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.
Category: Ed’s Birding Notes
This is where I post my personal birding notes.
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.
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.
Getting Settled in Big Pine Key, Florida
Marian and I had the fortune to be offered the chance to stay in a home on Big Pine Key, FL for a couple of weeks before continuing on to Costa Rica to visit Jean and Alan at their home there where they practice regenerative agriculture. I really did not know what to expect here in terms of birding. It is arguably the key in the southern keys area with the most remaining somewhat undisturbed land, in a major effort to save the endangered Key Deer. They are certainly populous in this one key. They walk by the pool every hour or so at the home where we are staying, and you need to drive slowly here to avoid running over these tiny deer, which are a small subspecies of White-tailed Deer.
Overall the birding here is pretty slow right now. I’ve reviewed eBird bar charts and it looks like the passerine migration really doesn’t get going until about the first week of April, and a relatively small number of land-bird species winter here. So far the best places I’ve visited were the “Blue Hole” platorm overlook, a short trail through some small trees to a freshwater pond, where I saw a pair of American Wigeon (the only birds here to make eBird review lists, along with three species of warblers, Palm, Prairne and Black-and-white.
Overall a much more interessting spot was Hahia-Honda State Park, a park that straddles the Overseas Highway, has part of the abandoned old railroad bridge and overlying auto highway that has been declared an historic landmark and is decaying in place, and has three beaches where good numbers of Sanderling and Ruddy Turnstone, a few Least Sandpipers, Laughing Gulls, Brown Pelicans, Osprey, DC Cormorants, Ring-billed Gulls, and Royal Terns were fun to watch. This Lesser Black-backed Gull stood out immediately with its very dark back, (Marian spotted it first and commented on the vary dark color) and bright yellow legs.
Overall we have primarily relaxxed, I’ve been getting out for a couple of hours early each day hoping for more passerine action, so far without much luck. It is beautiful here though. At the top you can see the view from the chair as I write this post mid-afternoon. I’m really trying to stay relaxed, not race around looking for birds, and just enjoy the beauty and warm weather. It is pretty much 75-78 here every day and night with enough of a breeze near the water to stay cool.
So far two new Florida species, the LBBG and AMWI.
Ed
King County 200th Life Species today
Actually 199th and 200th. I went to 212th St. Ponds in Kent looking for the Black Phoebe that has been seen there, and hoped to also see a Hermit Thrush that had been reported there too. It was a really cold morning, so I waited until after traffic and the sun to warm up and got there around 9:30. The HETH was easy, as it was perching on the low bushes and dropping down to the lawn between the path and the cattail marsh to feed. There may have been 2 but #199 was on the books quickly.
I spent an hour or so looking for the phoebe with no luck, but got lucky when a couple of birders showed up and told me where to look, not at all where I was looking. The bird was flycatching far across the large pond near the road, not in the marsh area I had somehow thought it would be from prior descriptions. It was a very distant but definative look and I wrapped up almost 2 hours at the location after seeing the bird. #200! No photo even attempted.
I stopped at Saltwater State Park for a brief baywatch, with nothing special except nice sunshine and calm waters. Overall a pleasant morning of birding.
Wrapping Up January in Pierce County with a Push for 100
January has been a very good month for me, though not so much for birding in Pierce County (my home county). A group of friends and I made a foray to southeastern WA birding for 4 days, and my daughter Jean left just 2 days ago after a really nice 8 day visit, so my county birding has been less than energetic. I’ve spent 2 days birding in Kitsap County with Ken, the Vashon CBC on Jan 2, and a few hours last Friday, and have 78 species in Kitsap. For comparison starting today I had only 90 species in the rest of the month in Pierce. I felt like getting out birding alone today, and challenged myself to get 10 FOY birds in Pierce today to get over 100 species for January.
I didn’t set an alarm, but woke early, and got up at 5:30 and decided to try again for the usually reliable Barred Owl at Puget gulch. I tried both at the top and the bottom, submitting two eBird lists with zero species despite pretty good effort and use of recordings. I tried quickly at Garfield Gulch also well before dawn, but similar results there. From there I drove to Place of Circling Waters expecting a FOY Northern Pintail, and hoping for maybe a overwintering Spotted Sandpiper or Band-tailed Pigeon. Yes on the pintail, no on the others. It was getting lighter slowly and a slight snow fell while the temp hovered around freezing.
I made very quick stops hoping for some gulls at Gog-li-hi-ti and the 11th Street Bridge, but really very few gulls to scan over. I headed back on Portland Ave. towards I-5 and noted a big flock of gulls behind a fence on the R side so I made a U-turn and checked it out. It is a garbage transfer station, and I drove in for a look. There were hundreds of large white-headed gulls, mostly our usual GWGUxWEGU hybrids, and the worker there said I could look them over, but no luck spotting a Herring or Iceland Gull. The gulls were very active, going right into the building for garbage.
On to McNeil overlook, where I managed 5 Greater Yellowlegs and 2 Dunlin, but no raptors (not even 1 Bald Eagle) and as the tide was high not much was seen on the remaining mud. Still, 2 FOY shorebirds was good. No luch there for Hermit Thrush, Purple Finch, or Hairy or Pileated Woodpeckers that I had hopes of finding.
Next at Mounts Road I had better luck. A perched FOY Northern Harrier was easy, on a low post out over the frozen marsh. Lots of FPY Marsh Wrens were active right near the road, and a FOY Virginia Rail replied to a recorded grunt display call. The feeders are no longer in use at the end of Easterday Road, but I walked down and back the whole road hoping for a woodpecker or more likely a Purple Finch, but no luck.
I took the cutofff from Dupont to Steilacoom for a look from the platform where the expected flock of 110 FOY Western Grebes was easy, and a pair of FOY Greater Scaup not so easy. I continued on towards Chambers Bay, and while stopped by the fish ladder, a single FOY Eurasian Collared Dove flew and circled high overhead. On to the Chamber’s Bay Golf Course beach access bridge. I hoped for FOY Murre there, and a nice group was far offshore, and while looking at them at least 2 FOY Bonaparte’s Gulls flew through my scope view. They are easy in the fall in boig numbers, but only a few overwinter. The same is true for California Gull, and luckily an adule FOY bird was on the water close to shore. I had tried earlier to pick one out of the big flock of Short-billed Gulls on the water, but found none so this was a lucky find.
This made 12 FOY species before noon, and I was feeling pretty great. I decided to get a nice walk and try the afternoon at Ft. Steilacoom Park. I had a nice walk, was pleased to see some sign of life returning to the pond after treatment for algae seemed to make it lifeless the last couple of years, with 17 Ruddy Ducks, 3 NOSH, and a couple of coots present. I hoped for Purple Finch, woodpeckers, California Quail, RBSA, HETH, or something new, but settled for a good walk.
I got home about 2:40 and had time for a short nap and a workout at the gym to wrap a really nice day, ending January with 102 species in Pierce. For perspective I think of >200 species in Pierce for a year is decent, and last Jan 2022 I saw 109, and in 2021 114 in Jan.
Antarctica Trip Report
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
We finished the day at the town dump, where three species of Caracara, gulls and hawks were abundant.
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.
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:
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.
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.
This was also our first real penguin colony to visit, with both Gentoo and Magellanic Penguins on nests.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I spent the morning wandering around Ushuaia, birded a little, then flew to Buenos Aires.
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.
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.
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.
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.