The Road to 900 Life Birds

I love the cold.  I love winter.  Unfortunately, I don't get to bird often in it.  Birding with my bud, Kathie Brown was a lot of fun.  We found lifers Great Cormorants, a Black-legged Kittiwake and Purple Sandpipers(they are not purple!)

This year my goal is to reach 1000 life birds to celebrate my anniversary as a birder.  I, as of this date, have reached the 900 life bird mark.  It took two months of research to hit this important landmark.  

My favorite habitat, the grasslands of Southern Arizona finally introduced me to my beautiful lifer, the Lapland Longspur

I read manuals.  I researched online diaries.  I listened to bird calls and studied habitat.  And I also set up an outline on how I would attempt to find certain birds.  I really enjoy the energy that goes into the work.  To help memorize the names, I write them down over and over on paper and say their names out loud to make the writing-to-memory transfer.  

This year I've taken you to Maine and Mexico City.  We'll also be exploring this summer the planned adventures from both Trinidad and Maui islands. It is serious business, but with that said, I have enjoyed the journeys getting to 900.  Without further ado, I'll start at 800.  Let's get started. 

At 800, we were in Costa Rica searching for birds in a preserve known as Caño Negro along the Nicaraguan border.  It is here our boat tour stopped to look at a beautiful Great Potoo.  The boat nearly tipped over as we all got excited about observing this sleeping bird on a branch.  It took awhile for our eyes to find this very well camouflaged bird. 

Costa Rica helped keep the life bird tick going strong, day after day. 

I love this pic of Micheal and Gordon.  Birding takes us to the most incredible and magical spaces on our planet.  

At 810, we discovered the beautiful Purple-throated Mountain-gem. It's a hummingbird.  At this point, we were in the Monteverde Cloud Forest.  This bird is a stunner. 

During our final days in Costa Rica, we stopped at Rancho Naturalista for a special hummer called the Snowcap.  

He would make 820 on my life list. Rancho Naturalista was a lot of fun and we had a great day out with Lisa and Sergio.  

Thanks to Sergio, friend and guide, we stopped on university grounds near Cartagena to spy a really cool looking heron known at the Boat-billed Heron. This would make life bird 830 in the same day! I have since seen this bird several times.  Often they are quite hidden, so to have this one out in the open was very special. 

Within that very same time period, in the Talamanca Highlands of Costa Rica, I added this beautiful Sooty-capped Chlorospingus, making it life bird 840.  Almost every location in Costa Rica is rich for new birds!  It would be hard to pick a favorite place out of our trek there, but I really did enjoy the misty beauty of the Talamanca Highlands.  My life birds in Costa Rica ended at 846.  Here's where it begins to get interesting. 

female Belding's Yellowthroat

I began to miss Mexico.  In October of last year, I flew to Baja California to find the Belding's Yellowthroat(#850).  It was my first major mission chasing endangered birds. This was a truly exciting trip in a very beautiful location. I eventually found these yellowthroats and was very happy to add them to my observation sightings.  Afterwards, my non-birding friends and I drank all day at the beach.  In between those months, I added several wintering birds in Maine to the list. 

Like Manakins, Sparrows get me excited!  This endangered sparrow is definitely one of the highlights from this year!

Then I reached 860 outside of Mexico City where I hired the services of bird guru Rafa Calderon for a difficult and endangered sparrow.  The area was too dangerous for me to explore on my own, hence the help of Rafa and driver Gerardo. Plus driving in Mexico City is a terrible idea! Also of note in this category, I added two other yellowthroats, the endangered Black-polled and the not endangered Hooded Yellowthroat species.  While I could have found the Hooded Yellowthroat on my own, getting to the only known spot where the Black-polled Yellowthroats are would have been a nightmare. 

Carib Grackle

For those of you who follow this blog, this is where the new material begins.  My first several days in Trinidad would quickly mark my journey towards the 900 mark.  The first bird I saw out of the airport was the Carib Grackle. I can honestly tell you that THIS grackle does look somewhat different.  It has a different type of call and appears to be a smaller version of the Great-tailed Grackle.  It marks 870.  

As I made my way up to Asa Wright(a future post), I saw the very common Silver-beaked Tanager. This bird is found everywhere on this island and not difficult to find at all. 

Golden-headed Manakin

 Then 890 would happen.  The final two birds I'll speak about in greater detail in the upcoming posts over the next several weeks.  One of the reasons why I am in Trinidad right now is to study the manakins.  They are deep in the forest and I was so in love with the 2 species of manakin found on the Asa Wright grounds, that I didn't realize I was getting bit up by bugs.  Some people love their owls.  Some love hummingbirds.  I am mesmerized by all things manakin.  I watched them for several hours.  As it was getting dark, I had only realized too late that I would pay the price for those observations.  My body was covered in bug bites.  Still, I wouldn't change a thing.  I'll speak more of this species (and another!) in the upcoming Trinidad writes. 

This bird really made a monstrous noise in the cave.  Had I not known what I was hearing, I think I would have been scared for my life!

 I'd like to thank Yosanna, a guide at Asa Wright for number 900, the Oilbird.  What a special and magnificent way to end the 800's.  The game is difficult now.  There's no way around it.  There's a lot of planning that goes into such events.  I rehearsed my photo shoot with this particular species 2 weeks before I saw them.  I'd go out at sunset and work with my night settings on my camera for practice.  These birds are found in dark caves and it was an amazing experience.  Again more on that experience in a few weeks.  

At the entrance to the cave of the Oilbirds with Yosanna.  I look like a natural disaster yet Yosanna maintains her composure and dignity like a pro.  I don't know how she does it, but this desert rat looks like a mess.  I'm not used to all the moisture!  Anyhow, we celebrate 900!

I am now quite a ways into the 900 category.  I have one more big excursion to do.  I am looking for the Blue-and-Yellow Macaws at Nariva Swamp.  I'm still in Trinidad hiding out from the Arizona heat.  It has been an amazing trip and worth all the physical pains. More on that later.  Until next time.....

A Charm of Hummingbirds

Violet Sabrewing

One would think that finding hummingbirds in the tropics would be easy.  After all, one just needs to put out a feeder and watch them come, right? 

Lesser Violetear

In theory, it would work but the problem here is that many people don't put out hummingbird feeders.  In today's report, I'll share with you TWO amazing hummingbird stations that are located near or in Monteverde's major attractions, Monteverde Cloud Forest National Park(the Hummingbird Gallery) and Selvatura(the hummingbird and butterfly garden). 

male Purple-throated Mountain-gem

The other challenge?  The hummingbirds were the hardest group of birds to ID! I would pull out my 2 pound bird guide and scratch my head. I was distracted by the very purple Violet Sabrewings because I love purple.  

Some of the green ones slipped our radar during our first observations because the pretty purple and blue ones stole the show!  So give yourself time and let your brain naturally sort itself all out. 

Coppery-headed Emerald

During our research to the Monteverde Cloud Forest National Park, we noticed a separate ebird hotspot near the entrance to the park that had a ton of reports on hummingbirds.  Now while we were in the park, we saw only two species of hummingbird AND in poor light!  As we exited and ate lunch, everyone kind of wandered around the area waiting for the city bus. Then I noticed a cafe nearby.  What was THAT? The Hummingbird Gallery? This didn't sound like a place to view wild birds, but what the heck, I'd check it out anyway. Turns out that they not only served pastries and coffee but a healthy dose of hummingbird species!

female Violet Sabrewing

We extended our day trek stay for another hour. Then the rain started coming down.  It's super cheap taking the local bus over the tourist ones.  The only catch with the local bus is, once again, making sure you know when the last bus leaves for the day.  And we were cutting it close. Again, it all comes down to the time we are given.

Our next day trek was scheduled for Selvatura and the hanging bridges hike. This is a great place for ziplining. Transportation to this location was part of the entrance package.  We also mentioned we were birders at our lodge and received free hummingbird passes. 

And at this point (and I'm going to be honest here), we headed to our next destination.  I was not impressed with the help at Selvatura Park. It was overpriced and the workers didn't seem to care at all about their jobs.  Nor did they know anything other than how to collect money.  The ONLY reason why we were there was to see their hummingbird garden and go for the hike to hopefully spot the Three-wattled Bellbird. I don't think it was worth the 30 some dollar package price.  However, I will say that this park is ALL about the ziplining and it looked legit. The guides for the ziplining were also legit as I eavesdropped on their conversations.  They were excited about what they did and the visitors they served.  The nature part is just back drop apparently:)

female Green Thorntail

The Monteverde Cloud Forest National Park had friendly and helpful people.  Selvatura, not so much.  We were there for the rare Three-wattled Bellbird.  I don't want to say that this was a disappointing visit but it didn't live up to the hype.  We did hear the Bellbird a couple times.  The hanging bridges were HUGE and scared several hikers!  There was one bridge where I couldn't stop or look down.  

However, the hike was beautiful.  I added several birds to my lifelist.  When our hike was done, I handed the hummingbird garden pass to the bored ticket taker.  We spent quite a bit of time in the garden watching the spectacular hummingbird show.  We went stretches without seeing these birds and then in two days, we had hummingbird overload!

Coppery-headed Emerald

The ID for this group of birds was the most difficult.  The females seemed easier than the males to ID.  But I can say that after two weeks of post study, I can now distinguish each species of hummingbird we observed. 

Stripe-tailed Hummingbird

Living in Arizona, I have come to know and understand all of our local hummingbirds well.  It took me years to distinguish the various female species but now, it's easy. And it gets easier the more one birds.  Instead of years learning bird ID, it takes weeks or days now thanks in part to all the background field experiences. 

So when it came time to ID'ing rain forest hummers, I was once again challenged by ID. Behavior and interaction were also key into understanding these birds better. 

female Purple-throated Mountain-gem

In the pic below, I'd look at the feeders and see green.  And these birds are fast, so we'd get brief glimpses before they'd zip off.  It was tricky. 

At the feeders, hummingbirds would perch on your fingers while they fed.  Some species were more trusting than others.  The Green-crowned Brilliant was VERY trusting. 

male Green-crowned Brilliant

However, the Green Hermit was VERY skittish. There was an even trickier hummer called the Purple-crowned Fairy!  I saw this bird several times on the trip and here's what I'll tell you all.  It's flies like a fairy....not even joking....and it's fast!  By the time I noticed the bird, it was gone.  The flight pattern was spastic and irregular.  I can usually predict a birds' flight pattern.  This hummer, however, was all over the place and difficult to capture on camera. 

Green Hermit

Anyhow,  sometimes I think it would be fun to just do a hummingbird year in the Americas.  There are more than 300 hummers out there.  I printed the list off!  How fun would that be?!  Start in Arizona, hit Texas for 2 of their regulars and head south.  We did well in Costa Rica by the end of our trip with over 20 some hummingbirds seen. 

Most people, whether they like birds or not, are fascinated by hummingbirds.  They are a group of birds only found in the Americas(including the surrounding islands).  And some are in very very special places.  I am currently researching ONE hummingbird in a remote area that I hope to find this year.  Another hummer that I look forward to chasing is up in the Andes Mountains.  It's a chunky hopper that lives in another remote region. So you might be thinking, "What was your favorite hummingbird from this area?"  Ok.  I'll bite.  

male Green Thorntail

I love PURPLE.  So the Violet Sabrewing is awesome.  I also love the Lesser Violetear and Purple-throated Mountain-gems.  But the one that stole my heart was the Green Thorntail.  This tiny hummer with its slow bee like movement buzzed in and out of the feeders courageously.  The other hummers were aggressive but this species stood its ground.  They stick their tail up in the air to give them a wasp/bee like air so that the others will leave them alone.  Just take a look at the video above.  During the observation, I fell in love with this one female as she boldly went for the nectar.  

female Green-crowned Brilliant

Monteverde was a fun adventure. Our hummingbird finds wouldn't stop.  I was looking forward to San Jose and exploring the city and surrounding nature areas.  We'd meet up with friend and bird guide Serge Arias to explore two key spots near the Cartago area.  For birders looking for a guide in this area, Serge is one of the people to contact because he can coordinate your bird list needs with other guides.  But we'll explore that in our next chapter of travel.  For now, it's hard to say good-bye to the misty forests of Monteverde.  
Here are several of our checklists from our journeys in and around Monteverde. 
In Monteverde, the town itself, click here. 
For Monteverde Cloud Forest, click here. 
For Selvatura Park, click here.

Just a quick note about the hummingbird nectar used at Selvatura Park as we seemed to have had some comments on Facebook questioning the liquid solution used.  As most of you know in the US, we use 3 cups water to one cup of sugar.  In winter here in the Southwest, we up that sugar content by a little more to help our hummers deal with the cold nights.  No dye should ever be used with the mix.  The red platforms on the feeders will attract the hummers PLUS they are smart birds. The solution here is not honey but it's instead, sugar that has not been bleached.  In the US and many other countries, we "bleach" our sugar with bone char from cattle to give it that desired white look.  Gross but true.  Sugar in its natural state is brown and that is why the water is brown in these feeders:)

Until next time......