Change of Plans [Turn and Face the Strange]

My 40th birthday trip was coming together. We picked a destination and our itinerary was taking shape. The twin themes of this trip, Balance and Change, were emerging quickly, with a third soon to appear.

The Balance challenge was clear: how to spend as much time as possible seeing new birds while keeping a 5-year-old entertained? Reina is perfectly happy on nature walks and birding stops, but up to a point. Anyone with kids, or socially maladaptive non-birding partners, knows how unpleasant it is for everyone involved (or just nearby) when disinterest sets in. My hardest challenge was scheduling our trips with Reina's threshold in mind.

Change, of course, is inevitable, the best laid schemes and all that. Almost immediately we found our plans had to change: Asa Wright Nature Center, heralded as Nirvana on earth by every birder that sets foot on Trinidad, wasn't available as our primary lodging. The vast majority of trip reports and trip itineraries always stayed at AWNC, but when we found out kids under eight weren't welcome for overnight stays we had to regroup.

I couldn't think of any alternative mentioned in those reports. Images of settling for a Trinidadian Holiday Inn or Super8 in the bowels of Port of Spain, far from any birding site we'd want to visit, crossed my mind with pangs of nausea. This trip wasn't shaping up the way I expected.

I freely admit to quoting wisdom from wherever I find it, including old Monty Python skits. "Adapt, adopt, and improve" became my mantra as I searched for alternate accommodations, and a wonderful things started to happen. Maybe deviating from the standard T&T birding trips that every other birder experiences was a good thing.

Yes, I'm talking additional blog fodder! Clearly, the birds were going to be front and center, but now, instead of copying the same "rum punch on AWNC's verandah" theme as everyone else, I could offer potential T&T visitors insights to other options. I could compare my bird lists and experiences from locations I ferreted out to the standard package they signed on to. Perhaps I could score some free lodging or excursions in exchange for publicity!

That's my lemonade making attempt. Yes, I can offer a differing view to the standard AWNC package, but I didn't score anything free. (Note to self, work on the marketing power of this blog.)

So, here is an overview of the secondary itinerary we created. I will be writing in more detail about each stop, including informal reviews of the lodging, the birding; the whole roti (we didn't see enchiladas anywhere, but rotis are a reasonable substitute).

• Day 1: Arrive late, stay at Pax Guest House, Tunapuna, Trinidad
• Day 2: Bird Mt. St. Benedict, coasts and wetlands, and Caroni Swamp.
• Day 3: Bird savanna and grassland sites, stay at Laguna Mar, Blanchisseuse, Trinidad.
• Day 4: Bird in the forests of the Northern Range.
• Day 5: Fly to Tobago, stay Naturalist Beach Resort, Castara, Tobago.
• Day 6: Bird Tobago: Main Ridge Forest Reserve and Little Tobago Island.
• Day 7: Tobago birding in the morning, then fly to Trinidad, returning to Pax Guest House.
• Day 8: Early flight back to U.S.

Up next, the trip! And photos, I swear. Oh, and I'll get to that third theme I hinted at but didn't identify. Maybe you can guess?

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More Vacation Planning [What We Gonna Did]

Now that the hard part of picking a country to visit was out of the way (by a process delineated earlier) I could get down to the serious business: the itinerary. That may sound somewhat benign, but only until you realize that beneath my mellow and laid-back exterior lies the intensely anal-retentive persona of recidivist OCD patient. I would now need to chart out every minute of every day, knowing where we'd be, give or take a square meter or two. Maybe two. And layered on top of those parameters, what birds would be there? What birds would be likely, what would be within the realm of possibility but in the don't-hold-your-breath category?

Time to dig out the books and scour the Internet reports.

First task, figure out what birding areas Trinidad has to offer. Not unexpectedly, rainforests. But also dry forests and savannas. Obviously wetlands and coasts. Plus a whole sister island called Tobago.

To check off as many species as possible we'd have to spend time underneath the multiple-canopied habitat to find forest birds, in grasslands for birds adapted to open habitats, on rocky coasts scoping for pelagic species, beaches and mudflats for shorebirds, inland wetlands and/or rice fields for rails, crakes, blackbirds, and others, and we'd have to pull the car over to examine any raptor we came across, perched, soaring, or otherwise . . . man, this could be dizzying.

But Trinidad birding is weighted towards the central and northern regions, likely due to the industrial presence south side of the island. I can't say first hand, but it sounds as though it's pocked with oil wells and refineries. In fact, every gringo we met on Trinidad was affiliated with the oil industry, the exceptions were those that were tourists or owned a guest house.

Either way, given our time frame we opted not to route in the south side of the island. Given more time we would have explored the southern sites outlined in Murphy's Birdwatchers' Guide to Trinidad & Tobago and what turned up in Internet searches, but for this trip our choice was clear: stick to areas on the northern side of the island. Options we focused on included:

• cruising Blanchisseuse Road for forest birds at a variety of elevations,
• joining an evening trip to Caroni Swamp to see the Scarlet Ibises come in to roost and, hopefully, find a few specialty mangrove-affiliated species,
• scoping Waterloo for shorebirds, gulls, and terns
  
• surveying the Caroni Rice Fields for rails and other freshwater wetland species,
  
• visiting Waller Field, Aripo Savanna, Aripo Livestock Station, and the Arena Forest for low-elevation and grassland birds,
  
• exploring Nariva Swamp on the east coast for a different suite of coastal wetland birds,
  
• and, naturally, staying at Asa Wright Nature Center - its reputation alone made that decision a no brainer.

Oh, and Tobago. Not a twin sister of Trinidad, but completely unique avifauna. Reading through the distributions in the field guide I was surprised at how many species are on one "T" or the other, but not both. The phrases, "Absent from Tobago" and "No records for Trinidad" showed up more frequently than I expected. Clearly we'd have to get over to Tobago for a couple of days, but should we take the cheaper, but 5 and a half hour, ferry? Or splurge on the 20 minute plane ride? We'd deal with that later.

Our Trinidad plans changed almost immediately. It turns out that staying at Asa Wright would be prohibitively expensive on our budget, even in the "off" season (aka, the low-, rainy-, or the more euphemistic-sounding "green"-season). But more to the point they have a policy that disallows children under eight staying at the center, so it wasn't really an option anyway. After flirting with the idea of letting five-year-old Reina get her own lodging somewhere else we thought about staying at Simla, aka the William Beebe Tropical Research Station,, the neighboring facility that houses researchers. I had been considering doing some sound recording anyway, and Donna is collecting slime mold samples this semester while on sabbatical. Sampling a few sites in the mountains of Trinidad would surely be novel for slime mold research.

We ultimately decided this was vacation, we didn't want to be tied to anything, so Simla was out. We started to re-evaluate our options, where could we set up base camp where we'd be lulled to sleep by Tropical Screech-owls, Little Tinamous, Ferruginous Pygmy-owls, hopefully a nightjar or two, and still make all of the relevant day trips we had planned?

Hmmm, maybe this wasn't going to be as straight-forward as I originally thought.

What's next? Find out here!

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Vacation Planning [Where the Birds Always Sing]

For those with short memories (like me), or those that don't read everything I post here (also like me), I offer this background to our recent trip to Trinidad and Tobago. You can also read about our then-far-off trip in a post from last April. - Mike

It's not often you find yourself on a tropical island after making an offhand comment. Well, unless you live on a tropical island, then you can't really help it. But my point is I've never found myself on a tropical island because of something I tossed out without really thinking.

Last autumn, long before I thought about staring my 40th birthday squarely in the eye, my wife asked, "So, what do you want this year? I mean, 40. It's a big one. Maybe a new guitar?"

I'm satisfied with my current stringed instrument status and there wasn't anything else really on my wish-list horizon. It wasn't until December, probably while enviously reading about someone else's exotic birding trip, I mused, "You know what? I want to travel. Somewhere new. Where there are lots of new birds to see. Lots of birds. I want to be overwhelmed, reduced to weeping and cowering at the sheer volume of new species. New genera . . . no, new families of birds."

I guess I said it out loud, and within earshot of Donna's bat-like hearing, so we discussed the options. After a few days of financial analysis, some debate, a touch of arguing followed by copious amounts of begging and pleading, my logic finally prevailed. "All right, we can make that happen," spoken with just the right amount of resignation. This would be a birthday to remember.

Now, where to go? Initial thought: Peru. I'd been talking with colleagues at the Cornell Lab (including Tom Schulenberg, author of The Birds of Peru) and Peru kept coming up, usually instilling a faraway, dreamy look in everyone's eyes. But that's just one possibility. What about Ecuador? Chile? Brazil? Panama? Belize? Mexico?

I had already ruled out trips to Africa, southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and others, I felt those are more in line with the half-century mark. Staying within my home hemisphere was more of a 40-ish celebration.

But in there lay a rub: I didn't want a trip just for me, I wanted to go with my wife and daughter. I love birding pre-dawn to after-dark and racking up lifers as much as the next lister, but I wasn't anxious to spend 3,000-plus (after travel) of our well-saved US dollars so I could be led around a new country, bird by bird. Well, I was anxious, but it wouldn't mean as much. Of course I wanted to see lots of birds, but I wanted my family to experience the vacation. I would have my cake and I would it eat it, too, dammit.

The question became whether my target countries offered enough to entertain a birding-friendly spouse and a five-year-old. She's great on hikes and experiencing nature, but to a point. What about a place that offers new birds, interesting hikes and critters, and beaches? What about the Caribbean?

I'll spare you the island-by-island evaluation, but by early spring we ultimately, and happily, settled on twin Caribbean islands that lie on the South American plate. Not a big endemic list (one: Trinidad Piping Guan), but a reasonable species list (467, according to a recent check on Avibase), lots of interesting families represented, easy to get to, and travel domestically once there. Perfect. And T&T is a well-established birding destination, meaning lots of information available about where to stay, when to go, what to do.

The "when" question was answered by the other obligations already on the calendar, which whittled away at dates until we were left with the beginning of October.

The next phase of research was set to begin. Where do those 467 birds spend their time when they're on T&T? And how do we route them into our vacation? That turned out to be a fairly easy question to answer.

At least in theory.

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A Walk in the Woods [Put the Lime in the Coconut]

The woods in our region are bursting with color, an event that shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who has spent an October in the northeastern US. The air is crisp and cool downright cold, the sky a swath of pale blue above that darkens towards the horizons, punctuated by dozens of airy, aimlessly wandering clouds.

I haven't posted about any bird sightings or movements from our area as I haven't paid attention to what's been going on in our yard, or our region, for the first 10 days of October. Yeah, it's kind of tough to do when you're offline and 2,300 miles away. Not that it's tough to find an Internet connection on Trinidad and Tobago, they're there if you really want one, it's tough to be distracted from what's all around you.

The view along Blanchisseuse-Arima Road, Trinidad.

The woods we've been walking through aren't the temperate maple-oak assemblages we call home, but tropical mash-ups that include teak and nutmeg covered with hundreds of epiphytes and wrist-thick vines. We hunted among the foliage for glimpses of trogons, bellbirds, and manakins in the rainforest. Tropical Kingbirds, Great Kiskadees, and Ruddy Ground-doves lined the streets while Magnificant Frigatebirds, Brown Pelicans, and Brown Boobies soared above rocky coves as well as those lined with sandy beaches and palm trees.

Castara Bay, Tobago.

I'll be recounting our trip over the next few weeks, narrating our adventures, giving recommendations based on our experiences, and of course presenting as many sights and sounds as I can. Stay tuned, but please be patient: I have lots of pictures and eBird checklists to process!

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Back in the Driver's Seat

In theory I am taking the helm of my normal life again, though I might need a day or two to really settle back in. I'm home again after a ten-day, whirlwind family trip to Arkansas. How can a whirlwind last more than week, you ask? You'll see over the next few blog posts, but the keyword may be "overplanning."

A vaguely blurry Northern Parula forages in my in-law's front yard.
Click the image for a larger version.

We packed a lot into this trip, including a multitude of family gatherings, bird walks and hikes, catching up with friends, a two-night, three-day trip to Fayetteville, more family get-togethers, and a trip to a pretty sweet fishing hole. [Aside: I haven't yet determined if the chiggers made the trip feel shorter or longer than it actually was.]

Morning on the Little Red River, near Heber Springs, AR.
Click the image for a larger version.

Posts to come after I process the hundreds (upon hundreds) of images and try to account for each hour of each day. Can it be done? Stay tuned to find out!

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Gone Birding: World Series of Birding

As of tomorrow I'll be out of the office, offline, and out of touch for a couple of days. My waking hours, and some sleeping hours, will be spent scouting for the Cornell Lab's "Sapsuckers" as they ready themselves for the 26^th annual World Series of Birding (yes, there's a Wikipedia entry for it, how mainstream!).

I scouted for the Sapsuckers between 2000 and 2004, always in the wilds of northern New Jersey, and I'm excited to be going back again. I'm not being facetious, the northwest corner is absolutely beautiful. I happily spent many (many, many) hours walking many (many, many) miles through High Point State Park, the Delaware Water Gap, and various unnamed areas trying to pick out a bit of everything: lingering winter species (Dark-eyed Junco, White-throated Sparrow), returning breeding birds on territory (Canada Warbler, Black-throated Blue, Ceruleans . . . ), nests of any kind but especially species that are likely to be proverbially "too quiet" on the Big Day (raptors, woodpeckers, early-nesting songbirds like Blue-headed Vireo), habitat patches that look ready to host a flock of migrating songbirds, the timing of when the pheasant calls, the Vesper Sparrow sings, and so on and so on.

You know, the usual Big Day requirements.

Palm Warbler - will any be left in New Jersey on the Big Day?

It's always a challenge to describe what a big day is, particularly the Big Day, to non-birders -- for a f'rinstance, check out team-member Brian Sullivan's "World Series of What?" Birdscope article from a few years ago. Regardless of whether people "get it" or find it "quaint" (among other affectionate terms), I'm glad the contest has come to highlight conservation issues. The Cornell Lab takes pledges and the money raised is put towards conservation programs, such as atlas projects focusing on species like Cerulean and Golden-winged Warblers.

Blue-headed Vireos will certainly be present, but will they be counted?

If you care to pitch in, please visit my donation page, and thanks in advance for your contribution. And on the Big Day please throw some good vibes the Sapsucker's way, they're on target to raise $200K for conservation again this year. And if you're into the social networking scene, follow them on their Twitter page throughout the week and especially during the event.

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Where In the World? We're Headed to . . .

. . . the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, "Together we aspire, together we achieve."

That's right, we'll be enjoying a yet to be determined number of days and nights at the very bottom of the Lesser Antilles. Or off the coast of Venezuela, depending on how you look at it. My glass is double-full, I see both!

Map courtesy WorldAtlas.com

The quiz questions were designed to slowly help you narrow in on the single location that matched the suite of clues. OK, "designed" is a bit strong, let's just say it "worked out." Let's check out where I was hoping the questions would guide you. Each one should have cut out several possibilities, but I won't list all of them here.

First, remember I was planning to go somewhere "exotic." That should have pointed you away from the U.S., though you never really know: Big Bend in Texas, the Sonoran Desert . . . we live in a richly diverse country, with amazing habitats and exotic species, at least to this New Yorker. But here are the boundaries:

1. Climate
The average temperature in October is reported to be between 76* - 80*F, average rainfall in October is approximately 6.7 inches.

Hopefully this made you think sultry temperatures and fairly frequent rainfall. Probably somewhere tropical or subtropical.

2. Topography
The land is primarily mountains and plains. Naturally occurring wetlands include freshwater marshes, mangrove swamps, lagoons, and marine ecosystems.

Well, that seems to describe most tropical countries, but now we know there's a coast. Mangrove swamps? Clearly somewhere tropical or subtropical.

3. Geographic Location
We will not cross the equator.

That lops out a whole lot of locations, we can focus on tropical locations north of the equator. But I never did limit our destination to the western hemisphere, but that seemed to distract nobody.

4. Culture
The official language is English. We will need passports and to figure out the currency.

Cuts out many more countries, but there are several that require passports and have English as their official language - Jamaica and Belize are excellent deductions! As was T&T.

5. Economy
The infrastructure is excellent, including an international airport, an extensive network of paved roads, modern hospitals, and reliable utilities. At least in the cities.

I'm not sure that disqualifies anywhere at this point, does it? But at this point we know we're looking for an English-speaking, non-American location with a tropical/subtropical climate that boasts a coastline and mangroves lying north of the equator. A few Central American and Caribbean countries certainly qualify. There are probably some African or far eastern countries that fit (but I'm not sure which, and you all seemed to have figured out we're staying in the western hemisphere).

6. Climate
October is both in the wet season and the hurricane season, though we're not really worried about the latter. If we're lucky we won't worry much about the former, either.

In addition to being smack dab in the "Hurricane Belt," Puerto Rico is a US territory: no passport or currency exchange required. The Hurricane Belt factor also eliminates Jamaica, Belize, the U.S. Virgin Islands . . . well, everything except a small handful of islands in the very southern portion of the Caribbean. So, we're left with those choices and perhaps a few islands in the Pacific (that likely don't fit all of the previous criteria). By now you can safely surmise Trinidad and Tobago. All of the other Caribbean, Central American, or northern South American possibilities don't meet all the criteria.

7. Geology and Heritage
Geologically this country belongs to one region, but geographically it's considered part of a different region.

Trinidad and Tobago fits here: geologically part of the South American plate, but culturally considered part of the Caribbean Islands.

8. Flora and Fauna
There are over 400 bird species on the official checklist (466 to be precise). Only one is endemic.

There are a few other islands that have a single endemic, but not over 400 birds on their checklist. Not to mention they don't meet the other criteria.

A hearty congratulations to Nate of The Drinking Bird, not only for correctly pegging the location by the fourth clue, but naming the sole endemic I'll be targeting on our trip (among the other 465 birds, of course), the Trinidad Piping Guan. I hope to be posting about an encounter sometime in late October.

I didn't offer a prize at the outset - I'm not a big proponent of extrinsic motivation, so kudos and thanks to all who participated. But I feel I should offer something to the winner.

So, Nate, if you email me your mailing address I will happily send you one (1) postcard from the islands, replete with a personalized message written by me,* postmarked from T&T.

* Disclaimer: I may pawn off the actual writing of the message to my daughter. She may also choose the postcard. I will pay for the card and the postage.

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Where in the World? Is That Your Final Answer?

Earlier I mentioned we've chosen an exotic location to visit this fall, but instead of blatantly disclosing it I turned it into a guessing game.

We're five clues into the hunt and there have been some excellent deductions. For this last round of the contest I've added three more clues which may help identify the mystery location. Have a read through and either try a guess (if you haven't already), confirm what you wrote before, or make a last minute switch, as you see fit.

1. Climate
The average temperature in October is reported to be between 76* - 80*F, average rainfall in October is approximately 6.7 inches.

2. Topography
The land is primarily mountains and plains. Naturally occurring wetlands include freshwater marshes, mangrove swamps, lagoons, and marine ecosystems.

3. Geographic Location
We will not cross the equator.

4. Culture
The official language is English. We will need passports and to figure out the currency.

5. Economy
The infrastructure is excellent, including an international airport, an extensive network of paved roads, modern hospitals, and reliable utilities. At least in the cities.

6. Climate
October is both in the wet season and the hurricane season, though we're not really worried about the latter. If we're lucky we won't worry much about the former, either.

7. Geology and Heritage
Geologically this country belongs to one region, but geographically it's considered part of a different region.

8. Flora and Fauna
There are over 400 bird species on the official checklist (466 to be precise). Only one is endemic.

There it is. Call your lifeline, spin the wheel, and lock in your answer in the comments! Answer comes tomorrow.

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Where in the World? Day Five

Earlier I mentioned we've chosen an exotic location to visit this fall, but instead of blatantly disclosing it I turned it into a quiz. Yes, I'm one of those annoying parents, one that rarely answers a question directly when I can get the kids (mine and others) to figure it out themselves.

Previous clues are listed below along with today's additional hint. I'll keep going for at least five clues even if someone guesses correctly, then as long as it takes for someone to figure it out. Each day (or so) I'll post the full set of clues for your convenience - the suite of characteristics should eventually lead you to the right place.

1. Climate
The average temperature in October is reported to be between 76* - 80*F, average rainfall in October is approximately 6.7 inches.

2. Topography
The land is primarily mountains and plains. Naturally occurring wetlands include freshwater marshes, mangrove swamps, lagoons, and marine ecosystems.

3. Geographic Location
We will not cross the equator.

4. Culture
The official language is English. We will need passports and to figure out the currency.

5. Economy
The infrastructure is excellent, including an international airport, an extensive network of paved roads, modern hospitals, and reliable utilities. At least in the cities.

If you've got a guess, or want to provide interpretations, post in the comments!

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Where in the World? Day Four

Earlier I mentioned we've chosen an exotic location to visit this fall, but instead of blatantly disclosing it I turned it into a quiz. Yes, I'm one of those annoying parents, one that rarely answers a question directly when I can get the kids (mine and others) to figure it out themselves.

Previous clues are listed below along with today's additional hint. I'll keep going for at least five clues even if someone guesses correctly, then as long as it takes for someone to figure it out. Each day (or so) I'll post the full set of clues for your convenience - the suite of characteristics should eventually lead you to the right place.

1. Climate
The average temperature in October is reported to be between 76* - 80*F, average rainfall in October is approximately 6.7 inches.

2. Topography
The land is primarily mountains and plains. Naturally occurring wetlands include freshwater marshes, mangrove swamps, lagoons, and marine ecosystems.

3. Geographic Location
We will not cross the equator.

Culture
4. The official language is English. We will need passports and to figure out the currency.

If you've got a guess, or want to provide interpretations, post in the comments!

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Where in the World? Day Three

Earlier I mentioned we've chosen an exotic location to visit this fall, but instead of blatantly disclosing it I turned it into a quiz. Yes, I'm one of those annoying parents, one that rarely answers a question directly when I can get the kids (mine and others) to figure it out themselves.

Previous clues are listed below along with today's additional hint. I'll keep going for at least five clues even if someone guesses correctly, then as long as it takes for someone to figure it out. Each day (or so) I'll post the full set of clues for your convenience - the suite of characteristics should eventually lead you to the right place.

1. Climate
The average temperature in October is reported to be between 76* - 80*F, average rainfall in October is approximately 6.7 inches.

2. Topography
The land is primarily mountains and plains. Naturally occurring wetlands include freshwater marshes, mangrove swamps, lagoons, and marine ecosystems.

3. Geographic Location
We will not cross the equator.

If you've got a guess, or want to provide interpretations, post in the comments!

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Where in the World? Day Two

Earlier I mentioned we've chosen an exotic location to visit this fall, but instead of blatantly disclosing it I turned it into a quiz. Yes, I'm one of those annoying parents, one that rarely answers a question directly when I can get the kids (mine and others) to figure it out themselves.

Previous clues are listed below along with today's additional hint. I'll keep going for at least five clues even if someone guesses correctly, then as long as it takes for someone to figure it out. Each day (or so) I'll post the full set of clues for your convenience - the suite of characteristics should eventually lead you to the right place.

1. Climate
The average temperature in October is reported to be between 76* - 80*F, average rainfall in October is approximately 6.7 inches.

2. Topography
The land is primarily mountains and plains. Naturally occurring wetlands include freshwater marshes, mangrove swamps, lagoons, and marine ecosystems.

If you've got a guess, or want to provide interpretations, post in the comments!

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Where In the World?

Way back in 2008, specifically the last day of 2008, I wrote a fairly long post bidding farewell to the old and ringing in the new. In that post I mentioned an overt desire to travel somewhere new in 2009, somewhere I've never been. Here's what I wrote:

There is a definite satisfaction in seeing new things where you are, but I am overtly jonesing for a trip somewhere exciting in 2009. I'm thinking South America -- Peru, Brasil, and Ecuador are jumbling in my brain, but for no real reason - if you have suggestions, please leave them in the comments. Requirements are lots of amazing birds to be found without hiring a tour guide or armed sentries, relatively cheap travel, lodging, and food, and reasonable entertainment for a bird-friendly wife and daughter. (full post here)

I'm happy to say a location has been selected, plans have been locked in. Vacation time has been blocked on the work calendars. Our trip isn't until October so I have lots of time to scour bird books, travel guides, web sites, and pick the brains of those that traveled before us. I've already started, I'm that giddy about it.

So, where are we headed? I could just tell you, but where's the fun in that? How about a quiz? First caveat I must pass along: although I specifically targeted S. America in my post, anywhere from Antarctica to Zimbabwe was on the table. So, here's the first clue:

Climate - average temperature in October is reported to be between 76* - 80*F, average rainfall in October is approximately 6.7 inches.

If you're already hankerin' to guess a specific location or a general region, let 'em fly in the comments, though be warned I may or may not verify correct guesses just yet. I'll post additional clues every few days . . . until I finally burst with excitement.

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Home Again, Home Again

We're just back from yet another inadvertent vacation from the blogosphere. Just as well, I'd rather be spending time with family, friends, and birds than the computer (though I did spend more time than I planned on a final report for work).

More to come shortly, in the meantime here's a typical scene of eastern Arkansas birding. What waterfowl can you identify?

Eastern Arkansas in flight. What are they?

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Seattle Dawn

23 November 2008 - Daybreak over Seattle

A waning crescent moon in the cloudless, pre-dawn Seattle sky.
Where were the expected fog, rain, and clouds?

The downside of flying from the east to the west coast: morning comes a lot quicker than you're used to. We were up late the night before, the equivalent of 3:00 AM for us easterners. Reina, unfortunately, had slept quite a bit on the plane, and her four-year-old body was up and ready to go by 8:00 AM. But that's Eastern Standard Time, it was only 5:00 AM locally.

My wife entertained her for an hour, then it was my turn. We put on jackets and headed outside for a walk. The upside of flying from the east to the west coast: morning comes a lot quicker than you're used to. The sky was clear, the temperature crisp, and we watched the neighborhood come alive.

Ready to start the day.

On our way back to the house we looked over our shoulders and caught the sun's glow over the Cascades and light fog rolling in from the north. In addition to the crow we found House Finches, Black-capped Chickadees, and Bushtits working over the neighborhood trees. The start of a beautiful day!





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Pacific Northwest Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving week in the Pacific Northwest with friends and family. Birding, as others have noted, takes a backseat on these visits since many involved haven't transformed from "bird-friendly" to "birder" (yet). But for some of us the birding never really stops, especially when you're 3,000 miles from the typical birds of your own backyard. Instead, the birding is whatever you can squeeze in during or surrounding the family time.

The neighborhood Spotted Towhee.

Happily, there is a lot surrounding my sister's place in Gig Harbor, just north of Tacoma. Their neighborhood is hilly and covered in conifers. The highlights of the neighborhood walks, for an easterner, were Chestnut-backed Chickadees, Varied Thrushes, Spotted Towhees, "Oregon" Dark-eyed Juncos, and more Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets than I've stumbled across back east.

Pelagic Cormorants resting on a buoy above two
lolling pinnepeds (California Sea Lions, maybe?).

Nearby parks allowed views of Puget Sound so scoping for waterfowl didn't disappoint. Pacific Loons and Surf Scoters floated with Red-necked Grebes, Pelagic and Double-crested Cormorants raced across the water. Marbled Murrelets and Pigeon Guillemots added to the excitement of seabirding. I didn't have many views of sheltered coves so ducks weren't easy to come by; those I did see included Barrow's and Common Goldeneye, Red-breasted Merganser, Bufflehead, and the ubiquitous Mallard.

The only puffins seen were at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium.

The weather was great, with only a couple of the days flouting stereotypical clouds, rain, and fog. It's no wonder local birders spend much of their time scoping open water. It's tough to see the canopy of those tall conifers, especially on mornings with fog. Birding by ear must have developed in this area.

The most surprising bird was the first bird encountered on the trip. We landed at night so we didn't see any city-dwelling Rock Pigeons, House Sparrows, or European Starlings on the drive to my friend's place in the University District. Near midnight, local time (3 AM for us) I stepped on to his balcony so I wouldn't wake his daughter with my sneezing fit. The backyard slopes away so during the day you have an amazing view of a fairly large park and, in the distance, the Cascades. As the distant lights played across the waters of Lake Washington a medium-sized bird made its way through the darkness, first moving north over the neighbor's yards, then circling a large tree, finally heading south on completely silent wingbeats, almost lazy flight, head swiveling right, then left, repeatedly back and forth.

I've only seen the graceful hunting of a Barn Owl twice in my life, and it was possibly the same individual bird. My sister and I happened upon a single bird patrolling the park below my friend's house in the fading light back in August of 2007.

The view from the balcony during daylight.

Ironically the birds I spent the most time watching were ones I'm not comfortable identifying. The first group: gulls. I'm happy to watch gulls, I like sort through huge congregations trying to pick out the oddball and examining the various cycles (plumages) to identify what I can, but around Puget Sound? Forget it. The field guides will show you Glaucous-winged and Western Gulls are both present and relatively common, but a third type may be the most encountered: when those two hybridize you wind up with intermediate forms that have their own name, the "Olympic Gull." Here are a couple of the individuals I saw, please feel free to leave your identifications in the comments, preferably with some reasoning how you got there, and don't forget about Glaucous-winged x Herring Gull or any of the other possible gulls.

Got a guess? Click for larger image.

Guesses? Click for a larger image.

Finally, the crows. Are Northwestern Crows a "real" species or merely a race of small American Crows? More on these two dilemmas at another time, they both deserve more space and thought than I can provide tonight.

Crow species at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium. This
one was wild, no convenient sign to help with identification.

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Where I Was

Mt. Rainier, as seen from the Seattle - Bremerton ferry.

Jan M got it, based on the birds (and weather!) she figured we were in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. We were in Gig Harbor for the bulk of the trip; more coming soon!

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Where I'm At

I'm not at home in the Southern Tier of New York, but maybe you can guess where I'm spending Turkey Day tomorrow. This doesn't factor into the location, but I'm unable to upload photos so it'll be a text only challenge.

The birding trips have been fairly local, just neighborhood birding with the occasional local park. On my walks I commonly see Red-breasted Nuthatches, Golden-crowned and Ruby-crowned Kinglets (in good numbers!), Black-capped and Chestnut-backed Chickadees, Brown Creepers, American Robins and Varied Thrushes. When I say "commonly seen" I really mean "frequently hear" since getting binoculars on them in the trees and in the weather has been tough.

When I find a patch of open water to scope I frequently spot Horned, Red-necked, and Western Grebes, Common and Pacific Loons (I have my eye out for Yellow-billed), and gulls. Weird gulls, not quite Western, not quite Glaucous-winged. I sometimes find a Pigion Guillimot and/or Marbled Murrelet, and Bald Eagles aren't as forthcoming as I suspected.

Any guesses? Leave them in the comments, and let me know how you arrived at your conclusion!

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Trip List - Ithaca locations

Boy, with everything that's been going on I'm way behind. I already wrote about the highlights of the recent Spring Field Ornithology trip I lead (with Jay McGowan), and now I'm finally posting the cumulative trip list. I will do this with all my birding trips, and I'll try to be better about the timing!

I highlighted my "first of the year" birds in bold. You can tell a couple of things: I haven't birded much outside of my immediate area, and some birds are slowly arriving. So birds like Carolina Wren that do occur around here, just not on our hill, were new due to the former, and birds like Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Ruby-crowned Kinglet were new due to the latter.

More about this trip was posted earlier.

More to come -- I lead another trip this weekend and I'm hoping for a good show of newly arrived migrants.

SFO Local Trip
Date: 21 April 2007
Location(s): New York, Ithaca: Sapsucker Woods, Ithaca City Cemetery, Stewart Park
Observers: 15, co-leader was Jay McGowan
Total: 59 species - new birds for the year are in bold

Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Green-winged Teal
Ring-necked Duck
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Common Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Common Loon
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Merlin
Killdeer
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
American Crow
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
European Starling
American Pipit
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Rusty Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Purple Finch
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

Spring Field Ornithology - Ithaca Sites

This morning I lead a field trip for the Spring Field Ornithology class, taught each spring at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology by Steve Kress. Steve is Audubon's vice-president for Bird Conservation, but he's reached a milestone at the Lab: he's been teaching SFO for 30 years. The course consists of Wednesday night lectures (an unfortunate term: they're much more fun that what the word "lecture" implies) by Steve and guests, then weekend field trips to local hot spots with a few overnight trips to more distant ones, such as Brigantine, NJ. As an aside, it is amazing how many folks repeat the course voluntarily year after year, and many just for the birding: they quit going to lectures years ago.

Although I've worked at the Lab for (almost) seven years, this is only the second year I've lead trips. I took a four year hiatus after my daughter was born, but this year I'm back. Most of the class headed north to Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge for an all-day or, optionally, overnight trip, Jay McGowan and I lead a group of about 16 who could only commit to a half-day of local sites.

SFO birders at the Ithaca City Cemetery. © Mike Powers 2007

Because the weather had been favorable for migration we decided to first spend some time in Sapsucker Woods (home of the Cornell Lab). Unfortunately, not too much new was around, although we had a long and spectacular encounter with a flock of Rusty Blackbirds, a species that has been steadily declining since the '60s. From there we stopped by the Ithaca City Cemetery where a pair of Merlin have been reported as possibly nesting. Almost immediately one of the group spied a bird somewhat inconspicuously disemboweling a House Sparrow in a large, leafless tree just around the corner from the purported nest.

Female Merlin calling to her mate. © Mike Powers 2007

Feathers slowly drifted past us as we scoped the bird, she simply ignored us as she continued to devour her prey. Eventually, when finished, she called, and we discovered the male had been perching in a nearby spruce when he responded. It's possible these two were the same birds that successfully nested last year in town, just a few blocks away from the cemetery. As far as anyone could recollect, that pair was the first confirmed breeding pair in Ithaca. It's interesting that Merlin breeding in urban areas is becoming more commonplace, and makes me wonder what will we discover over the next few years? It's also worth keeping an eye on any pairs seen at this time of year in our area. And considering I found a male and female earlier this week at Horseheads Marsh I should keep an eye out for a nest!