WingsBirds Updates

David Fisher on the recent 2012 Western Pacific Odyssey cruise

Liz Payne — 2012-05-15 09:00:20

I just spent a spectacular month in the Pacific cruising from New Zealand to Japan. The WPO cruise, designed by Chris Collins for birdwatchers, is now in it's sixth year of operation. It was a fantastic experience on the Spirit of Enderby (below) with landings on New Caledonia, four of the Solomon Islands, and Truk in Micronesia. So with six days on-land (producing the Kagus on New Caledonia, White-headed fruit dove on Makira, Bare-eyed White-eye on Rennell, plus the beautiful Solomon Islands children, below) this meant we spent 23 days at sea - probably the longest and most exciting pelagic trip in the world.

This year's trip was extremely successful and we saw ALL the seabirds seen on previous trips as well as one or two new ones. I loved the whole experience. It was my first cruise and I wasn't sure how I would cope with that long on a boat, but I had no problems at all. The ship was great, the cabins were fine, the meals were wonderful, and the leaders and fellow passengers formed a great team.

Most of these photos were taken with a DSLR and a 400 mm lens, loaned to me by friends. Even with a long lens I quickly discovered that while albatrosses and boobies that circle the ship are easy to photograph, (see New Zealand Wandering Albatross, gibsoni, below) petrels and especially storm-petrels are not! So some of the real rarities such as Beck's Petrel, New Zealand Storm-petrel and the 'new' storm-petrel off Calendonia are regrettably not included. Regardless, the WPO is an experience not to be missed.

New Jersey: Birding the American Revolution

Will Russell — 2012-05-05 14:46:11

James Lidster on his just-concluded tours to Morocco

Wings Staff — 2012-04-24 07:36:24

I am just home after two amazing tours to Morocco, both very similar and yet still quite different! On both trips we recorded many of the hoped for species including Northern Bald Ibis, Moussier's Redstart, Tristram's, African Desert & Scrub Warblers, Levaillant's Woodpecker, Seebohm's, Red-rumped and White-crowned Wheatears, Black-bellied and Spotted Sandgrouse, Pharaoh Eagle Owl, Cream-coloured Courser, African Crimson-winged Finch, Egyptian Nightjar, Thick-billed, Hoopoe and Temminck's Larks, plus all the exciting 'new' species (or species in waiting). The latter included Moroccan Wagtail, Maghreb Magpie, Ultramarine Tit, Atlas Chaffinch, Desert Grey Shrike and Atlas Horned Lark. There were other constants as well from the healthy picnics of sardines, fresh vegetables and local bread, mint tea and tastey tajines to the stunning scenery and friendliness of everyone we met.

So what was different between the two tours? The weather for one. The first trip saw some wet days, some windy days ending with some pleasantly sunny days along the coast. Snow was limited in the Atlas and there was no lake in the Sahara....roll on 2 weeks and there is still no snow in the Atlas, but a lake several miles long in the Sahara!! The day after our arrival in the Atlas we then had 40cm of fresh snow fall, providing some quite dramatic scenery....or rather making already dramatic scenery even more beautiful!
Where one tour missed out, eg no Maghreb Wheatear on the first tour, but they did see Crowned Sandgrouse. In fact, of all the hoped for species those 2 were the only ones that were only recorded on one of the tours.
Migration differed between the two trip of course, the first trip finding some nice surprises in the form of a male Pallid Harrier, several Isabelline Wheatears and a small group of Little Crakes. The second trip was rewarded with a few of the later migrants such as European Roller, Golden Oriole, Rufous Bush-robin and even larger numbers of European Bee-eaters.

Could I choose between which tour was the best, no chance! Morocco remains a top class birding destination.....the only downside, I wish I was going back for a 3rd trip!

PS: The following gallery of images from both tour shows, in order of appearance: African Crimson-winged Finch, Black-bellied Sandgrouse, Cream-coloured Courser, Egyptian Nightjar, European Bee-eater, a Saharan lake, the snowy Atlas Mountains, Temminck's Lark and Thick-billed Lark.

Steve Rooke from his ongoing tour to Georgia

Wings Staff — 2012-04-22 12:47:22

We have just enjoyed an excellent morning, birding in the dramatic setting of the Terek River valley (below), dominated by the the impressive Kazbegi peak (below).

At this time of year species like the Great Rosefinch and Guldenstadt's Redstart which breed on the very tops, can sometimes still be found in the valley bottom where they winter. Walking up behind the hotel we soon saw 3 large passerines flying down from the snowy tops, they circled above us and dropped down right in front of us on some bushes - 1 fine male and 2 females Great Rosefinches which just sat their to be admired (and photographed, see below)). We were dragged away from them by shouts of 'Snowcock' and before long were watching a group of these large game birds walking over a snow field, displaying, calling and in flight. A group of Caucasian Black Grouse nearby also got in on the act with their strange 'leaping-lek'. This is only our second day - and we had found 15 Guldenstadt's Redstarts (below) on the first day, along with some excellent raptor passage through the valley.

Jon Dunn on his just-completed Upper Texas Coast tour

Wings Staff — 2012-04-20 06:35:23

This year's Upper Texas trip was one of the smoothest ever with a front at exactly the right time (16 April), just after several days of birding in the piney woods around Jasper and north Houston getting nearly all of the specialties there (Red-cockaded Woodpecker (below), Bachman's Sparrow and territorial Swaison's Warbler and Louisiana Waterthrush). The strong southeast winds had cleared out the woods on the coast, but all of this changed on 16 April with a front that slowly moved through the area with rain and northeast winds. Notable concentrations of migrants on the 16th included 250 Orchard Orioles (below) and 100+ Gray Catbirds (all at Sabine Woods). Warblers were not too numerous, but we did see in the end 28 species including Cerulean and Golden-winged (multiples of each). The rice fields were not under cultivation in most areas due to the drought but we did find over 50 Buff-breasted Sandpipers in one. Our two rail walks produced Yellow Rail on each, including one that came out for excellent viewing when we surrounded it. Excellent views were obtained as well of Le Conte's, Nelson's and Seaside Sparrows at various locations. Rarities included a Long-tailed Duck at Cameron, Louisiana, and a Black-whiskered Vireo, seen well on two days at Sabine Woods. We also had a breeding plumaged Pacific Loon along with 30 Common Loons in Galveston. Our trip list of 216 was higher than average and of course included all the spectacular waterbirds (Roseate Spoonbill below). Nice to report too that the woods on the coast are recovering, especially Sabine Woods which looks much as it did in the past with excellent broad trails throughout. Even the fire ants are back!

Paul Holt from his on-going tour to Taiwan

Wings Staff — 2012-04-19 13:58:11

Our tour is going extremely well despite wet weather for the first three days. We've now seen all 24 of the Island's endemics except Taiwan Partridge (which we've heard repeatedly and for which the best site is still to come) and Styan's Bulbul which is easy but for which we're not yet within range.

We've paid attention to endemic subspecies as well including sonorivox Chinese Bamboo Partridge, the nominate subspecies of Vivid Niltava, castaneoventris Varied Tit and formosanus Vinaceus Rosefinch Many of these are likely future splits.
Highlights have included no less than five (four male and one female) Mikado Pheasants (female below) and a pair of Swinhoe's Pheasants (male below) with my best views of both species (after six trips to this gorgeous island), telescope looks at Taiwan Shortwing and Taiwan Hwamei, point blank looks at Alishan Bush Warbler and White-whiskered Laughingthrushes around our feet, and the endemic Yellow Tit and Flamecrest.

Ecuador: A Week in the Clouds

Will Russell — 2012-04-01 09:04:21

Brent Stephenson on recent Three Kings Pelagic

Liz Payne — 2012-03-16 15:16:43

We just returned from a very successful 6th Annual Three Kings pelagic, and although not as incredible as last year’s trip, we still scored some rarely-seen-in New Zealand seabird species. Last year we were absolutely spoilt with a new species for New Zealand (collared petrel), the first Tahiti petrel record in probably more than 20 years, and sooty tern and wedge-tailed shearwater (both very rarely seen from the New Zealand mainland). Still, this location has probably turned up more long-tailed jaegers than anywhere else in New Zealand, and we were not disappointed on this year’s trip, with a number seen and one coming in for super close views. Black-winged, white-naped and a single Kermadec petrel were all seen well, and Wilson's, white-faced and New Zealand storm-petrel were also encountered. Great to see NZ storm-petrel there in small numbers on each of the days, though the breeding location of this species we rediscovered in 2003 still unknown.

The year is shaping up to be a busy one. We are especially looking forward to our late 2012 tours and hoping to beat our record of 168 species seen during a tour. Of course it’s not all about the numbers, we look forward to catching up with the endemics that make New Zealand such a special place.

Derek Lovitch's book is out

Will Russell — 2012-03-10 07:01:26

Derek's book, "How to Be a Better Birder" is out. Princeton University Press says, This is the ideal resource for intermediate and advanced birders. Whether you want to build a bigger list or simply learn more about birds, How to Be a Better Birder will take your birding skills to the next level.

Join him for the official book release celebration at www.freeportwildbirdsupply.com/ on Saturday, March 31st. Next, an event in New Jersey. He's also working on a summer/fall road-trip, so watch for details.