Author: birdbanter

Antarctica Trip Report

I look back at the Ocean Diamond from shore at a Gentoo Penguin Colony

Going to Antarctica was undoubtedly a trip of a lifetime, and memories both fabulous and not so great. I remember as a child my Dad’s older brother Uncle Deck and his family used to visit camp in the summer for his month of leave from the Marine Corps. Uncle Deck was always clean shaved, had short hair and totally looking like a military officer. I remember one summer when he came he had a big beard, long hair and was on leave from a multiple-year assignment as the logistics officer at a base in Antarctica, where the military grooming rules were overlooked. I’d always thought I’d like to see this place so wild even the Marine Corps had to give it respect.
This is a shipwreck at Andvord Bay–Neko Harbor, where Antarctic Terns were nesting on the wreck, Snow Petrels circled overhead, and it made me think about the incredible power and wildness of this continent. Here we are in the far northern end of the Antarctic Peninsula. It is at about -64.844587 degrees South latitude, so think how far the South Pole is from here, the farthest south place relatively accessible to an expedition cruise.

To skip the reading, and just see photos, here is a Flickr Album Link
I had planned and arranged a trip to Antarctica that was supposed to leave in Nov 2020, but due to Covid travel issues was postponed until 2021, and again until this November. It was a special expedition cruise on throuogh Quark Expeditions, with essentially all of the passengers birders (along with some photographers). After a 2-day, approximately 36 hour trip to Ushuaia via Houston and Buenos Aires on United Airlines and Aerolineas Argentina, I arrived in Ushuaia in time to meet a group arranged by Alvaro Jaramillo (a previous guest on episode #16) for dinner at Los Cauquenes resort. After dinner, and some much needed sleep, we met the next morning for the first of 2 days of birding near Ushuaia on a pre-cruise mini-trip. The first day we went to PN Tierra del Fuego, along with two local guides, Alvaro and our other primary trip guide, Ricardo Matus. As an aside, Alvaro is a prolific on Facebook, and somewhat like Dennis Paulson posts really great background information on the photos and topics he posts. I recommend his as a follow on Facebook. Guaranteed you’ll learn something.

Overall it was a nice day to get feet on the ground, see some Argentinian birds, and get to know some of the other birders in Alvaro’s group. I think about 25 of the cruise’s +/- 175 passengers were signed up through Alvaro. Here are a few photos from the park.
Highly sexually dimprphic Upland Geese were very tame and all over the place. The white one is the male.

Everywhere needs their local Turdus thrush, and the one for this trip was the Austral Thrush Turdus falcklandii

Steemer ducks are a far south specialty. You can tell this male and female are Flightless Steamer Ducks because both the male and female have bright orange bills.

Thorn-tailed Rayadito

Maybe muy favorite, Tufted Tit-Tyrant.

We finished the day at the park with 31 species, including several soaring Andean Condors and the very common Chimango Caradara. We saw several Magellanic Woodpeckers, but all were distant obstructed views without decent photos by me.
Andean Condor

The Chimango Caracara fills the nice of the crows around home, seeming to be the scavanger of everything edible.

We got home well before dinnertime, and a walk on the shore of the Beagle Canal gave great looks at lots of other birds too.
Black-faced Ibis

Southern Lapwing

On the second day of birding we went to a local ski slope, Glaciar Martial, and had a beautiful walk up a road and trail at higher elevation for different birds. Highlights included:
A specialty of the area was Yellow-bridled Finch.

Buff-winged Cincloides

Ochre-naped Ground Tyrant

We finished the day at the town dump, where three species of Caracara, gulls and hawks were abundant.
Black-chested Buzzard-eagle

White-throated Caracara


White-throated Caracara with Chimango Caracara

After another walk on the beach before dinner, it was finally time to sleep, get up and wait for the cruise the next afternoon. Ushuaia is a port town, that is often inaccurately called the southern-most city in the world. It is not even the southernmost city in South America, as there are Chilean cities on the other side of the Beagle Channel, but it is pretty damn far south. It has a booming tourist industry for cruise ship passengers both stopping for the day on passing cruise ships, and people coming or going on cruses based at the port there.
After finally getting on the Ocean Diamond, having our safety briefing, practicing getting on our life jackets, etc. we were ready to depart at dinnertime, except a strong wind pushed the ship so hard against the pier that we had to wait several hours to be able to push off. Finally, just as dark arrived, we were underway.
Demonstrating competence in donning a lifejacket in the lifeboat safety drill.

There was little birding on the first night as darkness came shortly after we were underway. I was lucky to have a known roomie, Eric Dudley, a local birder, friend and excellent roommate for the trip. Our first two days were traveling to the Falkland Islands, which are north and east of Ushuaia. I was trying to spend as much time as possible on deck birding and there were lots of new seabirds to see:

The most prevalant albatross of the trip, Black-browed Albatross, a mid-sized albatross in the “mollyhawk” group was nearly constantly in sight.

Giant Petrels, at this point all Southern Giant-petrels were almost always trailing the ship. They are about the size of the Black-browed Albatross, and come in many colors, apparently lighter as they age.

White-chinned Petrels were essentially all black with a white bill, and pretty easy to ID as they are really large, seem to fly slowly and really dwarf most of the other petrels.

We saw our first Prions, Slender-billed Prions. For much of the trip Prions were seen, often in awesone numbers.

One of our first “great” albatrosses was this Northern Royal Albatross.

Can you pick the White-chinned Petrel from this flock of Sooty Shearwaters?

We settled into the routine on the ship. For me usually up about 5 AM, a bit of time on deck then a buffet breakfast about 7-7:30, more birding from the deck on days at sea intermixed with lectures by several of the staff experts. Lunch again a buffet from 12:30-2, more birding, tea in the bar at 4 PM (nothing vegan and I generally skipped this when birding was good) then dinner was a set-down dinner aboiut 7 PM. Usually there was a review of the day and discussion of the day to come about 6 PM in the main lecture hall on deck 5, and Alvaro’s group usually did a check list after this before dinner. The day ended with the Rockjumper group doing a checklist about 9 PM, and after the first day or two I skipped this as Alvaro did all of our e-Birding and we had already done our own checklist. I usually was in bed by 9-10 PM, though a few times I attended the bar-talk in the bar on deck 4 at 9 PM. Usually I was just too tired.
Day 2 at sea we approached the Falklands.
We started to see Cape Petrels, which for the rest of the trip were almost certainly the most common Petrel to be seen. They are commonly known by their Spanish name, Pintado Petrel for “painted”.

Imperial Shag (or Cormorant depending on which name you prefer)

On the third day we took two Zodiac trips to Carcass Island and West Point Island. It was super cool to experience my first Zodiac landings. Birding was great, and we managed essentially all fo the endemics of the Falklands.
The easy one by far was Blackish Cincloides, so tame they literally walk on your boots.

Cobb’s Wren has a cool back-story, as for years it was considered a subspecies of House Wren, was described as a likely separate species long before it was split.

Silver Teal

White-bridled Finch – the more yellowish Falkland subspecies.

Kelp Geese (Male is the white one)

This was also our first real penguin colony to visit, with both Gentoo and Magellanic Penguins on nests.
As you can see Gentoo Penguins nest in burrows.

At the second Zodiac landing of the day we visited West Point Island. The highlight here was a Southern Rockhopper Penguin and Black-browed Albatross colony. It was up a remarkably steep rocky cliff, and the two species seem to live in a close proximity. The theory is that the Albatross keep parasitic Brown Skua away from the penguin nests. This must make it worth it for the penguins to literally hop from rock to rock to get far from shore to the colony. The albatross nests are super cool. They are reused year after year with a fresh layer of mud each year, so that some of them seem like very tall silos.
Black-browed Albatross on a nest.

A small segment of the huge colony of Southern Rockhopper Penguins
A small part of the Southern Rockhopper Penguin and Black-browed Albatross colony.

On our second and last day in the Falklands, we visited Stanley. It was a cool stop for many reasons. The birding was great, and after a far too long of a walk from Stanley to Gypsy Cove (in total the expedition staff of the Ocean Diamond was terrific, but on this landing they said that the walk from Stanley to Gypsy Cove was about 45 minutes, and a good walking option. I chose to walk after missing the first bus, and a long, dusty, nearly 2-hour power walk later I got to the cove just in time to race around to find the target birds and catch the last bus back to town.) Despite that I managed to get the three hoped for species near Gypsy Cove.

Male Two-banded Plover

Female Two-banded Plover

Long-tailed Meadowlark was a crowd favorite.

Brown-hooded Gull

As I walked out of town I passed this memorial art installation near the cemetery for those killed in the Falklands War.

On an old wreck was a pair of Blackish Oystercatchers.

At the end of the time in Stanley I got to visit town for a few minutes. Then back to the ship and off on the 3-day voyage to South Georgia. This was the last time I was to be free on the ship for the next 5 days as that night I became feverish, had severe cough and headache, and the next morning was tested positive for Covid-19. Note-to-self: An expedition cruise ship is a lousy place to be confined to your cabin for 5 days.
As the result of this I missed all of the days where there were shore visits on South Georgia, as well as most of the time outside on the crossing to get there. I had meals in the room, Eric was a trooper as there was no other place to put him, so he was forced to also eat in the room and wear a mask at all times, though he tested negative.
Missed experiences at South Georgia included visits to major King Penguin colonies, walks and hikes ashore, a Zodiac cruise to visit a Macaroni Penguin colony and a visit to a Gray-headed Albatross colony. Thankfully I was not terribly ill, though for 2-3 days I was moderately ill, and really belonged in my room anyway.

A photo of the King Penguin colony taken by a shipmate who got to visit shore.

We did get “jail-breaks” once or twice a day, where the ship’s medical and housekeeping staff cleared hallways and those of us in isolation got up on the 8th observation deck to get some air and to see where the Zodiacs were going.
A view from the boat at one of the visit sites.

We did get closeup looks at Snowy Sheathbill on most of these deckside visits.

Finally, after my 5-day quarantine, on the morning after leaving South Georgia, on the start of a 3-day crossing to the Antarctic Peninsula, I got freed to be out on the ship. Things had changed a lot. Everyone was wearing a mask due to the high prevalence of Covid, and many of the participants were spending less time on deck than on the first crossing when the novelty was higher and the birds were all new. I was out as much as I could, though my energy remained low, and I had to take frequent breaks.
The three day crossing was most notable for huge numbers of Prions, mostly Antarctic Prions, with good numbers of Blue Petrels (grouped with the Prions), and at least one Fairy Prion reportedly seen by others.
An Antarctic Prion. There were at times flocks of possibly 100,000 of these swirling and soaring in massive displays.

Blue Petrel, looking a lot like the other Prions, but with a white tip on the tail, a bold black cap and shoulder marking, and overall being slightly larger and more solid appearing in flight.

On the second day we cruised past the largest iceberg currently in the world, A76a. The designation means it is from the “A” quadrant of Antarctica, and was the 76th major tabular iceberg from that quadrant in the age of satellite monitoring. After this gigantic iceberg broke off in Nov 2021, it broke into three major pieces, and the “a” fragment was the largest, and the one we passed. It is about 75 miles long and 18 miles wide. It is about 25 meters above the water surface, and about 9x as much below, so maybe 750 or more feet in total depth. It was awesome. We saw about half of it as for the first half of passing it was obscured by fog.
A76a

At times massive flocks of seabirds, mostly Antarctic Prions, was swarming near the iceberg and the experts told us that they were feeding on krill that died in large numbers from the fresh water melting off the iceberg.
We continued on toward Antarctica, with really more of the same types of species. As we appoached the peninsula we entered the Weddell Sea, and expected ice to block passage toward a known Emperor Penguin breeding colony many miles from where we expected to be blocked by sea ice. The winds were in our favor though as we approached, and we just kept slowly progressing as the ice became more and more, but the captain kept finding ways to keep going. We were all on deck, looking at every iceberg hoping to see an Emperor Penguin pulled out on the ice. For several hours there was no sightings, and about 8:45, as the light started to become dimmer, and as my energy flagged, I called it a day and retreated to the cabin. Just as I got into bed the call went out on the ships intercom that Emperor Penguins had been sighted, and I quickly jumped back into warm clothes and hurried on deck. Sure enough, in the distance we could see a pair of Emperors standing on the ice. The ship kept slowly getting closer, and we were all super excited about the penguins when a pair of Antarctic Petrels zoomed towards the ship and gave a great show zipping around overhead.
The Emperor Penguins were the most hoped for bird of the trip, and it was great to see them, but for me the Antarctic Petrel show stole the moment.

These Antarctic Petrels were so fast, and zipping so close to the boat that most of my photos are of just part of the birds.



Along with the penguins, these are two of the southernmost breeding birds in the world. A fabulous thrill and experience.
We made a number of Zodiac shore stops around the peninsula. Included were Paulet Island, Wilhelmina Bay, Neko Harbor, Andvord Bay, Georges Island, and Halfmoon Island. We saw Chinstrap, Gentoo and Adelie Penguin colonies, got great looks and studies of Brown and South Polar Skuas, saw an area called the Iceberg Graveyard where icebergs get blown onto gravel bars and are stranded, too many beautiful cliffs, mountains, glaciers and seascapes to try to talk about separately. I’ll just include some photos with captions.
These Adelie Penguin were at Paulet Island, where a colony estimated at >15,000 was visited. The Adelie penguin is named after the wife of Jules Dumont d’Urville, Adéle. It is the classic black-and-white penguin.

Adelie Penguin

The Light-mantled Albatross was the favorite of most of the birders, but I thought this Gray-headed Albatross was pretty tough to beat.
Light-mantled Albatross

Chinstrap Penguin

Gentoo Penguin
The ice was really a star of the show.
Icebergs came in every size and shape.
Imperial Cormorant, a.k.a. Rock Shag.
King Penguins for much of the middle part of the cruise were seemingly everywhere.

Snow Petrel were one of the species I most wanted to see, and they did not dissappoint.

On several of the Zodiac Cruises we had nice Humbpack Whale encounters. Many times the whales were just lounging near the surface, but sometimes they dove and gave a nice fluke show.

Another Humpback Whale. We were early in the season and there were really surprisingly few whale encounters.
The ice was really a star of the show.

Icebergs came in every size and shape.
Gentoo Penguin

Chinstrap Penguin

After three fabulous days around the Antarctic Peninsula we headed north back to Ushuaia. For a while we stayed sheltered behind an island, but soon were into the Drake Passage. This is a place famous for big wind and waves. It can be called the “Drake Lake” when the winds die down, but for us was definately the “Drake Shake.” I was concerned about sea sickness, but had no problems at all, despite up to 7 meter swells, huge wind waves with sustained winds at 50-60 knots/hr. The “one hand for the boat” rule definately applied, and the forward decks were closed, but it was very exciting, and we were back in the space of the “great albatrosses.” Wandering Albatross and Southern and Northern Royal Albatrosses forage in these winds. They collectively are what were referred to as the “”white-backed” albatrosses. They are difficult to identify as to species, because all of them get more white feathers on their back and wings as they age, but are easy to tell from the mid-sized albatrosses. They just lumber through the air, essentially never flapping, and seeming to love the big seas and wind. Their movements are much slower and more deliberate than the smaller species.
Southern Royal Albatross

Wandering Albatross
Northern Royal Albatross

After a while I stopped stressing over the ID of these great albatrosses, and just marvelled at them. I don’t think I ever saw one flap their wings. The Wandering Albatross is said to have the longest wingspan of any living bird species, over 11 feet!
As we reentered the Beagle Channel I was up early with a few other birders hoping for a Magellanic Diving Petrel. No luck, but the early morning scenery was fabulous.

Magellanic Penguins with a Kelp Gull in early morning light.

This Kelp Gull drifted in the breeze just over the ship’s communication antennae before sunrise.

I spent the morning wandering around Ushuaia, birded a little, then flew to Buenos Aires.
Some species are perfectly named, like this Chalk-browed Mockingbird. It sings a lot like our Northern Mockingbird but IMO has a smaller repetoire.

Another properly named species was Spot-winged Pigeon.

Rufous Hornero

I spent the night at a hotel near the airport, the morning exploring and birding in a neighborhood city park, and then got home via a really long flight to Houston then to Seatac. Marian picked up Eric and me after 2 hours on the runway awaiting the plane at the gate to be de-iced. Finally home safely by mid afternoon.
The trip totals:
Exactly 99 lifers. The last 6 in Buenos Aires on the day after the cruise.
Antarctica: 28 species (one missed was Common Diving Petrel, seen by relatively few observers)
Falkland Islands: 50 species
South Georgia Islands: 25 species, remarkably despite missing all of the landings with Covid quarantine, on the brief on-deck excapes and from my window I saw all but South Georgia Pipit!
High Seas: 15 species
Argentina: 74 species
Favorite Bird: This is tough, but probably Black-bellied Storm Petrel.

Black-bellied Storm-petrel.

An unusual behavior of the Black-bellied Storm-petrel is that it spashed the surface with it’s belly flying just over the water.

Well, I’m home safely, rested enough to write this trip report, have already chased two new WA lifers, and am almost fully recovered from Covid. A great trip full of memories and experiences.

Two New State Birds in One Day

Bruce LaBar and I headed east chasing two birds neither of us had ever seen in WA. Ken Brown was planning to join us but I got a call about 3:40 AM, about 20 minutes before I expected him to meet me at my house, that the power was out at his home and he needed to stay home to keep everything going. So I picked Bruce up at 4 AM and headed for Spokane to try to find the Black-throated Green Warbler that has been found in Waterfront Park there a few days earlier. Bruce hadn’t gone yet primarily because he had been recovering from major back surgery. He called the night prior to see if I was up to chase the Eastern Bluebird, a first state record, that had been found at Leslie Groves Park in Benton County. On talking with Ken, he suggested we make a loop for both birds, either in one day or if needed with an overnight stay. We decided to try for both.
Snoqualmie Pass had 50 mph traffic until we were headed down the east slope, but overall traffic was fine, and the roads in good shape despite the snow. A big plus for us for the whole day was that due to slow travel over the pass, Bill Tweit was just about a half hour ahead of us, and as we approached Spokane he and Bruce talked, first to tell us where to park, at the Centenial Hotel lot, and minutes later that he was on the warbler with great directions. As we quickly walked across the bridge onto the island in the river, Bill waved us over and pointed to the warbler. Bingo, WA lifer #408 for me and #459 for Bruce.

An active bird and poor photos, but a sweet bird for WA.



After drinking in this bird for a half hour or so we left and headed for Benton County and the Eastern Bluebird. A remarkably similar story as Bill was ahead of us, gave us parking info and then as we walked into the park he pointed out the bird for us. This was a spectacular finding with a great back story. It was posted initially on iNaturalist, discovered by I believe Charlie Wright, and the birding community notified and descended in mass the next day. We arrived on day 3 for the bird I believe, and in beautiful sunshine it cavorted with another county first for me, a Mountain Bluebird.
The grayer bird is a female aspect Mountain Bluebird, and the brighter one is the Eastern Bluebird.

Note how the orangish breast extends all the way up to the bill, unlike in a Western Bluebird where the throat would be blue. Also note the white belly.

After a safe drive home, 666 miles later we were happy birders. Here is Bruce’s eBird Profile.
Of note Ken and Jacob Miller got out the next day and got both species too.
Good birding.

The Bird Banter Podcast Episode #141 with Mathew and Levi Radford- Father and Son Birders Additional Info.


On this episode it was cool to talk with avid father and son birders Mathew and Levi Radford. They have been birding together for about a decade, since Levi was a young boy, and they continue to enjoy birding and being advocates for the environment, birds and birding.

Levi is just getting started at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater as a freshman there. We talk about the owling that they did just a couple of days before this recording.

You can find them on Facebook. Levi Matthew Father and Son Birding

or by email Mathew at–> mathewradford2-at- gmail-dot-com and for Levi–> featherfanatics1-at- gmail-dot- com
To hear from Zach Poland, my prior Okalahoma podcast guest, check out The Bird Banter Podcast #114 with Zach Poland
I talk in the introduction about our ABC Birding group trip to the Washington coast and you can see the trip report on the ABC website here.
Here is a photo of the Hudsonian Godwit we found at Tokeland.

The Hudsonian Godwit in flight.

Thanks for following. Good birding and good day!

The Bird Banter Podcast #140 with Doug Hitchcox additional info.


On this episode you’ll hear from Doug Hitchcox, a top Maine birder who recently saw his 400th (and since 401and 402nd) species for Maine, one of only a few birders to reach this milestone, and the youngest. Read about it in the Portland Phoenix here.
Doug is a staff educator for the Maine Audubon Society, and state orgainzation independent of National Audubon.
You can reach Doug at the Maine Audubon by email naturalist@maineaudubon.org
You can follow Doug on Twitter @dhitchcox
I have loved the times I’ve visited the Gilsland Farm site, and you can read about it here.
I’ve heard about the Hog Island Audubon Camp on a prior episode with Christian Hagenlocher and you can read about the camp here.
For context here is a screenshot of the top 100 Maine eBirders

This is what the White Ibis, which was Doug’s 400th species in Maine looks like in Florida.

Adult White Ibis from South Padre Islandk Texas.

This is a juvenile White Ibis from Santa Ana NWR also in TX.

Thanks for listening. Until next time, good birding and good day!

The Bird Banter Podcast #139 with Deborah Green Additional Info.


On this episode I talk with Deborah Green, the president of the Orange Audubon Society who is doing double duty as the chairperson of the Dec 2022 North Shore Birding Festival, sponsored by the Orange Audubon Society, which features 70 field trips as well as speakers, etc. The festival is centered around the north shore of Lake Apopka, a very large lake in central Florida. Here is a look at the lake on Google Maps.

Lake Apopka, check out the big green area on the north end of the lake that Deborah talks about on the podcast.

We talk about many of the great birds you could see at this festival. I’ve been fortunate enough to see many of these, and so can show a few photos of some of them (though many not in Florida)
Roseate Spoonbill

White Ibis

Great Egret

Limpkin- a Florida specialty.

Fulvous Whistling Duck

Deborah is also a frequent visitor at birding festivals, and we talk about a few of her favorites.
She mentions the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival https://www.rgvbf.org/ I’ve attended this and it is really good. There are trips to get Ferruginous Pygmy Owl as well as most of the valley’s winter specialties.
She also mentions the San Diego Bird Festival, which I can also vouch for as a great event. https://www.sandiegoaudubon.org/birding/san-diego-bird-festival/san-diego-bird-festival.html
Here are links to several other prominent festivals as well as ones that seem pretty interesting to me:
Biggest Week in Birding https://www.biggestweekinamericanbirding.com/
Point Pelee Birding Festival https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/on/pelee/activ/festival
New River Birding Festival https://birding-wv.com/index.php/birding-nature-festival/registration?fbclid=IwAR0j0MoiAzGeGBaufo8xWshcTZC2wNrY4xewJDQ_lKv2MiV2XUbV5l096wE
Down East Birding Festival https://www.facebook.com/downeastbirdfest
Acadia Birding Festival https://acadiabirdingfestival.com/
Kachemak Bay Birding Festival in Homer, Alaska: https://www.homeralaska.org/events/annual-events/kachemak-bay-shorebird-festival/
Everglades Birding Festival http://www.evergladesbirdingfestival.com/
Morro Bay Winter Birding Festival: https://morrobaybirdfestival.org/
Winter Wings Festival in Klamath Bay, OR https://winterwingsfest.org/
Indiana Dunes Birding Festival: https://indunesbirdingfestival.com/
Great Salt Lake Bird Festival: https://greatsaltlakeaudubon.org/events/great-salt-lake-bird-festival
Monterey Bay Birding Festival https://montereybaybirdingfestival.org/
Cape May Fall Festival: https://njaudubon.org/cape-may-fall-festival/

I’m sure that there are lots more great options, and please leave a comment if you have recommendations.

The Bird Banter Podcast #138 with Alex Harper Additional Info.


On this episode Alex Harper and I talk about birding in the areas around Las Vegas, NV. Sin City is not a place many think of as a birdind destination, but is a place many birders are likely to find themselves for various reasons. Matt and the other guides with Bird Las Vegas are available to take visitors out on half or whole day guided trips during their visits to the city. Alex talks about the nice variety of habitats available, and the cool desert species available.

Who doesn’t want to see a Greater Roadrunner, a specialty species Matt can show you near Las Vegas.

You can reach Alex through his website on the contact page or by email alexkharper-at-gmail-dot-com
Alex grew up in Florida, and I hope his family is safe from Hurricaine Ian’s destruction.
Good birding and good day!

The Bird Banter Podcast #137: Special Backyard Birding Episode with Tammy Poppie Additional Info.


Tammy Poppie and I talk about backyard birding and bird feeding on this episode. Tammie is the creator of On The Feeder, a website where readers can find information about bird feeders and feeding, find an injured bird rehab facility nearby. IMO this is a pretty cool feature of the website. I tried it for my home zip code and it gave several facilities in the area.
I talked about two prior episodes on the podcast, and so thought I’d put their players here:

On this episode we talk about Dr. Klem’s decades of work on birds and window collisions.

Suzie Gilbert and I talk about bird rehabilitation on this episode, as well as about her two books related to the topic.
We also talk a bit about feeder related Salmonella infections. Here is an article about the outbreak in the winter of 2021-2022.
As I mention on the wrap of this episode, stay tuned for the next episode with Alex Harper about birding around Sin City.

The Bird Banter Podcast #136 with Matt Goff Additional Info.


On this episode you’ll hear from Matt Goff, a longtime resident, all-around naturalist, and birder from Sitka, Alaska. For those of you who have not been to the Alaska panhandle, Sitka is a small city of about 8400 that is located on two large islands that make up a series of islands extending south and east from the large landmass of most of the rest of Alaska. Matt describes the weather in Sitka as “similar to Seattle but about 10 degrees cooler and with a lot more rain.”
Matt has done a radio show on KCAW of Raven Radio, a public radio show in Sitka for over 10 years. He does shows every 2 weeks, so this is over 270 shows. These shows cover various nature related topics and are enjoyable. You can find them on his web site SitkaNature.org where you can also contact Matt, or you can e-mail him at sitkanature-at-gmail-dot-com
Matt mentions his son in the show. Matt’s son is the #1 eBird lister in Sitka, and Matt is #3. Cool to be the dynamic father-son birding duo for a county.
Matt also talks about a Bioblitz he worked with in Sitka some years ago. Here is a link to the Bioblitz in Whistler he mentions.
For those of you who have not used iNaturalist, it is a phone app and website that allows you to keep records of living things that youfind in nature. I am no expert but it has features to allow other users to help with the ID of things you post with photos. I think of it as a bit like eBird for everything.
I mention an episode with Mike Denny on the episode. You can find that as episode #63 at this link.
Again thanks for listening. Feedback is always appreciated. Leave a comment or reach me on the contact page on this site.
Until next time, good birding.

2022 5-Day Searcher Pelagic Trip Report from San Diego, CA to Deep Offshore Waters

A typical fabulous sunset watched by a satisfied, tired birder (Ken)

Ken Brown and I went on a pelagic birding trip from Sept 5-9, 2022 on the Searcher, a +/-96 foot wooden boat out of San Diego. This is an annual trip, recently leaving on Labor Day each fall, and returning on the following Friday mo rning, after a partial day of birding Monday afternoon and early evening, three full days at sea, and returning early Friday morning.

And the birding was spectacular. Ken had only been at sea off San Diego once on a day trip, and had 9 reasonably likely target lifer species, and he saw ALL NINE! I had done the trip once prior, so hoped for 2 lifers, and got BOTH!. Before I give a day-by-day summary, I want to set the stage.
Black-vented Shearwater was as expected the first shearwater seen. It is typically a near-shore tubenose.

I had been on this trip once previously in 2016, and have been talking about the trip with Ken ever since, urging him to go with me again. The trip differs from a typical one-day pelagic trip in lots of ways.
Our berth was down two narrow flights of stairs, and had two bunks. This is bottom bunk that Ken used. It was small, one of us could stand a time, but actually pretty comfortable.
IMO the biggest differences are that it is comparatively leisurely, it gets far offshore to many areas not possible on a one-day trip, and in that the boat if fairly large and relatively stable. In addition there are only 20 birders with 4 trip-leaders, along with the boat’s crew.
The boat is quite nice, with a kitchen, seating at 6 tables that comfortably seat 4, so meals had a first seating, with a smaller second seating. The meals were very good, and as a vegan the cook took good care of me with nice vegan alternatives to the more typical meals for the rest of the staff.
I did arrange this ahead of time with Celia, the owner and captain’s wife ahead of time
Sleeping quarters were in most cases, ours included, bunk beds that were reasonably comfortable, and there was adequate space for one person at a time to stand up, use the small sink, dress, etc. Basic sleeping quarters, but perfectly adequate.

This may sound like basic accommodations, and in some ways it was, but the overall experience on the boat was really great. The staff, from captain Art to the cooks and deck hands, were all extraordinary in every way. They kept everything moving, gave personal attention to everyone, and made the whole experience fun.

Townsend’s Storm-petrel is a newly split species from Leach’s Storm-petrel, and was seen in good numbers on every day of the trip.

Enough of the basics. It was a birding trip, and that experience was unparalleled IMO.

Todd McGrath is the leader of a group of four extraordinary pelagic birders. Dave Pereksta and Dave Povey are the regulars, having both done the trip for more-or-less the past decade, and the invited guide this year was Jon Feenstra, an extraordinarily talented pelagic birder who also manned the ship’s loudspeaker to call out birds to us all in a remarkable bass voice that could double as a play-by-play announcer for a professional team. In a way, it was a play-by-play, or really bird-by-bird professional operation.

Todd McGrath has been leading California pelagic trips among other pelagic trips for several decades, and his attention to detail along with spotting expertise was amazing to watch. He generally manned the front of the bow, while Dave Pereksta, at maybe 6-6” (big-Dave) stood behind him looking over all of our heads. Both are fun to be around, and excelled at conversation, storytelling, and making us all feel included while constantly spotting and calling out birds as they appeared.
Dave Posey generally manned the stern, was in charge of the chum, and passengers who preferred birding from the back of the boat where you could bird and sit in lawn chairs or benches. Essentially all of us took breaks to rest and sit with Dave, and enjoyed his company and expertise.

Elegant Tern with a Common Tern on a kelp patch

Jon Feenstra generally manned the upper deck, helped Dave Perecki keep eBird lists, called out bird he and others saw that they called to him on walkie-talkies, and gave nice commentary on where we were, and what was happening.

After flying to San Diego Sunday afternoon, checking into a somewhat overpriced and not terribly nice Ramada by Windham hotel whose most redeeming characteristic was that it is the cheapest hotel within easy walking distance of the departure deck, we walked around the docks for a while, attended a talk by Todd to orient us to the birds and route of the trip, and had dinner.
Monday morning we met at the dock and were off by about 11AM.

California Sea Lions and a Western Gull on a part of the Bait Barge as we start to leave the harbor. One participant on the trip comes almost every year to see marine mammals.

The bait barge had nothing unexpected, with Heermann’s Gulls, the ever-present Western Gulls, lots of Brandt’s Cormorants and a couple Double-crested Cormorants, Great Blue Heron, Snowy Egret, and a few other birds, we left the harbor for the trip.
The beginning of the trip went about as expected, with the first tubnoses being Black-vented Shearwaters, but we lucked out with a fly-by Manx Shearwater that most if not all of us got looks at flying past and away with it’s crisp black-and white plumage, and the more extensive white flank areas. This is species is really uncommon off SoCal, and is a species I saw as my “lifer” on a one-day trip in this area years ago.
Storm-petrels were seen at most times scattered thorughout the trip. ID to species was a constant challenge for me. This is I believe a Black Storm-petrel, the largest in the ABA area and the most common of the group on this trip.

As we headed first to 9-mile bank and then 30-mile bank (I think 9-mile bank is 9-miles long but not 9-miles from the harbor, and 30-mile bank is 30 miles out of San Diego harbor, but not 30 miles long).

These are the typical areas one-day trips our of San Diego visit, and the highlights of these places were good numbers of Least Storm-Petrels, a species often seen in very low numbers or possibly not seen on this whole trip, lots of Black Storm-Petrels, along with the recently split from Fork-tailed Storm-Petral Townsend’s Storm-Petral. All three of these species were lifers for Ken, so we were off to a great start.

As we headed into the sunset at the very end of the day, a lifer for both of us Nazca Booby flew in very close to the stern for everyone to see. My first lifer of the trip, and Ken’s fourth. This day and for most of the trip Long-tailed Jaegers were plentiful, but the other two species, Parasitic and Pomerine were scarce, and we missed South Polar Skua, an unusual miss for the trip per the leaders, but of little concern to Ken and me because we see both regularly in WA on the Westport Seabirds trips.

Poor light for a photo, but sweet bird just at dusk to end Day 1 with

We cruised for a while at night, and anchored near Sutil Island off Santa Barbara, which is the best place in the ABA area to see boobies. Boobies are a cool family of birds, Sulids, that are sort of goofy looking, that I think of a “pointy” in all directions; long pointy wings, a very large pointy bill, and long pointy tails.
For perspective. All of these birds are boobies, almost all Brown Boobies but there were at least 4 Blue-footed Boobies and one hybrid Blue-footed x Brown bird.

After our usual breakfast before dawn, we approached the island, and boobies were everywhere. Brown boobies started to be seen as we approached, and were constantly seen in remarkable numbers, at times in huge flocks while at other times perching on the island in big numbers.

Look closely for the Blue-footed Booby amongst the many BRBO.
The leaders quickly spotted a Blue-footed Booby in a favorite roosting spot, and we all got on the bird well. We spent over an hour studying and admiring the boobies, finding the hybrid Blue-foot x Brown Booby 2-year old bird, seeing the males of this subspecies (brewsterii) with it’s frosty white head feathering, and looking for but not finding a Red-footed Booby that have sometimes been seen at the island. This is the only known nesting area of Blue-footed Boobies in the ABA area, and it is thought that there are two nesting pair on the island. I think we saw 4 BFBO plus the hybrid.
I was a little anxious that I might miss my second hoped for lifer on the trip, but Todd seemed confident we’d see one somewhere on the trip.
One of the nesting Blue-footed Boobies. This is the only known location in the ABA area where this species nests.

For the rest of the day we continued to have good birds, including Sabine’s Gulls and both Common Terns. Craveri’s Murrelets were seen at close range on the water and in flight several times.
As we got into deeper waters on day 3 Buller’s Shearwater replaced Pink-footed as the perdominant shearwater seen. We came onto one very large flock

We woke on day 3 to head out to deep waters, exploring the San Juan Seamount and other areas. It was a day of overall great birds, including Red-billed Tropicbird on the water and flying, more Nazca Boobies, and a spectacular appearance of a Red-footed Booby.
The first of several Red-billed Tropicbirds
The highlight of the day for many was a Hawaiian Petrel, which probably approached the boat from the right stern area. Dave Povey called out a bird from the stern, possibly a Buller’s Shearwater. We all moved back to look for it, and after a few minutes started back to the front of the boat. Ken, Todd, Dave P. and a couple of other birders went back sooner, and spotted the Hawaiian Petrel appear from the right, arc right in front of them and head down the left side of the boat. Great excitement entailed, and as I looked from the stern was unable to find the bird as it moved away quickly. The good news is Ken got a great look, and I’d seen the bird on our repositioning cruise a few years ago and didn’t miss a lifer.
For me the Red-footed Booby appearance was one of the best of the trip. Dave and Todd called out a possible dark booby flying straight at the boat a distance at 1 o’clock, and every one got on it easily, in perfect light which was from the left side of the boat. The bird was flying really fast, and as it got closer the ID as a Red-footed Booby was clear. I looked through binos, then as I put the binos down for a photo the bird was on us really fast, giving great bare-eyed looks from maybe 15 feet! I have a blurry photo of the right axilla of the bird, and a couple very backlit photos as it passed into the sun to our left. The bird was so close, and so awesome everyone was stunned.
We see large numbers of Black-footed Albatross on our WA pelagic trips, but saw far fewer on this trip. They seemed to occur often when whales were around.

The rest of the day and the next day gave great looks at all three murrelets, Craveri’s continued to be seen, but more Guadalupe’s were seen as we got deeper. This is the darker faced of the Xantou’s Murrelet split. On the next day we would see several Scripp’s Murrelet, the other half of the split with the more white on the face and above the eye. It was a great trip for comparing and seeing all of these three species. The other highlight of this day was a good number of Cook’s Petrels, a small buoyant petrel that visits the area in spring and summer, and this year a good number hung around for us to see.
Whales were seen far less on this trip than on my 2016 trip, which I understand was an epic trip for whales. We saw Orcas on Day 4 of this trip.

On Day 4 we changed the route a bit because Hurricane Kay, aptly named, was moving up from the Baja area, and we needed to be in port by about midnight rather than 8 AM on day 5. Everyone was happy to avoid a really rough night at sea, and the route proved perfect.

This Guadalupe Murrelet was one of the three sought out murrelets on this trip.

This day we had another great Red-footed Booby experience,
Red-footeed Booby. Note the extensive feather waar.
with a bird with very worn tail feathers was perched on a weather bouy giving prolonged and really close looks. I hope this bird survives and was just resting and molting.
At the very end of the 4th day we came onto a cool pod of Orca Whales (Killer Whales) of the Tropical Eastern Pacific subspecies. These were enjoyed by all, and later a Blue Whale gave a great show including an apparently rare “fluke” with its huge tail as it dove. We hung there for a few minutes as the sun set, and a nice flock of storm petrels scavenged the whale debris.
We saw good numbers of Short-beaked Common Dolphins once were were far from shore.
A white-rumped petrel (generic description, not the species) was seen and photographed by Dave Perecki which on examining the photos was agreed to be a Band-rumped Storm Petrel, a very rare ABA visitor, (an ABA lifer for Todd McGrath shows how rare) and we spent the remaining bit of daylight looking for it. A white-rumped small bird appeared and was followed by both Ken and me that may have been the BRSP but no decent photos were obtained, and we both decided to leave the bird off our list.
Both Red and Red-necked Phalaropes were seen daily. Here is a Red-necked Phalarope.

I had seen a white-rumped bird earlier in the flock, which again may have been THE BIRD, but I had no idea it was not one more Townsend’s Storm Petrel at the time. It was a pretty distant range and I could not be confident it was the BRSP. Still it was a very exciting end to a wonderful trip.

We ate well again for dinner, got a shower, a bit of sleep, and woke early, about 4:50 AM for breakfast and to pack and disembark.
Ken and I both agree that if this was not the best trip we have taken together it was certainly in the top group. Ken had 9 lifers on the boat plus the Cook’s and Hawaiian Petrel. I had two.
Ken’s lifers:
Black Storm Petrel

Least Storm Petrel


Townsend’s Storm Petrel

Nazca Booby

Blue-footed Booby

Red-footed Booby

Red-billed Tropicbird

Craveri’s Murrelet
e
Guadalupe Murrelet

The Red-footed and Nazca Boobies were ABA lifers for me, with Nazca a first anywhere bird.

We spent the morning of Friday around Crown Point Park on Mission Bay enjoying Ken’s lifer Allen’s Hummingbird, Black Skimmers, shorebirds, terns and trying to stay out of the pretty steady rain.

By early afternoon the weather got worse, with no break in sight, and we gave up and went to the airport for our evening flight home. Marian picked us up at Seatac, and we got to Tacoma about midnight, happy, tired, and ready for our own beds.
A few pictures I like that didn’t fit really above.

Brant’s and Double-crested Cormorants
Common Murre (the only one we saw on the trip)
Buller’s Shearwaters
Buller’s Shearwater
Buller’s Shearwater
Buller’s Shearwater
Buller’s Shearwater
A young California Sea Lion on as bouy near the bait barge.
Snowy Egret in the marsh onshore after our trip.
Snowy Egret on the Searcher upper gear as we leave port.
Red Phalarope
Cook’s Petrel
Common Dolphin (probably Long-beaked)
Black-vented Shearwater
Artcic Terns

Dramatic Seascape

Good birding!

The Bird Banter Podcast #135 with Sarah Swanson Additional Information


On this episode I talk with birder, author, Portland Audubon volunteer and all-around interesting woman, Sarah Swanson. Sarah has written two birding books, and the latest is:

A truly pocket sized book of birds of the Oregon Coast

I think this book will be a great tool for those interested in enjoying and learning the birds of the Oregon coast who are maybe not already familiar with what they are likely to see and their identification. This book is available for pre-order now, and is expected to be available in October of this year.
Sarah previously wrote a book called Must See Birds of the Pacific Northwest which is available used.
Sarah is an active member of the Portland birding community, and it was fun to talk with her about birding in her area, the process of marketing a new book, her birding story, and lots more.
You can find Sarah on Instagram @sarahlovesbirds or on Twitter @MustSeeBirds.
I also enjoyed hearing from Sarah about inclusiveness in birding, how Portland birders have been leading the way with birding groups like Feminist Birding Club of Portland and others. It helped remind me to try harder to be more inclusive and inviting to everyone.
Thanks for listening. As always I welcome suggestions for and introductions to potential guests for the podcast. Reach out to me on the Contact Page anytime with ideas.
Until next time, good birding and good day!