From the Field

November 3: David Fisher on his just concluded Queensland and New South Wales Australia tour

The last few days of the 2013 Australia tour, spent around Sydney, produced some great birds. A female Powerful Owl with two well grown chicks (see below) in Sydney's famous Royal National Park proved very popular, while two Superb Lyrebirds there completed the set, as the group had seen Albert's Lyrebird well a couple of days earlier at O'Reilly's. The pelagic off Sydney was amazing with hundreds of birds following the boat from the moment we left the harbour. A large flock of Short-tailed Shearatwaters chased behind us with a dozen or more albatrosses of three species mixed in--including Wandering, White-capped and Black-browed (see below). Further out, all three skuas harried the throng, while Great-winged Petrels and Wilson's Storm-petrels danced around the boat and three species of dolphin broke the waves. And our trip total just topped 400 species.

Powerful Owl juveniles

Black-browed albatross

November 2: Rich Hoyer on his just-completed tour of Southeastern Peru

Southeastern Peru might have been a bit rainier than we would have preferred this year (as has been much of southern South America these past few months), but we were prepared and made the most out of it, and many very fine bird and wildlife experiences combined with a truly superb group of participants making it hard to say goodbye. We had unforgettable views of Grass-green Tanager on our full morning in the highest cloud forest,

Grass-green Tanager

along with Golden-collared Tanager, Andean Guans, and Puna Thistletail. Hummers were spectacular this year, with two Wire-crested Thorntails at Cock of the Rock Lodge, at least five Rufous-crested Coquettes at Amazonia Lodge,

Rufous-crested Coquette

a good show of several hermit species virtually everywhere, and at least four Festive Coquettes at Manu Wildlife Center, one of which was an adult male about ready to attack a young male perched above it.

Festive Coquette ready to attack

The boat rides on the rivers and lakes were always interesting (especially with the high water one day), and none of us will ever forget the close encounter we had with a group of roosting Sand-colored Nighthawks.

Sand-colored Nighthawks

We had a great morning with ninety-eight Red-and-green Macaws at the Blanquillo clay lick – the photo below only shows a close-up of the core group.

Red-and-green Macaws

Finally, it was an enchanting morning at Machu Picchu, with swirling fog hiding and then revealing the magical ruins while Inca Wrens and a fantastic White-rumped Hawk alone were worth the steep climb up the steps.

October 31: Stuart Elsom from his ongoing tour to the Gambia

Our first few days have produced wonderful views of many stunning and sometimes difficult to see species. Heading into Brufrut Woods on our first morning the first bird we put the scope on was a brilliant male Klaas’s Cuckoo, this was followed shortly afterwards by a superb male Violet-backed Starling; in itself a rare bird for Gambia this time of year.

This theme continued at Abuko and our luck was clearly ‘in’ as we enjoyed extended views of male and female Giant Kingfisher (male below) only a few metres away from the diminutive Malachite, a male Western Bluebill at close range, several Palmnut Vultures, beautifully iridescent Violet Turacos and finally a Hamerkop gliding back and forth with huge collections of nesting material, some so large that the birds hammer-shaped head was completely obscured!

One of the treats of visiting Gambia in autumn is the opportunity to see the bishops and whydahs in their full breeding dress. The male Northern Red Bishop (below) is particularly stunning with his rather flamboyant ‘fluorescent’ orange and glossy black plumage and was one such example of this quite spectacular family. The next few days will see us head upriver as we search for bustards, sandgrouse, bee-eaters, rollers, wood-hoopoes and that quintessentially Gambian bird - the Egyptian Plover!

October 27: David Fisher from his just concluded South Australia and Northern Territory tour

Chestnut Rail

October 18: David Fisher from his ongoing South Australia and Northern Territory tour

We have just arrived in Darwin to higher than usual temperatures, but the birds are as abundent as ever. Yesterday we saw no less than 28 species of wader (some in the morning at Alice Sewage ponds before we departed the Red Centre) and the rest in the afternoon around Darwin. Highlights included Alice's first ever Sanderling, and some superb Oriental Plovers. Earlier near Alice we had wonderful encounters with the often hard-to-find Spinifex Pigeon (below). Wild Budgies were as popular as ever, while at Gluepot in South Australia Striated Grasswren (also below) took pride of place.

Spinifex Pigeon                                                                     photo: David Fisher

Striated Grass-wren                                                                                                         photo: Colin Cock

October 14: Jake Mohlmann on his recently concluded tour of N. Arizona and S. Utah

Our trip on the Colorado Plateau took place during one of the wettest seasons this region has experienced in many years. Certain places such as the Grand Canyon and Cedar Breaks National Monument had blissful weather with endless vistas, while in contrast our visit to Bryce Canyon National Park was shrouded in a humid, misty cloud at over 9,000 feet. The inclement weather still allowed us to have an intimate experience with a wild California Condor while it perched high above the Colorado River. 

California Condor (Thanks, Arizona Game and Fish)

During our Antelope Canyon tour the skies blackened and the rains pushed us quickly through.

Antelope Canyon before the rain

This rain also brought unexpected waterfalls to the parched Monument Valley, which is normally dry and dusty. 

Monument Valley in tne rain

The Navajo Nation’s migrant traps were awash with scores of Western Tanagers, McGillivray’s Warblers, and a rare for Arizona Common Grackle.  Canyon de Chelly’s ancient Anasazi ruins spoke of times past when long ago ancient Pueblo People inhabited the Colorado Plateau.

Canyon de Chelly

Some agreed our last three days in the White Mountains of Arizona were the highlight of the trip.  Gray Jays and Townsend’s Warblers roamed the abundant coniferous forests that lined the wispy grassland meadows that harbored Eastern and Western Meadowlarks and countless American Kestrels. 

Townsend's Warbler (Thanks Jon Feenstra)

The last day’s drive back is always exciting, and this year produced a stunning Painted Redstart, as well as extended looks at the normally reclusive Yellow-breasted Chat.  

October 7: Rich Hoyer from his second Marvelous Mato Grosso Brazil tour

Leading almost exactly the same tour twice in succession was fascinating. In the tropics few birds have regular routines, so birding the same place two days in a row is interesting enough; repeating it two or three weeks later is like birding in a totally different area. This Marvelous Mato Grosso tour started in the Chapada dos Guimarães as did the first, but three weeks later and in the absence of a late and brutal cold front. As a result, nightjars were out in abundance, for example, and a drive down the entrance road resulted in our sighting as many at 15 Little Nightjars, a few Common Pauraque, and a Scissor-tailed Nightjar. The flowers by our rooms were buzzing with several species of hummingbird, including this White-vented Violetear. 

As we departed the Chapada, we made a quick roadside stop hoping for who-knows-what and were treated to a thrilling encounter when two Bat Falcons began screaming and diving upon a soaring (Amazonian) White Hawk.

A short week in the Amazonian forests of Cristalino Jungle Lodge was a rich experience, yet utterly different than the last one. The fruiting tree by Tower II had been perfectly snapped off at mid-height by a storm the day after we arrived, but we were instead treated to this confiding Brown-banded Puffbird.

The boat rides on the Cristalino River were a relished treat, and here we had good views of both caiman species, here a Cuvier’s Dwarf Caiman.

The variety of birds and wildlife here was overwhelming at times, even if a challenge to see well. Then came our three full days in the Pantanal where we added a lifetime of sightings, abundant birds and animals, and all easy to see. Jabirus are a hallmark species of the region (nowhere else are they so common), and we saw all kinds of nesting activity, from nest with young and adults preparing for raising a new family.

And then of course was the utter highlight – the now almost routine boat ride on the Cuiabá River where Jaguar sightings have become an expected thing. Not every sighting is the same, and this time we were treated to an energetic young male (scuffed up from a recent fight it seemed) rolling around in the brush and spraying a tree, then moving on to stalk potential prey in the riverside grass.

September 19: Steve Rooke on his just-completed tour of South Africa

Maybe it is because I've led the South Africa tour so many times - this one was my 18th - that many of the most memorable moments from our tour seemed very familiar to me.  Familiar…yes...but still and always (I hope) breathtaking: the hordes of Namaqua and Burchell's Sandgrouse dropping into a desert waterhole; a pride of Kalahari Lions lazing on the top of a red dune; the stark and beautiful landscape of Bushmanland with its myriad of larks (we logged 16 species); and the shy but majestic Ludwig's Bustards. Two real classics were the Namaqualand countryside washed with a mind-boggling palette of wild flowers and the thousands of Cape Gannets jostling for nesting space at the famous Lambert's Bay colony, and who can forget the coastal fynbos of the west coast complete with quartering Black Harriers, and the the vast open Karoo, also a mass of spring flowers, and home to some rare endemic birds. Finally, and of course, the Cape Peninsular presented a never ending array from Cape Rockjumper, a Cape Sugarbird atop a flowering Protea, a Cape Grassbird reeling out song from its fynbos home, the beautiful landscape and birds of Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, to an exceptional pelagic teeming with albatrosses, shearwaters, and petrels.

Images below WINGS South Africa archives.

Namaqua (mostly) and Burchell's Sandgrouse

Spike-heeled Lar

Cape gannets

A Namaqualand wild flower display

The endemic Cape Rockjumper

Seabirds swarming behind a trawler

September 18: Rich Hoyer on the last week of his Mato Grosso, Brazil tour

Our final week in Mato Grosso was in the Amazonian Rainforest in the comfort of Cristalino Jungle Lodge, and we continued to have some great sightings. One of the benefits of there being a large crew of local guides is that they were constantly finding things for us. Such as on our first day, when Stephen excitedly announced that the tree cavity he had been eyeing every day for a month suddenly had a Tawny-bellied Screech-Owl sitting at it! It continued to be present for just a couple hours every day. Then on our second day, Fininho spotted a Crested Owl only 25 yards away from the screech-owl, and it was visible every other day during our stay. What lucky finds – while most birders at least hear the first species, very few ever get to see either of these owls here. We did a lot of difficult birding from forest trails, but in the end it always paid off, especially when we heard the nearly mythical Scaled Ground-Cuckoo singing from a dense thicket, and further searching resulted in a group of nine Dark-winged Trumpeters (essentially a small rainforest-dwelling crane) that allowed amazingly close approach. Some of our most enjoyable time was spent on the two canopy towers, the new one featuring a fruiting tree right next to it that proved popular for cotingas and aracaris, such as the Red-necked Aracari pictured below, but perhaps the bird of the tour that created the most excitement was a Harpy Eagle that perched for about 20 minutes in a tree about 800 yards away. The other tower contrasted with only a few close birds but startlingly close White-cheeked Spider Monkeys (photo below), as well as White-nosed Bearded Sakis and Tufted Capuchins. We also saw lots of birds right around the lodge clearing, such as the low-flying King Vulture in the photo below, and later in the week a lasting morning drizzle forced us to enjoy roving groups of aracaris, tanagers, migrating swifts and Fork-tailed Flycatchers, and a fantastic male Amazonian Umbrellabird. Other groups of animals kept us looking, such as toads, two species of caimans, interesting beetles and mantises, the clouds of butterflies on the river bank, and some gorgeous moths such as the Sematura species (photo below) that landed on a participant’s jacket one evening.

Tawny-bellied Screech-Owl

Crested Owl

Dark-winged Trumpeter

Red-necked Aracari

White-cheeked Spider Monkey

King Vulture

Sematura Moth

September 11: Susan Myers on the last days of the Borneo tour

Danum Valley is arguably the best place to bird in Asia and our last stop on the Borneo tour lived up to expectations and then some. Our first day in the field was the best of the tour so far, and that's saying a lot! We spent the morning birding along the entrance road; as we walked we were serenaded by troops of calling Bornean Gibbons and honking Rhinoceros Hornbills. One of the first birds we encountered was the endemic Black-throated Wren-Babbler, a small group charmed us with their noisy antics and allowed fabulous views. As we continued we found handsome Raffle's Malkohas, cute Black-and-yellow Broadbills, the breathtaking Red-backed Dwarf-Kingfisher and many other of the captivating Asian specialities. Later in the morning we heard a distinctive whistle - we were hearing Banded Pitta, one of the world's most beautiful birds. With a bit of patience and some luck we all soon had this stunner in the binoculars and we were one very happy group of birders! We soon had a perched White-fronted Falconet, the world's smallest raptor and another great endemic. Here in the tallest tropical rainforest we have access to a fabulous and long canopy walkway that allows us access to the treetops and bird's eye views of some of the more elusive inhabitants. We watched Green Ioras feeding in the foliage, Scarlet-rumped Trogons calling quietly from their perches and Orange-backed Woodpeckers scouring the tree trunks. 

Over the next days there was as much excitement as the previous one with wild Orang Utans encountered on a couple of occasions, including a mother with a baby, a bunch of wonderful woodpeckers, a cooperative Green Broadbill - the green has to be seen to be believed, and too many more to mention. The biggest thrill came early on our second day though, starting with some strange strangulated calls heard off in the forest. As the source of the vocalizations came closer we soon found ourselves looking at a pair of what must be one of the strangest of birds, the legendary and enigmatic Bornean Bristlehead! The forests here hold many secrets, patience and persistence are a requirement of those who want to discover them but you WILL be rewarded. 

Borneo Rainforest Lodge

Banded Pitta

Scarlet-rumped Trogon

Orang Utans