Travel » BirdQuiz.net

Trinidad and Tobago 1: Welcome to Tobago

Jun 122015

Today my brother and I began our first birding trip to Trinidad and Tobago. For those of you who might be considering taking such a trip yourself, let’s start with a brief introduction. Trinidad and Tobago is a single country that consists of two major islands that are separated from each other by only ~23 miles, with Trinidad being only ~7 miles from Venezuela at its closest point. The standard and apt description is that T&T is culturally part of the West Indies, but geographically is an extension of South America. T&T is often suggested to be an excellent choice for northern birders who are interested in taking their first birding foray into the tropics, because although T&T has families of tropical birds such as manakins, parrots, trogons, antbirds, woodcreepers, tityras, and jacamars, there are fewer members of each family than would be seen in locations such as Columbia or Brazil, countries whose birdlife diversity can be overwhelming. This was not our first trip to the tropics, but I agree wholeheartedly with that assessment.

Although I have grown to enjoy trips to off-the-radar birding locations and using local expertise instead of the higher-priced birding lodges and guide services, for this trip we decided to simply use one of the many birding packages offered by Caligo Ventures, the booking agent for the Asa Wright Nature Center in Trinidad and a few Tobago partners. We flew direct from JFK to Port-of-Spain Trindad and then took a short 15-minute connecting flight to Tobago. We stayed at the Blue Waters Inn on the far eastern coast of the island, a 1 1/2 hr. drive from the Tobago airport. A great thing about visiting a new country is that the first couple new life birds are easy, picked up in the airport or driving to the lodgings, or while walking to your room. We were tired but energized at the same time, but were able to see species like Saffron Finch in the Piarco Airport and Magnificent Frigatebirds en route to the Inn, confirming that we were no longer in New Jersey.

Saffron Finch gathering nesting material at Piarco Airport. Our first bird in Trinidad.

Amazingly, the first bird seen at the Inn was an Audubon’s Shearwater that was nearly on the shore. We suspect that this was a young or exhausted bird, because the next morning we found it on the lawn of the inn, hidden in the shelter of the Inn’s leeward side, out of the buffeting winds.

An Audubon’s Shearwater nearly on the shoreline at Blue Waters Inn. A major surprise for us.

The grounds of the inn, although not extensive or varied, allowed views of Trinidad Motmot, Barred Antshrike, Rufous-vented Chachalacas, Spectacled Thrushes, White-fringed Antwrens, and more. It was a day of traveling and transferring, and not much birding, but what we saw was already encouraging.

Rufous-vented Chachalaca, the national symbol of Tobago. We saw up to six of them on the grounds at the inn.

To view the entire photo collection from this trip, visit my Flickr site: https://www.flickr.com/photos/14037210@N06/sets/72157655480484206

Gulling

Jan 252015

Gulls typically are not the favorites of most birders; they certainly don’t seem to have the same widespread allure that owls or raptors or warblers have. If you meet anybody who truly enjoys sorting through gull flocks, then you know you are in the presence of a hard-core birder. So why is it that gulls often achieve least-favored status? For most birders, I suppose that it revolves around three issues. First, gulls present identification challenges, as they can take two or three years to achieve maturity, with different plumage patterns for each year. Second, finding the more interesting or desirable gulls has a bit of a needle-in-a-haystack feel, requiring sorting through a large flock to find something different. Third, at least where I live, the more interesting or desirable gulls arrive in winter and I’m not a fan of sorting through large distant flocks through a scope while shivering. Especially at places like landfills (=garbage dumps) where gulls tend to accumulate. Logically, I realize that the first two reasons are not very justifiable, as identification challenges and finding rarities are two aspects of advanced birding that make it such an enjoyable hobby, but hey, I’m not alone in these biases. During these past few weeks, however, I’ve found that studying gulls in Florida is quite enjoyable because cold weather is not an issue, and the gulls allow close approach on lovely beaches where even binocs often are not needed.

So today I thought that I’d share two of the interesting gulls that I’ve found over the past few days. A Franklin’s Gull has been making appearances at a local town beach located only five miles or so from where we are staying. As I’ve only seen Franklin’s Gulls once before, in Colorado, I thought that an early morning stop was worthwhile. When we arrived at the beach I was disappointed, since only two dozen or so gulls were present, and I expected much more. What were the odds that a Franklin’s would be in such a small flock? Well it turns out that we beat the odds, and here’s where the expertise of others came in handy. Franklin’s Gulls are difficult to distinguish from the much-more-common Laughing Gulls, with Franklin’s having a narrower bill and a more prominent white eye-ring. In the absence of knowing that a Franklin’s was appearing sporadically at this beach, I probably would have assumed that all of the darker-winged gulls were Laughing, and missed this rarity. (there’s a lesson embedded in here for us all!) But after sorting through the small flock carefully, a narrow-billed gull became apparent, especially in comparison with the accompanying Laughing Gulls. The dim early morning light allowed a diagnostic photo. To give an idea of its abundance, only two other Franklin’s Gulls have been reported on the east coast in eBird this year to date. My thanks go out to the fine birders who originally identified and reported this bird.

A Franklin’s Gull in winter plumage in early morning light. The narrower bill and more prominent white eye-ring are key identification points for distinguishing it from the similar Laughing Gull.

Two days later I was scanning through the gulls and terns at our local beach that I have been trying to visit daily. Every day the combination of shorebird, gull, and tern species present here is slightly different, and I have been hoping for a Sandwich Tern to make an appearance. After a quick scan and finding the usual suspects, I noticed an immature gull that was intermediate in size between the accompanying Laughing Gulls and Herring Gulls. There aren’t too many possibilities within that size range, and after consultation with my well-worn Sibley’s Guide, it became apparent that I was watching a first year Lesser Black-backed Gull. Although its not nearly as rare as Franklin’s Gull, this bird also was flagged as rare at this location in eBird. Maybe gulling can be fun after all. At least when the weather is this warm and the birds are this accommodating.

A first winter Lesser Black-backed Gull.

In Praise of Local Patches

Jan 182015

We tend to take our local patches and our common birds for granted. One of the pleasures of birding while traveling though is that we get the opportunity to experience the common birds of another location that might be difficult to see in our own patch. This happened to me this morning as I was birding a small community park. Actually it was more of a recreation complex, consisting mostly of tennis courts and ball fields, but bordered by a small waterway and scrub area along a power line cut. It’s not a destination that traveling birders flock to. Few people outside of the neighborhood or the county visit here. But it struck me how the birds that we saw in a mere 30 minutes with very little effort can be seen here nearly every day of the week, yet they would have filled the rare bird alerts back in New Jersey. Imagine a day in NJ with Anhingha, Loggerhead Shrike, Common Gallinule, Wood Stork, Sandhill Crane, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Nanday Parakeet, Monk Parakeet, Red-shouldered Hawk, and Tricolored Heron. But here in this simple local patch in Florida its just another day. Here’s a few photos from this morning’s walk:

An adult male Anhingha posing.

A Wood Stork perched behind one of the neighborhood homes.

One of the two Loggerhead Shrikes hunting around the ball fields. Or maybe its waiting to play soccer?

Monk Parakeets were feeding and gathering nest material here.

A Common Gallinule (formerly Common Moorhen)

Snail Kite!

Jan 162015

Six species of kites have been seen in the US, but none is common in my home turf in the northeast US. (Quick question..how many of the US kites can you name? See the answer below). I have been fortunate to see all six of these raptors on my travels, but naturally would like to see them within the US too. Despite multiple trips to Florida though, I have missed seeing Snail Kite, one of the Florida specialty birds that is often found by birders visiting the Everglades area. Snail Kites possess an extremely curved bill that is highly adapted for feeding on apple snails. The profusion of apple snails in southern Florida has been to the benefit of Snail Kites and Limpkins, who both feed on them. This week I decided to take an overnight trip near Ft. Myers in southern Florida in search of some species that are not being seen in the Tampa-St. Pete area, with Snail Kite as one of the main target species. The birding gods were smiling on us because while driving to Harns Marsh, a location that was recommended for several species, a raptor perched beside a roadside canal turned out to be an immature Snail Kite. I call that a good omen.

My first US Snail Kite, found alongside a roadside canal while driving on a busy road. As you can imagine, a quick U-turn was called for. Look at the curvature and length of that bill!

When we arrived at Harns Marsh the following morning we observed not one, not two, but three Snail Kites hunting in a large marsh, including one adult bird. They put on a great show in the early morning light, and could easily be confused with Northern Harriers due to their overall dark plumage, large white rump patch, and their behavior of flying (almost sailing) low over the marsh in search of prey. At one point all three birds were perched in the same small isolated tree in the middle of the marsh. Wow!

An adult Snail Kite hunting for its next meal.

One of two immature Snail Kites hunting in Harns Marsh.

The rest of the southern excursion went extremely well, with 21 new species added for this trip, including a number of additional ‘good’ birds, such as numerous Limpkins with their boisterous calls, two American Bitterns, Purple Gallinule, Crested Caracara, Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, and Red-cockaded Woodpecker. Interestingly, of all these rare-ish birds that I’ve seen here in the past two weeks, the only one that was flagged as unusual in eBird was Stilt Sandpiper. Go figure. That’s Florida birding.

Answer to the kite quiz: the six North American kites are Mississippi, Snail, White-tailed, Swallow-tailed, Double-toothed, and Hook-billed. Give yourself a gold star if you got all six of them, and a silver star if you got at least four.

Island Birding

Jan 142015

We’ve been pretty successful in finding most of the expected specialty birds on this winter excursion to Florida, but one of the main target birds on this trip has proved elusive. Wilson’s Plover is one of my North American nemesis birds, and a very tough species to find in NJ, but they nest and overwinter on sandy beaches in the southern US including here in Florida. We tried to find them at two of the top locations in the area, Ft. De Soto State Park and Honeymoon Island State Park, but like a true nemesis bird, it remained evasive. This morning brother Rich and I headed out to the northernmost barrier island in the gulf coast of Florida, the Anclote Key north sand bar. This is a relatively small island just 4 miles offshore that is only ~50-100 yds wide, less than 0.5 miles long, without any trees, but serves as a haven for shorebirds, gulls, terns, pelicans, and cormorants. It was a pleasure visiting a site like this, strolling on our own private island for the next 2 hrs.

A view along the beach at the North Anclote Key sand bar.

Most shorebirds can be difficult to distinguish even in their breeding plumage, but the challenge is even more extreme at this time of the year, when most are just varying shades of gray. Identification depends on comparing the size of the bird, bill shape and length, and colors of the bill and legs. Wilson’s Plover is most noted for its large plover-shaped bill and for favoring the upper beach and wrack line rather than the water’s edge. We spotted a bird with a larger-than normal bill feeding in the wrack line, but its bill was relatively thin and thus confusing. Consultation of the field guide revealed that it was a Snowy Plover, which certainly qualifies as a good find, as I’ve only seen them once before, in Baja Mexico. Its extremely light plumage, even brighter than the nearby Piping Plovers, should have been a clue.

The larger bill of this bird had us optimistic for a while, but this is a Snowy Plover. Notice how slender its bill is in comparison to the bulkier bill of the Wilson’s Plover.

Continuing onward, another fairly large plover was spotted on the wrack line. Could it be? Darker plumage…check. Flesh-colored legs..check. Bill size..long and bulky. Check. Wilson’s Plover. Thankfully, it wasn’t shy, and allowed close approach and nice photos. Further exploration of the island revealed another group of five Wilson’s as a bonus. Its a great feeling seeing a life bird, and even better under these conditions, finding it by ourselves on our own island and distinguishing it from possibly confusing species. Another great experience in Florida.

Our target bird for the day, Wilson’s Plover, with its long and bulky bill, flesh-colored legs, and relatively dark plumage compared to the Snowy Plover.

Four Wilson’s Plovers at one time!

A happy and intrepid birder after viewing the Wilson’s Plovers.

Hurray for surprises

Jan 082015

I am a big fan of surprises in birding. Usually the best surprises are seeing unexpected birds…rarities or out-of-season birds. Today involved a surprise of a different kind. In preparation for this month-long trip to Florida I did a bit of pre-trip investigation, looking up the birding hotspots and trying to get an idea of the species expected to be seen at those locations during this time of year. Today, while roaming around the neighborhood by bike here in Florida, I spotted a break in the mangroves with a Reddish Egret hunting in the shallow lagoon. Great. When I parked the bike, the surprises kept coming. A Roseate Spoonbill. Fly-by Wood Storks. More Roseate Spoonbills. A few Tri-colored Herons. I sat down on the bank with my camera, and then 20 or so White Ibis appeared from out of nowhere. Little Blue Herons approached almost too close to focus. From that one unnamed spot I had a total of nine species of waders within 50 yards (and usually much closer) behaving as if I wasn’t there, plus flyover Glossy Ibis, making it a 10-wader stop. All unexpected. I love surprises when birding.

A sample of the group. Can you name the five species present here?

A Tricolored Heron in the mangroves. Natural lighting looking un-natural.

A Reddish Egret in its hunting pose. It chases its prey, often with wings raised, unlike more stationary hunters like Great Egret.

A trusting Little Blue Heron investigating the strange photographer on the shoreline.

Birding Florida 2015

Jan 072015

This year I decided to escape part of our northeastern winter by spending the entire month of January in the more welcoming climate of Florida. Of course, birding will be a big part of the upcoming month, and after only four days a nice collection of the Florida specialty birds that we don’t see often (or at all) up north has begun. Let’s hope that the trend continues. Here’s some of the highlight species so far:

Roseate Spoonbill
Reddish Egret
White Ibis (common)
Sandhill Crane (common)
Wood Stork
Nanday Parakeet (lifer)
Monk Parakeet
Eurasian Collared-Dove (very common down here)
Common Ground-dove
Anhingha
Barred Owl
American White Pelican
Loggerhead Shrike

Reddish Egret hunting in the gulf

My lifer Nanday Parakeet. This is a non-native species that has established itself in the Tampa-St. Pete area over the past few decades.

Eurasian Collared Dove is another non-native species that is spreading throughout the country; its quite common in this area.

Another benefit of birding in Florida is that I am getting a chance to see our short-distance migrants during the winter months. Most individuals of these species migrate south when the temperatures drop with only a few rare stragglers remaining up north, and a portion of the population wintering here in Florida. Because they don’t travel very far, these migrants typically return back north earlier in spring than other species that winter exclusively in South America. Its good to see them again. Examples of these species include:

Palm Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Yellow-throated Warbler
Pine Warbler
Northern Parula
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Blue-headed Vireo
Laughing Gull
Black Skimmer
Royal Tern
Brown Thrasher
Osprey
Willet
Wilson’s Snipe
Common Gallinule
Black-crowned Night-heron
Yellow-crowned Night-heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Phoebe

Yellow-throated Warbler

Red-shouldered Hawk

A cooperative Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.

Weekend Birding Excursion to Delaware Aug. 8-10, 2014

Aug 112014

This past weekend I joined with some friends from one of my birding clubs, the Edgar A. Mearns Bird Club, from Orange County NY for an excursion down to Delaware. I had not been birding in Delaware previously, so this trip was an opportunity to explore new territory with good birders who are more familiar with this area. Of course, it also was an opportunity to search for some target species that are difficult to see in our area, with the main targets being American Avocets, Black-necked Stilts, and Brown-headed Nuthatch. We were not disappointed. The trip began here in NJ with a stop at Forsythe NWR, where a trip around the dike produced many shorebirds on the receding tide, but the highlights were three tough tern species: Caspian, Least, and Gull-billed. The feeding Black Skimmers were a delight. We crossed Delaware Bay on the Cape May-Lewes ferry, accompanied at each end by Dolphins. Very near to the Lewes DE dock is Cape Henlopen State Park where we spent two hours or so, rewarded by good looks at Brown-headed Nuthatches, Blue Grosbeaks (which ended up being very common on this trip), Piping Plovers, and the first-for-me Ghost Crab. It was a nice start to my Delaware birding history.

The next day was spent entirely in Bombay Hook NWR, slowly progressing around the drive and carefully scanning the pools for shorebirds. The highlight for me came early in the day, with 275 American Avocets amassed closely in in Raymond Pool in the morning sunlight. Wow, what a great place for shorebird fans. There were large numbers of shorebirds in this pool, and when they took off in unison and circled the pool, it was quite impressive. Near the end of the loop we searched for a previously reported Sedge Wren, and we were able to first hear it, and then got decent looks at the bird (although no photos). This was a nice unexpected surprise for me,and only my second Sedge Wren ever.

Our last day was spent at Prime Hook, with the main target being the stilts…Black-necked Stilts and Stilt Sandpipers, each of which eluded us at Bombay Hook. With all the skilled eyes and a bit of good fortune, we found both species at our first stop, within a few yards of each other. Nice! It was a good ending to the trip, with 104 species seen by the group, including nearly all of our targets.

Newer Entries