From the Field
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
May 28:
Paul Holt on the conclusion of his tour to China: Happy island and Beidaihe
We’d finished our recent China: Beidaihe and Happy Island tour having tallied 41 species of wader including sought after specialities such as Long-billed Plover, Asian Dowitcher, Nordmann’s Greenshank, Great Knot, Long-toed Stint and Oriental Pratincole; we’d seen Saunders's Gulls on six dates and up to 24 Relict Gulls on three; 11 species of thrush; nine species of flycatcher including the tour’s first ever Narcissus, umpteen gorgeous Mugimaki’s and Yellow-rumpeds as well as a remarkable encounter with an adult male Green-backed; 12 species of Phylloscopus warbler; four pipits and 12 buntings. Where in the world could you do this? Happy Island and Beidaihe in eastern China of course. We’d seen Siberian bound migrants galore, found woods with skulking Siberian Thrushes, marshes with snipe and displaying Pechora Pipits and coastal sand flats thronged with thousands of birds. Thanks to a superb ground agent we’d also enjoyed some great accommodation and superb food.
Waiting on Happy Island...
...for the likes of Yellow-rumped Flycatcher
...and Eastern Crowned Warbler
The flocks of birds on the sand flats at Beidaihe...
...often contains a Saunder's Gull, usually a sub-adult...
...and around the margins we found Brown Shrike
The relative wilderness of Old Peak...
...where a look up might disclose a White-rumped Needletail...
...and a look down Godlewski's Bunting
May 22:
Gavin Bieber on his just-completed tour of Southeastern Arizona
Our trip coincided with a period of unseasonably cool and overcast weather. We actually experienced rain for perhaps the first time ever on the tour, and the blustery winds at the end of the week were not ideal. Having said all that, we very much enjoyed birding in seventy degree air, and tallied an impressive 210 species in a week. As it is an "owls and warblers" trip our highlights often come from those groups; we recorded an impressive nine species of owls including a very cooperative Spotted Owl and 13 species of warblers including Red-faced and Black-throated Gray.
Spotted Owl
Red-faced Warbler
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Border specialties like the handsome Montezuma Quail and Five-striped Sparrow always liven up a birding day too.
Montezuma Quail
Five-striped Sparrow
No trip to Arizona can fail to mention the hummingbirds, and we marveled at a number, including the common but impressive Broad-billed (recorded on most days) and the rare Plain-capped Starthroat.
Broad-billed Hummingbird
Plain-capped Starthroat
Mexican species like Flame-colored Tanaget and Black-capped Gnatcatchers were detected this year too, but it was the gorgeous desertscapes that might have impressed the most.
A Southeast Arizona Landscape
May 15:
Paul French on his just concluded tour to Georgia: The High Caucasus
Fierce snowfall across the Caucasus slowed migration, but it did mean that our main targets in the high mountains were all seen fairly easily. Multiple Güldenstädt’s Redstarts on our first afternoon were followed by several Caucasian Black Grouse and a dozen Caucasian Great Rosefinches the next morning. The mornings highlight however, were the three Caucasian Snowcocks, proclaiming their territories on the slopes above us. Excellent scope views were had of these large game birds, and the delicate markings that are usually so subtle at distance could be seen in all their technicolour glory.
Guldenstadt's Redstart
Caucasian Black Grouse, a blurry camera image but sharp in the telescope
Caucasian Snowcock, again blurry here but sharp in our scopes
The following two days in the mountains delivered all the hoped for specialities, with Snowfinches, Alpine Accentors, Horned Larks, Wallcreepers, Lammergeiers and sky-dancing Golden Eagles all against clear blue skies and dazzling white snowfields.
Semi-collared and Red-breasted Flycatchers and Green Warbler all performed well on the way back to Tbilisi, before heading to the south east of Georgia and the steppes and sheep ranch at Chachuna.
Red-breasted Flycatcher
Large numbers of Rollers and Bee-eaters are always a highlight here, but they had to compete with 35 Demoiselle Cranes, Saker, Levant Sparrowhawk, Ménétries’s and Eastern Orphean Warblers, Nightjar and Rock Nuthatch, as well as more Lesser Grey, Woodchat and Red-backed Shrikes, Calandra Larks and Black-headed Buntings than you could point your bins at.
Demoiselle Cranes
European Nightjar
A family of Eastern Imperial Eagles finished our time off nicely, before it was time to head back to Tbilisi and a final evenings meal overlooking the old city and river Mtkvari.
May 11:
Paul Holt from his on-going tour to China's Happy Island and Beidaihe
Our current Beidaihe & Happy Island tour in Northeast China's progressing well with highlights so far included decent numbers of flycatchers with more Mugimaki's than ever before on the this tour, two Blue-and-whites and a vagrant Narcissus Flycatcher, a male Siberian and over 200 Eyebrowed Thrushes, Japanese Waxwing, decent numbers of buntings with particularly good looks at Tristram's, Yellow-browed and Chestnut.
Mugimaki Flycatcher
Yellow-browed Bunting
We spent yesterday on the coast at Nanpu where 141 Asian Dowitchers, two Nordmann's Greenshank, over 7500 Red-necked Stint and 4500 Great Knot as well as our first Reed Parrotbills were the highlights.
Asian Dowitcher
May 5:
Rich Hoyer on his just-completed tour of Jamaica
It should come as little surprise that the most memorable sightings from this year’s Jamaica tour were of Jamaican Tody, Jamaican Owl, and Red-billed Streamertail, as we saw them so extemely well, multiple times, and they are all simply stunning birds to behold.
Jamaican Tody
Red-billed Streamertail
But one can’t forget, most chargming Chestnut-bellied Cuckoos, Jamaican Becards adding to their huge and unwieldy nests, many views of beautiful Jamaican Spindalises, the unusual and rare Jamaican Blackbird, and unbelievable prolonged views of the missable Crested Quail-Dove
Crested Quail-Dove
But even though we saw all endemic species, amongst the non-endemics were some wonderful highlights, such as a pair of American Kestrels feeding two just-fledged young as well as one still in the nest cavity, perfectly elegant White-tailed Tropicbirds sailing back and forth, the stately Northern Potoo foraging from its nocturnal perch, and a most cooperative Grasshopper Sparrow that seemed to own that fence.
White-tailed Tropicbirds
May 1:
Paul Holt on his just-completed tour to Taiwan
With a dozen birds seen, and seen spectacularly well, Swinhoe's Pheasant easily topped the end of tour bird of the trip poll.
The magnificent Swinhoe's Pheasant.
We saw all of Taiwan's 24 endemic species and all bar a handful of its endemic subspecies. Highlights included close range and prolonged looks at both Taiwan Partridge and Mikado Pheasant, some superbly obliging Taiwan Blue Magpies, Taiwan Wren Babblers in the telescope, Taiwan Barwings nest building, such vividly coloured Flamecrests that they genuinely appeared to be on fire, over
The superb Taiwan Blue Magpie
100 Black-faced Spoonbills and several day-time Malayan Night Herons and Cinnamon Bitterns.
Malayan Night Heron
Large numbers of shorebirds included over 550 Pacific Golden Plovers on a single salt pan, Little Curlew, large numbers of Red-necked and 13 Little Stints as well as over 70 Broad-billed Sandpipers. Our success rate with Fairy Pitta continued - we saw three and heard another bird this year as did our good fortune in encountering rarities with a lugens White Wagtail being out of place on Lanyu Island as, perhaps, were several vocalising Japanese Leaf Warblers. We even successfully twitched the country's first Siberian Crane...
Taiwan's first Siberian White Crane...
...must have been very well treated,
All that as well as some great food, great weather, lots of laughs and a real insight into Taiwanese culture.
The "door man" at the scops owl temple.
It was a great trip!
April 6:
Fabrice Schmitt on the second half of his cruise-tour, Valparaiso to Buenos Aires
The second leg of our trip has been absolutely great too! On the Falklands islands, we visited Volunteer Point where hundreds of King, Gentoo and Magellanic Penguins gather.
As the breeding season of King Penguin is extremely long (three years to raise two chicks), it was possible to watch at the same time recently hatched babies, and older ones of almost adult size.
Off course, we also took advantage of our visit to see the endemic Falkland Steamer Duck.
Another landing took in the Valdes Peninsula, where we saw a few Burrowing Parakeets feeding on a fruitful bush, a few Snowy Sheathbill near a South American Sea Lion colony, tens of Elegant Crested Tinamou crossing the road, and a couple of White-headed Steamer-Duck (we've now seen all the world's Steamer Ducks during our cruise!). It was a great day for mammals too, with Guanacos, a Big Hairy Armadillo crossing the road (and captured by our bus driver), a Humboldt’s Hog-nosed Skunk, and a few Maras (an ‘Antelope like’ Guinea Pig).
Seabirding in the Atlantic has been completely different than the Pacific side, with several new species: Yellow-nosed Albatross (the 10th species of Albatross seen on the trip), Great Shearwater, a few Atlantic and Soft-plumaged Petrels, lots of Manx Shearwater, and good numbers of White-chinned Petrels.
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Our two last days, birding in tropical atmosphere at Montevideo (Uruguay) and Buenos Aires (Argentina), have been a amazing contrast with the recent days spent in sub-Antarctic conditions. After albatrosses and penguins, what a change to be watching Giant Wood-rail, Curve-billed Reedhaunter, Gilded Hummingbird, Narrow-billed Woodcreeper, or Long-tailed Reed-Finch!
March 31:
Rich Hoyer on the last half of his March tour to Costa Rica
Absolutely amazingly good weather continued for the latter half of the spectacular Costa Rica tour, which we just finished with about 450 species of birds and many other wonders of tropical natural history.
At Monteverde highlights were male Resplendent Quetzals sparring, Prong-billed Barbets building a nest, and lush cloud-forest vegetation, including this Prosthechea vespa, whose Necco-wafer perfume we stopped to imbibe twice – before and after seeing the barbets.
This Chiriqui Quail-Dove was surprisingly cooperative on our last morning at Monteverde.
Proof of the amazing weather was this view of Arenal Volcano, thankfully quiet during our visit.
At La Selva we were almost but not quite overwhelmed by the variety of birds starting with seven male Snowy Cotingas vying for the title of whitest white. This Rufous Motmot was the one of several additional species of big, showy birds we saw on our walks.
We ended up seeing three of these Eyelash Pit Vipers during the tour, quite amazing when you consider that I had only seen three others in all these years.
Any non-productive owling we spent was forgotten when we spotted our second Kinkajou and a Central American Woolly Opossum in the trees at our lodge, and the last-minute response from this Spectacled Owl was worth every minute of lost sleep.
One last birding walk at our lodge resulted in a memorable encounter with a pair of White Hawks, whose screams sounded like complaints to our ears but were probably the equivalent of sweet nothings to theirs.
A Green Basilisk warmed itself as we made our way to the bus for our departure back to San José.
One last birding stop at La Paz Waterfall Gardens for lunch had the added attraction of the hummingbird feeders, where we added two last species to the trip list amongst the seven jewels feeding here, including this female Green Thorntail.
