-6 hours to reach the Anderson Gate. Not the case. By 8am I was already through the gate heading towards Okaukeujo – the oldest and largest camp in the park. I didn’t spend too much time in this congested camp but did a quick walkthrough adding Greater Blue-eared Starling (very common), Burchell’s Starling, Sociable Weaver (large nesting colony in the camping area), Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill and Scarlet-chested Sunbird to my list.

Greater Blue-eared Starling

Before heading east to Halali, I took the road north through the grassy plains towards Okondeka seeing Brubru, Grey-backed and Chestnut-backed Sparrowlarks, Kori Bustard, Northern Black Korhaan, Secretarybird, Crowned Lapwing, Double-banded Courser, African Hoopoe, Southern White-crowned Shrike, Eastern Clapper and Pink-billed (!) Larks to name a few.

Double-banded Courser

Upon arriving at Halali and setting up camp, I ventured off to the dolomite hill and mopane forest behind camp during the afternoon. A quick stop at the waterhole provided mixed flocks of Golden-breasted Buntings, Black-throated Canaries, Southern Grey-headed Sparrows and Red-billed Queleas coming in to drink. The mopane forest was slow so I headed back to camp in search of the guard who knows all the owl roosts. He happily showed me African Scops-Owl (which turned out to be 30 meters from my tent) and the attractive White-faced Scops-Owl near the chalets.

After dinner of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, I returned to the waterhole to watch the sunset. Just as the sun dropped below the horizon, the calls of Double-banded Sandgrouse filled the air and soon, hundreds surrounded the waterhole for their last drink before roosting. Just as the final stragglers were leaving, the highlight of the day, or possibly the trip, arrived - a Leopard! It slyly appeared on the backside of the waterhole, took a few minute drink before disappeared back into the scrub. This was one of my ‘most wanted to see’ mammals. The show continued when seven (!) Black Rhinos came in for a drink as well. The Halali waterhole is well known to regularly host Black Rhinos but seven is quite exceptional. Other mammals include two Spotted Hyenas, a Scrub Hare and three Kudu.

Day 5 (August 18, 2011):
I woke up at five and made my way to the waterhole for the morning show. As with the evenings, the Double-banded Sandgrouse arrive in masses before the sun rises. Just when there was enough light to see, I noticed two Groundscraper Thrushes also taking advantage of the waterhole. Eventually the sun appeared above the horizon and I ventured back into the Mopane forests on the dolomite hill. Near the top I discovered a sizeable mixed flock containing around a dozen species including Brown-crowned Tchagra, Long-billed Crombec, Green-backed Camaroptera, Violet-eared Waxbill, Emerald Spotted Dove, Yellow-bellied Eremomela and one of Halali’s species – Carp’s Tit! On my way back to camp I added Southern White-crowned Shrike and a large flock of Black-faced Waxbills.

Elephants at Halali waterhole

Long-billed Crombec

Mid morning I set off to explore around the park and check out several of the waterholes. First stop was Rietfontain, which provided Lilac-breasted Roller, Great Sparrow, African Jacana, Martial Eagle and one of many Southern Pale-Chanting Goshawks. Several species of mammals were also present including large numbers of Hartmann’s Mountain Zebras.

Salvadora and Sueda waterholes were pretty quite but added Greater Kestrel and Red-capped Lark to the trip list as well as several mammals including Gemsbok, Black-backed Jackal, Wildebeest and Warthog. Heading back to camp produced a small flock of Scaly-feathered Finches, Shikra, Purple Roller and a Honey Badger near the Halali gate.

Gembsok

Lucky for me, instead of having PB&Js for dinner once again, neighboring campers (a group of 4 Afrikaaners from the Free State) invited me over and fed me several chicken sandwiches, homemade cookies, coffee, tea and two baggies of biltong for the road! If you ever stumble upon my blog - baie dankie!

Day 6 (August 19, 2011):
Unfortunately, this was my last morning in Etosha and I had to be out of the park by 10:30am. Since it was a 1.5hr drive back to the Anderson Gate I only had time to do a quick run trough the Mopane woods once more. Nothing new was found, however more great looks at Carp’s Tit was nice.

I left Halali and made my way back west, once more taking the detour past Salvadora and Sueda waterholes. This proved to be an excellent idea as I was able to observe two adult and 4 young Lions come in to drink, rest and play. With the clock ticking, I had to break myself away stopping only twice more before leaving the park – first to look at a mixed flock of Lappet-faced and White-backed Vultures roosting in a tree and for a Gabor Goshawk pair flying around Okaukeujo. Several hours later I was back in reality surrounded by the rush of Windhoek where I stayed the night camping at The Cardboard Box – a well-known backpackers.

Next update will focus on Swakopmund, Wavlis Bay, Spitzkoppe, Omaruru and more.

Backpacking Southern Africa

2011-08-06T17:33:00.004-04:00

On Sunday I embark on a month long backpacking trip across Southern Africa. After 22 hours by bus, I will arrive in Namibia’s capital city – Windhoek. From here I will transverse the country visiting most of Namibia’s finest birding sites.

Starting in Windhoek, which holds excellent birding right in the city itself, I will head up to one of Africa’s most famous game parks – Etosha National Park. After a couple nights at Halali Camp, I’ll return to Windhoek and head to Swakopmund and Walvis Bay along the Atlantic coast before returning inland to start the long journey north to the Angola border. Birding along the Kunene River, which divides Angola and Namibia, offers exceptional birding and should produce specialties including the Cinderella Waxbill and Rufous-tailed Palm Thrush. From here I’ll head east along the Caprivi Strip towards Victoria Falls on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe. Birding stops include Rundu, Popa Falls, Katima Mulilo, Shamvura and a few days across the border in Botswana’s extraordinary Okavango Delta.

My route in red

After a good month or so, fascinating cultures and several hundred bird and mammal species later – I’ll make the several days journey back to Cape Town traveling through Botswana to South Africa’s capital city – Johannesburg before catching a train back to the mother city.

I'll make an effort to post reports and photos along the way so keep checking back for updates!

Dubai Birding

2011-07-30T05:46:00.009-04:00

Scorching – that’s the best way to describe Dubai. My plane landed at 8am and it was already in the mid 90’s. In fact, now that I think of it, that’s the average low. After fruitlessly renting a car, I took a taxi to the Ra’s al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary in the heart of Dubai. This tidal estuary interspersed with saline lagoons offers phenomenal birding in the winter. In the summer however, it’s is mostly dry with only a few birds present. Nonetheless, I was still able to see around 40 species including a few lifers.

My first stop was the Flamingo Hide which was quite unsuccessful. The only birds present were Kentish (Snowy) Plovers, Eurasian Curlews, Eurasian Collared-Doves, Laughing Doves, Red-vented Bulbuls and Common Mynahs. Just as I was leaving, a park warden arrived to drop off several bags of feed for the birds. I opted out watching the pigeons eat and continued walking outside the fence to the Mangrove Hide.

Flamingo Hide

Walking a mile lugging two carry-on bags with temperatures in the 100’s proved quite difficult; however I picked up a few new species including my first Red-wattled Lapwings, Crested Larks and Graceful Prinias. Arriving at the hide, I was surprised to find complimentary cold water and a public scope to use – a Leica believe it or not. For the next couple hours I scanned the estuary and conversed with the guard who is from Pakistan. He showed interest in learning birds so he joined me and spent a lot of time browsing through my Birds of the Middle East field guide showing me what he has seen while sitting in the hide.

Crested Lark

Shorebirds were the main show as fall migration had just begun. Although numbers were still low, there was a fair selection present. Close to the hide were more Kentish Plovers and Red-wattled Lapwings along with Black-winged Stilts, Grey Plovers, Black-tailed Godwits, and Eurasian Curlews. Further out were larger flocks of shorebirds just out of scope range. A few of them were sand plovers though most of them were likely Curlew Sandpipers. Other birds present include Greater Flamingos, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Striated, Gray and Western Reef Herons and several Laridae including Slender-billed Gull , Caspian Gull, Gull-billed and Caspian Terns.

Dubai skyline from Mangrove Hide

By midday, it was unbearably hot, birding just wasn’t practical…therefore I went into the city to explore a bit before returning to the airport for my flight to Cape Town.

Burj Khalifa - tallest man-made structure in the world

South Africa bound

2011-07-25T09:23:00.008-04:00

Tomrrow morning I depart Pittsburgh International Airport. After a full-day layover in Dubai (birding included) I will return to Cape Town, South Africa. The rest of the year will entail numerous trips throughout Southern Africa so keep checking back for updates.

On top of that, I'm the new eBird reviewer, hotspot editor and filter creater for South Africa and will be busy getting South Africa eBird-efficient. Not familiar with eBird? Check out (http://ebird.org/)

If you find yourself in Cape Town, feel free to contact me and I will show you around.

Montana: Part 2

2011-07-20T22:00:00.008-04:00

After the floods ceased and roads dried up, the field season ended quite successfully; we were able to complete our 166 transect goal. It will be interesting to see the outcome for the season. Since my last post back on the June 25^th, I covered a lot of miles around Montana surveying the Crow Indian Reservation south of Billings, Powder River near Broadus, Yellowstone River near Hysham, the remote region around CM Russell NWR and the Lewis & Clark National Forest south of Lewistown. In all I only accumulated 10 more state birds but quality made up for that. Not only did I finally pick up Burrowing Owl and Mountain Plover in the northeast, I also saw the only Blue-gray Gnatcatchers in the state at Bear Canyon, Black-billed Cuckoos south of Broadus and the localized Cassin’s Kingbird in the Custer National Forest. I fell well short of my goal of 250 species with 218, however, I spent far less time in the mountains than expected which would explain a lot of easy misses such as Sharp-shinned Hawk, Dusky Grouse, Olive-sided Flycatcher and Pygmy Nuthatch to name a few. Looks like I have an excuse to return and that just might happen next summer as I might be guiding a Glacier/Grasslands/Yellowstone tour.

To wrap up the season, here’s my summer in numbers:

Miles driven: ~10,000

State Birds: 218
Flat Tires: 2
Water crossings: 3
Counties visited: 37 out of 56
Life birds: 3 (Baird’s Sparrow, Sprague’s Pipit and Gray Partridge)
Species of warblers: 18 (Bests: N. Parula, Mourning and Canada)

And a few photos from the field...

Baird's Sparrow

Montana had some of the most amazing cloud formations...not to mention sunrise/sunsets

The reason you do not drive on roads with water rushing over.

Fun times in the Snowy Mountains

Montana Update

2011-06-25T00:48:00.013-04:00

I’ve become really terrible at keeping my blog updated the past 6 months. To be honest, I don’t even have an excuse. However, starting today, I’m going to make an endeavor to blog as regularly as I can – hopefully once a week…at least.

My home on wheels for the summer

For those of you who actually read my blog, you probably know by now that I’ve been in Montana this summer conducing point counts throughout Montana. Although I’m employed with the University of Montana, this project is through the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory and is conducted in several other states including Colorado, Arizona, Idaho and Wyoming. The main objective (in a nutshell) is to create population estimates using detections and distance protocols. Each 1km² transect has 16 points which we conduct 6-minute point counts recording every bird seen and heard as well as distance. After a week of training at the Condon Field Station in the Swan Valley, we were assigned our transects and sent off to our respected regions of the state.

Condon Work Station - Swan Valley

The beginng of the field season was battle against the weather. Montana received record rains and mountain snowpack resulting in serious flooding throughout much of the eastern half of the state. The first few days on the job, three of us were at the Busy Bee Café in Roundup having coffee and planning out our first hitch of the season. A few days and several river crossings later, I was in Malta watching the news and was stunned to see that the Busy Bee Café was now flooded to the roof.

Busy Bee Cafe (not my photo)

As you can imagine, the next couple weeks were chaotic as we squeezed in counts here in there between heavy rains, floods and muddy roads. For those who are not familiar with Montana, when it has rained, you’ll want to avoid dirt roads as much as possible. The dirt here is unique and once it gets wet it turns into what the locals call gumbo; as you drive the mud cakes to your wheels to the point where they stop spinning. Nonetheless, this didn’t stall us and we’ve ended up having a productive field season.

Drive between Roundup and Malta

Considering the vast region I was assigned, I decided it would be a challenge to see how large of a Montana state list I can accumulate. My goal from the beginning was 250 and as of today I’m at 208. With only a couple weeks left in the treasure state, it’s going to be difficult to reach. Tomorrow I’m off to a new area of Montana along the border of Wyoming south and east of Billings. Hopefully I’ll be able to pick up difficulties including Cassin’s Kingbird, Dickcissel, Plumbeous Vireo and Blue-gray Gnatcatcher among some easier birds still missing on my list including Pinyon Jay, Prairie Falcon and Mountain Plover.

Western Tanager

Montana field work

2011-05-15T11:26:00.002-04:00

I’m currently sitting at the gate in Denver International Airport waiting for my flight to Missoula, Montana. This summer I will be working for the University of Montana – Avian Science Center conducting point counts throughout the state. After a week of training at the Condon Work Station in Swan Valley, I’ll head to my designated region of the state – Central Montana. I’ll be surveying everywhere from Big Timber to Miles City north of I-90 to Lewistown and Glasgow (not where you’re thinking). This also includes Billings, the capital, where I will get the chance to shave the beard and clean up every once in a while. The rest of the field season will involve camping wherever I can – mostly BLM lands.

Map of Montana showing Swan Valley (upper left), Missoula and my region

Keep checking back as I report on the field season, post photos and try to catch up on the past 16 months!

16 Months

2011-05-10T22:03:00.014-04:00

Well, I asked for it – not updating my blog for 16 months means I have a lot of catching up to do. To make life easier, I’m going to do it in two, three, maybe four posts. Since my absence, I’ve done a lot of birding in South Africa, worked on the Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas, took a road trip from Oklahoma to New Mexico, explored Algonquin during winter, birded England and France and now back in Ohio enjoying spring migration before heading to Montana for another field job.

Starting where I left off on January 18, 2010, the following day, Gerald Wingate and I drove 120km north of Cape Town to the West Coast National Park. This 106 sq. mile park hugs the South African coastline and offers some of the best shorebirding around. WCNP has several bird hides situated along Langabaan Bay and if timed right, shorebirds galore. By the end of the day we had: Black-winged Stilt, Common-ringed, Kittlitz’s, Chestnut-banded, White-fronted, and Black-bellied Plovers, Blacksmith Lapwing, Sanderling, Little Stint, Curlew, Common, and Marsh Sandpipers, Common Greenshank, Bar-tailed Godwit, Whimbrel and Ruddy Turnstone. Other interesting birds include Cape Crombec, Cape Penduline-Tit, Southern Black Korhaan and several Gray-winged Francolins (see below).

West Coast National Park mudflats

Grey-winged Francolin (endemic)

Verreaux's Eagle - nesting nearby

This pretty much concluded birding for a while as I attended lectures. After exams were over in late-May, I flew back to Ohio for my second field season working for the Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas II conducting point counts throughout the state. This year was pretty uneventful unlike two years prior when I recorded Upland Sandpipers in Ashland and Harrison Counties, Golden-winged Warbler in Summit County, Clay-colored X Field Sparrow hybrid in Lorain County and helped discover Ohio’s first breeding Common Raven in over 100 years. At the end of the field season, I was Cape Town bound again...

Western Cape Birding

2010-01-18T15:06:00.029-05:00

Sorry to my loyal blog followers for not keeping you updated on South Africa. I tried thinking of a defense but the real explanation is birding. The past week I’ve done quite a bit of birding around the Western Cape accumulating lifers and provincial ticks. Most of my birding has been around the northern suburbs so it was great to go further afield and go after some easy target birds. Here’s the breakdown of my week.

Wednesday - January 13, 2010
Last Wednesday I joined the Tygerberg Bird Club on their weekday outing to the Meerendal Wine Estate outside Durbanville. Roughly 30 birders surveyed the estate accumulating nearly 70 species including my first Maccoa Ducks and Black Sparrowhawk. Other interesting finds include 50 White Storks, two endemic Blue Cranes, African Hoopoe, Acacia Pied Barbets and a Pin-tailed Whydah. The Tygerberg Bird Club is a branch of Birdlife South Africa representing the northern suburbs of Cape Town.

Thursday - January 14, 2010
This day was spent doing some target birding around Cape Town with local birder – Gerald Wingate. I've mostly birded the Table View area so it was great to check out new spots and get some easy (and not so easy) lifers out of the way. Our first stop was Dolphin Beach where we quickly picked up two White-backed Ducks among the Yellow-billed Ducks, Cape Shovelers, Red-knobbed Coots, Little and Great Crested Grebes. We continued to the Potsdam Sewage Works where I picked up two more easy birds – Yellow-billed (Intermediate) Egret and Common Sandpiper. It’s probably obvious I haven’t birded Europe yet. Our next stop was the world-renowned Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, which covers 528 hectares at the base of Table Mountain. These gardens are great for seeing your typical garden and woodland species such as Sombre Greenbuls, Cape Batis, Southern Double-collared, Malachite and Orange-breasted Sunbirds. My targets were African Olive-Pigeon, Lemon Dove and Spotted Eagle-Owl, though only the latter was present. Spotted Eagle-Owls have successfully nested in the gardens for a while now – usually right off the path. After the gardens we continued to a local birders property where he’s had African Wood-Owls roosting behind his house for the past few years. Within a minute of pulling into the driveway, I was face-to-face with three African Wood-Owls – definitely one of the easiest ticks ever. Our next stop was to look for a local rarity - an African Openbill that’s been hanging around Bergvliet. African Openbills recently invaded South Africa and is an exceptional record for the Western Cape so I'm glad to have ticked it in the province. After a quick stop at Cecilia Forest picking up Chaffinch and Red-breasted Sparrowhawk, we continued to our final stop of the day and one of Cape Town’s most popular birding spots – the Strandfontein Sewage Works. These sewage works are perhaps the best waterbird locality in Cape Town hosting thousands of shorebirds, waterfowl, grebes, pelicans, cormorants and flamingos and not to mention my first Swift Terns. I definitely plan to return numerous times to collect data for eBird which is going global this spring.

Kirstenbosch National Gardens

Saturday - January 16, 2010
On Saturday Charles Hesse, Carolina Castaño and I visited Intaka Island which is smack dab in the middle of Century City. This massive development took roughly $1.4 billion USD to build and includes residential neighborhoods, entertainment and Africa’s largest mall. To comply with conservation measures, a 16-hectare wetland area was created in the middle of this high-density development. As bad as it seems, the birds appear to be content and Peregrine Falcons even nest on one of the large buildings overlooking the wetlands.

Intaka Island

Nesting Platforms at Intaka

Bird Hide at Intaka

Sunday, January 17, 2010
Yesterday the three of us joined the Cape Bird Club on their outing to the Paarl Sewage Works (see a pattern here?). Paarl is approximately one and a half hours northeast of Cape Town in the heart of the winelands…and Afrikaans culture. The town hosts a monument for the Afrikaans language as well as a museum. It is apparently one of the only towns in South Africa pronounced differently in English and Afrikaans – English, Paarl is pronounced like ‘marl’ and Afrikaans it’s ‘Pair uhl’. The sewage works offered fabulous birding and good numbers – nearly 400 Blacksmith Lapwings and 800 Hartlaub’s Gulls! Some of the highlights include Hottentot Teal, African Fish-Eagle, Booted Eagle and African Harrier-Hawk among others. I also added six birds to my list and a few province ticks.

Informal settlement near Paarl Bird Sanctuary

Monday, January 18, 2010
Today I joined Gerald Wingate with some atlasing for the South Africa Bird Atlas Project near Philadelphia. I know what you’re thinking, wrong Philadelphia. We surveyed one pentad accumulating 75 species, which is quite good for an area of mostly wheat farming. Some of the highlights include Spotted Eagle-Owl, 17 Blue Cranes, Martial Eagle, two Lanner Falcons and a Giant Kingfisher – not to mention good numbers including 1,550 Southern Red Bishops! Although certain habitats don’t look inviting to bird, you would be surprised what you might find. I remember doing breeding bird atlasing around northern Ohio two summers ago and was shocked by the number of Vesper Sparrows in corn fields. If I didn’t survey the corn fields, I would have had no idea Vesper Sparrows were relatively common breeders.

Tomorrow Gerald Wingate and I are heading to West Coast National Park at 5:30am, which reminds me I need to get some sleep!

African Penguins

2010-01-02T14:19:00.005-05:00

The African Penguin, also known as Jackass Penguin due to their donkey-like call, is endemic to Namibia and South Africa. They are the only species of penguin to breed in Africa, mainly on offshore islands. However, since the 1980’s, two populations were established on the mainland due to the decline of predators; the Simon's Town population being the most well-known due to its close proximity to Cape Town and Betty’s Bay (east of Cape Town), which is where I took these photos.

Unfortunately only 10% remain from the estimated 1.5 million back in 1910. Many factors contribute to this substantial decline including egg harvesting for human consumption, commercial fishing and oil pollution. In 2000, an iron-ore tanker sank off Cape Town oiling about 19,000 adult penguins during the height of the most successful breeding year on record. After three months and tens of thousands of volunteers, 91% of the penguins were successfully rehabilitated and released. This was the largest animal rescue in history.

Today this vulnerable species continues to decline. Fortunately, nearly all of the offshore islands are now protected and the mainland populations patrolled. If you ever find yourself in Cape Town, be sure to visit one of the populations and your small fee will go a long ways in helping the conservation of the African Penguins. Many thanks to the South African National Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB), which has one of the world’s highest successes rates in saving oiled seabirds.

Rooi Els

2009-11-23T03:06:00.014-05:00

Saturday morning I visited Rooi Els, a well known spot for Cape Rockjumper, a South African endemic. Situated on False Bay, Rooi Els offers breathtaking views and a huge diversity of fynbo plants. I strolled down the rocky track taking in fynbo-loving species including Cape Bulbul, Cape Grassbird, Cape Sugarbird, Cape Robin-Chat and Cape Siskins (see a pattern here?).

Cape Sugarbird

Eventually the distinctive calls of Cape Rockjumpers echoed down the hillside from above. There are only a few pairs along this stretch so without hesitating, I climbed the rocky slope. The next hour or so was spent scanning the rocks unsuccessfully. However, a trio of Ground Woodpeckers mobbing a Dassie and a Victorin’s Warbler nearby made the trek worth it. The latter is highly sought after and with its limited range and skulking habits, this species is a tuff one to see. Luck was with me as I watched it from a few meters away as it blissfully foraged, occasionally teeing up to sing.

Victorin's Warbler

I eventually descended down the slope and once I returned back to the rocky track, there were the rockjumpers! I didn't know what to think about being fooled by a bird but I happily watched them as they teed up on the rocks and jumped down the track. They eventually moved on and after I had my filling of Familiar Chats, Karoo Prinia and Orange-breasted Sunbirds, that concluded a remarkable morning of birding.

Cape Rockjumper

Karoo Prinia

Cape Town, South Africa

2009-11-17T14:25:00.008-05:00

After nearly 40 hours of traveling via Pittsburgh, John F. Kennedy, Abu Dhabi, Johannesburg and Cape Town airports, I arrived in Cape Town early Sunday morning. The past couple days were spent recovering from jet lag and exploring the surrounding area. I’m currently staying at the Tropical Birding office in the northern suburb, Bloubergrise and only had time to bird areas within walking distance. It appears the the blogger photo uploader isn't working right now but when it does, I'll go more in dept on what I'm seeing.

Northern Wheatear!

2009-09-12T22:19:00.004-04:00

After receiving several phone calls around noon, I was Bunker Hill bound. Ohio’s third record of a Northern Wheatear was found at the residence of Emery Yoder in Holmes County. After a 45 minute delay on Rt. 62 with a car completely engulfed in flames, I was eventually standing there with a small crowd watching the wheatear. It was probably the most cooperative bird I have ever chased teeing up only 30 meters away. Ohio’s last wheatear record came from Marion County in November 1998.

Here’s a shot by Gabe Leidy:

For more details visit: http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/OHIO.html

Arctic Pelagic

2009-07-28T05:29:00.012-04:00

Sabine's Gull

Last Saturday a local Inupiaq invited us on a pelagic trip to look for whales and birds. After boarding his boat, we were soon 4.5 miles out into the Chuckchi Sea and surrounded by Gray Whales, Bearded Seals and seabirds. Lewis has a lot of experience with whales being one of the local whaling captains so he was able to get us fantastic views of Gray Whales.

Here’s how close we got to view these majestic mammals. Words can’t explain how incredible it was to have them surface just feet away. We could feel the rumble as every whale took a deep breath before submerging back into the water to feed on the ocean floor.

These whales skim the top layer of sediment on the ocean floor returning to the surface straining the sediment through their baleen. This allows them to swallow only the bottom-dwelling invertebrates. As we watched them surfaced, we were able to see a lot of the sediment they brought up from the ocean floor.

After tearing ourselves away from the whales, we cruised along some of the sea ice in search of pelagic birds.

As we passed an iceberg we came across this group of Red Phalaropes. It took me a split second to remember that Red Phalaropes are actually pelagic birds. For the past two months I was studying their nesting habits on the tundra.

Here are the three most common Laridae off Barrow apart from Glaucous Gull. From left to right – Arctic Tern, Sabine’s Gull and Black-legged Kittiwake.

Arctic Terns are rather abundant in well…the Arctic. Here’s an oddly shaped iceberg with a couple dozen roosting on top.

I really want to get out on another pelagic but with only four full days remaining in Barrow, it’s unlikely. Perhaps next week, we will take a trip off Homer or Seward, Alaska.

July update 7/16

2009-07-16T20:34:00.012-04:00

Baird's Sandpiper

Things are slowing down here on the tundra and only a few nests remain on our study plots. Even though a lot of chicks hatched, the majority of the clutches were predated – probably around 60%. This is partially due to it being a lemming crash year. Predators such as jaegers and foxes feed on lemmings and when numbers are low, shorebird eggs are next on their menu. During the past month and a half, I personally saw only one Brown Lemming. Last year a few hundred a day wasn’t out of the question. Here are a few chick photos..

Semipalmated Sandpiper chick (the white dot on its bill is an egg tooth which helps them break through their shells)

Red-necked Phalarope chick

Red-necked Phalarope chick point-of-view

Dunlin chicks

Two days ago we experienced record high temperatures reaching somewhere in the low 70’s. I would have never guessed that 70 degrees would feel too hot but we were feeling it. Every year the Barrow shorebird group partakes in a ‘mandatory’ polar bear dive in the Arctic Ocean. With water temps barely above freezing, it’s actually not that cold…you just instantly go numb!

The height of the moment when we were asking what did we get ourselves into?

The rest of the season will be spent monitoring the last remaining nests, data entry and gear cleanup/inventory. I leave Barrow on August 1st and will be back in Ohio on the 10th. The time between will be spent birding around the Denali/Seward/Homer area with a few friends that I’ve been working with in Barrow. Until next time, cheers!

Semipalmated Plover - banded in '08

Unofficial state bird of Alaska

2009-07-06T04:13:00.009-04:00

Yesterday was a stunning day with warm temperatures and practically no wind. Unfortunately, that’s when all the mosquitoes decided to hatch out. Swarms of mosquitoes engulfed us as we attempted to nest search and band shorebirds. Here’s a short clip I took showing the hordes of them surrounding us as we banded an American Golden-Plover.

It’s hard to believe that just a few days ago there were practically no mosquitoes. Who wants to come and visit!?! As bad as it looks, the majority of them weren't biting.

Rope Dragging & Nalukataq

2009-06-30T03:39:00.010-04:00

Rope Dragging Crew: L to R - Stephen Yezerinac, Ethan Kistler,
Charlie Governali and Fabrice Chevreux.

We finished rope dragging yesterday, discovering a lot of new nests. It was exhausting but rewarding at the same time. I think we had about 50 new nests in those 4 days. Today we returned to our normal schedule of plot searching. Even after rope dragging, we are still finding new nests.

Last Sunday was our day off so a few of us went to the second Nalukataq (Whale Festival) of the year. The Inupiaq Eskimos celebrate their successful whale hunts and during these gatherings they pass out the whale meat, dance, sing, tell stories and have a blanket toss. The blanket is made of several Bearded Seal skins sewn together. Locals gather around and toss people up in the air similar to a trampoline. Here are a few pictures from the festival.

Distributing the whale

Nalukataq Blanket for the Blanket Toss

Hunting boat

Fraction of 850 Long-tailed Ducks

Update 6/23

2009-06-24T03:42:00.003-04:00

Not too much to report on the past few days. Today I saw my first Arctic Fox while driving out to my plot. Tomorrow we begin rope dragging. It’s as simple as it sounds – two people drag a 30 meter rope across the tundra and flush shorebirds off their nests. This will help us find species that typically don’t flush easily such as Long-billed Dowitchers.

Northern Pintail nest

Polar Bears

2009-06-19T03:12:00.008-04:00

Point Barrow, Alaska

Nine miles northeast of Barrow lies Point Barrow, the most northernmost point of the United States. This is where the locals dump whale bones to prevent Polar Bears from coming into town. After word of eight bears, four of us ventured out there. Right away we had two Polar Bears out on the ice and after a while, they came ashore to feed on the four whale carcasses.

Tomorrow will be the first whale festival of the year. I'm hoping to see some of it after nest searching. The blanket toss sounds interesting...

A Ruff Day

2009-06-16T14:02:00.010-04:00

Yesterday was my day off from nest searching so I ventured around Barrow. Late morning I got news of two Ruffs being seen near the new landfill so a group of us drove out there. It wasn't long before we were standing there watching two Ruffs chase around female Pectorals.

Male with white ruff

Male with chestnut ruff

On our way back we scoped out a couple lakes adding Killdeer and American Wigeons to our trip list. Later, Charlie and I drove out to Nunavak Bay where we added a Yellow-billed Loon and Herring Gull. Vega Gulls can be found at Barrow but the Herring Gull was too far for varification. On our way back we stopped to snap a few photos of this nesting Rock Ptarmigan.

Female Rock Ptarmigan on nest

Barrow Update - June 10th

2009-06-11T03:56:00.010-04:00

Sorry for the lack of blog posts the past few days, I’ve been pretty busy now that nest searching started. I will do a separate post later on what exactly we are doing. I just thought I’d post a few pictures before you think a Polar Bear got me or something…

Red-necked Phalarope (male)

Red Phalarope (female)

Red Phalarope Eggs

Lapland Longspur Nest

Long-billed Dowitcher Distraction Display

Long-billed Dowitcher Nest

Dunlin Nest

Birding in the night

2009-06-06T05:16:00.006-04:00

It’s one in the morning here and Charlie and I just got back from birding the BASC area and a few cemeteries. It’s great having 24 hours of day light to bird whenever we feel like it. The BASC area once again proved to be productive producing a Fox Sparrow, Hermit Thrush, White-rumped Sandpipers, two Varied Thrushes and more Hoary Redpolls. The cemeteries didn’t produce much but the one we visited yesterday had another Varied Thrush bringing our daily total to three! Our last good birds of the day were two Sanderlings that were copulating and scraping. According to the USFWS, Sanderlings are "very rare and irregular breeders on the North Slope, with most confirmed records limited to Barrow".

Well, it’s time to sleep as I'll be spending all day tomorrow nest searching..

Semipalmated Plover

Days 3-4, June 4-5, 2009

2009-06-06T00:18:00.005-04:00

Hoary Redpoll

Yesterday began with Charlie Governali and I birding around the Barrow Arctic Science Consortium buildings. This area, located a couple miles east of town, is a great place for vagrants. Trip birds include: two Varied Thrushes, two American Robins, Green-winged Teal and a singing Blackpoll Warbler!

Blackpoll Warbler

In the afternoon, we all broke up to different study plots to search for banded shorebirds. Fabrice Chevreux and I went to the Freshwater Lake area and had a lot of great birds including ~15 Arctic Terns, Spectacled Eiders, Short-eared and Snowy Owls. Afterwards we drove several miles south on Cake Eater Road to plots 3, 5, 7 and 8 finding two Sabine’s Gulls and three Snow Geese among all the jaegers and Glaucous Gulls.

Before heading to bed, Charlie and I walked over to a cemetery along Ahkovak Road where we found our first Baird’s Sandpipers for the trip.

Most of today was spent going over protocols, nest searching, safety and culture issues. For about a half an hour, four of us did a short sea watch seeing a couple Bearded Seals and a Slaty-backed Gull.

Day 2 - June 3, 2009

2009-06-04T03:13:00.006-04:00

I was wide awake by 2am this morning; it doesn’t help coming from Eastern Time zone. Before the others woke up, I took a short walk around town adding only Savannah Sparrow to my trip list.

The rest of the day was spent walking back and forth across the tundra collecting snow and lemming data. It was very tiring but it was great to go out onto the tundra.

Here’s what one of our survey plots looked like – still a lot of snow. You can go from walking on bare tundra to snow up to your waist and occasionally you’ll find yourself sliding as you walk across puddles with iced bottoms.

The most abundant shorebirds were Dunlin, Pectoral and Semipalmated Sandpipers but American Golden-Plovers, Semipalmated Plovers, Ruddy Turnstones, Long-billed Dowitchers, Red-necked and Red Phalaropes were also present. At one point I watched five Red Phalaropes in full breeding plumage feed just a few yards away as I sat there wondering why I didn’t have my camera. I will try to get back there soon and take some photos.

Besides shorebirds, I also added Common Raven, Pomarine Jaeger, Parasitic Jaeger, Tundra Swan, Brant, Northern Pintail, Long-tailed Duck and these Greater White-fronted Geese to my trip list.

It looks like we’re having orientation and protocols tomorrow so I’ll have some free time to bird around. Also, sorry if any of my blog posts are too dull...I've been running on very little sleep so it's hard to think what to write.

Day 1 - June 2, 2009

2009-06-03T10:32:00.010-04:00

I arrived in Barrow, Alaska around 7:30pm (Alaska Time). After grabbing our luggage we were picked up on 4-wheelers and taken to the Polar Bear Theater where we will be staying the next couple months. On the short drive over, it was evident that Snow Buntings are one of the most abundant passerines. They are all over town in full breeding plumage and as I type, I hear one outside the kitchen window...now two just flew by. Other birds around town include Lapland Longspurs, Glaucous Gulls, Hoary Redpolls, Wilson’s Snipes and my first unusual bird – a Bank Swallow cruising along the Arctic Ocean. It was only a short walk so we didn’t see many shorebirds and other tundra nesting species.

This is the Polar Bear Theater, which isn’t a theater. I still haven’t figured out why it’s called that. It’s pretty rough looking but so are the majority of the other houses in Barrow.

The Arctic Ocean is still frozen over for the most part. Soon it will be open and birds will be migrating.

And last – looking down Stevenson’s Road near the Polar Bear Theater. This is what most of Barrow looks like.

Today we will be heading out onto the tundra to start collecting snow measurements. More to come!

Barrow, Alaska

2009-06-01T15:05:00.005-04:00

I'm off to Barrow, Alaska tomorrow to begin my summer job with the USFWS. I will be investigating the reproductive ecology of shorebirds until the end of August. Internet access won't be a problem so keep checking back for photos and reports!

Barrow, Alaska (circled) - 320 miles north of Arctic Circle

Smith’s Longspurs to Golden-crowned Sparrow

2009-04-27T22:37:00.006-04:00

Sorry again for yet another lengthy delay. I have a lot of projects going on which makes it hard to find time to update my blog. Instead of going into detail on the past couple weeks; I’ll just give quick reports on my two new state birds.

Back on April 11th, a few Amish birders chased the Mountain Bluebird and continued to the Ohio/Indiana border to search for Smith’s Longspurs. Right away they discovered a male and female along Manley Road in Mercer County. Within a couple days, I took the four hour drive and was rewarded with great views of a few males as they flew over the road. As soon as they landed in the wheat field or corn stubble, they vanished. Up to 40 individuals were reported and a few are still being seen today.

On April 8th, a Golden-crowned Sparrow appeared at a feeder in Hancock County near Findlay. Due to access issues, it wasn’t chaseable. Eventually the owners allowed access but only on April 22nd and 23rd. Since it was a first state record, I left school early due to a serious case of ‘twitching’ and drove 2.5 hours. It was only a couple minutes before it popped out into the open and eventually making it to the feeder. I generally hate chasing birds coming to feeders but since it was an adult, it was worth it.

Golden-crowned Sparrow
Hancock County, Ohio - April 22, 2009

Mountain Bluebird in Ohio!

2009-04-10T17:29:00.002-04:00

On April 5th, a birder came across what they believed was a Mountain Bluebird at Oak Openings Metropark near Toledo, Ohio. That evening I checked out the area but as soon as I arrived, it started to rain and nothing was found. Finally on April 7th a couple birders discovered and confirmed the Mountain Bluebird at the corner of Wilkins Road and Rt. 295 – Ohio’s second record. Since it would be a state bird for me, I tagged along with Jen Brumfield and her dad Wednesday to chase it. It wasn’t five minutes before we spotted it sitting in a small bush along the road. We continued watching it for the next 30 minutes as it activity fed ignoring the oncoming traffic. I attempted to get a few photos with my 55mm lens (my 70-300mm are being repaired) but they didn’t turn out at the distance I was taking them at. If you want to see some great pictures, check out rarebird.org

Mountain Bluebird

Panama - Part 1

2009-04-03T12:13:00.011-04:00

No, I wasn’t captured by a rebel group or got lost in the Panamanian jungle – I’ve been so busy catching up with stuff, I haven’t had time to update my blog.

I left for Panama on March 16th and didn’t arrive at the Tocumen International Airport until the following evening due to delays and misfortune. This is where I met up with Ian Davies and Andrew Spencer who I was going to be birding with the rest of the trip. We left the airport around 8pm and drove east a couple hours to San Blas province. Since there weren’t any accommodations around, we pulled off the side of the road and slept in the car.

Day 1 – We birded Nusagandi, a 60,000 Ha reserve managed by the Kuna Indians. After getting permission from the locals, we headed down a few of the well-maintained trails. Some of the highlights include: Sapayoa, Black-and-yellow Tanager and an awesome ant swarm that attracted approximately 15 Chestnut-backed, 3 Dull-mantled, 20 Bicolored, 1 Spotted and 8 Ocellated Antbirds among others. After a great day, we headed back to Panama City and stayed at the Hostel Amador.

Near Nusagandi Reserve

Southern Lapwing

Day 2 – Unfortunately Ian got sick (which stayed with him for most of the trip) so he stayed in bed today while Andrew and I birded Pipeline Road. This 17km long road is one of the most famous birding localities in Central America. Located within the Soberania National Park, Pipeline Road is only 40 minutes from Panama City. You can only drive in so far so we parked the car and hiked 5 miles roundtrip finding a lot of great birds such as Yellow-green Tyrannulet (endemic), Spectacled Antpitta, Golden-winged Warbler, Cocoa Woodcreeper, Black-bellied Wren along with plentiful toucans, motmots, trogons etc. When birding hit the mid-day low, we headed back to Panama City. After dinner along the canal we stayed another night at the Hostel Amador.

Pipeline Road

White-whiskered Puffbird

Back to the tropics!

2009-03-08T21:49:00.004-04:00

NW Ecuador - July 20, 2008

Sorry for the constant lack of posts, there really hasn’t been much going on recently. I did however buy flight tickets to Panama a couple days ago and will be leaving on the 16th. I’ll be down there for 10 days birding with three other birders from Massachusetts, South Dakota and Colorado. Some of the places we’ll hit include Pipeline Road, Cerro Azul, Sendero de los Quetzales, Achiote Road and Nusagundi. Check back for updates!

Deformed Beak

2009-03-02T10:47:00.002-05:00

Downy Woodpecker (w/ deformed beak)

Ann Arbor, Michigan
February 22, 2009

UP Birding

2009-02-25T19:34:00.013-05:00

Saturday morning, Ben Warner, Andy Newman, Heather Raymond and I ventured out of our motel in Sault Ste. Marie to begin a fantastic weekend in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. After cruising some back roads we eventually arrived at the Dunbar Forest feeders which hosted hundreds, maybe thousands of redpolls and siskins. After a few minutes of scanning we eventually found this Hoary Redpoll resting above the feeders.

There are two subspecies of Hoary Redpoll and there is no doubt this is the Greenland form, C. h. hornemanni.

They breed in the very high arctic of Greenland and Canada and differ from C. h. exilpes by being extremely pale.

When we were done scanning through the hoards of redpolls, siskins and Pine Grosbeaks we headed to Pickford to find one of the Northern Hawk-Owls that have been present. It didn’t take long until we found one along M-48 in someone’s front yard.

I wonder if the home owners have any idea just how lucky they are to have a Northern Hawk-Owl hanging around their yard.

After loads of pictures, we headed west to Hulbert Bog to look for Gray Jays and Boreal Chickadees. Among the dozen or so Black-capped Chickadees that came into our pishing, a single Boreal Chickadee came in briefly and vanished just as fast. No Gray Jays were found but constant flocks of White-winged Crossbills and a single Red Crossbill entertained us instead.

We headed back east to Rudyard where a few Snowy Owls have been present for most of the winter. Luck was still with us as we watched three Snowy’s from one spot including this one.

The rest of day was spent driving around adding a few more trip birds such as Northern Shrike and Merlin among others. At 5:30pm we drove to Hay Lake Road where a Great Gray Owl was recently discovered. Through moderate snow, Ben spotted the owl off in the distance just before it flew towards the road. Here is Ben’s shot of ‘the ghost’.

Sunday was spent birding the feeders at Dunbar Forest again. Besides two more Hoary Redpolls of the C. h. exilpes form we had this leucistic Pine Siskin:

Before I knew it, we had to start heading home from an awesome weekend of boreal birding. If you haven't been up to the upper peninsula yet, I highly recommend it.

Upper Peninsula

2009-02-19T17:49:00.002-05:00

Mackinac Bridge - connecting the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan

I’m heading off to the upper peninsula of Michigan tomorrow and will return sometime Sunday. Target birds include Great Gray and Northern Hawk-Owls. Stay tuned for a trip report.

White-winged Crossbill invasdion of '08-'09

2009-02-13T09:17:00.002-05:00

This winter has been the largest irruption of White-winged Crossbills in Ohio history. Nearly every conifer with cones cannot hide from these nomadic finches. At the beginning of winter, I decided to keep track of this invasion by maintaining the map below. Let me tell you, I had no idea I would be so busy keeping the map updated!

The numbers represent high counts for each county. As of today, White-winged Crossbills have been reported in 45 of the 88 counties in Ohio. I wouldn’t be surprised if every county had them by now. The map can be a little misleading since the majority of the empty areas represent sparsely populated areas of Ohio, which get very little coverage by birders.

If you’re interested in following the map for updates, go to www.rarebird.org and click on ‘Ohio Statewide’.

Plymouth, Mass - Ivory Gull

2009-02-03T21:57:00.008-05:00

This past weekend was spent unsuccessfully chasing the Ivory Gull in Plymouth, Massachusetts. This was my second IVGU chase – the first was to southern Ontario three years ago. For a complete trip report, visit Jim McCarty’s article in the Plain Dealer. Here are a few pictures from the trip.

This is the harbor behind East Bay Grille where the Ivory Gull had been hanging around. I remember seeing birders from far and wide from Florida to South Dakota.

Common Eider

Since the Ivory Gull chose not to appear, my group birded some local spots including Manomet Point (above), Scituate and the Chiltonville area. Our highlight was probably the Barrow's Goldeneye that was at Scituate but it was also nice to see some coastal species such as Common Eiders, Great Cormorants, Razorbills and Black Guillemots.

Hopefully an Ivory Gull shows up along the Cleveland Lakefront...

Snow and Ivory Gull plans

2009-01-28T16:14:00.003-05:00

Sorry for the lengthy delay; it has been uneventful for the most part. The huge snow/ice storm the northeast recently experienced dropped about a foot of snow at my house. Here’s proof:

As I was shoveling the driveway yesterday, I started asking myself “is this worth it?”…shortly after a half-dozen White-winged Crossbills flew over – yeah, it was worth it.

This weekend I will be chasing the Ivory Gull in Plymouth, Massachusetts so keep on a look out for a trip report and photos.

A new beginning...

2009-01-20T17:54:00.002-05:00

January 20, 2009

At last....

Santa Cruz birding

2009-01-13T16:14:00.018-05:00

After much needed rest, I finally got around to writing up a report on my trip to California. Since I haven’t birded the west coast before, I added quite a few lifers – 27 to be exact.

After flying into San Jose, I met up with my friend, Oscar Johnson and continued to Santa Cruz – my home for the weekend.

Saturday was spent birding around town at the UCSC campus, Arboretum, Natural Bridges Beach State Park and nearby Monterey County.

Here’s what Santa Cruz looks like where I had the majority of my lifers. Birds such as Pelagic and Brandt’s Cormorants, Rhinoceros Auklet and Rock Sandpiper were added to my list. Rock Sandpiper is a really good bird this far south and our bird is most likely the most southern known bird in the world right now.

Elsewhere around town we had other west coast specialties including Chestnut-backed Chickadee, California Quail, California Towhee, California Thrasher (seeing a pattern here?) Wrentit and Golden-crowned Sparrow.

For the rest of the day we birded northern Monterey County around Moss Landing (above). Highlights there included a Barrow’s Goldeneye and this mixed flock containing Tricolored Blackbirds.

Sunday was spent chasing a couple birds we missed and Yellow-billed Magpies. We started off at a county park in San Jose were we easily bagged a Nuttall’s Woodpecker and Red-breasted Sapsucker. We continued up the foothills near Joseph D. Grant County Park eventually finding two Yellow-billed Magpies, my last new bird of the trip.

Within an hour I was already in the airport waiting to board my plane.
Here are a few more photos from the weekend:

California Sea Lions with cormorants and Western Gulls

Bobcat at the Arboretum

Near Joseph D. Grant County Park

California or Bust

2009-01-08T19:02:00.006-05:00

Tomorrow morning I’m off to the airport for a weekend trip to California. You may be asking yourself, “Why would he fly all the way out there for a weekend?” Well, I have a round-trip ticket that expires Saturday and since I haven’t birded the west coast yet, I decided that’s where I'm going.

After contacting a friend in Santa Cruz, I scheduled my flight to San Jose. I’m not quite sure where we will be birding; possibly around San Francisco, San Jose or Santa Cruz.

This is what it looks like in Ohio; I’m glad to be going somewhere that’s warm and sunny.

Looking back...

2009-01-07T21:15:00.003-05:00

Green-breasted Mango
Beloit, Wisconsin
October 9, 2007

Burton CBC

2009-01-02T12:29:00.001-05:00

Jim and Bret McCarty joined me on New Years day to count for the Burton CBC. We covered Headwaters Park and a few surrounding roads. The highlight would definitely be the four White-winged Crossbills that landed for a minute and continued flying southeast; this was along Rt. 322 at a Headwaters Park trailhead. Here’s our results (NOT the whole circle’s results).

1. Canada Goose – 614
2. Mallard – 97
3. Cooper’s Hawk – 1
4. Red-shouldered Hawk – 1
5. Red-tailed Hawk – 11
6. Bald Eagle – 1
7. Mourning Dove – 33
8. Rock Pigeon – 2
9. Belted Kingfisher – 1
10. Red-bellied Woodpecker – 12
11. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker – 2
12. Downy Woodpecker – 20
13. Hairy Woodpecker – 5
14. Northern Flicker – 4
15. Pileated Woodpecker – 2
16. Blue Jay – 51
17. American Crow – 71
18. Tufted Titmouse – 32
19. Black-capped Chickadee – 101
20. Red-breasted Nuthatch – 11
21. White-breasted Nuthatch – 33
22. Brown Creeper – 2
23. Carolina Wren – 1
24. Golden-crowned Kinglet – 13
25. Eastern Bluebird – 12
26. American Robin – 1
27. European Starling – 278
28. Yellow-rumped Warbler – 1
29. Northern Cardinal – 44
30. American Tree Sparrow – 66
31. White-throated Sparrow – 7
32. Song Sparrow – 7
33. Swamp Sparrow – 1
34. Dark-eyed Junco – 95
35. House Finch – 7
36. White-winged Crossbill – 4
37. Pine Siskin – 10
38. American Goldfinch – 17
39. House Sparrow – 52

Total Species: 39
Total Individuals: 1,723

By the way, when we started it was only 3 degrees.

Gulls Galore

2008-12-31T15:49:00.014-05:00

Every winter hoards of Gizzard Shad congregate around the warm water outflows of the power plant at East 72nd Street. This southern fish probably arrived from the Ohio River via the Ohio-Erie canal and end up dying in massive numbers as the temperature drops. However, if you’re looking for gulls, this is a perfect opportunity. If the lake freezes over, expect gulls in your face because the immediate water near the power plant remains open.

Even though the lake didn’t freeze over yet, I spent most of yesterday scanning through the hoards of gulls. I was joined by Gabe Leidy, Jim and Bret McCarty, Gary Meszaros and Ryan Steiner and had nine species of gulls. Highlights were:
California Gull - 2 (1st & 3rd)
Thayer's Gull - 2 (both 1st)
Iceland Gull - 6 (4 1st & 2 ad)
Glaucous Gull - 4 (3 1st & 1 ad)

Two 1st cycle Glaucous Gulls

1st Cycle Glaucous Gull in flight

1st Cycle Iceland Gull

Lakewood CBC

2008-12-28T22:03:00.007-05:00

Today I joined Paula Lozano, Bob Finkelstein, Larry Rosche and Jim McCarty on the Lakewood Christmas Bird Count. Our team covered the Lake Erie lakefront between Rocky River and Edgewater Park. It was 60° Ferinheight when I left my house and by the time I arrived at our first destination, it dropped twenty degrees.

This is what the morning looked like; cold, cloudy and very windy. I believe at some point wind gusts were reaching 60mph which kept birds inactive. Through much perseverance we still had some birds including a decent movement of waterfowl. Two Long-tailed Ducks, three Surf Scoters, a juvenile Glaucous Gull and good numbers of Northern Pintail were among the highlights. According to Kenn Kaufman, there has recently been a large movement of pintails on Lake Erie and this is generally not common in mid-winter.

Here’s Bob, Paula and Jim towards the end of the day as we were finishing up the lakefront; of course this is when the weather improved…

Milpe Bird Sanctuary/Los Bancos (Day 4)

2008-12-24T12:30:00.010-05:00

Day four of our trip took us to Milpe Bird Sanctuary, located in an Important Bird Area. Part of the Mindo Cloudforest Foundation, Milpe consists of 155 acres in a steep, forested valley ranging between 1020-1150m (3350-3770ft) elevation.

This is what the trails around Milpe look like. They are well maintained and even has stairs cut out into the dirt.

Here’s Brad and I looking through our scopes up into the canopy while Nick Athanas watches and laughs. No, we weren't goofing off but were looking at a…

Broad-billed Motmot. The photo isn’t that great but believe it or not, I took it through the scope with my Canon Rebel SLR. Who knew SLRs are able to do that…

Some of the highlights around Milpe include: Blue-fronted Parrotlet, Pale-mandibled Aracari, Chocó Toucan, Chestnut-mandibled Aracari, Esmeraldas Antbird, Tawny-breasted Flycatcher, Club-winged and Golden-winged Manakins, Chocó Warbler and this Green-crowned Woodnymph.

Green-crowned Woodnymph (Photo courtesy John Wilkinson)

Our next stop was Mirador de Rio Blanco in Los Bancos. This restaurant has an incredible fruit feeding station that attracts tanagers by the dozens. While sitting back drinking native fruit drinks, we watched the feeders and took advantage of the easy photography. Here are a few of my best:

Flame-faced Tanager

Guira Tanager (female)

Palm Tanager

Golden Tanager

Silver-throated Tanager

Lemon-rumped Tanager (male)

Thick-billed Euphonia

Green Thorntail (male)

Green Thorntail (female)

Blue-winged Mountain-Tanager

2008-12-18T22:44:00.004-05:00

Not only does Tandayapa Bird Lodge maintain several hummingbird feeders; they also lay out fruit for tanagers and other birds that pass by the balcony. Here is a shot I took of one of the frequent Blue-winged Mountain-Tanagers that took advantage of the fruit. I could watch these guys all day…

Ecuador - Day 3 (Lower Tandayapa Valley)

2008-12-12T17:52:00.012-05:00

We began the day with a visit to the lodge’s blind before sunrise; this offered an excellent close-up encounter with a pair of White-throated Quail-Doves as well as a Chestnut-capped Brush-Finch and Streak-capped Treehunter.
John Wilkinson at the blind interance

After a quick breakfast, we continued up the trails into the lush cloudforest reserve surrounding the lodge. We searched for a calling Cloud-forest Pygmy-Owl but only one or two of us got a quick glimpse. We continued on adding Powerful Woodpecker, Olivaceous Piha, Immaculate Antbird, Golden-headed Quetzal and a perched Wedge-billed Hummingbird.
Olivaceous Piha

Around midday we drove down the valley birding along the way adding Squirrel Cuckoo, Red-headed Barbet, Smoky-brown Woodpecker, Tawny-bellied Hermit and a Torrent Tyrannulet hunting in a stream. We then searched for a distant Black-and-chestnut Eagle nest up on a mountainside. It took us a while but we soon had two eagles souring along the ridge.
Birding along the road in the Tandayapa Valley (Photo courtesy by John Wilkinson)

We continued birding along the road finding Golden-olive Woodpecker, Crimson-rumped Toucanet, Pacific Hornero, Red-billed Parrots and beautiful, Beautiful Jays. Once it got dark, Nick Athanas took us to a Lyre-tailed Nightjar stake-out and after a little bit of searching, we found an amazing, long-tailed male. That was a fantastic ending to a great day of birding.

Sorry for the lack of bird pictures, more will come.

Addition birds added to our trip list:
Black-and-chestnut Eagle
Rock Pigeon
White-throated Quail-Dove
Red-billed Parrot
Squirrel Cuckoo
Cloud-forest Pygmy-Owl
Lyre-tailed Nightjar
White-tipped Swift
Tawny-bellied Hermit
Purple-bibbed Whitetip
Wedge-billed Hummingbird
Golden-headed Quetzal
Red-headed Barbet
Toucan Barbet
Crimson-rumped Toucanet
Golden-olive Woodpecker
Smoky-brown Woodpecker
Pacific Hornero
Red-faced Spinetail
Spotted Barbtail
Lineated Foliage-Gleaner
Streak-capped Treehunter
Montane Woodcreeper
Uniform Antshrike
Immaculate Antbird
Chestnut-crowned Antpitta
Nariño Tapaculo
White-tailed Tyrannulet
Torrent Tyrannulet
Flavescent Flycatcher
Smoke-colored Pewee
Dusky-capped Flycatcher
Rusty-margined Flycatcher
Tropical Kingbird
Scaled Fruiteater
Olivaceous Piha
Golden-winged Manakin
Beautiful Jay
Red-eyed Vireo
Brown-capped Vireo
Andean Solitaire
Ecuadorian Thrush
Southern Rough-winged Swallow
House Wren
Tropical Parula
Olive-crowned Yellowthroat
Slate-throated Whitestart
Three-striped Warbler
Fawn-breasted Tanager
Orange-bellied Euphonia
Golden Tanager
Golden-naped Tanager
Metallic-green Tanager
Black-capped Tanager
Blue-winged Mountain-Tanager
Lemon-rumped Tanager
Buff-throated Saltator
Black-winged Saltator
Variable Seedeater
Yellow-bellied Seedeater
Tricolored Bush-Finch
White-winged Bush-Finch
Chestnut-capped Bush-Finch

Headlands - Purple Sandpiper

2008-12-08T21:39:00.004-05:00

Purple Sandpiper (one of two present), November 18, 2008
Headlands Dunes State Nature Preserve, Lake County, Ohio

Two-barred Crossbills at last!

2008-12-06T17:59:00.000-05:00

I went to the Holden Arboretum (Lake County) to look for crossbills in their huge conifer collection today. This is near the corner of Sperry and Kirtland-Chardon Roads. I knew it was going to be a good day when I stepped out of my car and immediately had 3 White-winged Crossbills fly over heading south. After a little bit of searching I found a nice flock of 12 WWCR in one of the spruce trees. They occasionally switched trees and eventually flew south. This was seconds before Jim and Bret McCarty showed up. It turned out alright since the next 2 hours yielded over 50 more WWCR allowing fantastic views. At one point a small flock landed in the spruce tree that we were standing next to. Here is a breakdown on the flocks:

7:45am - 3 (flying south)
8:00am - 12 (mostly males; feeding in tree and then headed south)
8:45am - 1 (single male landed on top of a spruce and continued south)
9:40am - 21 (two flocks - landed, fed for a while and headed south)
10:00am - 25 (one flock - landed for a couple seconds and continued south)
10:13am - 1 (flying south)

This is what the conifer collection looks like on GoogleEarth.

They occupied the spruce tops, feeding for the majority of time. There are at least 8 individuals in this photo.

Finally, here is a poor shot of a male that teed up for a minute.

Now where can I find some Red Crossbills...

Ecuador - Days 1-2

2008-12-04T21:14:00.001-05:00

Last July I spent two weeks birding in Ecuador with Brad, John and Judy Wilkinson. We were on a tour through Tropical Birding spending a week in the northwest and another in the eastern lowlands.

We arrived in Quito on the 16th and stayed the night at Hotel Sebastian. Since it was practically in the middle of the night, it was easy to fall asleep knowing we weren’t missing any birds.

The following morning came early and we were met by our guide – Nick Athanas and local driver Vladimir. We were soon on our way to Yanacocha Reserve on the slopes of Volcan Pichincha. Our first bird came before light – a Great Thrush walking down a sidewalk, which was soon followed by multiple Rufous-collared Sparrows. Both of these birds are considered ‘trash’ birds to most.

We spent the whole morning walking down the road at Yanacocha getting a taste of our first South American birds Including Rufous-breasted Chat-Tyrant, Scarlet-bellied Mountain-Tanager, Superciliaried Hemispingus, Blue-backed and Cinereous Conebills, Smoky-bush Tyrant and this Tawny Antpitta.

As we approached the hummingbird feeders, it became apparent that feeders in Ecuador are fantastic. We had ten species including:

Buff-winged Starfrontlet

Great Sapphirewing

Shining Sunbeam

And this Sword-billed Hummingbird

Besides hummingbirds, the area around the feeders were also great for other birds including Ocellated Tapaculo, Streaked Tuftedcheak, Rufous-naped and Stripe-headed Brush-Finches, Bar-bellied Woodpecker and this Barred Fruiteater.

After a quick lunch we headed off to Tandayapa Bird Lodge, our lodging for the next few nights. Along the way we continued adding birds to our list including Turquoise Jay, Crimson-mantled Woodpecker, Sickle-winged Guan, Western Hemispingus and lekking Andean Cock-of-the Rocks.
We eventually arrived and were automatically glued to the feeders. Tandayapa Bird Lodge probably has the world’s greatest hummingbird feeders, but that will be another blog post…

Here was our list for the day:

Tawny-breasted Tinamou
Curve-billed Tinamou
Turkey Vulture
Variable Hawk
Sickle-winged Guan
Band-tailed Pigeon
White-tipped Dove
White-capped Parrot
White-necked Jacobin
Brown Violet-ear
Green Violet-ear
Sparkling Violet-ear
Western Emerald
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird
Andean Emerald
Fawn-breasted Brilliant
Shining Sunbeam
Mountain Velvetbreast
Great Sapphirewing
Collared Inca
Buff-winged Starfrontlet
Sword-billed Hummingbird
Buff-tailed Coronet
Sapphire-vented Puffleg
Golden-breasted Puffleg
Booted Racket-tail
Black-tailed Trainbearer
Tyrian Metaltail
Violet-tailed SylphPurple-throated Woodstar
Rainbow-bearded Thornbill
Plate-billed Mountain-Toucan
Crimson-mantled Woodpecker
Bar-bellied Woodpecker
Powerful Woodpecker
Azara’s Spinetail
White-browed Spinetail
Streaked Tuftedcheak
Rufous Antpitta
Tawny Antpitta
Unicolored Tapaculo
Ocellated Tapaculo
White-throated Tyrannulet
White-banded Tyrannulet
Tufted Tit-tyrant
Black Phoebe
Rufous-breasted Chat-tyrant
Smoky Bush-tyrant
Golden-crowned Flycatcher
Red-crested Cotinga
Barred Fruiteater
Andean Cock-of-the-Rock
Turquoise Jay
Great Thrush
Brown-bellied Swallow
Blue-and-white Swallow
Rufous Wren
Plain-tailed Wren
Gray-breasted Wood-wren
Spectacled Whitestart
Cinereous Conebill
Blue-backed Conebill
Masked Flowerpiercer
Glossy Flowerpiercer
Black Flowerpiercer
Blue-and-black Tanager
Scarlet-bellied Mountain-Tanager
Hooded Mountain-Tanager
Yellow-throated Bush-Tanager
Superciliaried Hemispingus
Western Hemispingus
Southern Yellow-Grosbeak
Plain-colored Seedeater
Rufous-naped Brush-Finch
Stripe-headed Brush-Finch
Rufous-collared Sparrow

Burke Snowy Owls

2008-12-03T14:14:00.001-05:00

Burke Lakefront Airport is probably the most reliable spot in Ohio for Snowy Owls. This winter has been an exceptional year for this particularly nomadic owl with at least nine individuals discovered so far; two of these at Burke. Birders can sometimes get a glimpse of this large, white owl along Marginal Road, which runs parallel to I-90; just east of downtown Cleveland.

Occasionally though, birders will dip on finding these owls and the reason for that is because they will sometimes settle on the other side of the airport - out of view.

Last Sunday, I was fortunate to board the Holiday; a charter boat that drops off Browns fans at the stadium. During the game, the captain took a group of birders along the Lake Erie coast in search of rarities.

This is the view of lakeside Burke with the Cleveland Skyline in the background.

In case you didn't notice it in the previous picture, an immature Snowy Owl was perched on the wooden stairs.

It was great viewing the owl up close from the boat rather than peering through a fence 250 yards away.

Other notable birds we had during the trip include Harlequin Duck, Paregrine Falcon, Merlin, four Lesser Black-backed Gulls and fifty-four Black-crowned Night Herons along the Cuyahoga River.