Out with a Bang!!!

Well, thats it. My time on the Farnes is over. After 6 fantastic months at at one of the most amazing places in the world, i've moved back down South to start a degree in Ecology and Wildlife Conservation at Bournemouth University.
The Autumn had been really slow migrant-wise on the islands until this last week, and then it all went absolutely mental. Last Friday, a Minke Whale cruised North between the islands and the mainlands, and I managed to get decent views of this dinky whale and secure a British cetacean tick. We were all really happy with that, but what happened next blew us all away. On Sunday, the skipper of a dive boat gave us a call to alert us to a Humpback Whale off Longstone, the most easterly of the island group. Frustratingly, Longstone was blocking our view so we sped out in the zodiac to the Big Harcar to get a clearer view. By the time we got there the beast had moved a fair way to the North but we were still treated to the incredible sight of this 40-ton monster breaching clean out of the water, and coming down with an almighty splash. As far as worldwide wildlife spectacles go, witnessing this behaviour has got to rate up near the top, so to observe it in British waters was just phenomonal, definately the highlight of my year so far.

Surely things couldnt get any better, but on monday they surely did. A quick trip over to Staple Island ib the morning revealed a Barred Warbler lumbering around the sparse vegetation, a long awaited first of the year on what has become a very reliable site for this species on recent years.




A seawatch soon after saw good numbers of Manxies passing close by, and then unbelievably, more cetaceans, this time 3+ Risso's Dolphins that lingered off the South end of the Islands for c10 minutes, giving good views of their tall dorsal fins and scarred bodies, proving that they really are so much more than 'gay sharks'. The Risso's were a cetacean world tick for me, so I was feeling pretty bloody happy.
An hour or so later, David Steel and Jason Moss, the 2 birders on Inner Farne, came over to have alook at the Barred Warbler with us. At one point, the Warbler flew a short distance and dropped into a weedy gulley, only for another bird to jump out onto the rocks, a Bluethroat!!!!



Quality stuff, having birded Staple thoroughly earlier, this was clearly a new bird in, something mega wa happening. Inspired by this, we drove out to Longstone, where we greeted by a Goldcrest, 2 Willow Warblers and 2 Lesser Whitethroats scarmbling around on the seaweed, and then, a Common Rosefinch appeared too, this was just getting better and better.

It was starting to get dark by now, so headed back to Brownsman to celebrate a superb day. As we walked up towards the cottage, a chunky, pale bird flew up from the nettles at our feet. As it flew away, I knew immediately that it was a bird I had never seen before, it just looked wierd. luckily it landed on the wall of the veg garden, bins up, and, BLACK-HEADED BUNTING, HOLY SHIT!!!! The bird dropped down behind the wall straight away, leaving us rolling around on the ground, punching the air and generally going apeshit until we realised that we really ought to crack on with the ardous task of ruling out Red-headed Bunting. The bird showed well on the ground before flying back to wall giving us great views through the scope and allowing me to grab some record shots in the gloom.

The black streaks on the crown, shadow of a black-face and rufous tint to the scapulars are all spot on for Black-headed Bunting. Some books are pretty useless when it comes to identifying immature black/red-headed bunts but it seems that with good views there shouldnt be too much of a problem.

Cor, he's a Shearwater

With a 3-4 West-nor-west this morning, and no new migrants on the land, along with an overnight departure of yesterdays birds (including the Icky), I settled down for a morning of data entry on the computer (a big job when you have as many seabird nests to monitor as we do). Just minutes after turing on the computer, Head Warden David Steele called us on the radio to warn us that some lads seawatching down the coast at Newbiggin had just had a Cory's Shearwater heading North. Myself and fellow brownsman warden Adam Scott needed no further excuses to abandon work (come on, it's a Saturday) and headed down to the seawatching spot at the Brownsman South End. It wasnt looking good, with the few manxies that were moving being very far out and with the morning sun right in our faces, we weren't feeling overly confident that we would get the bird.
After an hour, the sky started to cloud over things were looking a little easier, maybe we had a chance. 80 minutes after the Newbiggin sighting, a sudden radio shout from Inner Farne, they had the bird and it was heading our way. After a few frantic seconds searching through distant manxies, the beast loomed into view no more than 300 metres offshore, and slowly sauntered past, giving me my best views ever of this awesome seabird. it showed so well that I was able to pass the scope on to Adam, giving him great views of a British Tick and I even managed to grab a few photos that could just possibly be classed as 'record shots'.
This was an excellent example of how good communication between coastal sites can allow plenty of people to enjoy great birds like this, so many thanks to the guys down at Newbiggin, Cheers Lads!!!

Icky at last!!

Well, I had been hoping to update this blog quite frequently this autumn with tales of rares and mega falls on the Farnes, however to be perfectly blunt, the autumn thus far has been absolute shit, no two ways about it.
Like the rest of the country, we've been dominated by howling westerlies and clear skies, which for an east-coast site like us is a total waste of time.
At long last, wednesday night and thursday morning gave us a brief spell of easterlies, as the wind direction backed a full 300 odd degrees to the nor-westerlies we're stuck in now. Yesterday (thursday) was quite an exciting day, with The Farnes beating its record day counts for Teal and Swallow, with 894 and 248 north respectively, along with the first Ruff and Goosander of the year. However it failed to produce any of the much anticipated rares, just a few commoner land migrants. And then the Nor-westerly picked up to Severe Gale Force 9 and driving rain all night and all this morning, effectively the end of any rare hopes.
Still, us wardens on the mighty Brownsman don't give up that easily and a most un-pleasant walk in horiffic weather this morning was rewarded with brief looks at a nice Icterine Warbler trying to shelter in the sparse vegetation by our pond.
Luckily the weather cleared up this afternoon and we were able to get excellent views of this eastern scarcity feeding in typical Farnes fashion on open rocks and then in our artifical 'stick' (a bundle of driftwood nailed together to look like a tree!'

I've only got 2 weeks left on the Farnes before moving off to pastures new (watch this space!!!), so i'm desperately hoping for some easterly orientated weather conditions to bring in a few more goodies before I leave, fingers crossed eh.

So Farne So Good

Apologies for a rather long-term lack of postings since returning from my travels.

Way back in mid-march, I moved oop north to The Farne Islands, in Northumberland, where I'm working as a Warden for the National Trust for the summer. It's been a superb season so far, it's just an amazing place, absolutely covered in birds. For example, Brownsman, the island I live on, has 1000 pairs of Arctic Terns, 10,000 pairs of Puffins and 8,000 Guillemots!!!

It's a good spot for 'real birding' too, this spring we've had 2 Red-throated Pipits, a Bluethroat and a Wryneck, along with a good sprinkling of common-ish migrants.

Here's a few pictures for now ,hopefully i'll be able to add a few here and there over the course of the summer.

Roseate Tern, not breeding unfortunately, but always nice to see


Arctic Tern, one of the massive colony around our cottage


Puffin, THE bird that people come to the islands to see


The second Red-throated Pipit, in horiffic weather back in May

Possibly the best bird of the spring. A male Bluethroat that spent a few days showing ridiculously well around the cottage

Yucatan

From Palenque, we headed into the Yucatan Peninsula for a few days.
We stayed a while at Tulum, where we mainly got very drunk, but we did manage some birding in the scrub opposite our hostel.


Rose-throated Tanager (yucatan endemic)


White-eyed Vireo (my hot tip to turn up in Britain or Ireland sometime soon)

We also had a day out at the nearby Mayan ruins of Coba


Black-headed Trogon

Plain Chachalaca

Worm-eating Warbler

After rushing through the grim town of Playa-del-Carmen (think Costa Del Sol, but with the package holiday brits replaced by their american counterparts, yuk!!) we got the boat out to Cozumel Island, which was also very plasticky and crappy around the main town, but exploring the island, we found it be quite a nice spot, and we also caught up with some local endemics;

Cozumel Vireo

Yucatan Vireo

Cozumel Emerald

Palenque photos

After a gruelling 26 hour bus journey from Oaxaca, we arrived at the historic Mayan ruin site of Palaenque, where we stayed for 4 days over Christmas. The ruins themselves were extremely busy with tourists, but the trails leading off into the nearby gave us some excellent birding.

White-collared Swift

Red-capped Manakin

distant White Hawk

female Great Antshrike

Kentucky Warbler (taken through a window in our tent)

Bat Falcon, sat in a tree in the centre of the ruins early in the morning

Lovely Cotinga, taken from the top of one of the Pyramids. These birds are infinitely better seen in the sunlight, they are an unbelievable electric blue, with big purple patches, just stunning!!

Oaxaca

One of the highlights of our trip was a 5 day stay with our good friend and expert local birder, Eric Martinez, in Teotitlan Del Valle, in Oaxaca State. The birding was truly excellent in this area, and with Eric's knowledge of the local sites, we were able to pick up a decent number of regional endemics and specialties, along with plenty of other great birds.


Oaxaca Sparrow


Lesser Nighthawk, Usual Excuses for poor quality(near darkness, manual focus, Max ISO ,blah blah blah)


Bridled Sparrow

Black-throated Grey Warbler

Rock Wren

Bullocks Oriole

Vermillion Flycatcher

Boucard's Wren

Red Warbler

Chestnut-sided Shrike Vireo

Red-faced Warbler

Violet-green Swallow

Lark Sparrow

White-throated Towhee (looks like a heap of shit, but a very range restricted endemic and my 1000th bird of the year)

Blue-grey Gnatcatcher

Curve-billed Thrasher

Western Mexico

After Baja, we crossed the Sea of Cortez to Western mainland Mexico, where we spent a few days each birding around San Blas and Uruapan:


Russet Crowned Motmot


Slate-throated Redstart


Russet Nightingale-thrush

3 appaling record shots of 3 cracking warblers, all in the same tree;

Graces's Warbler

Olive Warbler

Hermit Warbler

Elegant Quail, a tricky North-west Mexican endemic

Masked Tityra

Citreoline Trogon

Bell's Vireo

Tropical Parula

Cinammon Hummingbird

Rufous-backed Thrush

The end, and the beginning

For anyone reading this who wasn't already aware, the trip is over, we're safely back in England.

It was an epic journey and we had a fantastic time, seeing incredible places, meeting some truly excellent people and of course, some mind-boggling birding. The final trip list was a monster 873!!! of which about 850 were recorded in the 3 months from leaving the Tip of Long Point, Canada to departing Panama City.
Of course, now i'm back I have the monumental task of sorting through stacks of photographs, here's the first installment, all from the peninsula of Baja California, in North-western Mexico.



Spotted Sandpiper


Blue-footed Booby


Yellow-footed Gull

Double-crested Cormorant

Clark's Grebe

Savannah Sparrow

Sage Sparrow

Western Sandpiper

American Avocet

To be honest (and it may well become painfully obvious as I continue to upload photos) I took relatively few shots on this trip. I simply found that it was challenging enough getting good looks at birds, particulalry in rainforest/jungle (which most of our birding was in).

Still, I managed to take a fair few shots, and i'll be slowly sorting through them over the coming weeks/months/years, so be sure to check back frequently.

Osa Good

We made it, we´re in Panama, phew, woop woop, hurrah etc.

From San Jose we stopped at the highest point on the PanAmerican Highway at the lovely little cabins at La Georgina, just below the Cerro de la Muerte. It rained for the entire time we were there but we still picked up most of cool stuff around; Fiery-throated and Volcano Hummers, Sooty Thrush, Large-footed Finch, Flame-throated Warbler to name but a few, oh yeh ,and ZELEDONIA, and great views of this little skulker too, bouncing around in the bamboo just feet away from us.

Next stop was golfito, down on the pacific coast, a quick look around in the evening gave us a stunning male Prothonotary warbler in the mangroves, along with Panama Flycatcher. 5am the next morning we took a launch across the gulf to Puerto Jiminez on the peninsula de Osa, from where we took a collectivo taxi up to Dos Brazos, and then hiked up into the junlge to stay at La Bolita Hostel on the edge of Corcovado NP. This place is truly excellent, its very rustic (and very ´eco´) but comfortable and set right in the woods, i dont have time to list everything we saw but this list should give you an idea of how bloody good it is: Black-cheeked Ant Tanager, Great Currassow, Barred Forest Falcon, Bicoloured and Chestnut-backed Antbird, Little Tinamaou, Blue Ground Dove, Turquoise Cotinga, Fiery-billed Aracari............
Get the idea, i´ll be writign more about this place for sure when I have the time, as its a mut do for any Costa Rica itenary and currently seems to be a bit underwatched.

ANyway, we´re in David in Panama now, having crossed the border a few hours ago. Only 11 days of the trip left until we fly out of Panama City. We plan on spending it around Boquete, Santa Fe and finally Panama City and the legendary Pipeline road.

Shoule be good.

Costa Rica

After a few days chilling in Granada, we once more pushed on South. We boarded the passenger ferry in Granada at 2pm, arriving on the other side of Lago Nicaragua at 7am the next morning, probably one of the most uncomfotable nights of my life (after the horrific Nepal-India bus ride this tiem last year). We had planned to spend a few days at in intriguing site near San Carlos but found that we would have to wait a few days for a boat out there, so instead decided we might as well move straight on to Costa Rica. We jumped on the next boat to the border, which turened out to be an excellent trip, as we saw a Sungrebe skulking down the side of the river almost immediately after we crossed the borderline. A flyover Muscovy Duck was our first genuine bird of this species too.

After sthe most painful border formalities of the trip so far, we got a bus onwards to Ciudad Quesada, and then to La Fortuna as night fell.

First thing next morning we caught a taxi up to the access to road to Arenal Observatory Lodge. We walked the last few km's of the track to the lodge, seeing Southern Rough-winged Swallow, Bay wren, broad-billed motmot, Buff-rumped Warbler, Emerald Tanager, White-ruffed Manakin and Fasciated Tiger heron, among others. The lodge didnt open its grounds to visitors until 8 30am so we had a quick look down the Tucanes trail, where 2 Spotted Antbirds gave very good views and a Green Hermit buzzed around.
Entering the lodge grounds, we went straight to the feeding station outside the restaurant, where Green Honeycreeper, Black-striped Sparrow, Olive-backed Euphonia and an assortment of Tangers all showed well.

After a quick walk around the lodge grounds, we headed down the waterfall trail. we struggled at first in the heavy rain, hardly seeing a bird ,but suddenly came across a busy flock containing Orange-billed SParrow, streaked crowned Antvireo, scale crested pygmy tyrant and strip breasted Wren, and a bit further along, a Rufous Motmot. Thats just the way rainforest birding goes, you work for ages seeing nothing and then it all becomes worthwhile when you are totally surrounded by great birds.

After La fortuna, we took a Jeep-boat-jeep trip across lake arenal and up to monteverde, staying in the small town of Santa Elena. on the first afternoon, we went up the cerro tres amigos trail (one of the few free trails in the area), we saw absolutely nothing on the way uo but the way down produced Prong-billed Barbet, Azure-hooded Jay and Black-thighed Grosbeak.

Next day we took the first bus of the morning up to Santa Elena Cloud forest reserve. again it rained heavily nearly all day, but we still picked up some good birds like Barred Becard, Red-faced Spintail, Black Guan, Magenta-throated woodstar, Green thorntail, Ruddy-capped and slaty-backed nightingale thrushes, brown-billed Scythebill and Yellow-thighed Finch. That night, we took a guided night hike at the Santamaria reserve which was a great experience, as we got superb views of a two-toed Sloth with baby and an orange-kneed tarantula at its burrow, along with roosting Emerald Toucanet, Wood Thrush and Yellow-throated Vireo.

On our last morning in monteverde, we too kthe bus out to the monteverde reserve for a quick look at the Hummingbird Gallery. I wsa expecting it to be a bit dudey and contrived, and it was, but it was absoulutely awesome, with hummers like Coppery-headed Emerald, Violet Sabrewing, Green-crowned brilliant and purple-throated mountain gem feeding just inches away, I bloody love hummers, and i'm seriously contempalting trying to smuggle some back to England to introduce them.

We're now in San Jose (which, like most capital cities, is a shithole), having spent a night here after getting a bus down from monteverde yesterday, and we will shortly be heading off to the Cerro de la Muerte (literal translation: Moutain fo Death) for a few days before spending our last few days in Costa Rica on the Peninsula de Osa, before crossing into Panama for our last week before flying home.

Tikal yer fancy?

Yes, I know, ages betwen updates again. I'll be keeping them fairly brief and hopefully will write full trip reprts for some of the more interesting sites that we've visited once I get back home.

Ok, Tikal.

What a fantastic place, infinitely better than Palenque. Its a much bigger site, with temples and pyramids spread over several kilometres, and all covered in prime rainforest. We arrived in the afternoon and first off took a walk down the track towards the old airstrip. Despite looking fairly ordinary scrubby stuff we saw a stunning male White-collared Manakin, Blue-crowned Motmot and a skulky White-browed Wren. Walking back to the campsite, we came across the bizarre sight of a group of Ocellated Turkeys strutting around the car park. We bought our tickets for the Archaelogical Site itself after 4pm, allowing us a quick evening visit before closing time at 6pm but also giving us entry for the following day. Whizzing around as much as possible we caught up with several groups of Crested Guan and a Ruddy Woodcreeper. Getting back to the campsite at dusk, a pair of Paraques were hanging around the edges of the reservoit near the entrance booth.
Dawn the next morning saw us back at the reservoir, where we picked up the hoped for Bare-throated Tiger Heron. The woods around the ruins were vrey productive for woodcreeprs, with SPot-crowned, Tawny-winged, Barred and Ocellated all giving good views. Undoubted bird(s) of the day were 3 Orange-breasted Falcons, a pair and a young bird hanging around the magnificent Templo IV, where they appeared to have nested. On our last full day at Tikal we again went down the Airstrip track, where we scored superbly, with a showy Pheasant Cuckoo feeding right next to the track, making a crazy sound as it shook its body, apparently in some kind of display as it fed. This isnt written in any of the books we have but the noise it was making is really difficult to describe, like an uneven static hiss, it was damn wierd. A thicket Tinamou also gave us excellent views before creeping off back into the scrub. To end the day, a pair of Grey-necked Wood Rails were feeding around one of the crocodile pools at the end of the track.

The next day saw us catching a bus down to Rio Dulce in south Guatemala, where after staying a night we got on a fast boat to take us to the town of Livingstone, on the Carribean coast, seeing several Fork-tailed Flycatchers on the way. From Livingstone we caught another boat across the bay to Puerto Barrios, from where we took a bus to the Honduras border, crossing that nice and quickly and staying the night in the beachside village of Omoa. Next day we took a bus SOuth to Lago Yojoa, slap bang in the middle of Honduras, where we camped at the excellent D&D Microbrewery, set up by an Oregonian Brewmaster. What a great idea, set just off the edge of the lake, with several good walking trails close by, this place offers good cheap accomodation (even cheaper when your camping!) and allowed us to tasts some real beer, for the first time since, ironically enough, we visited some brewpubs in Portland Oregon. The porter and Amber ales were really very good, and the Raspberry and Apricot Ales were very interesting, and much nicer than they might sound, similar ot Badger Breweries peach flavoured Golden Glory. We were very disappointed that the Mango Ale was not available though. From the brewery, we went up into the Santa Barbara National Preseve for a few days, and stayed at the small village of San Luis Planes, right on the edge of the cloud forest. Birding around the village was excellent, seeing the regional endemic Bushy-crested Jays, the 'white-faced' race of Prevosts Ground Sparrow ( a cracking bird with cool sideburns) and Rusty Sparrow. The cloud forest was as tropical forests generally are, mostly birdless but with a few hidden Gems. What was one of most exciting moments of the trip came when we picked out a stunning male Resplendant Quetzal sitting on an exposed perch above the canopy, with wispy cloud drifting past, it peformed several little flight off the perch revealing just how long its incredible tail streamers are. Some of the regional field guides claim that this is the most beautiful birds on the world, i'm not quite sure about that, but its certainly right up there with the best of them. Other good birds up there included Black-banded Woodcrepper, Violet Sabrewing and Green-throated Mountain Gem.

After Lago Yojoa, we continued South, crossing the border into Nicaragua, and stopping at the Nicaraguan coffee capital of Matagalpa. Feeling the need for more cloud forest, we took a bus up to the swanky Selva Negra lodge to use their trails for the day. We forst got the feeling that this wa a good site as we walked down the access track from the road, seeing Ornage-billed Nightingale Thrush and Rufous-browed Wren. The lodge has an excellent network of trails covering a good variety of habitats and it felt criminal to only spend one day there, seeing such excellent birds as Grey-collared Becard, White-faced Quail Dove, Emerald Toucanet, Green-breasted Mountain Gem, White-ruffed Manakin, White-winged Tanager and Slaty Antshrike.

From Matagalpa, we took a bus down to the fascinating town of Granada, where we are now, on the shores of Lago Nicaragua, a huge inland waterbody. The town is full of great old colonial buildings ad feels totally different to anywhere we've been so far on the trip. Walking around the square yesterday evening we were more than slightly surprised to see flocks of Scissor-tailed Flycatchers flying low over the rooftops, presumably on their way to roost nearby.

We have a few more days here, then the plan is to catch a ferry across the lake to the town of San Carlos, where we will explore a very underwatched and potentially very interesting area, before crossing over into Costa Rica.

I don't Belize it!!!

No, i've not joined the horders of bloggers deciding to call it a day, i've jsut been too busy to update this lately.
Since the last post we've been racing around all over the place, seeing shitloads of birds and generally having a good time.
First stop was Palenque, after a hideous 24 hour bus journey across Oaxaca, Tabasco and Chiapas states. It was definately worth it though. We spent 4 days camping in the jungle nearby to these amazing Mayan ruins. Brief summary of highlights: Being woken up by Howler Monkeys on Christmas Day, sitting on top of the highest temple and watching Lovely Cotingas and Keel-billed Toucans flying across the ruins site. Walking the cascades trail, just outside the site, and seeing Mexican Anththrush, Giant Antshrike, Red-capped Mankain, and thrillinglyl but frustatingly, a sublimanl glimpse of a big spotty cat that almost the trail in front of us!!!
After Palenque, it was up to the Yucatan Peninsula and the island of Cozumel, cycling around the island (70km) one very hot day, getting shockingly sunburnt but seeing the endemic Cozumel Emerald and Cozumel Vireo, plus other Yucatan specialties like Yucatan Vireo, Black Catbird etc.

New Years saw us just down the road at Tulum, joining a very international crowd from the hostel, mainly europeans in getting incredibly drunk on the beach before being moved on by the police becasue some poor soul had taken a badly judged swim and not made it back, very sobering indeed.

The last couple of days we've been travelling down to here at San Ignacio, in Belize, pretty much on the Guatemalan border. The plan is to cross into Guatemala tomorrow and spend a few days at the legendary site of Tikal, before moving swiflty on to South-east Guatemala and Honduras.

I[ll get my excuses in early this time, I probably wont have internet for quite some time, so there will just be a half-hearted rush job of an update next time I have the chance, just like this.

Wow-haka

After an excellent few days in Oaxaca (pronounced Wah-hah-kah), we´re moving further East. Though not as quickly as we had hoped thanks to all the buses being full up because of the holidays. Why couldn´t those bastard christians keep their crappy traditions to themselves instead of infecting most of the rest of the world.

Following our excellent day with Eric, we spent the next couple of days wandering around the village of Teotitlan del valle trying to catch up with a few more local specialties. The fields south of the village were fairly quiet but still we saw our first Blue Grosbeak and Western Wood-pewee.

By far the most productive area was around the reservoir just to the North of the village. Wandering around the roadside scrub and following cattle trails up onto the slopes gave us Bridled Sparrow and Ocellated Thrasher, 2 very range-restricted species, along with Audobons Oriole and Elegant Trogon at the southernmost extreme of their range (the birds in Central America are considered a sperate species by many, including me if I see one). We followed the road up the hill a bit further until we found a promising looking dry stream-bed leading up into the woods. Promising it most certainly was, we scored with a couple of Oaxaca Sparrows, a very difficult to see endemic, and I even got some acceptable photos, of which it seems there are none on the internet so far, i´ll be uploading them onto this blog as soon as I get some decent internet facilities, along with heaps of other shots of course.

We´re currently waiting outside Oaxaca bus station for a bus or three towards Palenque, which will be a very uncomfortabe 18 hours i´m sure. It should be worth it though as the avifauna will be totally different from anything we've seen so far, so I should have plenty more to write about. I'm also really looking forward to seeing the Maya ruins that the site is famous for, it will certainly make for an 'interesting' way to spend christmas. Bollocks to tradition!!!!

1000 up!!!

OK, it may not be very spectacular compared to the efforts of The Biggest Twitch, but i'm proud of it (and I bet i'm owning them on birds per pound spent). Today, whilst birding in Oaxaca I saw my 1000th bird species THIS YEAR (EDIT:like a dumbass, when I originally wrote this post I forgot to mention that it was 1000 species this year. I have absolutely no idea what I have seen in total!!!), a White-throated Towhee, a Central Mexican Endemic.

We arrived in Oaxaca city early yesterday morning after another tortously long bus journey. We were picked up there by the living legend that is Eric Antonio Martinez, who we met volunteering at Long Point. Eric took us to his village, the birding hotspot of Teotitlan Del Valle, where we'll be staying for a few days. We went back into the City yesterday evening and had a goo look around the zocalo at all the cool old buildings. Whilst taking a gander at the impressive baroque church (one of only 4 in Mexico), we spotted several Lesser Nighthawks hawking for moths in the spotlights, a great atmospheric way to kick off our birding in arguably the most diverse state in Mexico.

At dawn this morning, we headed down to the scrub and rough farmland a few km's Southeastof the village to try and pick up some of the endemics. First bird up, before it was even light was a Rufous-capped Warbler, which was swiftly followed by the White-throated Towhee, bird no.1000. After a quick punch of the air, we moved on, and soon Eric picked up the call of Boucards Wren, another endemic. Soon enough, a pair of these hoooge wrens were giving excellent views amongst the cacti. Other good birds in the area included Curve-billed Thrasher (finally!!), Hooded Yellowthroat, Virginias Warbler and Black-vented Oriole.

After grabbing some breakfast in the village, we started climbing up into the hills North of the village. We stopped at a small reservoir to look through a big feeding flock of Violet-green and Northern Rough-winged Swallows, and found a female Dusky Hummingbird sat on a nest close to the track.

Next stop was a long way up into the wooded hills, where after good looks at Crescent-chested and Red Warblers (as stunning as they were before), a Red-faced Warbler showed up and gave excellent views. A bit of piching produced somemore monster wrens, this time it was a flock of Grey-barred Wrens, looking very bizarreclambering overthe bromeliads looking for insects. Climbing a little further, a paritculalrly good spot held Amethyst and Blue-throated Hummingbirds and Green Violet-ear. Chestnut-sided Shrike-vireo and Collared Towhee were a good score, along with a skulking Grey-breasted Wood-wren along the very birdy gulley. A confusing looking empidonax (are there ay that aren't) was finally nailed as a Grey Flycatcher, and we returned to the car to climb further. After a quick stop for a look at several White-throated Swifts buzzing high over the forest, we reached one of Erics 'special sites', near to the village of Benito Juarez. The hoped for Aztec Thrushes didnt show, but Chestnut-capped and Rufous -capped Brushfinch (which actaully look very different from each other) were welcome compensation, aswas more good looks at a Red Warbler.

Overall, a very enjoyable day, with some really good local endemics and other cool birds. Big thanks to Eric are in order for all his local knowledge and keen ears, as well as ferrying us about.

Drowning in lifers.

Where was I, oh yes, we were just about to catch a ferry to Mazatlan from La Paz right.
Wrong!! Contrary to what was written in the Lonely Planet latest edition to Mexico (published this September!!!), there are no ferries to Mazatlan on Fridays, only on Sundaays, mondays and thursdays, boll-ocks. We didnt find this out til we arrived at the terminal (no Xantus Hummer), so after much cursing of Lonely Planet, we decided to jump on the boat to Topolobampo instead, several hundred miles North of where we wanted to be, not ideal. Moral of the tale: Lonely Planet are a bunch of lazy pricks who cant be arsed to update their info for their new books. Or maybe its that travellers should do some of their own research rather that putting all their eggs in one thick paperback basket.
Anyway, the few hours on board the boat before sunset were pretty productive for us, we scored Red-billed Tropicbird, Magnificent Frigatebird, Grey Phalarope, Brown Booby and Black Strom-petrel, so we wern´t that pissed off when we arrived in Topolobampo in the middle of the night with the prospect of a long day on a bus ahead. And it was a long day. We left at 11pm, the bus broke down, we switched to a new one, 7 am, and the bus was involved in massive high speed smash-up (thats a bit dramatic actually, some little lorry clipped us slightly) so we had to wait a few hours for some insurance weasel to arrive and take photos, 5pm and after a change in Tepic ,we fianlly arrived in San Blas, one of the premiere birding spots in Western Mexico. It was soon too dark to do any birding that night, but the next day was mind-blowingly awesome:


47 lifers in a day!!! That doesnt happen very often.

Starting off at dawn around the sewage pond trails (sounds lovely I know) we were soon racking them up, Broad-billed and Cinammon Hummingbirds in gardens, Varied and Painted Butnings feeding on the tracks, Citreoline Trogon and Russet-crowned Motmot sitting on telephone wires, Happy Wren and Bells Vireo in the scrub, it was hard work keeping track.
We then headed up to the small fort overlooking the town, and continued to score with Tropical Parula and MacGillvary´s Warbler giving exceptional views, Mexican Parrotlets buzzing around, a pair of Masked Tityra sitting quietly in a fruiting tree. After a quick streetside Taco in town, we caught a bus up to the nearby village of Singayta. Walking down the dirt road through the village and into some scrubby areas we rounded a corner and there were a load of Elegant Quail on the side of the track, resultado, a difficult North-west Mexican endemic under the belt. The hummers contined to stack up, with White-eared and Violet-crowned ,and Golden-crowned Emerald. Orange-fronted Parakeet, Godmans (Scrub) Euphonia and Stripe-headed Sparrow were other good local birds, and we finished off with a fine pair of Black-throated Grey Warblers as we waited for a bus back. A final look at the Sewage ponds trails before dark added Clapper Rail, Stilt Sandpiper, Grey-crowned Yellowthroat and Black-bellied Whistling Duck to a day list of around 120 species.

The real fun however started today.
After a long, shitty bus ride from San Blas to Uruapan, in the Western Central Highlands, we arrived to find that the bus terminal was still 2km outside fo town, just great! Luckily, just as we feeling a little jaded, some local family offered us a ride into town in the back of their pick-up, dropping us right outside our cheap, but slightly fowl hotel.
Up early again today, we caught a bus to the nearby town of Angahuan. It wasnt a known birding site but we had heard that the trails up to the adjacent volcano passed thorugh Pine Forest, the habitat of some very sough after species. Arriving in the village, we saw that the volcano was actually some way off, and instead decided to have a mosey up a hill what was labelled as a ´recreation area´ with signs showing bike trails through the woods ,sounded promising, providing the bikes kept away for the morning. What a choice it proved to be, we immediatley picked up Yellow-eyed Junco, Mexican Jay, Grey Silky and Slate-throated Redstart. Pushing on up the hill, we encountered a few mixed flocks containg Olive, Grace's and Golden-browed Warblers, Greater Pewee and Tufted Flycatcher. Reaching the radio masts at the summit, there was a sudden flash of colour, up went the bins, and, SHIT THE BED!!! RED WARBLER!!! What a stunning bird; bright strawberry red all over apart from a shiny little silvery ear-covert patch and a subtle pink wing bar. I´ve tried searching the net for a picture but none quite do the bird justice. It´s one fo those birds that the first time you see a picture of it, you just have to see it ,and it was one of my most wanted birds of the trip, and I wasnt disappointed, its even better in real life. Hopefully we'll see a few more before the year is out and´i'll try and compose myself enough to compose a photo. On the way back down we picked up Mountain Trogon, Painted Redstart, Russet Nightingale Thrush and a whole heap more hummers; Rufous, Magnificent, Black-chinned and Green Violet-ear, along with several bizarre Cinammon-bellied Flowerpiercers.

In the afternoon, we caught another bus out to the Cascades De Tzararacua, a series of waterfalls about 10km outside Uruapan. Despite it being really chuffing hot in the middle of the day, we added Bridled Titmouse, Crescent-chested Warbler, Arizona Woodpecker, Cassins Vireo and White-throated Thrush to our growing trip list.

Overall not a bad day considering that the area around Uruapan is hardly recognised as birding area, it just sounded good, and accesible by public transport for plebs like us so we though we'd give it a go, and it paid off. Thats what this sort of birdy travel is all about.

Anyway, thats me up to date for the time being, hopefully on the next post i'll be able to tell you of a small personal milestone that I should reach within the next few days. Don't look away!!!

Grey Vireos do exist (but they are shitty)

Contrary to popular belief, Grey Vireo's actually do exist, i've seen them myself!! However, i'm not surprised they're so difficult to see, as they are really quite a boring looking bird. Imagine a really smart bird, like a Blue-headed Vireo, and then remove all colour, and there you have it, a Grey Vireo.

We've just arrived in La Paz, down in the South of Baja, after a long overnight bus from the small town of San Ignacio, slap-bang in the centre of the peninsula, and we're currently killing time waiting for the ferry to take us to across the Sea of Cortes to Mexico proper.

After Ensenada, we caught a bus South to Guerrero Negro, where we birded around the extensive salt pans just outside of town. The pools were heaving with shorebirds and we picked up plenty of new species, including American Avocet, Western Sandpiper and Short-billed Dowitcher. Herons were also plentiful, with Little-blue and Tricoloured Herons, and Reddish and Snowy Egrets everwhere. We also found the scrub around one particular pool to be heaving with Sage Sparrows, right at the Southernmost limit of their range.
After GN, we took a short bus ride down to San Ignacio, which is prominent for being a big lagoon in the middle of the desert, and very birdy for it. On the lagoon itslef were a Least Grebe and a somewhat out-of-place Great-northern Diver, but it was the surrounding scrub and vegetated desert that really scored. After a quick look on Google Earth, we decided to take a look up a small canyon behind the supermarket on the junction going into the town from Hwy 1. This proved to be a good decision, as it was heaving with birds. Canyon, Rock and Cactus Wren all showed well just behind the supermarket. Verdin, California Gnatcatcher and Black-throated Sparrow were in some ver spiky shrub just up the canyon and Harris' and Zone-tailed Hawks flew overhead. Dubios highlight was the aforementioned Grey Vireo, which gave us excellent views about 200m up the overgrown streambed from the supermarket. We hadnt really expected to see this species so it was even more of a surprise when another came into a spot of pishing near the far end of the canyon later on. Scrambling up the canyon walls to a plateau on the top, we found the cacti to be very popular with Ladder-backed and Gila Woodpeckers, along with a few Gilded Flickers. The odd Costa's Humminbird zoomed past, repalcing Anna's Hummer which had previously been common, and a few Ash-thorated Flycatchers were being vociferous.

For slightly easier birding, we crossed back over the road towards town and had a gander around the scrub opposite the Motelito Fong, where we found our first Baja Endemic, a pair of Grey Thrashers, hanging around with some Cactus Wrens and a few Pyrrhuloxia. Hooded Orioles, stunning Vermillion Flycatchers and White-winged Doves were hanging around the Motelito and then it was time to move on, with a quick stop in Santa Rosalia for a look at the Yellow-footed Gulls and Blue-footed Boobied feeding in the harbour.

Now we have until this afternoon to try and score Xantus Hummingbird somewhere and La Paz before jumping on the ferry, probably at the very last minute, a la Scillonian. Then we're on mainland, where we expect to be totally overwhelmed with a a whole new avifauna, I can't wait!!!

Jumping into the deep end!!

America's all well and good, but you know, its a bit like a paddling pool; fun and easy but just a little bit too shallow.
It's been great travelling through the country, but it's time to move onwards with our journey so we jumped on a train in San Diego that took us to the Mexican border and the notorious town of Tijuana. After hearing reports that Tijuana is, and I quote, "a total fucking craphole", we decided to bypass it and head on down to the 'more sedate' town of Ensenada.......Sedate my arse!!!! We went out on the piss last night with a couple of lads in the hostel and had what ranks as one of the craziest nights ever, them Mexicans sure know how to party!! The night culminated in us being chucked out of an Izusu Trooper at 5am on some random road outside of town, though to be fair, it was kindof uncomfotable with 11 people in it. The situation was looking a little bit sketchy at one point, but luckily we managed to find a taxi to take us back into town safely.
Anyhoo, this is supposedly a birding blog so I guess that I ought to write about what we've been seeing:

Not a lot really. From San Francisco, which is a really cool city by the way, we got a bus down to the college town of San Luis Obispo, which is located roughly in the middle of nowhere. We birded the scrubby hills around the village one morning, picking up Acorn and Nuttall's Woodpeckers, California Towhee and Rufous-crowned Sparrow.
Since San Luis Obsipo (or SLO as us in the know call it), we haven't birded much, but a walk around the harbour in Ensenada today gave us our first Royal and Elegant Terns flying around, a few Clarks Grebes around the boats and several Cassin's Kingbirds thorughout the town itself.
We're heading South on a bus tomorrow morning, probably going as far as Guerrero Negro, on the border with Baja California Sur, where we'll start trying to see some of the Baja specialties, of which there are quite a few!!

Pelagic Photographs

A few pictures from the weekends pelagic in Monterey.

Townsends Warbler in trees along the Seafront


Western Grebe in the harbour


Surf Scoter


Sooty Shearwater



Rhinocerous Auklet



Rhincerous Auklet



Pomarine Skua



Pink-footed Shearwater



Pacific Loon



Bullers Shearwater



Bullers Shearwater



Black-footed Albatross

California

Well, its been a pretty hectic few days since leaving Portland. We caught an Amtrak train South to Salinas, and got a bus on to Monterey, ready for a pelagic trip the following day.
The train journey itself was pretty good, and we saw some quality birds including White-tailed Kite, White-faced Ibis, Long-billed Curlew and Marbled Godwit as we trundled along.
Early on the morning of the 29th we joined up with Debra Shearwater for a rare November trip. Even waiting on the quay I picked up a lifer in the form of a Pacific Diver fishing around the supports, along with a load of Black-necked and Western Grebes. Setting off out of the harbour a Black Turnstone was ngits way through a steaming pile of California Sea Lions hauled up on the breakwater, and flocks of Surf Scoters scattered as we passed close by. As we got out into the bay we came across plenty of Rhinocerous Auklets loafing about, and soon after masses of shearwaters started to appear. The vast majority were Black-vented Shearwaters but with a smattering of Sooties and Pink-footed, and a couple of Short tailed. Highlight of the day for all the locals on board was a Great Shearwater (heaps rare out here apparently) but for me a late Bullers Shearwater stole the show. A good number of Black-footed Albatrosses was entertaining too. I bloody love albatrosses, they're right up there with the best birds in the world, and this species is no exception, being a totally different colour to any other members of the family, they are a truly striking bird, and I apologise to anyone next to me on the boat who might have been slightly shocked by some expletives that I couldn't hold in upon seeing the first of these beasts glidig into view.
Further quality came in the form of Cassin's Auklets and Ancient Murrelets that were all over one particualr area of sea, and the trip was rounded off nicely by a school of Pacific White-sided Dolphins that came in for a bit of bow-riding as we steamed back.
Overall an excellent day on the water with a good variety of species, including some much wanted lifers. Though I must say that I wasnt impressed with the price of the trip compared to the others i've done around the world.
The next day was spent in Monterey recovering from bar-based celebrations of the pelagic. This turned out to be a good move however, as we were walking along the sea-front we spoteed a pair of Harlequin Ducks hanging around some rocks in the marina!! All the photos that i've seen of these stunning birds couldn't quite prepare me for just how exquisite a drake Harlequin Duck, they are superb little birds, and all the better for the fact that I really wasnt expecting to see them. After getting good looks at wintering Townsends Warbler, Audobons Warbler and Black Phoebe in nearby trees we had some fun feeding bread to the gulls (Heermans, Western and California) and enjoyed a brunch of Clam Chowder from one of the many outlets on Fishermans Wharf.
After Monterey, we headed up to San Francisco (Matt was lucky enough to pick up Yellow-billed Magpie on the journey). We were supposed to be moving South again today, but the hostel we're staying at is just too good and we were in no fit state this morning to sort out trains and stuff, so we're staying for another day at least. Having seen Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge yesterday, we might try and hit up a few museums today, before coming back to the hostel for the promised 'Beer Olympics', with free booze from a local brewery, I said the hostel is good!!!!