From the Field
February 8: James Lidster on his second (of four) Winter Netherlands Tour
Just preparing for day 3 (with a wet and windy weather forecast in place), so far so good.... 2 White-tailed Eagles, 3 Rough-legged Buzzards (including 2 we found ourselves), 6 Hen Harriers, 2 Peregrine, Goshawk chasing Stock Doves right in front of us, Whooper Swans, Tundra Bean and Pink-footed Geese stood next to each other, both Pale and Dark-bellied Brent Geese, Barnacle Geese, 120+ Smew, Great Egrets, Caspian and Yellow-legged Gulls, Water Pipit, Long-tailed and Willow Tits, Great Grey Shrike, Brambling and Eurasian Tree Sparrow. Oh, and we are still eating well.....last night we enjoyed a typical Dutch dinner of 'stampot', home made raspberry sorbet, washed down with a Belgian beer or glass of wine.....must walk further today!
January 30: Will Russell on his scouting for an upcoming SE Arizona tour
Mind-boggling numbers of birds in the northern Sulphur Springs Valley: 10,000 Sandhill Cranes, 5000 (!) Lark Buntings, thousands of sparrows, mostly Vesper and Brewers, 60 Say's Pheobes, 30 Ferruginous Hawks and on and on. Goodness.....
January 27: Jon Feenstra reports on a day scouting his East Andes Foothills tour
I covered the high elevations today while driving east from Quito toward the Amazon slope. Unlike the previous couple of times I´ve been through the pass, the skies were crystal clear. The snowy peaks of Antisana and Cotapaxi were visible. A Variable Hawk chased two Andean Lapwings around and an Andean Condor made a couple of passes way overhead (it still looked big). I spent the remainder of the afternoon watching Chestnut-breasted Coronets fight with Tourmaline Sunangels at the feeders at the Guango Lodge. A small flock moved through, as well, with Plushcap and Supercilliared and Black'eared Hemispinguses making up the majority. Tomorrow I move a little further downhill.
January 19: Gavin Bieber on his just completed tour to La Selva Lodge, Ecuador
A short 10 day tour to Ecuador's immensely diverse Amazonian Lowlands provided a fantastic array of birds in a comfortable setting with excellent food. We managed an impressive 376 species of birds with 33 species of hummingbirds (thanks in part to a day out of Quito) including such gems as Sword-billed Hummingbird, Buff-winged Starfrontlet, Violet-tailed Sylph and Booted Racquet-tail. The week at La Selva was tranquil with our time spent either walking on one of the many trails around the lodge, being paddled through the Varzea forests by dugout canoe, or watching the canopy from atop the lodge's 100 foot high canopy tower. From gaudy Tanagers such as Paradise, Opal-crowned, Yellow-bellied and Masked Crimson to skulking understorey flocks with Cinereous and Dusky-throated Antshrikes, there always seemed to be plenty of birds around to look at. A special highlight for me this year was encountering two active antswarms in Yasuni National Park. These were attended by the exquisite White-plumed Antbird as well as the rarely encountered Hairy-crested Antbird and a female Reddish-winged Bare-eye! A third antswarm, this time in Varzea forest, attracted a pair of Black-spotted Bare-eyes and a foraging Grison (a large silver and black weasel). Truly a wonderful trip and one that I look forward to leading for many years.
January 8: Steve Howell writes about his just-completed San Blas, Mexico tour
A very comfortable setting with great food and hospitality – plus fabulous birds, of course – made our San Blas tour “wonderful as usual.” The weather was cooler than normal, meaning warm, sunny, and very pleasant, and the birds put on a fine show – from the primary colors of male Red-breasted Chat, Yellow Grosbeak, and Blue Mockingbird, to a tiny male Bumblebee Hummingbird, cryptic Northern Potoos, and a wealth of flashy woodpeckers. Also memorable were the higher than usual numbers of Painted Buntings and hummingbirds (including the first San Blas records of Costa’a Hummingbird), a stunning male Rosy Thrush-Tanager, superb Black-throated Magpie-Jays, Military Macaws bathed in late afternoon sunlight, lagoons packed with feeding blizzards of waterbirds, numerous Black-capped Vireos, a boldly singing Bright-rumped Atilla, and impressive numbers of crocodiles on our boat trips. Everywhere we went the people were friendly and happy, in refreshing contrast to the doom and gloom of the U.S. media.
December 21: James Lidster on his scouting for the Winter Netherlands tour
I just completed the first field review of the upcoming winter tours. Of interest the first handful of Red-breasted Geese have arrived, and just half an hour from our hotel yesterday I saw several Smew, Hen Harrier, Bearded Tit and Water Rail! I think there are just 3 places left on the 4th tour..... I also went to visit the manager of our first hotel. I wanted to check that we would be able to have some typical Dutch food during our stay! This will be no propblem he assured me, which means I just have to take care of the apple cake and hot chocolate!
December 8: Steve Howell on his recently completed tour to the Yucatán and Cozumel
From point-blank glittering male Cozumel Emeralds to shockingly pink American Flamingos in a surreal salt-pond setting, our tour hit the high points of this wonderful region, home to spectacular Maya ruins, pristine forest, and a distinctive regional cuisine. Strikingly handsome Yucatan Jays were “unavoidable” but we had to work a little for the local Gray-throated Chat and Rose-throated Tanager – and were rewarded with stunning males of both. A wind-blown agave plant one morning held Yucatan and White-bellied Wrens plus a Mexican Sheartail; glossy Black Catbirds were present in record high numbers; and Cozumel Island produced all of its extant endemics – plus the endearing Cozumel Raccoon. From eight species of colorful orioles in flowing trees to Snowy Plovers dashing after flies, Ruddy Crakes performing on cue, motmots perched quietly amid ruins, and frigatebirds sailing over turquoise Caribbean waters, the memories of this trip will linger.
December 7: Gavin Bieber on his recently completed Panama Tour
The Panama tour wrapped up a few days ago, and what a tour it was! Gaudy Tanagers, a host of glittering hummingbirds and dapper antbirds, colorful trogons and motmots, a wealth of skulking wrens and an impressive list of raptors filled our days at very turn. We also turned up a few rarities this year, such as Red-footed Booby, Pomarine Jaeger, Kelp Gull, and Brown Violetear, and enjoyed views of a foraging Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo--one of the most difficult-to-see birds in the Americas. All this with excellent roads, comfortable lodging, and great food: what's not to love?
December 4: Rich Hoyer on his scouting for Costa Rica: Snowcaps and Sea Turtles
I'm just back from visiting two new lodges that we're using on the
July Snowcaps & Sea Turtles tour – Celeste Mountain Lodge on the slopes
of Tenorio Volcano and Maquenque Ecolodge where the last foothills
meet the Caribbean lowlands near the Nicaraguan border. As luck would
have it, I arrived in Costa Rica as a low-pressure system stalled over
the country and made my travel a bit iffy. But the skies eventually
cleared, water levels receded, and I made it to both of them. Wow.
With less than 24 hours at each lodge I was thoroughly impressed --
and I'm certain the tour participants are going to love these places.
Both lodges are in excellent locations, have good trails through
awesome habitat next to the lodge, and of course great birds. The
rooms are splendid, comfortable, and the food at both terrific. One
thing that caught my attention and impressed me is that the owners are
directly involved in running the lodges and take great pride in
presenting the best that ecotourism has to offer.
At Celeste Mountain Lodge (opened three years ago) I did a quick run
through the trail loop on a dark, quiet, windy afternoon, not
expecting to see any birds – yet I still saw Tody Motmot, one of the
specialties from this region. I never did get a good fix on any of the
several quail-doves that flushed from the trail, but maybe they'll be
more cooperative in July when we have more time there. At the family-
run Maquenque Ecolodge (just two years old) this morning I saw both
Scarlet and Great Green Macaws – the only place in the country that
boasts both species. Cinnamon Woodpecker and Central American Pygmy-
Owl were other highlights from the trails yesterday afternoon, as were
the gardens this morning, planted lushly with heliconias and gingers
for the many Bronzy Hermits and Rufous-tailed and Scaly-breasted
Hummingbirds. I'm really looking forward to returning to both next July.
December 1: Rich Hoyer: Scouting Costa Rica
The long and bumpy ride to the port of Blanco yesterday was spiced up by several roadside Two-toed Sloth in the trees and Red-breasted Blackbirds in the fields, but the boat ride to Tortuguero was wonderful: smooth, quick, and scenic. I'm checking out Turtle Beach Lodge, one of very few lodges with beautiful beachfront property and a trail into the forest. In the late morning I walked out to the beach to see hundreds of Laughing Gulls streaming by, accompanied by four Brown Noddies, 20 Magnificent Frigatebirds, and, best of all, a Red-footed Booby. The property has White-collared and Red-capped Manakins in the garden, and there are plenty of North American birds, even some still migrating such as Chimney Swifts, Gray-cheeked and Swainson's Thrushes, and Scarlet Tanager. Probably intending to stay the winter are the Baltimore Oriole, the many Northern Waterthrushes, Ovenbird, and Tennessee, Chestnut-sided, and Yellow Warblers.