A lifer in Costa Rica (25 November 2011). With the company of 2 tico birding pals: Rolando Delgado & Carlos Chaves; we went for a day visit to La Selva-OTS field station & reserve. We arrrived the night before, and the torrential rains, too. The following morning, the access to the dining hall was flooded. So, the only way to get where we wanted was via boat. See pictures. But nothing could go bad in a rainy day at La Selva. While walking in one of the less flooded paved trails, I flushed 1 Nine-banded Armadillo, who scared a small bird that flew towards a small branch above the ground, and gave us great views. It was a lifer for me!!! The species: Uniform Crake (Amaurolimnas concolor).
Other creatures at the “Biggest Week in American Birding. No only birds are attracted to this amazing bird festival. I saw at least 2 sps of snakes (1 garter sps pictured here), humans by 100s (see picture of my old birding pals Marion & Jeff K.), and of course a good number sps of birds (picture here is an American Woodcock). May 2012
My first Albatross. While on a whale trip off San Francisco, CA; near the Farallaon Islands WR, we had the chance to see several albatrosses. It was our first for both of us (RCR & JRZ). The species is Black-footed Albatross (Phoebastria nigripes). September 2011.
The Biggest Week in American Birding: May 4-13, 2012. It was my first experience in such kind of events. I was completely overwhelmed by the number of people that this activity attracted. And of course, the core of the event is Magee Marsh WA. A nice boardwalk loops thru the marsh-forest habitat, and it could be full of surprises. I arrived Wednesday May 9 via Detroit, MI, and left Sunday May 13 after 1 pm. My mission there was to help other birders to find and ID the birds. But with such crowd, it was quite difficult. I recorded since my arrival 125 sps of birds (3 of them, heard only), and among them 23 sps of warblers (Parulidae), including the rarest of them all: Kirtland’s Warbler!!
The Biggest Week in American Birding, is such a magnet for birdwatchers to go Magee Marsh WA to look for migratory birds, specially warblers. During the time I was there (09-13 May 2011), twice a Kirtland’s Warbler was seen. First the Wednesday morning (I was on my way to Detroit, MI), and the second time Friday, May 11. This time I was lucky to see my first sighting of a Kirtland’s Warbler in continental USA (I saw it first in Eleuthera, Bahamas in 2008). But the rarity of this species has a special effect among the birders. Just take a look at the pictures. Amazing what such small creature does to us, the birdwatchers!!!
Last minute bird, Nice; France. 29 April 2012. While we went around our hotel to buy some cheese, on our way back from the Supermarket, I saw two small birds perched on a lampost (see picture). And what a surprise, they were Indian Silverbills (Euodice malabarica), an exotic sps of bird, that has a free-flying population in South France, Nice. Probably the origin of this population, are escaped cage birds. The native range of the sps is from the Arabian Peninsula to SE Iran, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, & Sikkim. Other common English names are: White-throated Munia; Warbling Silverbill. Some authors place this sps in the genus Lonchura. Also introduced in the Americas (Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands). It was a last minute lifer!!!
25 April 2012. Parc National D’Ichkeul. Located SW from Bizerte, about 1 hr driving, this was the only NP we visited while in Tunisia. We saw 41 sps of birds, some of them: Squacco Heron (picture), Blue Rock-Thrush, European Serin, Collared Pratincole, African Blue Tit, Little Owl, European Pied Flycatcher, Common Bulbul, Laughing Dove, Great Reed Warbler, Black-eared Wheatear.
Birds & wine (16 April 2012). Visit Sardinia, and not tour a winery, is like….!! But we did it after a morning trip to Cagliari/Quartu Santa Elena. JRZ made her day with a visit & guide tour to Argiolas, the winery in Serdiena. We did a 360° visit around the place, including some wine tasting. But I did see some birds, not too many: Eurasian Collared-Dove (picture), Barn Swallow, Spanish Sparrow, Common Swift.
15 April 2012. A day trip to Isola San Pietro, W of Iglesias; Sardinia. In the outskirts of Carloforte, the old salt flats gave us this amazing views of hundreds of the Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus).
After a long transatlantic flight, we landed in Milano; Italy. A few hours later we were back on a plane to our final destination: Cagliari; Sardinia. In both airports, the first bird sps seen was Hooded Crow (Corvus cornix). But in Cagliari, we found our first lifer of the trip, the elusive Spanish Sparrow (Passer hispaniolensis). This sps turned into a every day during our time in Sardinia. From here we continued W towards Domusnovas, and Agriturismo Perda Niedda (14 April 2012)
