From the Field
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
April 22: Gavin Bieber on his just completed tour of South Texas
South Texas was a blast. The valley specialties like Plain Chachalaca and White-tipped Dove were all present, and many were in full song or seen busily constructing nests. The rarer species like White-collared Seedeater, Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, Red-billed Pigeon and Aplomado Falcon all cooperated as well. Each trip to the coast yielded a few more northward bound migrants. Crippling views of Summer Tanagers, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Indigo and Painted Bunting and several warblers definitely added to the overall excitement of the tour and offered fantastic photographic opportunities. Our lengthy study of a foraging Swainson's Warbler on day 1, and the vagrant male Townsend's Warbler at South Padre Island deserve special mention. We tallied an impressive 238 species this year, and also spent time identifying a host of butterflies, odonates, reptiles and even a few fish!
Plain Chachalaca
White-tipped Dove
White-collared Seedeater
Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
April 15: Steve Howell from the recently completed Polynesian Odyssey
Starting with Little Penguin and ending today with Golden Dove, this remarkable trip visited New Zealand’s Kermadec Islands and the Kingdom of Tonga before ending here in Fiji. Besides gentle seas, idyllic tropical islands (below) and ‘routine’ amazing cloudscapes and sunsets (below), avian highlights included some 31 species of tubenoses (such as the recently rediscovered Kermadec [White-faced] Storm-Petrel and numerous Collared Petrels), the endangered and extremely localized Tongan Megapode (below), the handsome Tongan Whistler (male, below), confiding Spotless Crakes on the Kermadecs, and the stunning Blue-crowned Lorikeet (below). Being around colonies numbering tens of thousands of day-flying Black-winged and White-necked Petrels, and thousands of cacophonous Kermadec Petrels (below) was incredible, as were the great flyingfish and reef fish (Freckled Pinkwing and Lemonpeel Angelfish, below). Now continuing on with the Melanesian Odyssey…
Maninita, central Tonga
Raoul Island, Kermadecs
Tongan Megapode
Tongan Whistler
Blue-crowned Lorikeet
Kermadec Petrels
Freckled Pinkwing
Lemonpeel Angelfish
April 12: Paul Holt from his on-going tour of Bhutan
Great weather, a fabulous ground crew, some superb scenery and fascinating cultural insights into this tiny Himalayan Kingdom. To these add a generous dose of outstanding birds such as Satyr Tragopan (we've already seen five), Himalayan Monal (we've enjoyed stupendous looks at no less than seven individuals), Black-tailed Crake, Ibisbill, Sikkim Wedge-billed Babbler, Long-billed Wren-babbler, four different Wallcreepers, and no fewer than 11 Bloodpheasants (an early candidate for bird of the trip; see below for three of them). The list goes on, and on, and on...and we're only just over half way through...
April 4: James Lidster from his on-going tour of Morocco
We have reached the coast now with an impressive species list. Today we saw 30+ Northern Bald Ibis (below), Audouin's Gulls, singing Rufous Bush Robins, dog-fighting Bonelli's & Golden Eagles (below), more Moussier's Redstarts, Black-crowned Tchagras, Barbary Partridge, Maghreb Magpie (below), Moroccan Wagtail and Western Olivaceous Warbler, either side of a delicious seafood lunch on the beach (below!). Yesterday we saw 2 Black-winged Kites, Collared Pratincole, Pallid (below) & Little Swifts and a lot of rain! The last day tomorrow as we head to the Oued Massa.
Northern Bald Ibis
Bonelli's & Golden Eagles
Bonelli's & Golden Eagles
Maghreb Magpie
seafood lunch
Pallid Swift
March 27: Paul French from his on-going tour of Israel
We've started well, with displaying McQueen’s Bustards and up to 18 Cream-colored Coursers in the Negev Desert, plus a flock of Crowned Sandgrouse that showed very well for everyone. Migration is a bit thin so far, but we have found Collared and Semi-collared Flycatchers, Oriental Skylark and Bimaculated Lark, along with views of a Wolf at a vulture feeding station. We have one full day left around Eilat, then we’re moving north to the Dead Sea and Hula Valley, and a totally different mix of species.
Semi-collared Flycatcher
Oriental Skylark
Bimaculated Lark
March 24: Gavin Bieber on his recently completed tour of Puerto Rico
Although islands in the Greater Antilles don’t hold the same diversity of species as mainland sites in the tropics, they have a higher rate of endemism and hold many regional specialties that combine for exciting birding. This year we encountered 17 of the 18 endemics (all except the Puerto Rican Parrot, which is virtually impossible to see during the breeding season), and 116 species overall (a new trip record). As is the norm for this trip the jewel-like and highly charismatic Puerto Rican Tody won bird of the trip with honorable mention going to the inquisitive Puerto Rican Pewees, blushing American Flamingo, striking Puerto Rican Woodpecker, and with a special award to Puerto Rico's beautiful coastline and forested mountains.
Puerto Rican Tody
Puerto Rican Pewee
American Flamingo
Puerto Rican Woodpecker
The fabulous northeast coast
March 20: Gavin Bieber on his just-completed tour of the Dominican Republic
Travel in the Caribbean conjures up images of white sand beaches, palm trees and perhaps mai tais. The Dominican Republic has all those in spades, but surprisingly also offers large saline and freshwater lakes, cactus thorn scrub, humid montane forests and pine forests laden with huge agaves and lichens. Our trip this year took in all 31 of the DR's endemic birds (although two were heard only). Palmchats, the sole member of the family Dulidae, were common throughout the trip, building their giant communal stick nests, and todies, dressed in their emerald and pink finery were daily companions. We had especially good views of the critically endangered Ridgway's Hawk and the globally rare West Indian Whistling-Duck and a day roosting Northern Potoo was noteworthy as well. We capped the trip with a brief but interesting visit to caves in Los Haitises, where the views of the forest outside were other-worldly.
Palmchat
Broad-billed Tody
Ridgeay's Hawk
West Indian Whistling Ducks
Northern Potoo
Inside the caves at Los Haitises
March 17: Steve Howell from his just-concluded Colima tour in west Mexico
Warm sunny weather, colorful birds (with some 38 Mexican endemics), great food, friendly people, and amazing scenery made for a wonderful trip. A few highlights: While Chestnut-sided Shrike-Vireo looks boldly marked in the book, it can be almost cryptic amid oak foliage (below). Other notables included the handsome Black-chested Sparrow; migrant flocks of Elegant Terns; and the tiny, endearing Colima Pygmy-Owl (all below). As well as birds, the puffing Volcán de Fuego (below) was always good for photos, too.
Chestnut-sided Shrike-Vireo
Black-chested Sparrow
Elegant Terns
Colima Pygmy-Owl
Volcán de Fuego