WingsBirds Updates

China: Baidaihe and Happy Island

Will Russell — 2012-02-20 11:26:38

Jon Dunn from his tour of Northern Thailand

Wings Staff — 2012-02-18 14:05:42

We just finished the first part of our tour in KhaoYaiNational Park, a marvelous place about two hours from Bangkok with vast evergreen forests. Hornbills were especially notable this year - we saw all four species, including at least three scarce Brown Hornbills - and our views of Great Hornbill (below) were especially memorable. Most were at a single large fruiting tree within which we found as well numerous barbets, Thick-billed Green Pigeons, Asian Fairy Bluebirds and Black-naped Orioles (below - thanks Pinit Saengkaew) among others, and underneath a small group of Siamese Firebacks presumably attracted by the fallen fruit. Notable this year were repeated views of gibbons…of both species. I think it’s only the second or third time we’ve encontered the Pileated Gibbon which gave excellent views, and we got to hear it repeatedly give its bubbling calls. Wonderful! We encountered Asian Elephants on three occasions, our first being a large male at a salt lick. Earlier he had stomped a vehicle (fortunately empty), apparently out of irritation that he didn’t have a clear path between the forest and the road! We’re now off to wonderful Chiang Mai and the mountainous west.

China: Yunnan Province

Will Russell — 2012-02-17 06:03:05

Gavin Bieber on his just-concluded tour to Guyana

Wings Staff — 2012-02-14 15:36:14

Just back from a 10 day tour to Guyana. This small and remote country, tucked just east of Venezuela, offers the visiting naturalist wonderful (and comfortable) access to a huge area of pristine lowland forest. With over 80% of the country covered in primary forest and little resource extraction ongoing Guyana is a real gem. We were somewhat hampered by unseasonable La Nina driven weather, but the birds were simply fantastic. Guianan Cock-of-the-Rock (below) and the bizzare Capuchinbird probably stole the show, but our lengthy scope views of a singing Thrush-like Antpitta, the stunning Blood-colored Woodpecker (below), superlative Ferruginous-backed Antbirds and multiple views of the attractive and range-restricted Rufous Crab-Hawk certainly were high on the highlight list as well. For 2013 we plan a return visit in the heart of the main dry season, and I can't wait!

Paul Holt from his Northern India tour

Wings Staff — 2012-02-14 12:54:16

Text from Paul this morning – the group had fantastic views of Tiger at Ranthambore!

Read All About It!

Liz Payne — 2012-02-14 10:00:37

Sunbird’s February 2012 newsletter is hot off the press with juicy details about new tours, happy news about late availabilities, and recent tour reports with scintillating photos. New tours include James Lidster’s PORTUGAL in Autumn, and SRI LANKA: Whales, Dolphins, and Leopards. And, don't miss the notable price reduction on SOUTH AFRICA: the Kalahari to the Cape with Steve Rooke.

Here's the link: http://www.sunbirdtours.co.uk/documents/FebNewsWeb.pdf

Will Russell on his just completed Winter Week in Arizona Tour

Wings Staff — 2012-02-11 18:02:21

This was a tour with several defining images: a Florida Canyon Rufous-capped Warbler (below-Laurens Halsey) too close for some to focus; a Lake Patagonia flock of bluebirds with males of all three species side by side while drinking from the lake edge; a Scheelite Canyon Spotted Owl in the mist and rain, and oh-so-close; waves and waves of White-crowned, Vesper and Brewer’s Sparrows in the grasslands behind the San Pedro House; 4000 Sandhill Cranes coming into Whitewater Draw after we had given up hope of any significant arrival; Sage and Bendire’s Thrashers in the Sulphur Springs Valley after it seemed we might miss them, and there too a flock of male Yellow-headed Blackbirds numbering in the thousands; the whirling flocks of Chestnut-collared Longspurs and Horned Larks that surrounded us near Willcox; and finally a vast evening flight of waterfowl at Sweetwater in Tucson, perhaps reminding us of what numbers were like years ago.

Paul Lehman at San Diego Bird Festival

Liz Payne — 2012-02-10 12:19:13

It's that time again, and the San Diego Bird Festival is almost here. This year Paul Lehman will be leading the Gulls and Coastal Waterbirds Trip as well as riding shotgun on the other scheduled pelagics, March 1-4, 2012.

Along with fulmars, shearwaters and auklets, previous SDBF trips have included Black-footed Albatross, Manx Shearwaters, and Brown and Blue-footed boobies. Mammals also frequently encountered have been at least two species of whales (migrating Grays), two-four dolphin species, and of course sea lions, harbor seals, and possibly elephant seals. If you're at the festival, say hello!

Steve Howell's new seabirds book

Will Russell — 2012-01-31 13:58:47

Steve Howell’s new book, Petrels, Albatrosses, and Storm-Petrels of North America: a Photographic Guide (Princeton University Press, 2012) hit the streets and seas in January, and has been well received on both sides of the Atlantic and beyond. It was “only” 15 years of gestation, 6 years of labor, and a year or so of delivery, before the book was born at 520 pages, 975 color photos, and about 4lb!

Rich Hoyer on his central Peru scouting

Will Russell — 2011-11-21 13:23:27

There isn't a single region of the large country of Peru that isn't worth birding, so deciding on where to scout an area that was new to me was a daunting task. So I chose the easy route and struck out in a rental car from the capital city and main airport hub of Lima. You wouldn't expect that some of the best birding would be located near such a large city, but within an hour's drive of the city one enters the valley of Santa Eulalia. Having seen how the desert of the Peruvian coast can be almost shockingly devoid of life, I was surprised to find on the slopes of this steep-walled canyon a grassy and brushy habitat that reminded me very much of the subtropical canyons of southeastern Arizona – they must have a very similar rainfallregime, just lacking the cool winter temperatures.

I was rather captivated by the plant life here, so resembling the post-monsoon thickets of one of my favorite birding spots in Arizona, Montosa Canyon, that it didn't surprise me to find one of the hallmark genera from there, the peculiar sunflower-family member Trixis.

Then there were other plants in the very same family, such as this Mutisia acuminata, so different from anything in North America to remind me I was in the Andes.

This plant especially grabbed my attention for it is one of the main hummingbird flowers in the valley. I found the stunning Sparkling Violetears to be abundant, but the occasional Giant Hummingbird, a few Peruvian Sheartails, and a single Oasis Hummingbird added interest. There were surely other species to be found in these and other flowers on the slopes, but I had a lot of ground to cover. My first night I found the accommodations in the cheerful little town of Huachupampa surprisingly nice for such a tiny place a long ways up a steep dirt track. That evening, Band-winged Nightjars flew around the town square as the village mayor's office broadcast announcements of upcoming event over a loud speaker.

I birded the brushy ravines near the village the following morning, happy to find the endemic Rusty-bellied Brush-Finch to be quite common. While some of the other regional specialties eluded me, I didn't have time to really do the valley justice before heading to the higher elevations.

The highest reaches of the Santa Eulalia road end up at 16,000 feet (4875 meters) elevation, the highest I have ever been while on solid ground. The scenery up here was stunning.

Having prepared myself with the tablets that help prevent altitude sickness (with the strange side effect of tingling fingers and toes), I still took it easy as I walked the dry tundra-like habitat and up the marshy draws. Short of breath, I was grateful to have evaded the headache and nausea this time. Several White-fronted Ground-Tyrants and a few Puna Ground-Tyrants flushed from underfoot as I looked for the rare White-bellied Cinclodes known to be here. I was happy to find one bird after about a half hour of walking – it was even bigger and brighter than I expected, though it was quite mobile and didn't let me get very close. I also flushed a small group of Andean Geese, striking in flight, and several Puna Snipe in the wetter areas as well. With more time I probably could have found the Diademed Sandpiper-Plover that many have found there, but I was happy knowing what the area looked like. Sharing the walking with a few more people would surely have faster results in any event.

I then drove a few hours to a hotel closer to the Satipo River valley, a place I had heard a lot about. It's been compared to the Manu Road, but despite being much closer to Lima has not been as connected to main routes for very long. It's a smaller drainage and is known for at least one very range-restricted specialty, the Eye-ringed Thistletail. Outside groups have been trying to help the local communities in the higher elevations get started with providing ecotourism facilities, the lack of which has kept many birders from reaching this area. I thought it would be a good time to start learning the birds here, well in advance of the infrastructure being ready for larger groups.

There is actually a very nice country hotel I checked out that birders already stay at. It's not all that close to the Satipo River valley, requiring getting up at some ridiculously early hour in order to have enough time to bird there and get back the same day. But it's perfectly situated as a stop between there and the White-bellied Cinclodes spot. I'll certainly consider it for inclusion in a future itinerary.

For my current purposes, the simple accommodations available in the little community of Calabaza worked just fine. For three nights I stayed in the one-room brick building across from the school while taking my meals in the little store run by a coupled named Felicita and Macario, helped by their two children Kevin and Fraysi. I enjoyed getting to know them during the times when I took a break from birding. Kevin would help Fraysi with her homework, or they would bounce a ball off the wall while Felicita was taking care of her new baby and shooing the chickens out of the store at the same time preparing meals for the group of highway workers who returned to town each evening.

Little did they know that the moss-draped trees and bamboo thickets along the little-traveled road up from their house hosted such a fabulous avifauna. Flocks of Speckle-faced Parrots flew right over the village, and I woke up each morning to a dawn chorus that included Bay Antpitta.

The elevations below town were quite birdy, and I didn't spend nearly enough time down here. I passed through here in the late afternoon was astonished to see seven Andean Motmots in just a few kilometers of road. This larger, greener form had been split from Blue-crowned Motmot by some authors and called Highland Motmot, but a recent analysis by Gary Stiles finally showed that there were multiple species within South America, and this new name was suggested. I've never seen it as common anywhere as in this valley.

Most of my time here, however, was spent above Calabaza. Within the first kilometers of town I found several mixed flocks with birds I hadn't had much experience with before, such as Peruvian Wren, Tyrannine Woodcreeper, and Tricolored Brush-Finch. I managed to photograph a few birds:

Cinnamon Flycatcher

Mountain Wren

Peruvian Wren

Rufous Spinetail

One of the more exciting finds just above town was this White-rumped Hawk, which I had only seen in flight before.

Only by ignoring more flocks in the lush forests was I able to make it to the more stunted higher elevations where I easily spotted this inquisitive Eye-ringed Thistletail next to the road.

In the same habitat I found the lovely Sooty Brush-Finch to be quite common.

I wish I could have spent more time just sitting and waiting at flowers such as this showy mistletoe or this yellow-flowered Brachyotum to see what kinds of hummers were here. As it was, I spotted Great Sapphirewing, Shining Sunbeam, Tyrian Metaltail, Collared Inca, Chestnut-breasted Coronet, and Amethyst-throated Sunangel.

As I headed back to Lima, I passed through some higher elevations with even more stunted treeline woodlands. Overlooking a nice large patch of mossy Polylepis I got one nice look at an all blue Tit-like Dacnis, my first one since I birded Ecuador nearly 20 years ago. Briefly I had a dull bird which might have been one of the local targets, Olivaceous Thornbill – something to look out for next time. Then I noticed this Stripe-faced Antpitta hopping on the gravel way below me.

My last little birding stop was where a rushing stream passed right by the road, and it was little surprise to find a Torrent Duck right where one should be.

Thanks to my handy GPS I managed to navigate through the maze of Lima to return the rental car and make it to the airport in time to meet up with Steve Howell, arriving to join me on my next leg of scouting in the northern departments of San Martín and Amazonas.