Tayler Brooks, the recipient of a WINGS-supported scholarship to attend the 2008 Cascades Banding Camp, writes:

My name is Tayler Brooks. I graduated with honors from high school this year, and am preparing to start college. My interest in birds started when I was 12; I began by observing backyard birds, but birds have now become my passion in life and my favorite area of study. I’m hoping to take part in many field studies involving banding and monitoring over the next few years, in the US or abroad.

The Banding Camp run by Puget Sound Bird Observatory was absolutely wonderful. I took a lot away from this experience, learning everything from how to set up a mist net to understanding the fine details of woodpecker molts!

One experience I’ll never forget was capturing a White-winged Crossbill. I’d never seen that species before, and to hold a lifebird in my hands was truly something to remember; the bird’s unique molt pattern was also particularly interesting.

A huge thank you to PSBO, AAZK, and WINGS for making all of this possible for me! Thank you for helping get me closer to a fuller understanding of birds and the ways they live.

- Tayler

Senior Leader James Lidster writes from Ghana:

I’ve just found time to catch up on my e-mails after a hugely successful first tour to Ghana–so successful that the second group is arriving this evening! Ghana is a beautiful country, with good hotels, friendly people, and some terrific habitat and birds.

Violet Turaco, photo by James Lidster.

The obvious highlight for those who made the walk were five Yellow-headed Picathartes. Ghana remains the best place in the word to see this species, and our afternoon visit to The Cave was one few will ever forget. To see this enigmatic bird after a reasonable walk was fantastic. Then, as we walked back to the bus in darkness, groups of local children came out of their houses, singing and dancing: what an afternoon!

In addition to the picathartes, our highlights included Fraser’s and Grayish Eagle Owls, Brown and Standard-winged Nightjars, African Finfoot, White-spotted Flufftail, Black and Blue-headed Bee-eaters, ten species of hornbill, Saddle-billed Stork, Congo Serpent Eagle, Bateleur, Black Sparrowhawk, Afep Pigeon, Blue-headed Wood Dove, and Forest Robin–not to mention the turacos, parrots, umpteen sunbirds, rollers, kingfishers, African Elephant (ok, it’s not a bird, but it was a highlight!), flocks of wintering shorebirds, Preuss’s Cliff Swallows, Preuss’s Golden-backed Weavers…

Writing this short list of highlights just makes me realize how many great birds there are here. And now comes the difficult part: writing the tour report, which could go on for pages and pages, and making sure that the second group sees the same wonderful selection. Birds are birds, of course, but it can’t fail to be equally superb!

Bateleur, photo by James Lidster.

Photo by Rick Wright.

The scientific name of the Common Chaffinch is Fringilla coelebs. The species name–the source of the English word “celibate”–translates as “widower,” a whimsical Linnaean reference to the fact that Chaffinches form single-sex flocks in the winter.

And we’d thought we were going to have Palenque, among the loveliest and birdiest of all Mexican destinations, to ourselves this year! But a delightful article in the Times this morning seems to have let the gato out of the bolsa.

Agami Heron, photo by Chris Wood.

Never fear. Rich Hoyer‘s late-January tour to the wonders cultural and natural of Palenque will be a great time even if it isn’t our secret. The tour is confirmed to run, January 24-31, and there are still a couple of spaces open. But not for long, I’m sure!

The Texas Coast in April is one of the most reliably exciting destinations in all of North American birding, and the American Birding Association will be taking full advantage of the area’s wild diversity of breeders and migrants at its 2009 Convention. As always, WINGS will be represented by several leaders on the Convention field trips, and Senior Leader Rich Hoyer is offering a pre-Convention tour of some of the richest birding sites in Northeast Mexico, including Gomez Farías and the El Cielo Biosphere Reserve. Nearly 100 species of tropical birds, among them a number of Mexican endemics, reach the northern limits of their range here.

Double-striped Thick-knee. Photo: Chris Wood.

For more information or to register for this tour, which begins in Brownsville and ends at the Convention hotel in Corpus Christi, call us at 888 293-6443 or write to wings@wingsbirds.com (note that the contact information in ABA’s brochure is incorrect). And then start looking forward to a memorable tropical adventure!

Northern Hawk Owl, photo by Chris Wood.

The past ten days have brought the first signs of what may shape up to be a good winter for northern owls. Snowy Owls have been found in Massachusetts, Maine, and Minnesota, with Northern Hawk Owl reports coming from Minnesota as well. In the past, such early reports of these species have often presaged strong flights later in the season.

Even more exciting are early indications of a major movement of Boreal Owls into Minnesota. As many as fourteen (!) were banded in a single late-October night in Duluth. Minnesota in Winter is probably the best place in North America to see this small owl, and it looks like 2009 could be the year to do it!

We’ll be following any invasions of these and other boreal species carefully all winter, and will keep WINGS clients up to date here at The Wingbeat.