Well, Jean delivered Río at 6:57 PM Nov. 19, and I’m a grampa now for the first time. Pretty cool experience. We spent the next week at the Finca Cometa farm where Río was born, and came back to Jean and Alan’s primary home near Tinamaste, Costa Rica where I stayed a few more days. We all agreed that it would be great for Jean and Alan to have time with Río without grampa, and for me to take a break and go for an adventure. I wanted a place I could drive to, a place with some remotemess and an adventure element, and I chose to go to the Luna Lodge, near the entrance to PN Corcovada on the Oso Peninsula. It is an area I’ve never visited, in the only large low elevation tropical Pacific rain forest left in CR. I left Jean’s on the morning of Nov 29, and drove on a pretty rainy day about 4 hours to Puerto Jiminez. It is a small town where the lodge arranged a driver into the lodge. I opted (wisely IMO) not to try driving in as she they described the road as awful due to recent flooding, and I quickly agreed after at the start of the 2-hour dirt road drive we crossed a significant river (washed out bridge that has been out for 3 years) and subsequently crossed at least 8 more pretty fast and deep rivers in the Toyota Hilux 4WD pickup that was my transport. The drive in was pretty birdy, and the once the driver learned I was a birder was very patient with several stops for birds, including a stakeout of his, a lifer Tropical Screech Owl by the road.
The lodge is quite nice, though in the rain forest it is really wet at this time of year. There were few guests, one business retreat group from Budapest, one couple from Atlanta, and me at first, and just myself and one of the stayover guests from the Budapest group and me at dinner with the owner and the massage therapist. The story of the lodge is remarkable. See her book Married to Paradise.
I stayed there for 3 nights, and due to low census they upgraded me from the Hacienda rooms to a bungalow. The bungalow is a stand alone place with a two queen beds, a small porch with 2 rocking chairs, and a bath and open air shower in the back. Overall quite nice, but everything always wet from dew/humnidity. Food was excellent, service great.
I took 2-hour guided morning and afternoon birding walks on the first full day, and a 6 your 6-noon “safari” birding trip on day 2, when the guide recommended that vs. a hike to the PN Corcovado which was all in forest and on the beach with a low number and diversity of birds likely.
The second day the rain finally cleared, and we had a great morning. We started going to an estuary, where a pretty cool drive down a river bed to the mouth of the river brought us to a large sandy lagoon with a good number of waders. Almost immediately on scanning the mouth of the estuary I spotted a very distant wader that was acting like a Reddish Egret, stomping in circles and stopping to feed in the disturbed water. I called this to Mauro’s attention and he doubted me as he had never seen a Reddish Egret, and it was really too far to see field marks even with his scope. We looked everything else over, and I studied the bird, and was convinced it was a dark or red morph of a Reddish Egret. Mauro was agrieved at not cementing the ID, so I suggested we take off our shoes, pull up our pant legs, wade across the river, and walk out to see. I think he was a bit taken aback that this old man was up for this, but quickly agreed when I insisted. We walked across and out, water to just above our knees, and sure enough, even back-lit it was a for-sure Reddish Egret. Lifer for Mauro, and fun to get my guide a lifer.
We spent the rest of the morning going a few miles out the road, stopping frequently to try for hoped for lifers for me, Black-cheeked Ant-tanager, White-throated Shrike Tanager, and had no luck. Out luck improved on the drive back towards the resort when Mauro spotted a grayish raptor in a tree, and excitedly called out “Gray-headed Kite”, a bird I had asked about earlier, and he said he hoped so to but had never seen one, essentially his nemesis bird. It was very cooperative, letting us get out of the truck and walk quite close for photos.
We had a few other cool birds that allowed photos. (I just had my small super-zoom as I didn’t bring my long lens camera on this trip focusing on grandbabies not birds, and was bringing a LOT of baby stuff.
I left about 8 AM to be driven to Puerta Jiminez today, and on the way out road repairs led to a 20 minute delay. While stopped a troop of possibly 100 Squirril Monkeys casually and playfully cruised past us mostly using a cattle fence wire as a tightrope. See my Instagram post to see this video as I can’t easily add it here.
The ride home was uneventful, Jean, Alan and baby Río are all well, and I go to pick up Marian in San Jose on Wednesday. Here is a link
Good birding! A great day today!
Category: Uncategorized
The Bird Banter Podcast #178 with Matthew Bell Additional Info.
Matthew and I talk on this episode about his work at Connecticut Audubon as a travel specialist. Here are links to some of the trips he leads there.
We also talk about some of his favorite Connecticut birding spots. Here are links on the BirdingHotspots.org site to some of those spots.
Milford Point
Valley Falls Park
Belding WMA
Connecticut, like most of New England has most of the eBird Hotspots covered with “how to bird here” information. As the editor in Washington, I still need lots of help to cover many sites here. I’d love the help of local birders. It’s easy. Here is a post on our ABC Birding site with written and video “how to” info.
Thanks for listening. Until next time, good birding and good day!
The Bird Banter Podcast #148 with Holly Merker Additional Info.
On The Bird Banter Podcast #148 I talk with Holly Merker, an accomplished birder, educator, and therapist who has been a leading advocate of using birding, and being in nature as a means of therapy through mindful birding and an intentional process.
Check out her neew book on her website. Note the coupon for free shipping.
Holly has long been a well respected and recognized birder. She leads field trips for George Armistead’s new birding company, Hillstar Nature Tours, she is a leader at both the Hog Island ABA Birding camp for both adults and youth, as well as at acting as the director of the ABA’s Camp Delaware Bay. She has served as a member and as the chair of the Pennsylvania Bird Records Committee, is an eBird reviewer, has served on the board of the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, and most recently was awarded the 2022 Conservation and Education Award by the ABA.
If you get the feeling that Holly is an accomplished and highly respected birder you’d be correct. In addition Holly has been a leading advocate of intentional birding, and for the use of birding and nature as a means of therapy. Holly mentions that the term Ornitherapy was first coined by a British physician, Dr. A.F. Cox who wrote an article in the British Journal of Medicine in 1979. I have not been able to find that article, and if anyone can send me a copy or a link, I’d love it.
You can see the Ornitherapy.com website at this link.
Holly also started The Mindful Birding Network, and on the website you can find lots more on that topic., as well as join and participate in online workshops and meetings.
To see more about Forest Therapy and Forest Bathing check out this website.
The Ornitherapy Facebook page is here.
Here is a link to the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy
Here is some information about phytoncides that Holly discusses on the episode.
Here is an article about Attention Restoration Theory.
You can get Holly’s book at her website, with a free shipping coupon here. Https://ornitherapy.com/
I feel like I was so blessed and lucky to have the chance to spend an hour talking with Holly about Ornitherapy, her experiences and insights. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
Good birding and good day!
The Bird Banter Podcast #142 with Francis Canto Jr. Additional Info.
As I mention on the episode, Belize was one of the first places outside the U.S. where I birded with my late wife Kay. We took a trip to Belize, and while at an ecolodge hired a guide for a couple of half days, and enjoyed the dry tropical forest birding there. We also took a side trip to Tikal, the famous ruins in Guatamala and also spent some time at Caye Calker on the coast. Overall a great trip. Talking with Francisco brought back really good memories.
Francisco was recommended as a guest by a listener, which is one of my favorite ways to find great guests for the podcast, so please let me know who you’d like to hear from on the show.
I had no idea that hawk watching was such a special time in Belize, and seeing large numbers of Hook-billed Kites there sounds pretty unique and intriguing.
I did know that for a small country, Belize has a nice mix of habitats, from coastal to the mountains, and all areas in between. You can check out Francisco’s eBird profile here.
Thanks for listening. Until next time, good birding and good day!
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.
The Bird Banter Podcast #131 with Marcos Trinidad
On this episode I talk with Marcos Trinidad, the Center Director at the Debs Park Audubon Center in Los Angeles, CA. I learnded a lot about being inclusive to persons of color in birding, about helping people incorporate technology into postive experiences in nature, and about Marcos himself.
You can find more about Marcos at his bio on the Debs Park website, and about his podcast, Human/Nature at their website.
You can follow Marcos on Instagram or Twitter also.
I hope you enjoyed the episode. I’d love to hear of guests you’d like to hear from, and you can suggest guests or topics using the Contact Page. Please send any contact information you have on guests you suggest.
Thanks for listening.
Until next time, good birding and good day!
The Bird Banter Podcast #130 with Bill Young additional info.
On The Bird Banter Podcast #130 Bill Young and I talk about his life experiences birding, his passion for and inimiate knowledge of his home patch, Moticello Park in Alexandria, Virginia, and the web site he has co-created MPNature.com where you can find incredibly detailed information about the park and its fauna and flora. I especially enjoyed his reasoning and attention to the seasonal occurrence of many of the neotropic migrants found in the park. He is so right about a few days making all the difference in the chances of seeing a particular bird. Here are a couple of the examples from the website:
Note that on these two dates, only a week apart, the list of migrants that have been recorded are very different. On May 12th only Yellow-rumped Warbler has been recorded, but on May 5th 12 different species of warblers have been seen.
Here is an example of one of Bill’s YouTube Videos, the one he mentions about the Mississippi Kites that nested nearby.
Here are the eBird sites for Bombay Hook NWR, Forsythe NWR (formerly Brigantine NWR), Monticello Park, and Los Cusingos in Costa Rica, the place we talk about that Dr. Alexander Skutch lived and worked.
Here is a link to Bill’s book The Fascination of Birds.
I could not find much information on Optical Brighteners and their U.V. spectrum residue that may be easily seen by birds, so if any readers find good information, please use the contact page to let me know. – Thanks to Bill, he sent me this link to information used by the U.S. military on optical brighteners. Bill also copies a short segment from Jon Young’s book where he talks about what birds see. It is worth the read IMO. Funny and informative. Read here.
Thanks for following and listening. Until next time. Good birding.
The Bird Banter Podcast #127 with Raphael Fennimore Additional Info.
Raphael Fennimore is my guest on The Bird Banter Podcast #127 and we talk about not just his record breaking King County 2021 Big Year, but also his broad natural sciences background as a marine mammal biologist, scuba diving, as an Antarctic Cruise guide and his experience with a new mirrorless camera. Raphael identified 278 species of birds in King County in 2021, more species than had previously been found in any county in WA in a single calendar year.
I mention on the episode that I think Common Grackle is less common in central Maine than when I was child, and though that may be my impression, per eBird bar charts it is still pretty common, so maybe it’s my faulty memory, or maybe they were more abundant then like many species that have generally declined in numbers over the last half century.
Here is a link to the Birding in King County, WA book that Raphael mentioned by Gene Hunn.
This is the Canon R5 camera Raphael mentions.
Here is Raphael’s Instagram feed
You can also reach Raphael by email Raphael.Fennimore- at – gmail- dot- com
Here is a link to the eBird 2021 top 100 eBird listers page.
Again, thanks for listening and reading here.
Good birding and good day!
The Bird Banter Podcast #104 with R. Bruce Richardson Additional Info.
There are birding big years, where the stated object is to find the highest possible number of species in a given area in a calendar year. These are relatively common and there have been lots of birders who have done these and written books about their year. Some of my prior guests have done variations on this theme. Dorian Anderson on Episode #5 did his Biking for the Birds big year. Lynn Barber in Episode #79 did big years in Texas and Alaska as well as an ABA big year, and wrote two books about these endeavors.
My guest this episode is R. Bruce Richardson. He and his wife took on birding during a year of travel around Australia. Bruce is also a songwriter, entertainer, comedian, and all-around funny guy. I bought the book right after we recorded the episode, and am loving it so far. Buy it here on his website.
I knew that Australia is a big land mass, and in the front of his book he shows how the size of the lower 48 U.S. states approximates the size of Australia with map overlays. It is a cool visual. I also didn’t think of Australia as a place with lots of Parrots. I cannot find an easy answer to how many extant species of parrots are wild in Australia vs the Americas, but certainly both areas have a lot.
I thought that this would be a great place to embed a few of R Bruce’s You Tube funny songs.
Also of course a link to his book on Amazon: An Australian Birding Year
I hope you enjoyed the episode. Please leave comments or suggestions.
Thanks for listening.
Good birding and good day!
The Bird Banter Podcast #96 with Neil Paprocki Additional Info
Neil Paprocki is a raptor researcher studying for his PhD at the University of Idaho. You can follow him on both Twitter and Instagram. He is studying the movements of Rough-legged Hawks primarily in his PhD work, using geolocators on the hawks to track their annual journeys from breeding in the Arctic to wintering in mostly the lower 48.
I always love getting my fix of RLHA both at the Skagit and Sammish Flats and on Eastern Washington trips in winter. Rarely we get them in the south Puget Sound area. When one is sighted in Pierce County it is much chased by we county listers.
On the episode Neil talks about the two primary types of geolocators used on these hawks, the type that gives near real-time location using satelite communication, and the type that uses cell tower communication for uploads of data, meaning the researchers only get data when the birds are in cell range, i.e. for RLHAs not really on their breeding grounds.
Neil has also worked with the California Condor reintroduction and monitoring project with the Peregrine Fund. These are spectacular birds. I first saw them soon after their reintroduction from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, but got my first listable condor at Pinnacles National Park in California. These are spectacular birds, gigantic, and unmistakable. I cannot find my photos of these birds quickly now, but here is a link to my eBird list with photos.
Neil has also worked with Hawk Watch International, as a biologist. Hawk Watch International has a wonderful network of sites staffed by professional hawk watchers and counters placed along the flyways of raptors where at many of these birders can visit and watch the migratory spectacle for ourselves. I have limited experience at hawk watch sites, really just at Cape May and at the Butler Mountain site in New York. I hope to spend more time at these wonderful sites in years to come.
Thanks for reading and listening.
Good birding. Good day!