From the Field
June 10: Susan Myers from her ongoing tour of the Philippines
As we near the end of our Philippines tour we find ourselves on the island of Palawan, looking for a lovely bunch of birds peculiar to the island. High on everyone’s want list is the Palawan Peacock-Pheasant. This small exotic jewel of a bird is normally an exceptionally shy denizen of the deep forest but over the last decade or so we birders have been blessed with a particular individual bird who has become quite habituated and allowed so many of us to marvel at his undoubted beauty! if you think I might be prone to hyperbole just look at this photo, below.
Throughout our tour we’ve enjoyed fabulous rain-free weather - albeit a little on the hot side - and had some exceptionally fine birding. Highlights have been many but the real standouts have been the always-gorgeous Steere’s or Azure-breasted Pitta, which despite putting up a little bit of a fight showed beautifully in the end; and a last minute reprieve with the magnificent Great Philippine Eagle, surely one of the most magnificent birds in the world! And what superb views! For me personally, I always find this bird incredibly thrilling. On top of these we’ve seen a fine collection of kingfishers, including the gorgeous Silvery Kingfisher; parrots such as the Blue-headed Racquet-tail; and many other of the wonderful Philippine endemics - Philippine Trogon, White-eared Brown-Dove, Red-crested Malkoha, Rufous Hornbill, Philippine Falconet, Apo Myna and many, many more.
June 3: Jon Dunn and Gavin Bieber from their ongoing tour of Gambell
We're in our first full day on Gambell and it's full of birds - well with alcids passing at the rate of tens of thousands an hour Gambell is always full of birds - but today there were Asian birds as well sprinkled here and there. We began with a Eurasian Whimbrel (variegatus) and a Eurasian Common Tern (longipennis) and a Eurasian Green-winged Teal (crecca) - these three distinctive races (at least at present) of North American species - followed by a Terek Sandpiper and a cuckoo, most likely Common but certain separation by plumage from Oriental is problematic. Since things appear to be happening, we're heading out again....
Terek Sandpiper - Dave Mackay, High Lonesome
Common <?> Cuckoo - David Mackay, High Lonsome
May 26: Paul Holt on his just-concluded tour to the Beidaihe and Happy Island, China
We've been doing tours to Beidaihe and Happy Island, probababy East Asia's most easily accessed premier migration site, for 20 years and it still produces surprises. This year's highlights included eight Reed Parrotbills (arguably the world's most attractive parrotbill) and great looks at a phenomenal array of shorebirds including three Nordmann's Greenshank, over 140 Asian Dowitchers, 4000 Great Knot, 1525 Broad-billed Sandpipers and a Long-billed Plover. In addition we saw an impressive variety of northbound Siberian migrants such as Siberian Thrush, Siberian Rubythroat and Pechora Pipit; an array of Chinese specialities that included eight different Green-backed Flycatchers and several encounters with both Grey-sided and Chinese Thrushes; and globally threatened species such as Chinese Egret, Japanese Waxwing and Yellow-breasted Bunting. We also found a Kamchatka Warbler, a new bird for east China's Hebei province, and even found time to take in the Great Wall.
Reed Parrotbill
Asian Dowitcher
Green-backed Flycatcher
Amur Falcon female
May 13: Gavin Bieber on his just-concluded tour of South Florida
South Florida may conjure up images of sandy crowded beaches, traffic, and Cuban food, but for the visiting naturalist it offers so much more. Our 2014 tour just wrapped up combining the best of the Keys, Dry Tortugas, Greater Miami, the Everglades and the Southwest coast of this dynamic state. From the approachable endemic Florida Scrub-Jays and portly Gopher Tortoises of the arid interior pine forests, to hordes of wading birds in the cypress swamps and backwaters of South Florida, there were birds at every turn. This year we were treated to unparalleled views of Purple Gallinule and Shiny Cowbird in the Everglades, an excellent visit to the Keys and Tortugas that produced nearly all of our target birds (including Mangrove Cuckoo), and even a Caribbean stray in the form of a LaSagra's Flycatcher! I look forward to the tour every year, with its great combination of migration, an interesting suite of local specialities, and the chance for a rarity or two; and this year certainly did not disappoint!
Florida Scrub-Jay
Gopher Tortoise
Egrets in a drainage canal - a Florida scene
Purple Gallinule
Shiny Cowbirds
La Sagra's Flycatcher
May 13: Steve Rooke from his on-going tour of Central Asia
We had a brilliant day today, birding in the hills south of Samarkand, Uzbekistan. There were stunning Red-headed Buntings everywhere (below), as well as the special local birds. In fact, White-throated Robin, Upcher's Warbler, Eastern Orphean Warbler, Eastern Rock Nuthatch, Hume's Short-toed Lark (below), Finsch's Wheatear - all lined up nicely for us. And with them there were Rollers (European, below) and Turkestan Shrikes to drool over, plus a constant stream of European Bee-eaters and Rose-coloured Starling passing overhead.
Red-headed Bunting
Hume's Short-toed Lark
European Roller
May 12: Paul Lehman on his just-completed cruise from San Diego to Vancouver
Our repositioning cruise aboard Holland America's "Zuiderdam" from 6-9 May produced a great Pterodroma petrel show, with 300+ Cook's, 5 Hawaiians, and 26 Murphy's. On one day, groups of Cook's were in view for four hours straight! Also 2 Laysan Albatrosses, lots of Black-footed Albatrosses and Leach's Storm-Petrels, and smaller numbers of Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels and Long-tailed Jaegers. And all while in great comfort. Thanks to Curtis Marantz for the images.
Murphy's Petrel
Laysan Albatross
Cook's Petrel
May 5: Fabrice Schmitt on his just-concluded scouting trip to the Santa Marta region of Colombia
I just spent the last few weeks scouting the stunning Sierra Nevada and the Guajira Peninsula for the forthcoming March 2015 WINGS tour to Santa Marta. The endemism in the Sierra Nevada is impressive, and most of the bird names begin with “Santa Marta” or “Sierra Nevada”: Brush-Finch, Warbler, Screech-owl, Antpitta, Foliage-gleaner, Woodstar, Tapaculo, etc. The semi-arid Guajira Peninsula offers a good contrast to the tropical forest found in the Sierra Nevada; my personal favorites include the Chestnut Piculet and the “punk like” Cotton-top Tamarin!! I am now back home, finalizing the details for that Santa Marta tour details of which will appear soon on the WINGS website.
The Sierra Nevada
Santa Marta Brush-Finch
Santa Marta Screech-Owl
Santa Marta Antpitta
Chstnut Piculet
Cotton-top Tamarin
May 2: Steve Howell from the recently completed Melanesian Odyssey Cruise
This one-off voyage exceeded all expectations and was a true expedition into the unknown. Starting with Fiji Petrel, one of very few at-sea photos ever taken of this recently rediscovered species (below), and ending with Vanikoro Monarch (never before seen by a birding group), we focused on remote island outposts rarely or never before visited by tourists. Landbird highlights included such little-known species as Vanuatu Megapode (below), Royal Parrotfinch, the endearing Ogea Monarch (below), and the poorly known Vanikoro White-eye (described to science in 2008). Other at-sea highlights included the little-known Vanuatu Petrel (below; described in 2001) and Magnificent Petrel (described in 2010), a great diversity of flyingfish (a few below), gaudy flying squid (below), an apparently undescribed (but distinctive) species of beaked whale, and snorkeling with a Dugong!
Fiji Petrel
Vanuatu Megapode
Ogea Monarch
Vanuatu Petrel
Blue Bandwing
Large Pinkwing
Leopardwing
flying squid
April 24: Paul Holt from his on-going tour of Taiwan
Gorgeous weather certainly helps - and we've had just that during our current jaunt around Taiwan. We're just five days in to the Taiwan tour and have already seen all bar one of this fabulous island's 24 endemics. We've all had several great looks at Swinhoe's Pheasant, have all seen the country's national bird Mikado Pheasant, have all seen what are often the two most difficult of the endemics Taiwan Partridge and Taiwan Barwing and are all having a ball. Add to these numerous other great birds such as Collared Bush-Robin, Golden Parrotbill and Malayan Night Heron, an inordinate supply of good food and lots of laughs, and its difficult to believe that we've barely started...
Swinhoe's Pheasant
Taiwan Partridge
Collared Bush-Robin
Malayan Night-Heron
April 23: Rich Hoyer on his just-completed tour to Jamaica
We had a delightful week of birding and natural history in Jamaica with everyone getting on the birds in record time and many spare moments left over to enjoy the butterflies, dragonflies, and the many other interesting animals and plants of the island.
On our first, very relaxed morning (you can't hurry anything on island time), we watched a Black-crowned Night-Heron catch a small Atlantic Bumper from the anchor rope of a yacht by the breakfast restaurant overlooking Kingston Harbor.
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Later that day we were delighted by a group of four White-tailed Tropicbirds investigating their cliff nests, followed by an authentic Jamaican lunch at a jerk centre. We didn't actually see any endemic birds until we arrived in the habitat at about 1:45 p.m., where we instantly saw a pair of the adorable Jamaican Tody.
Jamaican Tody
Then the endemics began showering upon us. By less than 24 hours later, we had seen 25 of the 27 endemics while birding the exact same 6 km of road, with the exception of the Jamaican Owl, which was only a short walk from our delicious dinner, expertly cooked in our villa by Clover and Andrea of Goblin Hill. They also made our breakfast for us, overlooking the San San lagoon below.
The final four days of the tour were spent getting better views of everything as well as those final two endemics (Jamaican Pewee and Blue Mountain Vireo were added on Day 3), seeing nearly every possible additional subspecies, and boosting the list with migrant warblers and water birds. Highlights in the latter categories were three new species for the long-time cumulative list: Forster's and Common Terns, as well as group of four Blue Grosbeaks, an extremely rare visitor to the island. We also had time to photograph any and all bugs we saw, a highlight being the gorgeous metalmark-like moth on the lampshade at Marshall's Pen, which we eventually identified after consulting the 1994 paper revising the genus: the endemic and little-known Phrygionis sumptuosaria.
Phrygionis sumptuosaria
Of course no Jamaica tour summary would be complete without mentioning the "Doctor Bird."
Red-billed Streamertail, with Black-billed Streamertail better known as Jamaica's Doctor Birds