From the Field

August 28: Rich Hoyer from Cristalino Jungle Lodge, Brazil #2

Cristalino Jungle Lodge continues to be amazing every day. Each group that comes and goes has some fantastic highlight, then the next day something great shows up, and we wish they had stayed just a couple more days longer. Most people are here as ecotourists and stay for just four or five nights – and they have a great time. A few wise birding groups are here for six, and they see more. But I'm here for 2 months, and I know that even that just isn't enough time – at least for me. I think a good length for a birding tour here is 9 nights – that way one can see all the trails and revisit them at different times of day. Even the small lodge clearing is different at every hour, every day. Yesterday's highlight was flushing this Zigzag Heron (see below) from right in front of the lodge's dining hall, the first one this season. I've been really enjoying the times we drift slowly down the Cristalino River with no motor (photo below). This Capped Heron and the Green-and-rufous Kingfisher were from a couple days ago.

August 22: James Lidster from the Sunbird booth at the just completed British Bird Fair

August 19: Jon Dunn on his just concluded tour of southeastern Arizona

Southeastern Arizona’s monsoons were in full swing bringing birdsong to the grasslands and a general explosion of life.  Most of the summer visitors were still present, including brilliant nesting Elegant Trogons in Huachuca Canyon, and fall migrants from much farther north were in evidence as well.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many hummingbirds (and paradoxically as few butterflies) as this August, especially in the Chiricahuas.   We saw 13 species overall, including Berylline and about 10 Lucifers, far more than I’d seen previously.  Adult male Rufous and two adult male Allen’s were surprising to me this late in the summer, and Calliope Hummingbirds were actually common in the Chiricahuas with some 40 (!) estimated on one day.  I suspect the combination of drought and the summer’s fires were responsible for the feeder concentrations. Rarities included an elusive Aztec Thrush up Madera Canyon that eventually performed brilliantly for some of us, and a light morph Short-tailed Hawk at Ramsey Canyon.  Perhaps most appreciated were a family group of Montezuma Quail in the Chiricahuas, the male initially perched up on a rock right next to the road while the female and half grown youngsters were frozen in the grass, almost undetectable thanks to their cryptic plumage.  Eventually they crept away, the young scurrying after their parents.

August 16: Rich Hoyer from Cristalino Jungle Lodge, Brazil

After the first of nine weeks I will spend here at Cristalino Jungle Lodge, I'm having a hard time keeping up my log of daily sightings, labeling my photos, and editing my sound recordings. Every day has so many interesting sightings, I'm almost forced to not go out and sit at the computer instead! On my first afternoon, just a few yards down the trail behind Bungalow 10, I stopped to look at the almost countless butterflies fluttering afoot when I was distracted by the branches shaking above. I then spent the next 20 minutes watching a large troop of White-whiskered Spider Monkeys (see photo below) before I found a mixed flock with Red-necked Woodpecker, Long-billed Gnatwren, and Gray-chested Greenlet foraging in a low vine tangle. But since the very next morning, I've been guiding clients of the lodge to all the various destinations nearby, such as the two 50-meter towers to view the canopy, to the rocky hill known as the Serra (where we saw the Long-billed Starthroat below as well as Festive Coquette and several other hummers), or for boating down the Cristalino River where Sunbitterns (below) are daily sightings. We've even strolled the trails at night a couple times, seeing Little Nightjar, Great Potoo, and other interesting animals such as the Mitred Toad (below). There should be about two more weeks left before we start seeing occasional afternoon downpours that signal the coming rainy season, an event we all look forward to.

August 13: Jon Dunn from his Arizona tour - Part 2

The Huachucas and vicinity have been full of hummers. Migrants have included a number of brilliant adult male Rufous, a single adult male Allen's, and frequent Calliopes with five today including several adult males. The four Lucifer Hummingbirds, three of which were adult males, were almost certainly local summer residents. Our hike up Sawmill Canyon revealed several Buff-breasted Flycatchers as well as a Greater Short-horned Lizard and later we had outstanding views of a pair of Elegant Trogons bringing in food to nestlings in a sycamore cavity. An unattached male just up canyon singing away, much of the time on a conspicuous perch, was perfect accompanyment. We're off for the Sulphur Springs Valley and the Chiricahuas tomorrow. (Allen's Hummingbird image by Steve Howell)

August 11: Jon Dunn from his Arizona tour

Aztec Thrush and Tiger Rattlesnake were spectacular bits of the day although at opposite ends of the natural spectrum. Add in Elegant Trogon, Berylline Hummingbird and a spectacular monsoon thunderstorm and you have late summer Southeast Arizona at its best. (Thrush photo by Steve Howell from Colima)

August 1: Jon Feenstra on his "update" scouting for his Ecuador: The Eastern Foothills of the Andes tour

We've covered a huge range of elevation from the highest parts of Papallacta pass at about 15000 feet (below) to about 3500 feet in the lower foothills on the edge of the Amazon. We've had great birds along the way with some highlights like Andean Gull (below), Bicolored Antvireo, White-chinned Swift, and a spectacular hummingbird display at Wildsumaco lodge today with 17 species coming to the feeders including numerous Napo Sabrewing (below), Lazuline Sabrewing, White-tailed Hillstar, and Gould's Jewelfront.

July 27: Steve Howell and Jon Feenstra report on their scouting of a new lodge in Amazonian Ecuador - Part 6

Any trip to Amazonia should build in one day for rain, the proverbial Plan B – and if it’s sunny then there’s an “extra” day of birding! As if to affirm the odds, our last full day featured heavy rain on and off, but we still found well over 100 species, and got to explore some new trails that will be great for groups. And whatever the weather, it’s nice to start the day with a fine hot-and-cold buffet breakfast (below). Birds between the rain included a superb roosting Long-tailed Potoo (below), Rufous-headed Woodpecker, Black-spotted Bare-eye, Banded Antbird, Spectacled Owl, a confiding Yellow-billed Tern (below), and after dinner a wonderful Tropical Screech-Owl that came in to perch on the rafters inside the dining hall and stare down at all the people looking up at it! The next morning, as we loaded into canoes for our transit back to Coca, a hopeful Cattle Egret circled over the lodge but found “no room at the inn” - only a lake and primary forest. That was the 307th species in our week here, but more typical (below) were a pair of Blue-and-yellow Macaws perched beside the creek as we headed out to the Rio Napo, with a Channel-billed Toucan landing beside them! A magnificent male Amazonian Umbrellabird that flew slowly overhead as we cruised comfortably back up the Napo (below) was (almost) our last new bird for the trip, and a fitting way to end our amazing week at the Napo Wildlife Center. Perhaps the “best” bird of the week, though, was a Cattle Tyrant running around the airstrip at Coca as we walked to the plane, one of only a handful of records from Ecuador!

In conclusion, it’s hard to beat over 300 bird species in a week, plus 10 species of monkeys, while based at an wonderfully comfortable and hospitable lodge set amid primary Amazonian rainforest free from hunting pressure. It’ll be great to go back next year with a group!

July 25: Steve Howell and Jon Feenstra report on their scouting of a new lodge in Amazonian Ecuador - Part 5

The overnight rain continued through our walk to the canopy tower (below), but then abated after 30 minutes atop the 207-step tower, and the forest came alive. Highlights of the morning included the stunning and “rarely seen-this-well” Yellow-throated Woodpecker (below), a nicely perched Spix’s Guan, three species of macaws, and a swarming kettle of over a hundred White-chinned Swifts (below), a little-known species not previously reported from the region and rarely ever photographed! After lunch and a siesta we simply paddled around the lagoon and creeks in front of the lodge, with beautiful light and much to see, from flashy Red-capped Cardinals to very confiding Squirrel Monkeys attended by a group of Greater Anis that fed on insects flushed by the monkeys (below!), a turtle hosting a butterfly (below), almost 50 toucans in total (a Channel-billed Toucan below), several Blue-throated Piping Guans, and superb views of Sungrebe and a cryptic (vocally very distinct but not-yet-split) species of Least Bittern – there are too many birds here! 

July 25: Rich Hoyer from his Snowcaps to Seaturtles tour of Costa Rica

We've just finished our two full days in Tortuguero National Park and are on our way to the newish Maquenque Ecolodge to the north. Tortuguero was good to us, though we could have done with a little less rain – or perhaps timed better during our siesta or at night, rather than during most of the two mornings. But we still had great birds, especially on yesterday afternoon's boat ride, which netted us Gray-headed Kite, Semiplumbeous Hawk, Green-and-rufous Kingfisher, and American Pygmy Kingfisher. Today we started with another boat ride (the showers mostly held off, thankfully) with several highlights including a Snowy Cotinga and a singing Bare-throated Tiger-Heron (see below) and ended with a very casual walk around the lodge grounds where we had extended views of a Plain-brown Woodcreeper (see below) first chasing a Streak-headed Woodcreeper out of the area then alighting on a palm trunk over our heads, and proceeding to enter a cavity and poke its head out for several minutes. If that weren't enough of a day's finale, we walked down the path from our rooms after dinner and brought in a fancy Crested Owl overhead for great views. I shouldn't forget to mention that we did see three Green Sea Turtles on our guided walk to the heavily patrolled nesting beaches last night. We didn't get to watch one actually lay eggs, but that's never a sure thing, and it was a treat to see one at all.