On this episode I talk with Bryony Angell, Seattle area birder, writer and adovocate for women birding. Bryony writes professionally about many birding topics, but recently much of her focus has been on women in birding, as guides, as travelers, and in other leadership roles. She grew up in the Seattle area, the twin daughter of two birders, and we talk about her childhood trips to the Skagit River area, how the area has changed over the years, and her birding near home in Skagit County now.
You can check out Bryony’s website here. Use the contact page if you want to reach out to her.
We talk briefly about the Feminist Birding Clubs around the country. They have expanded to have clubs in many of the larger U.S. cities, and are proponents of inclusivity in the birding community.
Let me know if you have suggestions for guests or topics you’d like to hear on the podcast. Use the conact page above to get in touch.
Until next time, good birding and good day!
Author: birdbanter
The Bird Banter Podcast #142 with Francis Canto Jr. Additional Info.
On this episode I talk with Francis Canto Jr., a birder and birding guide from Belize. He was recommended as a podcast guest by a listener, Juli DeGrummond, who recommended Francis after she took a Road Scholar birding trip with him in Belize. Francis is an avid birder and photographer. He was recognized by his country by being chosen as the photographer for the art on the countries current postage stamps, featuring a series of common Belize birds.
We talk about great places to go birding in Belize, and the Crooked Tree Wildlife Refuge, so check out this link to learn about this area.
You can find Francis on Facebook, and Instagram. He has a blogspot website also, The 501 Birder. Here is his eBird Profile.
The Bird Banter Podcast #151 with Dr. Jim Kettelkamp Additional Info.
On this episode I talk with Iowa birder and retired physician Dr. Jim Kettelkamp. Jim has rekindled his passion for birding, developed in his childhood, and become a top Johnson County, Iowa big year birder, as well as advocate for backyard habitat and visitor to several great ABA birding sites. We talk about all of this on the episode. One of the topics we talk about is the serious decline in grassland and insectivore bird species from Jim’s youthful birding to now. He mentions how the change in agriculture, from smaller farms with many hedgerows to giant farms with no habitat in sight, seems to be a major factor. This got me to remembering a visit to England a few years ago when I visited a large commercial farm. Although the scope of the farm was large, there were well established hedgerows between fields, and good numbers of birds using the habitat. I recall the owner talking about how this was financially viable due to subsidies and regulations that made if financially advantageous to leave these areas natural. In the agricultural areas of the U.S. that I have seen, the opposite seems to be true. Leaving fields fallow to recover is pretty common, but still there is little habitat other than bare fallow fields, with no shrubs or trees between the fields. Here is an article discussing some of the programs.
If anyone knows about similar programs in the U.S. I’d love to have you let me know about them. This Cropwatch article is the closest I can find.
You can reach out to Jim on Facebook here @jim.kettelkamp
Thanks for following The Bird Banter Podcast. Until next time, good birding and good day.
Central Washington Spring Day with Ken and Bruce
Today Ken Brown, Bruce LaBar and I left Tacoma at 6 Am to head east on what has recently been an annual trek for the three of us to get our FOY sage habitat species and a few early returning species for the year. Ken met me at my house, we picked up Bruce and headed east on Hwy 18 –> I-90, through Kittitas to the Old Vantage Hwy. Our first birding stop was at 8:41 AM at a spot we have had luck with in recent years, and we managed Brewer’s Sparrow and Sage Thrasher there, though it was less active than in past years. No luck with Vesper Sparrow or Loggerhead Shrike, a trend that continued all day with these two elusive species.
Next was just a bit east on the Old Vantage Hwy to the Wild Horse Wind Energy site. This area has been our most dependable spot for Sagebrush Sparrow in recent years, and it continued to produce with close-up looks at this favorite sparrow.
Shortly after a pair of Mountain Bluebirds gave a show, but only the female lent to good photos.
We made a few more stops on this road, but had little more success with new species. The area burned a couple of years ago, and the habitat is badly degraded.
From here we headed for Othello, with a stop on the way at the County Line Ponds, which gave us Black-necked Stilt and American Avocet as Sandhill Cranes gave an overhead show.
At Othello we were hoping for Yellow-headed and Tri-colored Blackbirds, Cinnamon Teal, and possibly shorebirds or other new year birds. These three obliged, though not for decent photos, and Canvassback, Cliff Swallow, and very distant looks at Bonaparte’s Gull were a nice bonus.
We then drove across the Columbia NWR, getting good looks at singing Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Orange-crowned Warbler, and lots of great vistas.
From here we picked up close in Clark’s Grebes, including one calling its hoarse one-syllable note at Lind Coulee, and then the real surprise and awe of the day was a gigantic flock of Snow Geese from the Dam at Pothole’s Reservoir. We first saw a white sheen on the lake, and thought it was an unusually bright sun reflection.
We realized it was a gigantic flock of snow geese, estimated at >20,000 birds, with at least 3 “Blue Goose” morphs, and one FOY Greater White-fronted Goose in the flock.
From here it was pretty much a drive home, with a pleasant surprise of a FOY Long-billed Curlew flying across the road that I spotted as Ken and Bruce were distracted, but they ID’ed correctly and we turned around to relocate the bird not too far from the road.
We made another stop to try for the previously missed Vesper Sparrow and Loggerhead Shrike off Old Vantage Hwy, but no luck and we got home safely about 7 PM.
A good day of birding with for me 14 FOY Washington State birds, a few less for Ken and Bruce who have been away from WA less than me. Always good to go birding with friends.
Here is the e-Bird trip list.
The Bird Banter Podcast #150: Ed Talks about a Winter Trip to the Florida Keys and Costa Rica
On this episode I go it without a guest, and talk about my 6-week winter getaway trip to Big Pine Key and Costa Rica. It was primarily a chance to visit family, get out of the Western Washington winter rain, and relax, but as a birder I of course managed a good amount of birding time too.
I had not been to the Florida Keys in the winter, so had no idea what to expect. I’d hoped to see some early migrants returning north to breed as March arrived, but saw mostly resident species and winter visitors.
The waders were great, with all 4 big white waters, Snowy Egret, Great Egret, white morph of Reddish Egret and the white morph of Great Blue Heron, along with juvenile Little-blue Herons.
Few warblers were seen, but Palm, Yellow-rumped (Myrtle’s race), and Prairie were common. Any chance to be in a part of the world not your usual home makes for fun birding, as common birds there are not the ones I see daily at home in WA.
In Costa Rica I had excellent birding on a 5-day trip with Carlos Ureña in the Quetzal Valley area, and near La Fortuna, especially at the Arenal Obseratory Lodge grounds.
It was great to have time with my children and their partners, as Jean lives in Costa Rica, and Brett is a nomad, travelling where he pleases and working online.
Check out the Ed’s Birding Notes tab above to see posts on some of the aspects of the trip.
I anticipate more typical episodes to follow, with great guests talking birding, so stay tuned. Thanks for listening.
To see some photos from the Costa Rica trip, check out this Flickr Album.
Flickr photos from Costa Rica
Two Days of Lowland’s West Coast Costa Rica Birding with Carlos Ureña
It was a quick turn-around for Marian and me as we returned from a 3-day stay at Manuel Antonio with the family, to a 2-day birding trip with Carlos Ureña. We met Carlos at Elizabeth’s in Tinamaste, thanks to an early ride up by Brett, at 5 AM. We headed back through Dominical, turning north on Hwy 34, and were birding shortly after daylight. We stopped first by a large field where Carlos knew Red-breasted Meadowlarks are found, and they did not disappoint. Beautiful rose-red breasts, and many in the field.
A short dirt road toward the coast after that yielded excellent birding, including the targeted Pale-breasted Spinetail, and also great morning looks at 32 species total. Best IMO were Gray-crowned Yellowthroat, 4 White-throated Crakes, a Yellow-throated Elaenia, and Blue-black Grassquits with lots more Morelet’s Seedeaters.
Next stop was one of the trip highlights. We went to the Finca Martatima Rice Fields at Playa del Rey. The fields were mostly dry, but wet areas remained and the birding was really great. One of my hoped for trip birds, Southern Lapwing, were in a small flock very near the road. A very cooperative Mangrove Cuckoo posed for photos. Isthmian Wrens, Scrub Greenlet, Tropical Pewee, Northern Jacana, Purple Galinule, Gray-cowled Wood-rail, Green-breasted Mango, Groove-billed Ani and Wood Stork were among the list of 60 species there.
We made a trip to Boca del Rio Parrita where our only gull of the visit so far was a fly-over Lauging Gull, and a Bare-throated Tiger-Heron (wow!) posed. A few shorebirds padded my Costa Rica list, including Semi-palmated Plover, Willet, Whimbrel and Least Sandpiper, nice to see some birds I could ID.
5 Days of Birding with Alan and Carlos Urenas, March 23-27, 2023
I had planned a 5-day guided birding trip with my favorite Costa Rica guide, Carlos Urena and Marian, but as the time for the trip approached it was clear that Marian was not feeling well enough to do the trip, so on short notice Alan, my son-in-law and an accomplished botanist, farmer, and all-round nature lover agreed to join us.
We met in San Isidro de el General by the central park at 6 AM on March 23. We headed north into the mountains to the San Gerardo de Dota area, famous for Resplendant Quetzals, and high elevation birding. We went to the Sevegre Mountain Lodge trails, where if you have a meal, we had breakfast, you have access to the resort trail system. It’s a fabulous place. Carlos took Marian and me there a few years ago on a day trip, but this time we got there earlier, and hiked higher. We started the day with a lifer species for me right in the parking lot where three Spotted Wood-Quail were hiding under a car and gave great close-up looks. We also had Lesser Violetear, Green-crowned Brilliant,, Scintillant and Talamanca Hummingbirds around the gardens and feeders. We got a Landrover ride up to the base of the trails, and then walked 7.12 miles of trails (per eBird tracking) and ended with a list of 48 species, with excellent looks at Silvery-fronted Tapaculo, Lineated Foliage-gleaner, Spotted Barbtail, big numbers of Ruddy Treerunners, Barred Becard, Ochraceous and Dark Pewee, Gray-breasted Wood-Wren, Black-billed and Ruddy-capped Nightingale-Thrush, and Spangle-cheaked Tanagers. Maybe the most impressive thing though, in this primary forest, were the massive oak trees, some towering high above and seemed as large in circumference as the largest Douglas Fir trees at Mt. Rainier.
After lunch we checked into our hotel, had a walk around, and spent a good deal of time watching a pair of Resplendant Quetzals perched right off the deck of the lodge restaurant for photos and many oohs and ahhs. After dinner went owling. No owls but several Dusky Nightjars were singing.
In the morning we birded around the area on foot from 6-7, then the hotel breakfast and off to get a CR first for me American Dipper at the Trogón Lodge as we headed back up the valley to the Pan American Highway. We spent about 2 hours on the Providencia Road in PN Quetzales where we parked, walked, Alan retrieved the car, and we repeated the process. We called for Costa Rica Pygmy Owl without luck, but got second looks at several good birds, and again enjoyed the primary forest.
From here it was a travel day, with Alan and Carlos as drivers, we headed for the La Frotuna area where we planned to bird for the next 2 days. Stops along with way for Fasciated Tiger-Heron (successful) and Nicaraguan Seedfinch (not) brought us to our one-night stop at the Lavas Tacotal Hotel.
The next morning Carlos arranged for early access to the Arenal Observatory Lodge grounds where we spent the day birding. On the way in on the access road I got two lifers, Great Curassow and Buff-rumped Warbler. The lodge is spectacular, developed as a place to watch the Arenal volcano put on it’s show, it is now primarily a nature lodge with birders and other nature lovers gathering to use the trail system. The gardens, trails and deck with feeders make this a very birdy spot. We had 86 species that I put on my list and I’m sure Carlos had many more heard-only species.
Highlights were many Great Curassow, White-necked Jacobin, Green Throntail, Black-crested Coquette (a little slow-flying hummingbird that is really cool), Crowned Woodnymph, Semi-plumbeous Hawk, Broad-billed Motmot, Golden-olive Woodpecker, and lots of birds with “ant” in their name. Dusky Antbird, Dull-mantled Antbird, Bicolored Antbird, Spotted Antbird, Oscellated Antbird, Streak-crowned Antvireo, and Thicket Antpitta. One of the commThey on but tougher to see was a tiny flycatcher, Scale-crested Pygmy-Tyrant.
An uncommon bird for the area was Golden-bellied Flycatcher, and two gnat-wrens, Long-billed and Tawny-faced Gnatwrens were cool to see. Emerald Tanager was one of the many tanager species seen often. Scarlet-thighed Dacnis were mixed in with the Red-legged and Green Honeycreepers.
We checked into the Paradisio Lodge and Hot Springs, and we had fun that night introducing Carlos to sushi. The next morning we returned to clean up some missed species, and finally see two common singing birds I couldn’t see the prior day, Nithtingale Wren, and Song Wren. Bonuses were great looks at a White-hawk (I’d only seen at a distance in the past), a Purple-crowned Fairy building a nest, Middle-American Leaftosser, White-ruffed Manakin, a Piratic Flycatcher doing it’s “piratic” thing to a pair of nesting Gray-capped Flycatchers. The Piratic was incredibly aggressive, and I have no doubt that the nesting birds will eventually give up and abandon the nest.
In the afternoon we went to a nearby cutoff road where we loved all the motmots, three species, with Broad-billed, Keel-billed and Rufous all giving great looks, along with Black-headed Tody-Flycatcher, and finally a great look at a Nightingale Wren that had eluded us at the observatory. At the end of the road by the dam we added Crimson-collared Tanager at the end of the day.
That night another new experience for Carlos with Indian food, and our last day was a morning of stops for a few more lifers for me on the long drive back to Tinamaste and San Isidro. First was a “Soda” in Chinchona by Mirador San Fernando. It had feeders and a great valley view, with Prong-billed Barbet as a lifer, and great looks at lots of other tanagers, hummingbirds and N. Emerald Toucan. I missed a look at the hoped for Buff-fronted Quail-Dove that Carlos saw a glimpse of on the ground below, and Alan saw from the kitchen while he chatted with the staff.
Our last stop was on the road access to La Selva, where 43 species included lifer Fasciated Antshrike, Canebreak Wren and Shining Honeycreeper. It looks like a great place to spend 2-3 days at a later visit.
The long drive home included heavy rain on the Caribbean slope going up to San Jose, and fog on the road from San Jose to San Isidro, but Carlos and Alan safely got us home.
Trip totals were:
223 species
16 checklists
54 Lifers
67 new birds for Costa Rica.
In addition it was super-cool to spend great time with Alan, really getting to know my son-in-law better.
The Bird Banter Podcast #149 with Mikuláš Řimánek Additional Information
I first met Mikuláš Řimánek in 2018 when he was a Rotary Exchange Student with the Tacoma 8 Rotary Club, and Fred Matthei introduced Mik to me and other local birders. Mik joined us on a multi-cay winter trip to North Central WA and it was obvious that he was talented. I was disappointed to miss the chance to reconnect on his recent brief trip to Tacoma, but when Fred called to tell me about his extraordinary work with young birders in the Czech Republic I knew that I wanted to learn more and see if Mik would share his story on the podcast. He agreed and it was very informative and left me hopeful that WOS can find a way to encourage the development of such a program in WA. If any readers have suggestions or feedback use the Contact Page above to reach out to me.
You can find Mik on Facebook or Instagram and see his profile on eBird with these links.
Thanks for listening. Until next time, good birding and good day!
March 8-9, 2023 in Costa Rica
Marian and I left Big Pine Key, Florida on a Greyhound at 5:40 PM on March 7 and got to our hotel in Miami by 9:30. A fast sleep at the Embassy Suites near the Miami airport then on an 8:35AM Amerian Airlines flight to San Jose, Costa Rica. An uneventful flight, no lines at customs, got our SIM cards switched out, and our rental at the Firefly Car Rental, which seems to be a part of Hertz. We then drove just a few kilometers to the Hotel Monte Campana Heredia where we spent the afternoon and evening. Jean and Alam met us to visit and pick up some Subaru parts we brought for them. I got out the road above the hotel about 3:20 PM for an hour and managed about 20 species, including nice looks at a few familiar species, and one , though no new species for Costa Rica.
We had a nice dinner with Jean and Alan at the resort though vegan options were pretty slim. This morning Marian and I got up early and repeated the walk from the evening prior, with some good finds, including one lifer for me, a new split from Rufous-capped Warbler, Chestnut-capped Warbler. I have to say from my memory it is a duller reddish cap than the Arizona bird Ken and I found a few years ago. Oveerall a pleasant and easy hour or so of morning birding, with as is usual here lots of unidentified songs.
After breakfast we headed for our first planned stop, the Tilajari Hotel Resort, which is about half way from San Jose to Caño Negro where we will make our next multi-day stop. It is a beautiful place, with nice grounds. We set up a bird walk with a guide in the AM, and I’m hoping to find a local guide for the next day for a bigger outing. Dinner here was great, and we stopped at a roadside Soda for lunch.
Pretty tired tonight, so hoping a good sleep makes all new and well.
Well, I’m wrapping up 2 weeks in the Florida Keys, and although it has been a delightful vacation, the birding has been surprisingly slow. I didn’t expect much in terms of migration in the last week of Feb and first week of March, but I thought that there would be more wintering passerines here.
The mangrove stands, the small pine and mixed hardwood and hardwood hammocks that remain, and neighborhoods are surprisingly devoid of birds. The species that seem to thrive in proximity to people seem present, like N. Mockingbird, Eurasian Collared Dove, and to a lesser degree Palm Warbler, RW Blackbird and N. Cardinal are pretty prevalent, but overall surprisingly few birds.
My warbler list is thin. Small numbers of Palm warblers most places, Prairie warblers in wet mangrove areas, and one of two Black-and-white, Black-throated , Myrtle’s Yellow-rumped, and Ovenbird completes my warbler list in the Keys. At the everglades I saw Pine Warblers in the pine forests and one N. Waterthrush, but otherwise nothing. I expected to N. Parula (in fairness they are being reported).
Marian and I took an overnight trip to the Everglades. She has never been there, and it is where Kay and I want and I cought the “birding bug.” One of the places really dear to my heart. We had a great day, and on the morning after visiting the park, and after I got my lifer RMPA, we drove out the Tamiani Hwy Rte 41 and took a short airboat ride. Marian then felt like she had seen the Everglades she expected.
That said, it’s been a blast staying here. Mikuláš ŘimánekI like the Blue Hole trail here on Big Pine Tree, and especially the Bahia-Honda State Park. At the latter is a good beach for shorebirds, with lots of Sanderling, Ruddy Turnstones, a few Lesser Sandpipers, and we also saw a Lesser Black-backed Gull, a Common Ground Dove, and a few other fun birds. In Key West we birded the Botanical Gardens one day, slow but interesting place, and the Fort Zachery Taylor SP another day. Both enjoyable, but not terribly birdy.
Would I come back. For sure for the overall great weather and to get out of the WA winter rain and cold, but less so for the birding this time of year.
One more day here before we head to Miami and then on to Costa Rica.
Of note, I talked with Mikuláš Řimánek, a Czech Republic birder that I met when he was in WA as a Rotary Exchange student a few years ago for an upcoming episode of the podcast. I got excited about how much success he has had encouraging and mentoring young birders in his country.