From the Field
September 20:
Gavin Bieber from his recently completed tour, Alaska: Fall Migration at Gambell
Our fall tour to Gambell, with a one-day extension to Nome, just wrapped up and was as always unpredictable (and exciting). The day in Nome included a suprising female Spectacled Eider and extremely photogenic family of Red Foxes, along with throngs of staging Whimbrel and Cackling Geese, and an active Arctic Loon.
A surprise female Spectacled Eider in Nome
A beguiling Red Fox
Once on Saint Lawrence Island we (especially those who had visited the town in spring) marveled at the lush vegetation in the boneyards. Trans-Beringian migrants such as Red-throated Pipit, Arctic Warbler, and Bluethroat abounded in the patches of Arctic Wormwood.
The very lush "Boneyards..."
...in which we found Arctic Warblers
A still downy young Snowy Owl was found along the side of the mountain, and the seawatches allowed us to watch thousands of passing alcids and Short-tailed Shearwaters, often at ridiculously close range.
A very young Snowy Owl
Seawatching from the northwest tip of St Lawrence Island
The fall tour often highlights Asian passerines, perhaps more likely here than anywhere else in the accessible United States. This year we found Common Rosefinch, Siberian Chiffchaff, and Little Bunting, as well as the locally breeding White Wagtails.
Siberian Chiffchaff...
...and Little Bunting
With the generally calm and often even warm(ish) conditions it was even possible to see clear across the Bering strait to the Russian mountains of the Chukotka Peninsula!
(Thanks to Gil Ewing for the images of the Siberian Chiffchaff and Little Bunting.)
September 18:
Jake Mohmann on his just-completed tour to Arizona and Utah
Another journey through the vast and mind-bending reaches of the "Canyonland" has ended and we are catching up on sleep after all the beautiful birds and stunning scenery. Highlights were many, but sunrise at the Grand Canyon got the most votes for ‘site of the trip’.
A Grand Sunrise is usually the highlight of the tour
While crossing the Kaibab Plateau we also encountered the bird(s) of the trip. Suddenly we spotted a couple of very large birds perched by the road sitting next to "tiny" ravens. A group of California Condors was inspecting a recently dead animal waiting for the right moment to head to the ground and gorge themselves. With only around 425 of these majestic birds left in the world we felt fortunate to be in their presence.
A curious sub-adult California Condor posed for close inspection
Southwestern Utah and the Navajo Reservation both provided spectacular scenery and interesting birds like American Dipper, Northern Goshawk, and eventually good views of MacGillivray’s Warbler. Still one would be forgiven for remembering most clearly the fabulous Monument Valley.
Monument Valley mittens at sunset.
Non-avian sightings are sometimes as if not more exciting than birds, especially when we're close to such beasts as the range restricted Kaibab Squirrel and this ‘Desert’ Bighorn Sheep.
Desert Bighorn Sheep
The White Mountains of central Arizona were cool, calm, and relaxing. This peaceful setting was punctuated this year with lots of woodpeckers including great looks at two different American Three-toeds and a showy pink Lewis’s perched in the early morning sun.
American Three-toed Woodpecker
Lewis’s Woodpecker
Everyone agreed that the combination of bountiful birds and amazing scenery made the tour something very special.
Happy leader and group
September 7:
Rich Hoyer and Fabrice Schmitt on their just-concluded tour to Brazil: Marvelous Mato Grosso.
Harpy Eagle!! Run to the boat!! No need for long explanations, and the group vanished from the dining room and their cabins to gather at Cristallino’s Jungle Lodge floating deck, jumping into Sebastião’s boat. In minutes all were watching the massive Harpy Eagle perched in a tree just over a mile downriver from the lodge. This was perhaps the most exciting and unforgettable moment of our just-concluded tour to Mato Grosso – one of the “Big Three” top predators we saw.
Cristalino lunchtime surprise, a Harpy Eagle
The sight of an adult Yellow Anaconda, crossing the road in front of our bus and welcoming us into the Pantanal was a great moment of excitement too, as one must be very lucky to cross paths with that rarely seen and beautiful snake.
Yellow Anaconda
But the peak of adrenaline may have been reached during one of our boat rides in the Pantanal, when we suddenly encountered a superb Jaguar on the bank of the Cuiaba River, the first of three jaguar sightings (two different individuals) all on the same day!
A Pantanal Jaguar
This complex tour cannot not be merely summarized by just these three encounters. We traveled through completely different ecosystems – the Cerrado, the Amazonian Rainforest and the Pantanal, discovering over 500 of birds species (Hyacinth Macaw, Bare-eyed Antbird, Snow-capped Manakin, Amazonian Umbrellabird, American Pygmy Kingfisher, Bare-necked Fruitcrow, Crested Owl, and Musician Wren were among those elected by the group as favorite birds of the trip).
Sartorial Hyacinth Macaws
American Pygmy Kingfisher
But a huge part of the experience was also due to the amazing butterflies, moths, mammals (Giant and Neotropical River Otter, White-nosed Saki, Brazilian Porcupine, White-lipped Peccaries, and Southern Two-toed Sloth), reptiles, spectacular fishes, and even tailless-whipscorpions! It was a fantastic trip through the impressive Brazilian diversity.
Starry Night Cracker - a luminous butterfly
A beach party of Capybaras watching offshore mammals.
August 2:
Jon Dunn on the conclusion of his tour, Maryland and West Virginia: Birding the Civil War
Our tour this year encountered plenty of wet weather, but much of it fell in the evening, so apart from a crimp in our night birding, we were blessed with good weather on the battlefields during the day and for the most part while birding.
Our historical days were spent at Gettysburg, Antietam, Harpers Ferry and environs, and for an hour at Droop Mountain south of Hillsboro, West Virginia. We spent our first full day at Gettysburg, the site of the deadliest of all battles of the American Civil War. We covered the entire battlefield and attended well-delivered hour long Ranger talks that covered the events of each day. Much of the second day we were at Antietam, the site of the deadliest single day of the Civil War. Lee was very fortunate to avoid the destruction of his Army of Northern Virginia here, a failure as much due to McClellan’s dithering as to Lee’s skill. Our visit of the battlefield basically went from north to south, much as the action had ranged on 17 September 1862. The next morning we birded around Harpers Ferry and spent a few hours in the old historical district. Here at Harpers Ferry John Brown holed up in the Armory for several days in October of 1859. Col. Robert E. Lee, the commander of the Federal troops, eventually stormed the structure and captured him. He was hanged just a few weeks later. Here too, just prior to the battle of Anteitam, Stonewall Jackson shelled the federal garrison from the heights above, eventually resulting in the surrender of 12,500 troops, the largest single surrender of U.S. troops until Bataan in early 1942.
After leaving Harpers Ferry and heading west, most of our time was spent birding. Of course, even on the battlefields we had our binoculars and the birding at all four sites visited was good. At Gettysburg we noted Red-headed Woodpecker at Culps Hill and nearby compared Turkey and Black Vultures at Little Round Top, at Antietam we compared Field and Vesper Sparrows, and near Harpers Ferry we had a lovely singing adult male Blue Grosbeak (scarce in West Virginia) along with a scarce (for eastern West Virginia) pair of Bobolinks and a family group of Grasshopper Sparrows. Matt Orsie’s careful scouting just in advance of our tour greatly helped in finding a number of the scarcer and local species during the tour including 28 species of wood warblers, missing only (of the breeders) Nashville which is a very rare and local breeder in West Virginia. These included Blue-winged and the much scarcer Golden-winged, Mourning, Swainson’s and Cerulean. Other highlights included side-by-side Willow and Alder Flycatchers, Olive-sided Flycatcher (a rare apparent southernmost breeding outpost at Cranberry Glades), Henslow’s Sparrow, and Red Crossbill and Purple Finch. The butterflies were excellent too and we tallied some two dozen species including Pink-edged Sulphur and the beautiful Baltimore Checkerspot and Diana Fritillary.
Monument to Robert E Lee at Seminary Ridge, Gettysburg
The famed Cyclorama, the painting that captures Robert E Lee's high water mark on day 3 (Pickett's Charge)of the Gettyburg Battle.
Mourning Warbler
Alder Flycatcher
A male Diana Fritillary
July 14:
Steve Howell from his exploration of Sani Lodge in Amazonian Ecuador
We reached the lodge in time for lunch and a siesta, but not before seeing Tropical Screech-Owls roosting by the bar, plus of course the iconic Hoatzin, comical White-eared Jacamars, and the more 'conventional' White-chinned Jacamar—not bad for the first 15 minutes! The next morning at the canopy tower featured prolonged (albeit distant) scope views of a Crested Eagle, which finally flew, as Blue-and-yellow Macaws swept by, swifts circled overhead (including perhaps the first ever photos of juvenile White-chinned), with a background chorus of Sungrebes, toucans, and howler monkeys. Oh, and then there was the eye-level roosting Great Potoo all morning... A forest walk back to the lodge produced numerous other species, including Black Bushbird, Pale-tailed Barbthroat, and Brownish Twistwing, before lunch and a siesta… Ah, just another day in the Ecuadorian Amazon, at a very comfortable lodge with birds all around.
Tropical Screech-Owl
Hoatzin
White-eared Jacamar
White-chinned Jacamar
Crested Eagle
Juvenile White-chinned Swift
Great Potoo
Pale-tailed Barbthroat
June 30:
Gavin Bieber on his and Jake Mohlmann's just-concluded tour, Alaska: The Majesty of the North
We found marvelous birds and sweeping landscapes at every turn, and happily for us above average temperatures and sunshine as well. Saint Paul produced exquisite photographic opportunities for cliff nesting seabirds like Tufted Puffin....
Tufted Puffin on the St Paul Cliffs
...but also produced a slew of rarities including Tundra Bean Goose, Common Greenshank, Common Black-headed Gull, Common Cuckoo and Brambling!
Our Common Cuckoo resting in St Paul's grassy hills
Quite remarkably, Mount Denali showed itself for all of our time in the heart of Alaska, and birds such as Northern Hawk Owl certainly preformed well.
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The vastess of Denali National Park
Yet again we were favored with wonderful Northern Hawks Owls
Nome was, as ever, amazing, with point blank views of birds like Arctic Warbler and Rock Ptarmigan, endless tundrascapes with snow-capped peaks, and quite a show on the water with thousands of murres and kittiwakes feasting upon schools of spawning Candlefish.
Arctic Warbler just recently arrived and singing everywhere
A male Rock Ptarmigan
The Seward Boat trip was spectacular with Fin and Humpback Whales really putting on a show and very good sightings of Kittlitz’s Murrelets.
A close Kittlitz's Murrelet off Seward
Our post tour extension to Barrow was superlative, with continuing good weather, all four species of Eider in excellent plumage, Snowy Owls and many striking Yellow-billed Loons.
Steller's Eider along a Barrow roadside
Mammals always add to the experience in Alaska, and we found 24 species this year including this Muskox, a lone Wolf in Denali, multiple Grizzly Bear and Moose, and some remarkably agile Mountain Goats south of Anchorage.
Muskox on the rocky Nome tundra
The variety and abundance of birdlife and wildlands on this tour is just staggering; there really is no place like it.
Thanks to Steve Howell for the Steller's Eider image (the ones we saw were just like this) and to Thomas Lambertson for the Common Cuckoo image. The remaining images were take by co-leader Jake Mohlmann and myself.
June 29:
Rich Hoyer on his just-completed Oregon in Spring tour
It was a marvelous Oregon in Spring tour, with nearly picture-perfect weather (we magically managed to dodge rain showers one morning) and one memorable bird experience after another. The often elusive galliforms, usually among the most sought-after birds on the tour, performed marvelously, with a Sooty Grouse that magically appeared in the road where none had been before, a Mountain Quail that charged us, even posing for photos, and a Chukar that stood in the road as if waiting for us to appear and safeguard its passage.
Sooty Grouse
Mountain Quail
Chukar
Flammulated Owl is always a tricky bird, and we managed to see two (though one only in flight), but even the common birds made it to the short list of favorites, such as the family of Great Horned Owls perched at close range, one of the juveniles eyeing us with a 180-degree head turn, and gorgeous Western Tanagers in wonderful light.
Great Horned Owl fledgling
June 24:
James Lidster on his just-concluded tour to Mongolia
This year's Mongolia tour, our 9th to this fascinating country, was yet again amazing...from the drake Falcated Duck on the first day to a close range encounter with Black Woodpecker on the final morning. A 24-hour period in the Gobi produced a list of birds that would appear on many a bucket list including Lammergeier, Amur Falcon, Oriental Plover,
Oriental Plover
Pallas’s Sandgrouse, Siberian Rubythroat, three species of accentor, two of rosefinch, Pallas’s Grasshopper Warbler, and Wallcreeper. And just a day later we were adding to that list with Swan Goose, Pallas’s Fish Eagle, Asian Dowitcher, Relict and Pallas’s Gulls,
Relict Gull
large flocks of White-winged Terns and Demoiselle Cranes.
We were looked after from start to finish by our brilliant ground crew, not only did we get three course dinners every night, washed down with red wine and Golden Gobi beer, with only the scenery and the birds to distract us from our food, but our tents were put up for us (new tents, with beds….ok that probably doesn’t even count as camping does it?).
Dinner in the Mongolian steppe
Our tents, this year with beds!
Of course the journeys can be long, and sometimes bumpy, but then that means that it doesn’t get too crowded with tourists, all the more space to enjoy White-naped Crane
White-naped Crane
and Siberian migrants heading north like this Pallas’s Leaf Warbler.
Pallas's Leaf Warbler
Mongolia really is my idea of the perfect tour: exotic, gloriously scenic, often thrilling, surprisingly comfortable, and chock full of superb birds. Only eleven months until my next one...
,
June 10:
Jon Dunn on the conclusion of his, Gavin Bieber and Rich Hoyer's tour to Alaska: Gambell and Nome
Most of us arrived at Gambell on a foggy, rainy afternoon (Rich Hoyer, our cook, and four others arrived, thankfully, very late the same day) and we were treated to fine views of a Wood Sandpiper that had been present for a few days.
Wood Sandpiper
After more rain the winds turned to the northeast and blew very strongly for several day. Such winds are typically bad for passerine migration and they made general birding difficult but even so there were glorious moments: a male McKay's Bunting that turned up at the Northwest Point and later at the south end of the Troutman Lake was a real stunner and we were in the right place at the right time when a Tundra Bean-Goose flew over.
McKay's Bunting
At Gambell regardless of weather or wind direction there is always the show at the Point and from a wind sheltered spot we enjoyed a nearly continuous parade of water birds. Many of these are auklets (three species) and puffins, but we had three species of eiders, including lots of Steller's, several Slaty-backed and Sabine's Gulls, Arctic and Yellow-billed Loons, Emperor Geese, and both Asian stejnegeri and American deglandi White-winged Scoters, surprisingly in almost equal numbers given that this is the only location in North America where this distinctive Asian subspecies (or species) has been regularly noted. We also detected three Dovekies on the seabird nesting cliffs east of town.
Yellow-billed Loon
Once the winds finally died, some notable migrants appeared including Lesser Sand-Plover, Terek Sandpiper, two Red-necked Stints, Common House-Martin (Gavin only, it flew over our lodge!), Eurasian Skylark, and a male Northern Wheatear. Territorial Common Ringed Plovers finally arrived on 4 June.
Lesser Sand-Plover
Red-necked Stint
Certainly the two most notable birds were a "Siberian" Chiffchaff, the third or fourth North American record, found late on the 5th by Alex and Ethan Goodman, and a Dusky Thrush also found late on the 5th by Rich Hoyer. The thrush remrkably showed many (maybe all) of the characters of the nominate race, the "Nauman's Thrush," a form not yet documented with photos from North America. These images will be examined by experts to see if this might have been a pure "Nauman's" or a hybrid with Dusky.
"Siberian" Chiffchaff
Dusky (Nauman's) Thrush
We should mention that there were interesting migrants from North America as well; an Orange-crowned Warbler (Paul Lehman says it is a 2nd spring record for Gambell), a male Yellow-rumped ("Myrtle" Warbler), a White-crowned Sparrow, and a Savannah Sparrow. We note too that there was absolutely no sea ice and very little snow at Gambell, a result of a mild winter and a steadily warming climate.
In Nome we found all of the regular species we hoped to see except for Arctic Warbler which apparently had not yet arrived. Species we did see included Bristle-thighed Curlews and Bar-tailed Godwits, Aleutian Terns, nesting Gyrfalcons and Bluethroats. More uncommon species included Surfbird and Sanderling and two Northern Shrikes. A Barn Swallow was a real surprise as was an immature Ivory Gull, a species missed at Gambell, but probably the most enjoyed surprise, and for the second consecutive year, was a male Spectacled Eider, a species we had missed at Gambell.
We give thanks to Tom Lambertson for sharing his fine images of the Wood Sandpiper, McKay's Bunting, Yellow-billed Loon, Lesser Sand-Plover and Red-necked Stint, and to Rich Hoyer for his images of the "Siberian Chiffchaff and Dusky (Nauman's) Thrush.
May 30:
Jon Dunn on his just completed tour, Spring Migration in the Midwest
We encountered for the most part excellent weather and a fine variety of species, in fact nearly all of the Neotropical migrant passerines, although none were in exceptional numbers. We ended up recording 37 species of wood warblers, missing only the scarce, elusive and late Connecticut. Our 37 included Golden-winged, Mourning, Kirtland's and Swainson's, all seen exceptionally well. Other highlights included Black-billed Cuckoo, Yellow-bellied and Acadian Flycatchers, the latter recorded on the Magee Birdwalk, where scarce, Dickcissel, and Grasshopper and Henslow's Sparrows. We had excellent audibles of Chuck-will's Widow in Adams County, Ohio, and had excellent audibles and visuals of Eastern Whip-poor-will near Mio. Perhaps our most surprising sighting was a nearly all white Snowy Owl that was lingering just west of Oscoda, Michigan. Spring migration in this part of North America is not to be missed.
Bay-breasted Warbler
Golden-winged Warbler
Scarlet Tanager
Dickcissel
Upland Sandpiper
Snowy Owl