From the Field
March 12:
Paul Holt from his on-going tour, China: Yunnan Province
We're just five days into our Yunnan tour in south-westernmost China. The weather's been great (as you'd expect at this time of year) and we're just moving on from Yingjiang to the historic town of Tengchong nestled amid an attractive volcanic region. Highlights around Ruili, a thriving town on the China-Myanmar border, included several Stripe-breasted Woodpeckers, two Grey-bellied Wren Babblers, a pair of vociferous Spot-throated Babblers, several gorgeous Scarlet-faced Liocichlas, both Pale-billed and Rufous-headed Parrotbills, Black-breasted Thrush and prolonged looks at a White-gorgeted Flycatcher while star birds near Yingjiang included great looks at three species of hornbill, Collared Myna and a male Grey Peacock-pheasant that we all watched for six minutes! We've also stumbled across Chinese rarities such as an adult Rufous-bellied Hawk-eagle, a party of five Great Slaty Woodpeckers, a female Blossom-headed Parakeet and a solitary Yellow-vented Flowerpecker...
More in a few days...there's been a cooperative Gould's Shortwing at Baihualing where we'll be for three nights from midday tomorrow...
Scarlet-faced Liocichla
Pale-billed Parrotbill
Grey Peacock-pheasant
March 11:
Gavin Bieber on his just-completed tour, Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico is a gem of an island, known for its excellent weather, perfect Caribbean beaches, and fine local seafood. it's also an excellent island for the visiting naturalist and over the course of our five days we encountered 16 of the 17 island endemics (plus two more that will surely be split soon) including the dazzling Puerto Rican Woodpecker, jewel-like Puerto Rican Tody ("bird of the trip" for the 8th straight year) and the perky little Adelaide’s Warbler. Our attention also wandered to the admittedly more drab Caribbean Elaenia, showy species of butterflies like the splendid Malachite, and to several species of sprightly lizards. The long-staying lone American Flamingo, dubbed “Mr. Pinky” showed well for us again this year, and we found some truly scarce species such as Masked Duck, Limpkin and American Avocet among some 126 species overall.
The striking Puerto Rican Woodpecker
Puerto Rican Tody, everyone's favorite
One of Puerto Rico's two endemic warblers, the Adelaides's
Caribbean Elania
The brilliant Malachite
Lonely "Mr Pinky"
March 10:
Fabrice Schmitt and Steve Howell with a brief note on their pre-cruise tour to Iguazú Falls.
The first day was spent in the bird-rich Ceibas area, home to the impressive Scimitar-biled Woodcreeper, before a short flight north to Iguazú, on the border with Brazil.
l
Our visit to the falls was marked by rainy weather, which kept the weather pleasantly cool, the numbers of other tourists pleasantly low, and the volume of water spectacularly high.
Here we are in the mist.
A group of Great Dusky Swifts, keeping out of the rain.
Toco Toucans fell at the other end of the spectrum from the swarms of swirling swifts.
Our first afternoon in Iguazú, this spectacular Swallow-tailed Hummingbird posed in sunlight...
As did this roosting Common Potoo near our hotel, on the morning we flew back to board the ship for our cruise and our two week dventure around the tip of South America.
March 2:
Fabrice Schmitt on his just-concluded tour, Colombia: The Santa Marta Mountains
How can one find a better way to escape the boreal winter than spending a week in the tropics, enjoying wonderful Caribbean food, staying in fantastic lodges, and seeing around 300 birds species? Well..., I'm not sure you can.
A sunset at El Dorado Lodge
The Sierra Nevada Cordillera and the Guajira Peninsula are home to an amazing list of restricted-range species, and we had excellent views of (just to name a few…) Black-fronted Wood-Quail, White-whiskered Spinetail, Chestnut Piculet, Vermilion Cardinal, White-tailed Starfrontlet, Orinocan Saltator, White-lored Warbler, Black-backed Antshrike and a long list of “Santa Marta” species, such as SM Screech-owl, SM Blossomcrown, SM Parakeet, SM Antbird, SM Tapaculo,SM Foliage-gleaner, and SM Brushfinch!
The superb White-tailed Starfronlet
Black-billed Wood-Quail enticed from their forest retreat
Beside these very local species, we also encountered a brilliant Red-billed Scythebill, Black-and-white Owls on their day roost, lovely Blue-naped Chlorophonia coming to the fruit feeders, the charismatic Russet-throated Puffbird, colorful Keel-billed Toucans, and a superb male of Golden-breasted Fruiteater, among many others!
The handsomeRusset-throated Puffbird
A party of conversing Keel-billed Toucans
A curious Golden-breasted Fruiteater
In addition to the birds we found endless pleasure in a huge selection of butterflies and moths, nice reptiles including good views of Green Iguana, and mammals such as Colombian Howler and Red-tailed Squirrel.
Just one of many spectacular butterflies
Dots and stripes work well together on this small lizard with a long name, Cnemidophorus arenivagus
The tour has great accommodations, some of them with amazing hummingbird feeders attracting literally hundreds of these extraordinary birds.
Some of the hummingird feeders were tumultuous
Last but definitely not least the Caribbean food presented to us was simply outstanding.
February 27:
Steve Howell on the conclusion of his tour, Mexico: Colima and Jalisco
This region always impresses with its avian diversity, and finding over 300 species in a week of warm and sunny ‘mid-winter’ weather is hard to beat, plus great scenery, delicious food, and friendly people everywhere—I’m ready to head back right now!
Birds ranged from numerous northern migrants, such as this Louisiana Waterthrush...
To resident endemics, like this unmistakable Red Warbler,
And a very obliging Happy Wren.
Our birding sites included quiet tropical canyons...,
And of course the forested slopes of the active Fuego Volcano,
Where we had great views of Elegant Trogon...
And this point-blank singing Canyon Wren.
Seekers of subtlety enjoyed this non-singing Botteri’s Sparrow
And, on our last afternoon, the poorly known White-throated Flycatcher, one of 10 species of Empidonax flycatchers possible on the route!
February 25:
Jake Mohlmann on his and Evan Obercian's just-completed tour, Texas: The Rio Grande Valley
Over the last week, the lower Rio Grand Valley of Texas produced many amazing birds. Common residents like Green Jay, Altamira Oriole, and Plain Chachalacas were seen daily at the many feeder arrangements scattered throughout this region. Less common were both Green and Ringed Kiingfishers seen through the fog at Santa Ana NWR; an ultra-cooperative Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet at Bentsen State Park; and the pair of White-collared Seedeaters which we watched through scopes at Salineño. This winter was one of those years that everyone hopes for when heading to the "Valley as Mexican vagrants were spread all over our planned route allowing multiple opportunities for some of them. This list included Northern Jacana, Blue Bunting, and Crimson-collared Grosbeak. From the coast to the desert every habitat was covered by our intrepid participants, and somehow we managed to scrape together an amazing 220 species of birds! This of course included our extension for Whooping Cranes where our boating adventure yielded at least 10 of these emblematic birds.
Ringed Kingfisher in the fog
A particularly accommodating Northern Beardless Tyrannulet
A female or young male Crimson-collared Grosbeak
A magnificent Whooping Crane
February 17:
Jon Feenstra on his just-completed tour, Ecuador: Mindo and the Northwest Andes
“Maria! Venga!” and somehow, impossibly, a Giant Antpitta comes bouncing out of the dark undergrowth of the forest, gobbles up some worms, and poses for a cluster of birders. That was, of course, a special moment, but only one of many on our week of birding all sorts of woodland habitats from high elevation to low, some with antpittas, though most without, but all touched by Ecuador’s signature diversity and short distances between epic birding experiences. Though the antpittas were hard to beat, we had our fair share of classic cloud-forest birds including Plate-billed Mountain-Toucan, Hooded, Scarlet-bellied, Blue-winged, Black-chested and Black-chinned Mountain-Tanagers, and thirty-nine species of hummingbirds from the ridiculous Sword-billed Hummingbird to the feisty little Booted Rackettails. Our week was certainly filled with color.
Giant Antpitta (and the back of Angel Paz's head)
Overlooking Ecuadorian Cloud Forest
Plate-billed Mountain-Toucan
Orange-breasted Fruiteater
Our group under the Cock-of-the Rock statue outside of Mindo...
...and practicing 'civilized' birding at Mirador del Rio Blanco
February 14:
Steve Howell from his ongoing tour, Mexico: Colima and Jalisco
We got off to a great start the first morning when a pair of Lilac-crowned Parrots decided to land in a tree right above us, bathed in the early sunlight. An obliging Flammulated Flycatcher and Red-breasted Chat were other highlights, along with stunning Orange-breasted Buntings and Citreoline Trogons. After a siesta we enjoyed Ridgway’s Rail and Mangrove Warbler, the former split recently, the latter not yet ‘officially’ split. And now off to the volcanoes and a whole suite of different birds.
One of the Lilac-crowned Parrots that landed above us—you can even see the lilac crown!
The enigmatic Flammulated Flycatcher showed very well...
...as did this ‘buff-breasted’ (female) Red-breasted Chat, formerly a warbler, now a bunting...
...and a handsome male Mangrove Warbler, split by most people, still lumped with Yellow Warbler by others.
February 11:
Rich Hoyer on his just-completed tour, Peru: The Cloud Forests of the Rio Mayo and Abra Patricia
What a wonderful tour we had to north-central Peru! With a super, convivial group and fantastic birding throughout, the only downside was that the time passed so quickly. We started our first evening with a surprise Mottled Owl (the rarer Amazonian form with a radically different song, surely to be split as a species from the northern one). As a write-in on our list, it was a harbinger of what was to come – a clean sweep of all the remaining owls on the list, making for five heard and five seen. A very cooperative Cinnamon Screech-Owl was a high-quality consolation prize for those who missed the Long-whiskered Owlet the first time. Thankfully the latter was equally cooperative on our second attempt for this tiny rarity. A Stygian Owl on a roost was a stroke of luck, thanks to a local park guard who showed it to us.
Mottled Owl of the very different sounding Amazonian population
The tiny and highly prized Long-whiskered Owlet Image: Ken Havard
Stygian Owl: Sometimes it's better to be lucky.
Highlights from highway stops on our way to and from the Owlet Lodge were the world’s easiest Oilbirds, with two birds brooding a chick in plain sight; a Green-and-rufous Kingfisher exactly where we had one two years ago, an unusual find so close to a busy highway and visible while standing on terra firma; Ornate Flycatchers in plain sight and building a nest; and the monotypic Black-capped Donacobius in a grassy clearing in hilly cloud forest. Up at the owlet lodge we enjoyed how colorful some of the tiny tyrant-flycatchers can be, especially the super confiding Johnson’s Tody-Tyrant. A Maroon-chested Ground-Dove was one of the top highlights there: this rarely seen skulker of cloud forests was a lifer for everyone, including the leader and was clearly taking advantage of the big patches of seeding bamboo in the area, with many Slaty Finches nibbling overhead.
The tiny, confiding and handsome Johnson's Tody-Tyrant
Top honors for most-voted favorite bird of the tour had to go to the Marvelous Spatuletail, and we are so grateful to Santos Montenegro and the donors who have made the Huembo Reserve and its feeders possible. This stunning hummer was one of forty-five species we saw in just nine days of birding, and two new feeding stations made for a total of seven wonderful experiences (and an eighth is in the making, with birds just starting to come to the feeders, promising an even greater list in the future). Other hummingbird highlights worth mentioning were a briefly seen but thrilling Napo Sabrewing and several utterly adorable Rufous-crested Coquettes.
Marvelous...just Marvelous Image: Ken Havard
Original punk: Rufous-crested Coquette
The natural history of the region was also spectacular – three species of monkey, including the megarare Yellow-tailed Woolly Monkey; a gorgeous Three-striped Poison Frog on our first day; countless blooming orchids, including one by the trail that smelled something like chocolate liqueur mixed with Chanel No. 5. as well as a “captive” blooming Phragmipedium kovachii; and innumerable moths at the lights each night, from huge silk moths, to tiny emeralds, and some really colorful tiger moths.
The stunning Three-striped Poison Frog
A tiger moth: In the cloud forests of Peru, beauty is everywhere...
February 7:
Jake Mohlmann on his just-completed winter tour of Southeast Arizona
The week was much colder than usual with snow and ice.
The Huachuca Mountains were lovely with their snowy coat
It reached a low of eight degrees one morning, which turned our courtyard fountain into an ice sculpture!
Brrrrrr.....
But this made our five nights of amazing meals and top-notch comfort even more delightful.
Casa de San Pedro is a superb place to come home to after a chilly day in the field
Despite the frigid temperatures and snowy conditions the birds performed famously. We began by looking for a very rare visitor to North America and successfully connected with a Rufous-backed Robin that ended up feeding at our feet!
Rufous-backed Robin at (almost) arm's length
An amazing 21 species of sparrows were seen well including the range-restricted Rufous-winged, fleet-footed Sagebrush, and often unseen Fox Sparrow.
A handsome "Red" Fox Sparrow, not often seen in southeastern Arizona
The Patagonia area was surveyed through intermittent snow squalls that did not seem to effect bird activity one bit. On the contrary, the birds seemed to be low down and easily viewed including close-ups of several Wilson’s Snipe, Cassin’s and Plumbeous Vireos, and our exciting find of several Black-capped Gnatcatchers. Perhaps the highlight of the tour for some was when our host at Casa de San Pedro spotted two male Montezuma Quail feeding 20 feet from where we were having breakfast, only the second time in 10 years these beauties have been seen at our lodge!
Montezuema Quail from our breakfast window, perhaps driven to our feeders by the cold and snow.
Portal is a must-see for any visiting birder to southeast Arizona and it didn’t disappoint. Cave Creek Canyon produced Blue-throated Hummingbird, Arizona Woodpecker, and a pair of Mexican Chickadees. Six distinct regions were explored and produced and amazing141 species of birds…not bad for the middle of winter!