Matthew and I talk on this episode about his work at Connecticut Audubon as a travel specialist. Here are links to some of the trips he leads there.
We also talk about some of his favorite Connecticut birding spots. Here are links on the BirdingHotspots.org site to some of those spots. Milford Point Valley Falls Park Belding WMA
Connecticut, like most of New England has most of the eBird Hotspots covered with “how to bird here” information. As the editor in Washington, I still need lots of help to cover many sites here. I’d love the help of local birders. It’s easy. Here is a post on our ABC Birding site with written and video “how to” info.
Thanks for listening. Until next time, good birding and good day!
On this episode Larry Schwitters, Diane Yorgason-Quinn and I talk about their work on the Vaux Happening Project, Larry’s prior work on Black Swifts and their nest sites behind waterfalls. He first volunteered, and then was hired to get to (no small task) and look for Black Swift nests and all of the reasonably accessible waterfalls in trhe area.
From there he turned his attention to Vaux’s Swifts and this led to the Vaux Happening Project.
Diane Yorgason-Quinn is a long time friend and Tacoma area birder who is the moving force of our local ABC Birding club. She is also the organizer and leader of the JBLM Vaux Swift counting part of the Vaux Happening Project. Here is a video of the swifts at the chimney there from You Tube.
Larry continues to be extremely active, still climbing crazy ladders to keep the cameras at the chimney functioning.
Diane talked about her presentation at the 7th International Swift Converence. It was fun to see the difference between our North American swifts and the old world swifts, which now are somewhat dependent on bird houses for nesting. Diane at the conference presenting on the Vaux Happening research.
I really enjoyed catching up with Jacob Miller for this episode of the podcast. I’ve known Jacob for a few years, and it’s been fun to see him become such a talented, humble and overall excellent birder and young man. You can follow Jacob on Facebook and Instagram.
Jacob mentions a website to find information about flight calls of migratory birds. Here is a link.
Check out The Bird Banter Podcast #118 with Jim Danzenbaker to hear about his nocturnal bird call experiences in SW WA.
Hear about Liam Hutcheson’s record WA Big Year on The Bird Banter Podcast #168 with Liam Hutcheson.
I talked about the chase I did this week to see the Lesser Nighthawk. Another highlight of that day was seeing a really cool behavior of White-throated Swift at Frenchman’s Coolee. WHite-throated Swift is a super cool bird. I first saw them at the Badlands in 1987 when I moved across the country to begin my family medicine residency. I was camping there with Kay and Jean, and read about the species on an info board and watched them zip around the cliffs nearby. I learned that they are one of the fastest birds in the world in direct flight, they almost never stop flying except to roost, and in the breeding season they do a spectacular courtship “tumble” where a mated pair seem to clutch each other in flight, and tumble throgh the air at great speed. On the way to the site, Wayne told me about this behavior, and hoped that we might see it or ever get photos. I know how hard it is to photograph fast flying swifts, but sure enough on the road throug the coolee, high on one cliff, the swifts were zipping around, and one pair started to do the “tumble” display quite nearby. We both managed some photos, so here are a few. Two White-throated Swifts doing their “tumbling” courtship display.
Thanks for listening. If you have guest suggstions, please use the Contact Form to send me contact information and suggestions. Until next time, good birding and good day!
On this episode Andrew, Cin-Ty and I talk about their recent books on North American Flycatcher ID.
You can buy them anywhere you typically buy books, but here is a link to the Princeton Press site who published them.
I talk about the fabulous art by Andrew and promised a couple of the plates here as examples of how the book shows the details of how to differentiate the tough empids. Check out these.
I have read the Pewee and Empid book and especially enjoyed the introduction section where they show exactly how to look at wing and primary projection, wing panel contrast, wing bar contrast, upper and under part contrast, eye rings and bill shapes and sizes. In photos these can be hard to compare, but the paintings allow an apples-to-apples comparison that is exquisitely detailed and helpful.
In addition I like the panels and text that compare similar species, showing just what to look for in telling the difference. Here is a link to a book review by Harry Armistead.
Here is link to Cin-Ty Lee’s website.
In the introduction I talk about the Lewis’s Woodpecker I saw a couple of days prior to recording the introduction to this episode. Here is a photo of that bird. Bad photo. Great bird. Lewis’s Woodpecker
Thanks for listening. Until next time, good birding and good day!
On this episode Mollee and I talk about lots of things, but maybe none more exciting than learning more about the trip to the Chocó region of Colombia that Mollee is leading for Hillstar Nature in Feb 2025. It sounds like a blast, and I’m pretty excited about the trip.
Hearing about Mollee’s work at the Nighthawk Agency brought back lots of memories of my late wife Kay’s boutique advertising agency Pullen Advertising, that she ran for many years. Being the person who has to be all things for a small company has its challenges but its joys. I can tell that Mollee embraces these challenges. Thinking about all of the supporting parts of birding as an industry is a term I’d not thought much about before, but it really is an industry. There are so many different contributers that I’ve just scratched the surface with the people I’ve had on the podcast so far.
I had talked preveiously with Joshua Covill about The Birding Coop, and it was fun to here about if from Mollee’s perspective. It sounds like a pretty cool project. I hope it does well.
We talk about here work with George Armistead and Alvaro Jaramillo on the Life List Podcast. This has become one of the favorites of many of my friends.
The New River Birding Festival sounds like a pretty unique and fabulous event. I’m hoping it makes it into my plans soon.
Thanks for listening. Until next time, good birding and good day!
On this episode I got to reminisce with Josh Covill about our Colombia Santa Marta trip, to learn about his guide business in Montana and how he becamne so proficient with the birds of the neotropics. Josh is both an outstanding birder, but also a funny, humble and all-around nice guy. I was so happy to talk with Holly Garrod, whom I learned about from Josh while on the Colombia trip, and she was such a terrific guest on episode #170. Hybrid Scarlet x White Ibis (aka Pink Ibis)
Josh was right on in his assessment of the group on our trip. We all seemed to have fun together, and there were no real difficult individuals. For anyone interested you can read about our trip on my eBird trip list here. Here is a link to an article about the new antpita species we got to see at El Dorado. For some of my photos of the trip here is a Flickr album link. Sunset from the El Dorado preserve observation deck.
You can find Josh’s website for Montana birding tours here, or his page on the Hillstar Nature site here.
Ken Brown, Bruce LaBar and I met at 6 AM yesterday to go on our more-or-less annual pilgramage to see our FOY birds that are most easily seen in eastern WA. I chose this day because we could all go, and because the weather looked promising. As we got over the Cascades about 7:30 it was clear that the weather was going to cooperate, and as we got to our first stop for sage species though still chilly, there was almost no wind (rare for this wind-farm area) and the sun warmed things up. Sage Thrashers were singing in all directions, and we also added the expected Brewer’s Sparrow and hoped for Vesper Sparrow both singing and perching in view for us. Sage Thrasher Vesper Sparrow
One of the cool things about birding in the spring in wide open areas is that the birds there have big loud songs. At our next stop, the Wild Horse Puget Sound Wind Farm HQ, Sagebrush Sparrow was no exception, as were Mountain Bluebirds, Say’s Phoebe and more thrashers and Brewer’s Sparrows. Sagebrush Sparrow
From here we worked our way along the Old Vantage Hwy to Vantage. Along the way we stopped to see the Great Horned Owl on a nest at a cliffside area, and then on to the Gingko boat ramp, where Rock Wrens were singing, but we missed Canyon Wren.
From here we headed to the County Line Ponds. At County Line Ponds the American Avocet and Black-necked Stilts were easily seen, but the highlights for us were large flocks of Sandhill Cranes calling and flying overhead, an immature Golden Eagle on a utility pole, singing Horned Lark, and great studies, thanks to Ken’s expertise, of the Gambellii subspecies of White-crowned Sparrow. American Avocet Golden Eagle we studied to exclude young Bald Eagle. Golden Eagle easily confirmed when it took flight. White Crowned Sparrow, Gambelii subspecies.
From hgere on to Othello, where very few blackbirds were to be found, though we added Yellow-headed Blackbird we dipped on Tricolored. FOY Cliff Swallows, that nest in numbers under bridge there were FOY for all of us, and we looked over the vast flocks of Cackling Geese, finding one Greater White-fronted but no rarities. Shorebirds were overall absent. (Killdeer and Black-necked Stilts were there).
We enjoyed the weather, the Mariner’s game on Ken’s phone, and our company as we crossed the Columbia NWR to the Moses Lake area for FOY Clark’s Grebe before heading home. On any trip there are some cool finds. As Bruce drove, Ken spotted this nesting Great Horned Owl from the back seat, and we circled back to enjoy looks. Not the one (or maybe 2) owlets in the nest.
When the Mariner’s saved their terrible road trip from total disaster with a 10 inning 6-1 win our smiles were cemented for the ride home.
I think Bruce and Ken both had 15+ FOY species for the trip (I went to Yakima last month, so had a few of these) and one more great day birdng with friends is in the book.
Courtney was a joy to talk with, and helped me gain perspective into the experiences of birders who became interested in birding during the pandemic when birding was arguably the perfect passtime. Getting outdoors, either alone or with friends, was just about the description of how to have fun without significant exposure to infection.
Be sure to check out, and ideally buy, Courtney’s soon to be released book.
Click on the image above to go to Courtney’s website for a link to buy the book.
Courtney also has her own birding podcast, The Thing with Feathers that you may want to check out.
Some of my fondest birding memories are from the Orange County area of California, where Kay and I took the kids many times, and Kay visited for longer visits in her last couple of years. I strongly recommend scheduling some time for birding if you visit the area.
Thanks for listening. Until next time, good birding and good day!
I first heard about Holly Garrod from the guide on my Hillstar Nature Tours guide, Joshua Covill. Holly Garrod is the bird banding coordinator for Birds Caribbean, creator and leader of the Caribbean Bird Banding Network, as well as Outreach Manager and an Avian Ecologist at the University of Montana Bird Ecology Lab. I so enjoyed talking with Holly. Her energy and passion is wonderful to experience, and I learned a lot from our discussion.
We talk about bird banding, as well as about the Motus bird tracking system. I love that we can now learn so much about the movements of even small birds and other migratory creatures like butterflies using tiny transmitters that can be attached to even very small creatures and a network of recievers. Every time a transmission is detected by a receiver the information is sent to the Motus data network. In this way movements of tagged animals (birds, fish, butterflies, etc.) can be followed. Holly and others are helping involve the Caribbean Islands in the network of receiving for Motus.
For understanding the migration of many of our North American neotropic migrants this is key. Check out the range maps of these birds for example.
As you can see these two species and lots more pass over or through the Caribbean Islands.
A part of the Birds Caribbean work is developing the Caribbean Birding Trail, with local hotspots, guides and more. There is now a dedicated website to the Caribbean Birding Trail resources.
Stay tuned for future episodes with Josh Covill.
It’s good to be home, and good to add the latest episode to the podcast. This winter’s trip away from the rainy Pacific Northwest started in Florida. About 10 minutes before my planned 3 AM alarm to dash off to SEATAC for a 6 AM flight to Orlando, my brother Bill called to let me know he had just tested positive for Covid, and that I shouldn’t visit. That made for 5-6 days of improvization necessary before Marian and I could arrive at the Big Pine Key home that a family friend of Marian was letting us use. We had tentatively planned to visit Epcot Center from Bill’s place in The Villages, and so decided to start our trip in that direction. First though I convinced Marian that trying to see the American Flamingos that had been blown north from their Rio Lagartos stronghold. Four birds had been being seen consistently at the Merritt Island NWR–Haulover Canal Area most days, and so on our first night in Florida Marian and I drove to Cocoa, FL for a night, then headed to the NWR early the next AM. On arrival at the hotspot, it was easy to spot, but hard to really see with binoculars the four flamingos, maybe a mile offshore near a small reef-island.
In addition to the flamingos we enjoyed nearby Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins, Ruddy Turnstones and plenty of waders. Ruddy Turnstone in basic (non-breeding/winter) plumage.
We had a nice day exploring the island and refuge. We planned to stay until evening to watch a Space-X manned missle launch, but it was postponed, so heaed back for another night in Cocoa before heading for Disney World the next morning.
Epcot Center seemed much more worn-down and commercial than I had remembered from years ago, but we had a nice day walking around and easily avoiding buying Disney themed junk. Marian in front of the Epcot entrance.[/caption]
After a night in Orlando, we decided to take a couple of days to drive south toward Miami. A nice stop was at the Loxahatchee NWR where we took a midday walk on the March Trail. A pair of Sandhill Cranes were on the dike trail, and essentially refused to move aside, so we quietly walked past them with these iPhone photos unavoidable.
From here we decided to spend a couple of days at Miami Beach, and ate well, checked out the beach, and generally played tourist. Lesser Black-backed Gull
Miami Beach
From here we headed for the beach house on Big Pine Key where we enjoyed the weather, views and quiet time. Birding was very slow, but some of the Florida specialties obliged. American Aligator at the Blue Hole. White Morph of the Great Blue Heron. Key Deer are a very small subspecies of White-tailed Deer. They are protected, very tame and abundant on Big Pine Key.
After a nice vacation at Big Pine Key, we drove back to Miami where Marian headed on to visit family in Georgia, and I waited to pick up Bruce LaBar at the airport that evening. During the wait I chased and ticked my second ABA lifer of the trip, a Yellow-headed Caracara that had been visiting the Pelican Pavillion at Oleta River State Park at the end of the afternoon most days.
Yellow-headed Caracara[/caption]
After picking up Bruce, the next morning we met Mariah Hrynovich and her husband Luis for a day to try for as many of the Miami area target lifers as possible for Bruce. Too many photos to include most, but the Biltmore Hotel grounds were very cool with lots of parakeets and parrots, along with the historic hotel where many famous guests and movies have been filmed. Spot-breasted Oriole. This bird was spotted as it flew in overhead by Bruce and Mariah. At the end of the day we returned to the Oleta River SP where we again managed to see the Yellow-headed Caracara, and retreat to our hotel before heading to Barranquilla, Colombia in the next day. We arrived on the first day of Carnival!
Our trip was with Joshua Covill of Hillstar Nature Tours, and was an overall fabulous trip. There were too many photos to put many here. Check out my Flickr album for lots of pics, and the eBird trip report for details. Hybrid Scarlet x White Ibis (aka Pink Ibis)
After the Colombia trip I headed on for a nice visit with Jean and Alan in Costa Rica. This was in large part a family trip. Here are a few photos. King Vulture
This King Vulture flew right over Jean and Alan’s home and landed in a tree quite close. Fiery-billed Aracari and Yellow-throated Toucans were daily visitors.
Check out Jean’s Regenerate Your Reality website.
Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for more episodes with guests.
Good Birding.
Miami Beach
American Aligator at the Blue Hole.
White Morph of the Great Blue Heron.
Key Deer are a very small subspecies of White-tailed Deer. They are protected, very tame and abundant on Big Pine Key.
Yellow-headed Caracara[/caption]
