BirdManBob

More Birds of The Gambia

2011-12-16T11:20:00.001-07:00

While the birds we encountered in The Gambia were not generally as colorful as those in Ecuador, they were certainly no slackers! Prior to our trip, one of the bird species that I was hoping we would see and get some good photo ops was an Abyssinian Roller. We saw this species frequently throughout the trip, but never where I had a reasonable opportunity for good photos. Finally, as we were headed back to the coast from our upriver sojourn, we were just passing through a small village when one of our group spotted this roller sitting near the road on a corn stalk. The bird was very accommodating and I took dozens of shots out of the mini-bus window. Below is one of them and I'm pleased with it!

On a four hour boat trip we took down the Gambia River, there were quite a few photo opps that we didn't get on our land excursions. One of them was this African Fish Eagle. It looks much like our Bald Eagle but with white extending down into the chest area.

While not overly colorful, the Egyptian Plover is a highly sought after species because of its rarity. Its lack of bright colors is more than made up for by its very regal appearance.

These Little Bee-Eaters provided a double thrill for me. Not only were they beautiful little birds, but one held a dragonfly in its bill for this shot, so it "fed" another of my passions.

Northern Red Bishops were rather common in agricultural and grassland habitats and males were often seen perched high up on the end of a grass stem.

Every once in a while, one of our "eagle-eye" guides or tour group members would spot one of the small, terrestrial kingfishers sitting in some undergrowth. These low light conditions made for difficult photography but I lucked out with this shot of a Pygmy Kingfisher. They are not much bigger than a sparrow, except for their head and large bill.

The Red-billed Firefinch was fairly common but still a beautiful sight to behold!

Another common species which we saw most every day was the Red-cheeked Cordon-Blew. I took lots of shots of these trying for a good one.

As a group, the Bee-eaters were certainly my favorite. Although they were not easy to get good pictures of, this Red-throated Bee-Eater posed for us while we were on a boat trip though some mangrove marsh habitat.

Another of my target birds for the trip was the Yellow-billed Oxpecker. We did not see any of them until our inland excursion, but saw several in the cattle raising areas. This bird frequents native livestock a eats ticks and other insects off the back of these animals. This one is on the back of a cow, but we saw others on horses.

Northern Carmine Bee-eaters breed north of The Gambia up to southern Europe. We were fortunate to find a large group of them after no luck on our first attempt. They certainly are one of the most striking species we encountered on our trip.

The full repertoire of colors on this Scarlet-chested Sunbird are not visible in this image, but it was none-the-less quite a neat species, showing its hummingbird like flower feeding and iridescent feathers.

These birds are not colorful but their look is surely unique with the yellow eyes and white crest - White-crested Helmet-Shrike.

So there you have a sample of some of the more colorful birds of The Gambia. I'll follow with just a few more of some of the better bird images that I was lucky enough to get on this trip. And there are also a few images of native mammals that I'll share with you on a later blog.

Birds of The Gambia

2011-12-12T10:44:00.000-07:00

For a country of its small size, The Gambia has a great diversity of birds, with about 580 species having been found there. Besides the endemic and mostly non-migratory species also found in other areas of Africa, winter migration out of Europe and Asia brings added diversity for part of the year. Some of the families
of birds we observed there are the same as those here in North America, and other are quite different from what we are familiar with. The African Gray Hornbill - below - is similar to some birds south of the US/Mexico border, but, for sure, nothing like anything we see here in Montana.

The Sunbird Family, represented here by this Beautiful Sunbird, seem to be the ecological equivalent of our hummingbirds. They are most often seen feeding on flowers. And they are every bit as beautiful as our hummers.

There are about a dozen species of doves and pigeons in The Gambia, many of which are more colorful than the ones we see here. This Bruce's Green Pigeon is an example of that.

There is about 8 species of Kingfishers and they can be beautifully colored. Several are mostly terrestrial and must feed mostly on insects. This Giant Kingfisher is really huge for such a bird but not quite as colorful as a few of the other species.

The largest Heron in the world, the Goliath Heron, resides in the mangrove swamp habitats of the lower Gambia River, and is usually solitary.

Hamerkops are an odd looking sort of bird that we saw rather commonly in wet habitats. It is said that this bird builds among the largest nests (in trees) of any bird in the world.

There are no really vibrant colors on this Laughing Dove, but the pastels combine to make it very attractive.

Namaqua Doves don't have much for color but their black face and bib certainly set them apart from the others.

There were many Vultures in The Gambia and about six or so species. The Palm-nut Vulture was the most striking of the group but certainly not a crowd favorite.

The Corvids - crows and jays - were not well represented. However, the Pied Crow (below) certainly was abundant, especially in the coastal areas. The only other Corvid we saw were Piapiacs which were often found in association with livestock.

It is not difficult to figure out how this Red-billed Hornbill got its name. As with the other hornbills, this species was relatively abundant and we saw them every day of the trip.

The above series of images gives you a small sample of some of the bird species we encountered. But they are certainly do not represent the most colorful ones we were fortunate to see. Stay tuned for more of "The Gambia Experience".

The Gambia: The Banjul Ferry

2011-12-04T09:44:00.001-07:00

For the most part, the highway/road system in The Gambia is reasonably good, especially in the coastal area. However, since the country is so narrow, there are only two main roads heading inland, one north of the river and one on the south side. Our itinerary for our tour included five days/four nights in locations up to perhaps 200 miles inland. Given the fact that the north highway is the best option for heading inland, we would have to cross the mouth of the Gambia River to the town of Barra to take this route. And so begins a VERY interesting morning ferry ride across this 3-4 miles body of water.

There was no guarantee that an early arrival at the ferry terminal would ensure that our mini-bus would be able to make in on board because of the long lines of vehicles that form extremely early. So our enterprising guides and driver arranged to have our bus take the ferry the previous evening, and then the driver would sleep in the bus and wait for our arrival the next morning. So very early on the appointed morning, we - and our luggage - were were transported to the ferry terminal on another mini-bus and dropped off so that we could walk on to the ferry. On our arrival at the terminal about 6:30am, there were already lines of vehicles waiting and throngs of other folks waiting to load on one the the several
ferries that make the run. As we departed our bus, our guides seemed to have some "pull" with the local enforcement folks and we were allowed to move closer to the gate that held the vehicles and people at bay.

We waited for perhaps a half hour for the ferry to arrive and begin loading. As the large metal gates were opened, there was a made rush of bodies surging forward to get on the ferry.

We were warned beforehand to be careful of pick pockets, but in the mass of pushing and shoving people, that was difficult and one of our group had some money picked from his pocket.

On the ferry, we made it to the third tier where the crowding was not too bad, and we had a good view of the boat and surroundings.

Passing by other ferries, we got a good view of the crowds of people that they carried. Also, it appeared that there was another type of ferry service that some of the residents used. These were large pirogue type boats that were the same type used for fishing and other purposes. They were no less crowded that our large ferry boats.

The trip across the river mouth was uneventful, although thoughts of what a rouge wave washing over the un-gated bow of the ferry might due to its seaworthiness did enter my mind. And looking around the ferry did not reveal any obvious, readily available store of life jackets.

The process of disembarking the ferry at the Barra terminal was not nearly as chaotic as the boarding process.

It was interesting to note that there was a flock of 50+ sheep waiting to be loaded on the ferry for the return trip to Banjul.

Our mini-bus was waiting for us several blocks away and our luggage that had been loaded on a large cart made the trip with no problems.

The streets of Barra were quite crowded with vehicles and people and we were inundated with peddlers and a few beggars while we waited for our luggage to be loaded on the bus.

But it didn't take too long to get out of town and on to the relatively good highway with little traffic. While this ferry experience was a bit unnerving for some, it was one of the more memorable aspects of our travel in The Gambia.

After a long day of travel and birding, we had one more ferry to take to an island where our lodging for the next two day was located. It was a two-vehicle ferry and posed no problems.

In Montana, we still have several Missouri River ferries that are even smaller.

The Gambia-West Africa: A Travel & Birding Diary

2011-11-30T09:21:00.001-07:00

The Gambia, located along the west coast of the "hump" of Africa, is the smallest country on the mainland of that continent. It is about the combined size of Delaware and Rhode Island, with a population of about 1.7 million, and is less than 30 miles wide at its widest point. In the top image, note the mostly yellowish cast to the Sahara Desert area. The Gambia lies just to the SW of the desert, along the west coast. It is surrounded by Senegal. In the lower image, The Gambia is outlined in yellow in the center of the image.

The country was declared independent from the UK in 1965. The coastal city of Banjul is the capitol, and English is the official language, although other native languages commonly spoken include Mandinka, Wolef and Fula.

Historically, this part of Africa was one of the major centers of the slave trade. The Portuguese were among the first of the slave traders beginning in the 16th or 17th centuries, and the British gained control in the mid to late 1700's. However, the British abolished slavery in 1807 and established military outposts in this area after that date to enforce the abolition.

Today, the economy is dominated by agriculture, with peanuts being one of the major export products. Tourism and commercial fishing are other major industries. Many western Europeans spend their holidays here soaking up the sun and heat on the great coastline beaches.

The Gambia River runs the length of the country and is the primary geographical feature in this country where the highest elevations are no more than about 4-500 feet above sea level. Because of these low gradients, the rive is affected by tides and salt water up to 100 miles inland. But it is a beautiful river with much mangrove habitat in its lower reaches and abundant wildlife throughout.

In blog post to follow this one, I will provide more specific detail and images on the cities, people, birds, other wildlife, an exciting ferry ride, and other subjects I noted on my recent trip to this interesting country.

The Eyes Have It!!

2011-08-10T08:54:00.009-06:00

One of the neatest components of dragonfly anatomy is their eyes. Depending on the species, each eye may have several thousand to perhaps more than 10,000 individual lenses. No wonder they are so adept at avoiding my attempts to catch them with my net! I would guess that it is not known whether or not their brains integrate the view from these many lenses into one image or if they see multiple images that aid them in tracking and catching the other insects that they pray upon.

They eyes are very large and totally dominates their "faces". In damselflies, the eyes are separated and "barbell" like in form like on this Sedge Sprite.The eyes of most dragonfly species as - opposed to damsels - almost touch each other on the top of the head as in this White-faced Meadowhawk. Color ranges from dark brown - almost black - on some species to almost a rainbow of colors on others like this Rainbow Bluet. My favorites eyes of all of the different groups of dragonflies are the "Emeralds". There is no doubt how this group got its name. The extent of the emerald color seems to depend on the angle at which the eyes are viewed. That beautiful green color is visible even when they are flying nearby. When they are newly emerged, eye color seems to be a duller, more "milky" color as with this female Mountain Emerald. The Emerald group, however, does not have a monopoly on beautiful green eyes as is evident in this Gilded River Cruiser. If you click on this image to enlarge it, you can see the pattern of the many tiny lenses. So the next time you are lucky enough to have the opportunity to view or photograph one of these fascinating insects, take a good look at the eyes. They are truly amazing and colorful organs!

In Pursuit of Damsels!

2011-08-04T15:21:00.008-06:00

Damselflies that is! And, of course, their cousins - the Dragonflies - are also included in this passion of mine. For the past 5-6 weeks, I have been derelict in keeping up with this blogging routine. Great summer weather here in Montana is the primary reason for that. These beautiful insects like warmth and sun and we didn't get much of that here until late June. So there have been very few days since then that I have not been out pursuing these "bugs".

In the previous several years that I have been active in this pursuit, I have concentrated on dragonflies, which are larger and more easily identified. But this year, I decided to spend more time catching and photographing damsels. And the rewards of this decision will become obvious when you see their great colors and beauty in the following images.

This Rainbow Bluet is well named, with a great variety of colors. And an Emerald Spreadwing sports sports a front of beautiful green.The Powdered Dancer was first discovered in Montana last summer by Odonate expert and friend Nate Kohler.Sedge Sprites are the tiniest of Montana's damselflies but still quite colorful.American Rubyspots are fairly common on Eastern Montana prairie streams. And that really is a ruby red at the wing base.My favorite species of damsel, and one that I viewed in Montana for the first time this year, are the River Jewelwings. That green iridescence is is really something.If you look closely at the "mouth" area of this one, you can see the remaining parts of a very small Mayfly that it is chowing down on. Please remember that you can click on each photo to enlarge it.

First Day Dragonfly Success!

2011-06-25T09:26:00.004-06:00

When my interest in dragonflies materialized and intensified in July 2008, there was one large darner-type species - Common Green Darner - that was one of the few of this group easily identified on the wing. The powder blue coloration on the anterior half of the abdomen of males was unique for darners found in Montana. And it is a very good thing that this coloration made ID easy because my attempts at capturing this species were frustratingly futile, often amusingly so! They are exceedingly fast fliers and have reaction times that are likely measured in milliseconds. A conservative estimate is that I have taken hundreds of swings with my net with nary a single successful one. The only exception to this was a recently emerged one I caught last October, only because it could not yet fly very well.

Our weather has finally warmed up here in Montana, so last Wednesday, I embarked on my first dragonfly day of the year at locality where I had seen many green darners in past years. This species is migratory and is probably the first large dragonfly to appear in Montana. And they were there in numbers when I arrived at the selected pond. Single males patrolling the shoreline were fairly common and I also noted several pairs looking for appropriate sites to lay eggs. And again, my efforts to net these "jet helicopters" were met with much frustration. Close but no cigar!

One of the keys in capturing these bugs seemed to be finding a location along the shoreline where one could hide behind some vegetation to meld into the background. I located such a site on the other side of the pond and settled in for a while, missing the first several opportunities I had. But there were several coupled pairs that I decided to concentrate on because they don't seem to be quite as skittish when they are looking for an appropriate place to deposit eggs on emergent or floating vegetation. And then FINALLY!! A pair came swooping past me and I caught them! Three years of frustration had finally come to an end! Here is a male in hand.After the capture, I placed the male and female separately on some nearby vegetation and they cooperated long enough for me to get some pictures. The females are not quite as colorful as the males, but they are still a handsome creature. And who is complaining? Certainly not me!

As luck would have it, shortly after I finished photographing this couple, another pair landed nearby and I was able to carefully approach within five or so feet on them. But rather than try to capture them, I decided to take some pictures instead. There was no good reason to push my luck!

Camouflage in Birds

2011-05-18T19:03:00.004-06:00

The plumage patterns and colors of many bird species certainly do not seem to have evolved to camouflage their presence. Indeed, these aspects of many seem to do just the opposite and flaunt their presence. On a trip to Freezout Lake near Fairfield, MT yesterday, I photographed a species that I don't see too often, and perhaps that is at least partially due to the camouflage pattern of its plumage that very closely mimics the habitat in which it is usually found. The species is the American Bittern. When I first sighted this bird, it was standing with its neck outstretched so that it was not especially difficult to find. But after several minutes, it crouched down in the vegetation and I had to use my binoculars to spot it again, even though it was still in the open. When I drove by the same area several hours later, I could not find the bird again, but a Great Egret with mostly pure white plumage was easily seen.

New "Kid" on the Block

2011-05-16T15:05:00.008-06:00

On my morning neighborhood walk yesterday, I encountered a single Eurasian Collared-Dove near my house. This may not sound like much but it is another chapter in the story of the amazing spread of a non-native bird species in the US, and indeed, around the world. In the 19th Century, this dove species was apparently confined mostly to its native range in sub-tropical Asia. In the early 20th Century, it began dispersing into and colonizing Europe and perhaps northern Africa. It reached Germany in the mid-1940's and Great Britain by the mid-1950's. It the mid-1970's it was apparently introduced into the Bahama Islands as part of the pet trade, and escaped into the wild there. By 1982, it was first sighted in Florida. It rapidly progressed across North America and was first reported in Montana in 1997.
On a recent trip to Nebraska and then into the SW States, I was pretty amazed to see these Eurasian Collared-Doves in essentially every small to medium-sized town we passed through. And they were easy to find. In my home stomping grounds, Helena, MT, I first observed this species in 2007, although they certainly could have been present prior to that time. And now for the first time, they are present in my neighborhood.
In the US and perhaps other areas that these doves have colonized, they are almost always associated with human habitation, needing abundant food and trees for nesting. The key to their fast spread may be their prolific breeding habits. Although they usually only lay 2 eggs per nest, they may nest 3 to 4 times per year in northern climates and up to 6 times in warmer areas. It will be interesting to see if they become established as breeders in my neighborhood. These birds have now reached Alaska and will likely spread into South America, if they are not already doing so. It is not known at this time whether or not they compete with native species, but they seem to be filling a niche not occupied by other species.

A Few More Scenery Images

2011-04-19T12:14:00.004-06:00

Although the Grand Canyon is obviously my favorite, there are certainly other Arizona locations, and many in Utah, with great scenery. We visited the red rock formations surrounding Sedona, AZ on our way north from the Phoenix Area. One can certainly not quibble with the scenic grandeur of this area. But in spite of the beauty, I was disappointed at the intrusion of housing developments into the scenic views available in much of the countryside.After leaving the Grand Canyon, our next stop on the way north was Marble Canyon and the Vermilion Cliffs. The Colorado River in this canyon is much larger than it appears in this image. Numerous shades of reds dominate the rock formations comprising the Vermilion Cliffs.Our last scenic destination on the trip back to Montana was Bryce Canyon National Park. It had been perhaps 20 years since we last visited this area and it was high on our list for a return visit. We arrived there late in the afternoon, and by the time we found a motel and reached the park, it was approaching sunset. This is a high elevation area and there was lots of snow remaining and little in the way of young vegetation emerging from winter dormancy. But the scenery was as beautiful as ever. Too bad we did not have time to do some hiking among the "voodoos".
There are several other exquisite National Parks on our list of places to visit in Utah, but they will have to wait for another day.

More Arizona Birds

2011-04-16T09:10:00.006-06:00

While the scenery in much of Arizona is some of my favorite in the US, the Avifauna there is also hard to beat. Here are more examples of some pretty neat birds I encountered in Arizona in April!

These Gambel's Quail are probably my favorites! Only rarely can you find them sitting still or perched at a close enough distance for reasonable photo opportunities. At Lost Dutchman State Park east of Apache Junction, AZ, they are on the tame side likely because they are used to many people around. I found a bench out along a desert trail there and sat quietly for a while until these birds hopped up on nearby vegetation and posed for me.
Cactus wrens are usually fairly tame, but this double was an unusual opportunity.
As were these mourning doves sitting on an Ocotilla stem!
Costa's Hummingbirds were pretty common at Boyce Thompson Arboretum.
Cardinals were more accommodating than usual at the same location.
Scott's Orioles had just begun to arrive in AZ while we were there in early April.
Broad-billed Hummers were hitting the feeders frequently at a number of locations.
Black-throated Sparrows are one of my favorites of this group. This was posed for me at the San Pedro National Riparian Conservation Area.
Vermilion Flycatcher's are always an eye-catcher. There is something about those birds species with all of that red plumage!!
These Mexican Ducks are actually a sub-species of the Mallard where the male does not get the fancy breeding plumage.
Bird photography sure does add to my enjoyment of being outdoors!

Portal & Cave Creek, AZ: I Love This Place!

2011-04-13T08:36:00.006-06:00

Every birder likely has their favorite or at least a list of favorite birding location(s). In my case, the criteria for selecting these areas is often a bit fuzzy. But in the lower 48 states outside of Montana, one particular area usually always rises to the top of the list for me - the Chircahua Mountains of SE Arizona and more specifically Cave Creek and the area around the small berg of Portal. The lower portions of this area are quite dry, but as elevation increases - to over 9,000' - vegetation in the form of trees becomes prevalent. There were still patches of snow visible when we visited in early April. The mid-elevation portions are mostly an oak/conifer/grassland type. The riparian areas along Cave Creek and its South Fork are dominated by sycamore trees. Their splotchy white and gray bark mimics in tone the aspen and birch we have in northern climes, but their growth pattern is quite different.The rock formations in the highlands are especially colorful at sunrise and sunset. The small town of Portal, with perhaps several hundred residents, has lodging and eating facilities available which Kathy and I utilized this year.Excellent birding is available on a morning walk in town and on adjacent roads. This phainopepla male was eying me from the river bridge.
Blue-gray Gnatcatchers are always fun to watch as they flit through the trees gleaning insects from branches.
And then there are the abundant Cactus Wrens. They are always verbose in their efforts to assert territorial boundaries and attract mates.
Hutton's Vireos are a species I don't have much experience with but this one managed to pose a few seconds for me.
Acorn woodpeckers were quite abundant among the sycamore trees in town.
Mexican Jays seemed to be everywhere from low to at least mid-elevations.
Curve-billed Thrashers were perched up on shrubs early in the morning singing their melodious songs . There are literally hundreds of other species to be viewed and photographed in this wonderful portion of SE Arizona. Rest assured, I shall return!

The Magnificent Grand Canyon!

2011-04-10T08:50:00.007-06:00

Most of the National Parks that I have visited in the US have beautiful scenery and /or unique natural features that provide the basis for their unique status and recognition. But in my mind, none can compare to the Grand Canyon in Arizona. I'm not quite sure why the magnificence of this geological wonder appeals to me so much but its massive and extensive grandeur combined with a rainbow of embedded colors must be at the forefront of its appeal. I have only visited there on several occasions, but each time, I depart with the same sense of awe. When Kathy and I spent several days there last week, we were blessed with some of the clearest, crispest air we have ever encountered. While the weather was cool and a bit blustery, the glow of the canyon colors engendered a warmth in our minds and bodies!

Sunrise at Yaki Point, east of Grand Canyon Village, was not quite as colorful as we would have liked, but was, never-the-less, well worth the effort to catch the shuttle bus to the viewpoint at 5:30am.Birds were not a primary target of this visit, but, of course, I could not pass on the opportunity to grab a photo of one if they were cooperative. And this Western Scrub Jay enjoyed the canyon view with us for a few brief moments.About the only aspect of canyon views that in some ways is a little disturbing is the myriad of condensation trails in the blue sky above resulting from commercial jets heading to and from the large metro areas of the California coast. But the morning we were there, high altitude winds soon dispersed the trails into wispy cirrus clouds that perhaps added some nice detail to photo images of the canyon.

That is about all the dialogue I'll provide with this blog. The images should speak well for themselves!
If you have never had the opportunity to visit this natural, mostly unspoiled, geologic wonder, you should definitely add it to your "bucket list"!

Plate River Sandhill Cranes

2011-04-08T11:10:00.009-06:00

The harbinger of spring that I look forward to each year in Montana is the arrival of tens of thousands of snow geese that stop over at Freezout Lake for several weeks in late March and early April. Some years, upwards of a quarter million of them can be viewed on the ponds and in the surrounding grain fields. It is a great spectacle that is attended by more and more people each year. This year, Kathy and I decided to try a different spectacle - the sandhill cranes that stop along the Platte River in Nebraska during their migration north each March. It was a great decision on our part.

The Platte River originates in the mountains of Colorado and Wyoming and flows through the grasslands and farmlands of southern Nebraska, where it slows down and forms many islands and sandbars. These features along with adjacent fields mostly of corn provide ideal conditions for night-time security and daytime feeding for sandhill cranes. LOTS of cranes! Estimates are that during the peak of migration, upwards of a half million cranes can be found along the 60-70 mile section of the Platte from North Platte to Grand Island.

A late departure from Helena placed us in Buffalo, WY the first evening of our journey. With more than 600 miles to go to our destination, we departed early the next morning. By the time we reached North Platte, driving along the Interstate Highway, flocks of cranes could be seen in most all of the corn fields on either side of the highway. As we neared our destination of Kearney, Nebraska, late in the afternoon, I phoned Steve, my local contact, to discuss what we should do that evening. Steve was a very accommodating host and insisted that he meet me on the the river for an evening of crane watching. So instead of checking into our motel, we met Steve at a local truck stop and after exchanging introductions and pleasantries, he lead me through beautiful Platte River bottom-lands to the river. We were a little early for the cranes to begin arriving for their evening roost, but the weather was pleasant and the skies partly cloudy. It was a fortuitous decision to visit the river that evening because the weather would go down hill the next several days.

As the cranes began approaching the river, the setting sun reflected off of them as a gold-tinged glow. Remember, you can click on the image to enlarge it, and then click you back button to return to the blog. And then as the sun began to set, it was a gorgeous sight, with thousands of cranes settling in on islands just down river from us. It was not easy to come up with an estimate of numbers but there were likely tens-of-thousands by the time we parted the river.I was up early the next morning so that I could approach the river in darkness so as to not disturb any cranes that might have settled on islands closest to the shoreline. Unfortunately, it was quite cloudy and visibility was poor. About 100 yards from the river bank, I got on my hands and knees in the willows and worked my way toward the river where cranes were boisterously welcoming the first hint of dawn. Despite my efforts at caution, cranes on the island closest to shore detected my presence and flushed to join the other hoards a little farther from shore. But thousands remained within 150 yards or so. I chose a comfortable spot along the riverbank with some shrub cover for concealment and waited for more light to illuminate the river and birds. As darkness began to recede, the sight and sounds of thousands of sandhill cranes roosting on the islands before me was fantastic. Freezout snow geese, your spectacle has been matched and - in my mind - surpassed.
One aspect of this Platte River crane spectacle is that, unlike some other birding excursions, there is not much "down time". After the morning departure show, cranes can be found in the myriad cornfields along 60+ miles of river area. Besides just being able to watch thousands of birds as they feed, you can occasionally get lucky -as we were - and find some cranes involved in their unique courting rituals. These rituals involve various forms of bowing, jumping in the air, wing flapping, and picking up pieces of vegetation and throwing them in the air. Very entertaining viewing!!

The last evening we were there, Kathy and Steve's wife Leisa joined us on the river. That evening, in spite of some rain and snow showers, the crane show was even more spectacular than the night before. My estimate for the evening was 40,000+ cranes settling on islands not far down river from where we were sitting. The next morning, we awoke to several inches of snow on the ground so my crane viewing exploits were over for this trip. Click on the video clip below. Please excuse the poor quality.

The Platte River Crane show really may be one of the great spectacles of nature in the world! If you get the opportunity to witness it, you will have no regrets!

Magnificent Machu Picchu!

2011-03-02T17:32:00.009-07:00

In 1965, while attending graduate school at Purdue University, I had a roommate who had been in the Peace Corps in Peru. In the process of getting acquainted, he raved about his visit to Machu Picchu while he was there. Ever since then, this ancient Inca city has been on my wish list of places to visit. It has been said that you can't take a "bad" photo at Machu Picchu! I read that somewhere(and doubted it) before we visited this fantastic ancient enclave in December 2010. But in the process of sorting through the hundreds of photos I took over a two day visit, I concluded that the statement is close to the truth. Machu Picchu did not disappoint! When we walked through the entrance gate and this magnificent architectural wonder appeared before us, I was absolutely awestruck! It is not only an engineering and architectural marvel, but its location high above the Urabomba River Valley must have posed tremendous logistical challenges to its construction.As testament to its difficult and remote location, Machu Picchu was not discovered by modern man until 1911. And its founder, Hiram Bingham, likely had help from local natives of the area. Historical and archaeological evidence indicated that the complex was constructed and inhabited for no more than about 90 years - 1450 to 1540. Fortunately, it was never found and destroyed by Spanish conquistadors as were many other Inca Empire cities and fortresses.The intricacy and preciseness of the stonework are a sight to behold and are unsurpassed anywhere else in the world. Even today, it is difficult to impossible to match the precision with which this ancient culture constructed this and other Inca buildings. Llamas are common among the ruins and do a great job of keeping the grass and other vegetation at manageable levels in areas that would be difficult to access with machinery.Our first day at the site was partly cloudy to sunny. But clouds, rain, and fog moved in overnight and we awoke to what was probably a more common weather pattern for this high elevation in the mountains. But the fog and mist shrouding the adjacent mountains and parts of the complex added a surreal and mystical aspect to our visit. As we headed down the mountain on the single lane access road (with 13 switchbacks), I had a sense of fulfillment in finally experiencing this magical place that I had first set sights on visiting 45 years earlier. And I also felt grateful for how fortunate I was to be able to visit Machu Picchu, one of the most magnificent places on earth.

Oh, you were wondering about birds! I did do some looking and saw some good ones, but taking in the marvel of this place occupied most of my time!

Galapagos Wading & Water Birds

2011-01-29T17:28:00.006-07:00

Many of the water associated birds we encountered on the Galapagos were long distance migrants, but there were also some resident species. We sighted Semi-palmated Plovers on numerous occasions. During July/August, 2010, I found this species breeding in the Pribilof Islands five to six thousands miles NW of the Galapagos.Striated Herons frequented the shorelines and potholes of most of the Galapagos Islands we visited. Some color morphs were once considered a separate species - Lava Herons - but DNA studies have determined otherwise.As their name implies, Flightless Cormorants are certainly not migrants, as they are the only species of flightless cormorants in the world. Cattle Egrets, apparently historically found in Africa, now seem to be found throughout much of the tropical and temperate world.Whimbrels have been present in many of the seaside locations I have visited in the past several years.One of the species I was especially interested in finding on the Galapagos was the White-cheeked Pintail. The only place we found them was on a volcanic pothole on Isabela Island. This species is also found in the Caribbean Islands, and it is unclear to me whether or not there is interchange between these populations.What can I say about Sanderlings? They seem to be present at some portion of the year on almost any ocean shoreline where I have visited in the Western Hemisphere. And we see them regularly during fall migration in Montana. American Oystercatchers were present on many Galapagos islands and we observed several nest sites and breeding pairs.Perhaps the target bird species that I was most anxious to observe was the Greater Flamingo. Having failed in several attempts to find them in the Florida Everglades where they occasionally occur, I was hoping my luck would change on this trip. After a half hour walk over some desolate lava flows on Isabela Island, we found four of them on a brackish water pothole. Their pink coloration in this mostly gray and black environment was striking, but fit in well with the Mangrove and other vegetation along the perimeter of the pothole. This species seems more like a tropical one so finding them in a near desert situation on Isabela Island was a real treat. In good precipitation years, their numbers are estimated at nearly 400. On at least one occasion, birds from this population have been observed on mainland Ecuador so there may be interchange with other populations in South America and the Caribbean.

Land Birds of the Galapagos

2011-01-24T10:10:00.006-07:00

The species variety of land birds on the Galapagos is quite limited which is to be expected because of the islands relatively young age and geographic isolation. But there were several species that were quite familiar to me. The first was the Vermilion Flycatcher that I have often seen in Arizona. There are also several records for this species in Montana. The bright red on the head and underparts were a welcome sight compared with the the drab colored and much more abundant Galapagos Finches. Another brightly colored species with which I am quite familiar was the Yellow Warbler, which is a common summer breeding species in Montana. The plumage of Galapagos yellow warblers is, however, a bit different from ours with the rusty cap being quite obvious. These birds are more similar to the "Mangrove" Yellow Warblers that I have seen in Mexico and they may be considered as a separate species pending DNA analysis.

Galapagos Finches - 13 species - were the most abundant land birds on the islands. Over many thousands of years, they all evolved from a single species as a result of isolation on various islands, elevational differences in habitat, and extremes of climate. They are all pretty much similar in plumage so the best way to differentiate them is by their relative size and the shape and size of their bills. This is a Small Ground Finch.Medium Ground Finch.Cactus Finches seemed to be fairly abundant.
But we found the Large Cactus Finch on only one island. There are 4 different Mockingbird species on the islands, three of which we observed. The forth species is found on an island that we did not visit. The Galapagos Mockingbird was the most common of this group and was found on a number of different islands.Hood Mockingbirds are found only on Espanola Island. They were extremely tame and often would investigate backpacks and other human items left on the beaches.Charles Mockingbirds were once abundant on Floreana Island but were extirpated by introduced rats and perhaps other non-native species. They are now found only on two small islets just to the west of Floreana where they can be viewed only from boats cruising around these islets.
We did manage to see and photograph several of them.

One of the more attractive of the native, endemic species is the Galapagos Dove. We encountered them on many of the islands but not in any abundance.

At the top of the food chain is the Galapagos Hawk. They are obviously descended from a Buteo type raptor that must have reached the islands many thousands of years ago.There was one relatively common introduced species that we saw on a number of occasions - Smooth-billed Ani. This species may pose a threat to some of the native species. It is unknown whether this bird arrived here on its own or was introduced by islanders, but it was most likely the latter.

Galapagos Birds

2011-01-23T17:34:00.008-07:00

The diversity of bird species on the Galapagos Island is not all that great, with only 70-80 species occurring on a regular basis, and another 30-40 seen only occasionally or rarely. But many of the species found there are endemic and are seen and breed only there. Others use the islands exclusively for breeding but may wander far and wide during the non-breeding season. In this first segment on birds, species associated with the surrounding ocean for their livelihood and land for breeding purposes will be featured.

There are two gull species endemic to the islands, Lava Gull and Swallow-tailed gull, that are only very rarely seen anywhere else. We did not see many Lava Gulls, perhaps because their coloration matched the lava dominated shorelines quite well, or maybe they just weren't very common. But Swallow-tailed gulls were observed often and were really quite an attractive bird - as gulls go. There are three species of "Boobies" that breed on the islands: Blue-footed, Nazca, and Red-footed. The first two were common but we never did see any Red-footed Boobies, although several hundred thousand of them breed on one on the islands in the NE portion of the archipelago. Nazca Boobies are very similar to Masked Boobies from other regions and may have been considered the same species at one time. Blue-footed Boobies were the most common and it is not difficult to see where they got their name. They were quite tame and many had young that were about to begin flying. Galapagos Penguins were not especially abundant but we found them on several different islands. They are the second or third smallest of all penguin species and the only ones found in the tropics. They likely found their way here many thousands of years ago on the cold Humboldt Current that flows north along the South American Coast from the Antarctic.
There are two Frigatebird species on the islands, the Magnificent and Great Frigatebirds. They are very difficult to tell apart, especially the males. This male is likely a Magnificant rather than Great because of the purplish sheen of its neck feathers. The Great males supposedly have a greenish sheen. Recent DNA studies have determined that the magnificent Frigatebirds on the Galapagos have been isolated from those located in other regions for about 100,00 years, so they may be separated into a different species in the future.

Another of the endemic seabirds of the islands is the Galapagos Shearwater. It ranges widely over ocean areas during non-breeding periods.
They were commonly viewed in offshore areas during our cruise.

The following are two species that I was especially interested in seeing - Waved Albatross and Red-billed Tropicbird. This albatross species breeds exclusively on several Galapagos islands but wanders the oceans during non-breeding periods. It apparently gets is name from the wavy pattern on the neck and breast. Note the band on the right leg of this bird.
We did not encounter many Red-billed Tropicbirds, but their very long central tail feathers made them easy to ID when they were around. In the volcanic cliff areas where they nested, these tail-feathers were often the only part of the birds that we could see.

Frosty Day in Helena Valley

2011-01-09T20:15:00.006-07:00

Winter weather in Montana can be a little bothersome sometimes. But there are usually a few days that make up for a lot of the cold, snowy, and cloudy ones. The third of January was just such a day. Our home on the south side of Helena lies several hundred feet above the valley floor. As the sun climbed into a gorgeous, deep blue sky that day, I looked out the picture window facing north and was disappointed to see that the lower portions of the valley were pretty much shrouded in fog. But I had been housebound for several weeks and really needed to get out to do some windshield birding. Days with dense fog can be frustrating for birding because of reduced visibilities, and indeed, I encountered some of that frustration on my drive into the valley that morning. But the upside to the fog, that had apparently persisted throughout the night, was a coating of white frost on essentially all inanimate and vegetative features over the entire valley. It was absolutely gorgeous! If I had thought to bring a good pair of boots along for walking in the snow, I would have concentrated on landscape photography that morning, but in my rush to get out of the house I forgot boots, so my usual pursuit of birds would have to suffice. To my surprise, there were birds about and they provided some rewarding opportunities for photos. The following images were ones I acquired that beautiful morning. My first encounter was with a prairie falcon that sat calmly on a power pole for a relatively close approach, an unusual case for this species. Next up, a dark phase rough-legged hawk flushed out of a cottonwood tree upon my approach, but didn't get far before my camera caught up with it. There is one side road where I frequently find a bald eagle perched this time of year, so I tured there to take a quick look. I was rewarded with an adult eagle sitting on the same old snag where I usually find one, and as a bonus, a female rough-legged hawk was perched nearby. At this point in the morning, the fog began to lift and the bright sun highlighted the frost encrusted vegetation so that it looked like fine embroidered lace. As I passed by a weedy field, I caught a glimpse of some small birds flitting among the stems looking for seeds to eat. They were American tree sparrows, a fixture in our valley in the winter, arriving early from their breeding areas far to the north. They are usually in small bunches, but as I stopped my vehicle, more and more of them appeared. There were dozens of them. Something made them nervous, perhaps me watching them, and suddenly they all flushed to a nearby caragana hedge. I backed up, stopped near the hedge, and did some "pishing" to try to coax them into the open. Slowly, several of them began to hop up to the higher branches of the shrubbery. During the next hour, I clicked the shutter of my camera perhaps a hundred times trying to get that perfect shot of one of these neat little sparrows - perched on a lace covered stem silhouetted against the clear blue sky.
That one great morning in the Helena Valley has quieted my need in the past week to venture out for some winter birding again. But I can feel that urge growing in me, so hopefully our new snow of today and falling temperatures will again combine to provide another of those memorable days. Sitting and looking at this computer all day just doesn't do it for me!

Galapagos Island Mammals

2011-01-05T11:04:00.009-07:00

Wildlife photography in the Galapagos is different from most other locations because the animals are so much more approachable. Historically, they had very few or no natural predators so when humans arrived, the land animals had no reason the be wary of them. The other side of this is that because of the islands' location and relative isolation, species diversity of land mammals, birds and reptiles is quite low. In fact, there are no native mammals on the Galapagos that are not associated with the surrounding Pacific Ocean except for several species of bats and rice rats, none of which we observed. Diversity of aquatic mammals and other vertebrates, especially fish, is considerably higher.

Given that background, the only mammals species I successfully photographed were Galapagos Sea Lions and several marine species. We saw Galapagos fur seals but they were not abundant and difficult to locate because they frequented volcanic caves and other shorelines features that were difficult to traverse. Sea lions were abundant mostly everywhere we went, and they were not only very tame but often inquisitive, especially when we were snorkeling. They would often swim up to people snorkeling and playfully almost nudge them with their noses. When resting or sunning themselves on shore, they were oblivious to people around them. Many of the young pups were still nursing their mothers. Other young adults were often seen playing with each other. On several occasions while cruising, we encountered large groups or pods of Bottlenose Dolphins, many of which put on pretty impressive acrobatic shows. On a number of other occasions, we saw whales that we could not identify, but could have been one of a half dozen species that are found in the region.

The most exciting encounter we had on the trip was with an Orca. As I was heading to the upper deck one morning, I hear some excitement from several folks who were already there. There was a single probable young male Orca near one of of Zodiacs that was ferrying some snorkelers ashore. The Orca swam up along side the Zodiac, not more than 15-20 feet from it, and followed beside it for several minutes. At one point, it submerged, caught a sea turtle, and surfaced with the turtle in its mouth. It would certainly have been great to be one of the lucky folks in that Zodiac, but I consider myself fortunate to have been able to get some reasonable photo images of this exciting event. This Orca was probably about 30 feet long and weighed in the neighborhood of 12,000 pounds.

Galapagos Scenery

2011-01-05T08:16:00.007-07:00

The Galapagos Islands are all of volcanic origin, and for the most part, the climate is relatively dry even though they are located in the tropics. The exception to this is the highland areas on some islands that support a quite lush vegetative community. A complex of ocean currents around the island drive the weather patterns, with a warm and wetter season from December to May and a cooler, drier pattern from May through November. The weather patterns spawned by "El Nino" events in the Pacific Ocean result in occasional very wet periods, and extreme droughts are also rather frequent. These events combined with the geographic isolation of the Galapagos are the major influences on the island vegetation and wildlife.

Our island visits were all by foot except for some vehicle travel to higher elevations on Santa Cruz Island, so most of the scenery and vegetation we encountered was on the dry end of the spectrum and dominated by volcanic features. This view from a high point on Bartolome' Island is a great example of some different forms of a volcanic landscape. Lava flows were common on many of the near shore areas. At higher elevations, lava tubes were formed when the outside portions of lava flows cooled and solidified allowing the molten interior to continue moving until only a hollow area remained. Large sinkholes also developed at higher elevations when the levels of lava beneath them receded. Other areas were stable enough to support lush vegetation that in some places are now used as cattle pasture. Five of the 19 larger islands have human habitation, with Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island being the largest at about 20,000 people. The Galapagos National headquarters and the Charles Darwin Research Station are located there. A tortoise breeding facility is housed there to provide young tortoises for efforts to restore them to islands where their populations have been decimated or extirpated by man and introduced predators such as rats. Feral goat populations also competed for forage and over grazed many landscapes. Puerto Ayora is the center of the tourism industry on the islands and supports a small commercial fishery. That is a very brief discourse on the islands, and as you can see, the scenery is dominated by volcanic features and dry vegetative communities. Learning about and experiencing the unique plants/vegetative communities and wildlife species found no where else on earth were my goals for this adventure and I'll blog about them over the next several weeks.

Galapagos Islands Adventure!

2010-12-28T13:10:00.011-07:00

For many years, a trip to the Galapagos Islands has been on my "bucket list". The celebration of my wife Kathy's retirement was just the excuse I needed to plan such an adventure. To make such a trip more interesting for her, we added a bonus extension to Peru and the the ancient Inca Empire city of Machu Picchu. In this travel and natural history blog series, I will first present my thoughts and images of the Galapagos.

Straddling the equator nearly 4000 miles SE of our home in Helena, MT, the Galapagos Archipelago lays about 600+ miles off the west coast of Ecuador. It consists of about 19 islands and many smaller "islets" and rock outcrops of volcanic origin. The two most western islands of the group - Isabela and Fernandina - are among the most active volcanic areas on earth. None of the islands is more than 5 million years old and Fernandina is thought to be only about 100,000 years old. The latter is the largest pristine island in the world, with no human habitation or introduced plant or animal species. Europeans first discovered the islands in 1535 when the Spaniard Fray Tomas de Berlanga and his ship were carried there by ocean currents. His accounts of the islands described the giant tortoises and iguanas and he commented on the tameness of the birds. Pirates were the first to use the islands and were later followed by whalers in the 1790's through the 1800's. In addition to decimating the whale populations, fur seals were hunted almost to extinction and many thousands of tortoises were removed for food. In 1832, the Galapagos were officially annexed by Ecuador , but Settlement did not occur until the late 1800's and into the early 1900's.

As you well know, the most famous visitor to the Galapagos was Charles Darwin, aboard the HMS Beagle in 1835. Although he only spent a total of about 20 days on the islands, observations he made there and elsewhere on his 5-year voyage provided the basis for his classic The Origin of Species published 24 years later. This publication, of course, lead to profound changes in how man perceived processes in nature and evolution. In 1959, the Ecuadorian government declared the Galapagos National Park to protect all parts of the archipelago that were not already occupied or farmed by people.

Our trip to the the Galapagos began with a flight to Baltra Island and then embarkation on the ship National Geographic Islander. This is a 48 passenger ship operated by Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic. It proved to be an excellent craft for island hopping and was manned by a great crew and naturalists who were exceptionally well versed in the natural history of the islands. Their knowledge of and love for the islands, and concern for island preservation, was obvious from the "get go" and an inspiration to me and the other passengers.

We spent 8 days and 7 nights on the Islander, visiting 8 different islands. Most of the distance travel between islands was done at night, with short trips between landing sites sometimes done during lunch time. Island landings were accomplished using the Zodiacs. These inflatable craft were very versatile and the crew had them in the water usually within five minutes or so after we anchored.

The scenery in the Galapagos was not what I would classify as beautiful or idyllic, but it certainly was interesting. But for me, the mystique of the islands lay in the uniqueness and tameness of the fauna and the distinctiveness of the flora.

In the Galapagos blogs to follow this one, I'll discuss and provide images of the people, vegetation, birds, mammals, and reptiles inhabiting these very interesting and relatively isolated islands - that continue to give us a plethora of scientific knowledge important for the understanding of evolution.

Travel Blogs Coming!

2010-12-17T16:40:00.007-07:00

I have been absent from this "blogosphere" for nearly a month making "great personal sacrifices" to gather more photo images and background information to share with you.

My wife and I just returned from a trip to The Galapagos Islands - of Charles Darwin fame - which lay about 625 miles off the coast of Ecuador. These islands support one of the most unique assemblages of flora and fauna on earth. This marine iguana, the only species of its kind in the world, is just one example.Following our stint on this magnificent archipelago, we headed to Peru to visit the home of the ancient Inca Empire with Machu Picchu being the crown jewel.This incredible cultural relic was but a small part of the extensive Inca Empire but it remains a fantastic example of a once advanced civilization. Stay tuned for a series of blogs - after Christmas - on our thoughts and experiences on our visit to these natural and cultural worlds.

Happy Turkey Day!!!

2010-11-23T21:15:00.004-07:00

These handsome birds were strutting their stuff in the foothills of the Sapphire Mountains east of Hamilton last spring. I happened upon them while searching for blue(Dusky) grouse in an area where I once worked on a graduate student study. Turkeys were not present in that area back in the late 1960's when I spent lots of time there.
Happy Thanksgiving to all!!

Blue and White!

2010-11-22T16:43:00.005-07:00

My calendar says that we are still about a month away from the official beginning of winter here in Helena. But the weather outside says that the calendar may be off by a bit. For the past several days, the thermometer has had much difficulty registering above zero degrees. And yes, we have some of the white stuff. After the fantastic weather we have had for the past two months, mother nature must be doing her compensation thing!

There is a positive side to this picture. For the past several days, we have had a blue jay coming to our feeders. There always seems to be a few of this species around the Helena Valley and during the fall months of many years, a few visit my feeders for a short time and then head off to somewhere else for the winter. With the single blue jay that is here now during this spate of harsh winter weather, perhaps we will have some of its blue gracing our trees and feeders for the remainder of the winter. That would be a welcome sight!Blue jays are quite common in the eastern US and their aggressive, raucous behavior does not engender them to many of the folks back there. For me, their rough equivalent species here in Montana is the magpie. I don't especially like them because of their aggressiveness -sorry about that Mary H. But in my backyard feeders, blue jay are appreciated and a welcome winter guest!!

Serendipity!

2010-10-31T13:16:00.009-06:00

On my first "exploration" of the 2-acre wooded property that my daughter and her husband bought in Kent, WA, I noted that the previous owner had erected at least 4 large nest boxes that looked as though they might be suitable for small owls. Ever since then, I have been hoping to find one of the several possible species of owls in this region sitting in one of the large trees or using one of the nest boxes. And on occasion, I have tried various owl recordings to see if I could entice one to respond.

This morning , while all of the adults in the household were sleeping late and I was attending to the oldest granddaughter, I was looking out of the kitchen window to see if the chickadees and/or squirrels were eating sunflower seeds from the feeders that had recently been filled. Shortly after I glanced out, a large bird flew by and landed on a horizontal, moss-covered maple branch. It was a Barred Owl! I ran down the basement to get my telephoto lens for my camera, that I already had in hand. Rather than risk going out on the deck and spooking the owl, I opened the kitchen window, removed the screen, and began taking some pictures. The light was very poor and the camera was telling me that I shouldn't be taking pictures because of the lack of light, but that didn't stop me.

About this this time, the youngest granddaughter - 9 months old - began calling for someone to come and get her out of her crib. Not wanting the others to have to get up quite yet, I went to her room to bring her downstairs with me. But Mom intercepted me so I "reluctantly" handed the baby to her.....and ran down the basement again to get my iPod with bird call recordings. By this time, the owl had left its perch and had flown to another nearby tree. From the back deck, I played a Barred owl call, and almost immediately, the owl flew toward me and then over the house to another perch. I could not locate the bird when I walked around the house so I played the call again. And again, it flew over me to another tree. This happened several times until it landed in a tree near the road where I had some better light - and better luck with the camera. There is something about owls that intrigues me - and many others, so I treasure opportunities to get good images of them. You can't beat a morning shared with young granddaughters and a barred owl!

West Coast maple Syrup?

2010-10-26T20:39:00.006-06:00

In April last year, my daughter and family bought a home south of Seattle with about 2 acres of mostly native trees. Bigleaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum) is well represented amoung the species present and quite a few of them are large, mature trees with diameters in excess of 20 inches, and a few are larger than 30 inches. Below is an image of one of the larger maples, with leaves in golden brown color of fall. A closer look at the leaves shows the typical shape of foliage of members of this family of trees. And older granddaughter Railey holding a single leaf shows quite well how this maple species got its name "Bigleaf". A quick search of the literature of this species indicated that they produce sap that can be boiled down into syrup, although there does not seem to be any commercial use of the trees for this product as there is for Sugar maple in the northeast US. With my penchant for delving into new pastimes, I began to think that maybe it would be interesting to see what maple syrup production involved. The supplies required seem to be readily available from internet sites so that does not seem to be much of an obstacle. But the fact that it takes about 35-40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup leads me to believe that this will not be a simple undertaking. Boiling away that much liquid inside my daughters' home - in a geographic area know for relatively high humidities - might put a strain on our relationship. So if this experiment is to take place, I'm going to have to figure out a way to do the boiling at an outdoor location near the house. The abundant wood on the property should provide a more than adequate fuel supply, but what sort of container for the sap boiling process would work best and how will I support it over a wood fire - without too much of an investment? If I decide to proceed with this effort, will it be cost effective? Certainly not! Will it be fun? Don't know yet. Will I have any help from family? Sure hope so! Will the resulting syrup be edible? Better be!!

Granddaughter Taylin will be one year old this coming February. That should give Kathy and me good reason to head out Seattle way from a likely frozen Montana landscape. Is February an appropriate time to tap maple trees in the Pacific Northwest? That will take a little more research.

Stay tuned for a potential new chapter in my prime years of retirement!

Late Season Dragonflies

2010-10-17T16:07:00.007-06:00

The great weather we are having in western Montana has allowed for our continued pursuit of dragon- and damselflies. This past Thursday, my Odonate mentor Nate Kohler and I visited a spring & pond complex west of Drummond that has been an exceptionally good location for a variety of these fascinating insects. On a visit there in late April, Nate found about a half dozen species already hatched, for the earliest dates these species had been found in Montana. On our visit there last Thursday, we captured (and released) 18 species, all of which were late dates for the respective species, the latest they had been found in Montana. If the weather forecast holds firm for this coming week, we should be able to extend those late dates by another week or so. Those are interesting bits of information.

But for me, the best part of last weeks' visit to the area was the capture of two species that I had never netted previously in Montana. The first was a Common Green Darner. This is one of our two migratory species and it first shows up in the state usually in late May. It is a very swift flier and generally stays out a ways from the shoreline while cruising. But because of its size and bright green and blue coloration, it is easy to ID on the wing. I don't know how many times I swung my net at one of these critters last year, but it was likely in the hundreds - all without success. Last week, as I was walking along a dike, a dragonfly flushed from the grass in front of me and I made a successful swing at it with my net. As I was extracting the bug from the net, I immediately knew that I had netted my first Common Green Darner, and I let out a loud "Whoop". Nate looked a bit askance at my overly enthusiastic reaction, but that was OK. It was a pretty good feeling! The other "good bug" for the day for me was a Shadow Darner. I had caught several of these in Washington State last fall, and although I had viewed several that Nate had netted while I was accompanying him, I had never captured one on my own. The one I caught was a female and Nate caught a male shortly thereafter, so I had the opportunity to photograph both sexes. The female I caught is shown belowand the male is here. In the hand, it is fairly easy to tell this species from the other dozen or so Darner species we have in Montana.One of the other neat aspects of October dragonflies is the background colors that natures provides at this time of year. This Blue-eyed Darner compliments quite nicely the Red-osier Dogwood upon which it is perched.And so as not to close without mention and an image of a damselfly, here is a Vivid Dancer that is chowing down on a Caddisfly. Nate found this species in late April this year and it is still present nearly six months later. I'd say that is pretty good for Montana, where temperature extremes are the norm in spring and fall. The spring water with relatively constant temperatures at this location is likely the reason these insects can be found so early and late in the year.

Back to Bugs!

2010-10-10T08:34:00.007-06:00

My summer of extensive travel resulted in a major loss of opportunity for pursuing my dragonfly interests. But the great "Indian Summer" of late has provided me with belated catchup opportunities. Last year, a hard early freeze the first few days of October put a quick end to my dragonfly pursuits. Now, the colors of fall provide a great time to be be outside - and nice contrast for dragonfly photography. This Lake Darner shows well on the yellow Chokecherry leaf background.And it is readily apparent how this Mountain Emerald got its name. Paddle-tailed Darners are the most abundant of the larger, fall dragonflies. Blue sky and yellow aspen provide a nice backdrop. This Black-tipped Darner was a first for me and pushed my total Montana dragonfly list to 60 out of a possible 85 or so species. Next year, my goal is to reach 70 species for the state. Variable Darners are another of the more common species and seem to be found most commonly at lower elevations. The red leaves of fall provided a nice contrast for this accommodating Paddle-tailed Darner.
Autumn Meadowhawks were first documented as occurring in Montana last September. This mating pair was photographed last week in the same spring complex where we found only 2 individuals last year.And this individual male was found nearby.Damselflies are more difficult to ID than their dragonfly cousins so I will be concentrating more on them next year. Vivid Dancers like this one are usually found near stream and spring habitats and are a little easier to ID than some other species.One of my favorite species is the Flame Skimmer. They are sometimes quite abundant near springs and frequently perch on vegetation that provides a nice setting. The weather forecast for the next week promises several sunny days in the upper 60's, so there will be a few more opportunities to get out and pursue this new passion of mine. After that, a transition to birding will occur to fill the void until the first Dragons appear again next May!

St. George Shorebirds

2010-10-03T12:43:00.009-06:00

During my stay on St. George Island, I found only two species of shorebirds breeding there - Rock Sandpipers and Semi-palmated Plovers. The Rock Sandpipers on the Pribilof Islands are considered a separate sub-species because of their distinctly different plumage patterns. They were quite abundant in the upland areas but seemed to do much of their feeding along the rocky shorelines. Breeding Semi-palmated Plovers were not nearly as abundant and the few juveniles that I found were near shallow lakes.But there were a number of other species that stopped on St. George during their migration south. Red Phalaropes were the most abundant migrants I encountered. Earlier in my stay, the individuals I saw were still mostly in their breeding plumage. Later into August, many of the birds were molting into their winter plumage, which was very similar to that of the juveniles. One day on the north shore of St. George, flocks of this species numbered in the tens of thousands, feeding near the kelp beds off shore. A single Sanderling was noted on Zapadni Beach on a number of occasions. Small groups of Pacific Golden Plovers were first sighted on 7 August, the same date they were seen by a friend the previous year. Western Sandpipers were observed on a number of occasions, mostly by a small wetland along the airport runway. Least Sandpipers were also found in that location plus at a larger shallow lake on the north side of the island. Ruddy Turnstones were the most abundant of the migratory shorebirds and were rather easily found along rocky shorelines and Zapadni Beach. Frequently, a few Wandering Tatlers could be found near the groups of Rock Sandpipers and Turnstones along the shorelines. One of the many reasons I wanted to spend time on St. George Island was the possibility of finding some rare birds, especially shorebirds, that strayed there from Asian populations. While I was not lucky enough to find many of these strays, mainly because of the time frame I was present, that fact certainly did not detract from the great birding and photography opportunities I experienced while there.

Murres and Kittiwakes

2010-10-01T16:18:00.010-06:00

Murres - Common and Thick-billed - along with Red-legged and Black-legged Kittiwakes were by far the most abundant breeding birds on St. George Island. There are an estimates 1.7 million Murres nesting on the cliffs surrounding the island and more than 350,000 Kittiwakes, including 75-80 percent of the world population of Red-legged Kittiwakes. If you click on the image below to enlarge it, you will note the difference between the two species with the middle two birds. The leg color is obvious but the bill size and color of the back are also useful to differentiate them. The kittiwakes build nest on very small rock outcrops on the cliffs. They are a little more difficult to tell apart when flying. This is a Black-legged. When perched on a cliff edge, the red legs of the Red-legged Kittiwakes almost glow in the light.
The juveniles often are found precariously clinging to a rock face. This Black-legged Kittiwake has a "geolocator" attached to one leg. This device records locations of the bird and distances it has flown for feeding and other activities. The bird must be recaptured for the data to be retrieved.Biologists who monitor and do research on the Murres told me that they are present in about equal numbers, but most of the Murres that I took pictures of seemed to be Thick-billed Murres. These birds seem to lay their eggs and raise young on almost bare rock ledges. If you click on the image below to enlarge it, you will see a young Murre on the ledge just to the left and in the shadow of the adult. The "grin patch" on the bill of a Thick-billed Murres seems to be the easiest way to tell the species apart. Here you can see it on a flying bird. The bird in the middle of this image is a Common Murre with Thick-billed on either side. The Common is a little lighter in color and the bill is shaped differently and without the "grin patch". For the most part, these species seemed to stay together with their own species when perched on the cliffs. Thick-billed Murres and Red-legged Kittiwakes were species that I had never seen before. To be able to view them in such large numbers was a treat and just one of the many factors that combined for a great experience on St. George Island of the Pribilofs!

St George Island Airport

2010-09-20T09:01:00.005-06:00

What was my "job" on St. George? Among the millions of birds that breed and nest on St. George are hundreds of thousands of Kittiwakes - both Black-legged and Red-legged. Given certain weather conditions, especially on windy days, many of these kittiwakes like to loaf on the airport runway. Of course, this presents a significant hazard for passenger and freight planes during landing and take-off. My job was to keep these birds off of the runway when flights were due to land.

The airport was moved from the north side of the island near the town to the south side near the harbor about 1992. Originally, the runway was gravel, but it was paved about 4 years ago. The first terminal building was "affectionately" referred to as "Apollo" because of its resemblance to the moon landing vehicle. The present terminal facility, while not very fancy, is adequate and much better than the original. There are three scheduled passenger flights to St. George per week and an occasional unscheduled flight or charter passenger flight. Saab 340 aircraft are used for passenger flights. Freight/cargo flights are unscheduled and erratic in nature, requiring continual monitoring to determine when they may be arriving. The arrival of cargo flights is announced to the residents by phone and over VHF radio and usually results in a rather disorganized scramble because folks are anxious to get items they may have been ordered a month or more previously. When planes were scheduled to arrive, I usually headed to the airport about an hour or so beforehand. If kittiwakes were on the runway, I would harass them with my pickup and then turn on at least half of the eight propane canons that were set to fire perhaps once a minute or so. Groups of loafing kittiwakes often numbered in the thousands. But the canons were quite effective in keeping them from sitting on the runway, so other scare tactics, such as shotgun propelled firecrackers were seldom needed to keep the runway clear.The only real problems with the propane canons was to keep them operational during long periods of fog and mist. A reliable supply of propane is a potential future concern since the cost is quite high. Presently, it costs $60 to fill each 25 gallon cylinder. In 2011, propane may not be available from sources on the island so supplies will have to be shipped specially to St. George for the propane canons, a potentially expensive option. This "job" of mine seemed to be fairly simple and for the most part it was. But fog and mist frequently interfered with landing schedules so flight delays were common, and indeed, frequently the rule. Some days, there was a wait of 3-4 hours or so before a decision was made regarding the cancellation of a flight from the mainland. Patience was a requisite aspect of the job!!

St. George Island - Small Breeding Land Birds

2010-09-14T09:59:00.011-06:00

There are only four species of small, Passerine birds that breed on St. George Island - Lapland Longspur, Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch, Pacific(Winter) Wren, and Snow Bunting. A few other similar species may breed there occasionally, but I did not encounter any of them on my visit. This is unusually low diversity but perhaps to be expected because of the rather uniform habitat and remoteness of these islands. Other small birds species are found on the Pribilofs during spring and fall migration, including some occasional rare stray species from Asia.

Lapland Longspurs seem to be the most abundant of the small birds and males in their breeding plumage were a pleasure to see. This species is regularly seen in Montana during winter but their plumage then is very much on the drab side, like the bird below.Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches were also abundant on St. George Island and they spend the winter there. These St. George/Pribilof birds are considered a distinct sub-species and can be separated from other sub-species by the more extensive gray on the side of their head. They are also noticeably larger than the ones we see in Montana. The young ones do not yet have the gray plumage on the side of the head.Snow buntings are one of my favorite Montana winter birds. On St. George, they seem to prefer the rocky areas that are abundant on the island. But they were the wariest of the small birds there and I was not able to get any very good pictures of them.Winter Wrens - now called Pacific Wrens - were the most petite of the breeding Passerines on St. George, where they are considered a separate sub-species. Very recently, the folks who decide such things split Winter Wrens into two species (Pacific and Winter) based on genetic and behavioral criteria. Several days passed before I encountered my first wren on the island, but after that, they seems to be easier to find, probably because I visited their breeding habitat - cliff faces - more often. This tiny species resides year-round on St. George, so it must be quite tough. The only other small bird I got pictures of - a fairly common migrant - was a Northern Wheatear. This species breeds on mainland Alaska and then migrates across Asia to winter areas south of the Sahara Desert in Africa. That is quite an amazing distance for such a small bird.

St.George Island Mammals

2010-09-10T12:09:00.010-06:00

Historically, there was not much in the way of native land mammals on St. George Island. About 1786, Aleut/Unangan slaves were brought to the island for the purpose of harvesting and processing fur seals. At that time, there were probably also Steller's Sea Lions, Sea Otters, and occasional walrus found there. But there were no native land mammals except for some small rodents, a species of lemmings. At some point after the Aleut/Unangan slaves were brought there, the Russians introduced Arctic Foxes to St. George, and many of the Aleutians and other islands in the region.

In the early 1970's, about 15 reindeer were brought to St. George and into the early 1990's, they increased to about 500 animals. This was too many for the island vegetation to support and they were subsequently reduced to about 200 animals at present. Island residents do not harvest too many of these animals, but there are some visiting hunters and other seasonal residents who take them for their fine meat. I ate some while I was there and it was some of the finest wild meat I have eaten. Large antler sets are commonly found scattered around the village and shed antlers are relatively commonly noted on hikes through some areas of the island. These reindeer stay mostly in one large herd and I did not see than while I was there.

The commercial harvest of Northern Fur Seals on St. George was discontinued in the mid-1970's, but there is presently a small limited subsistence harvest which is conducted in a very efficient and humane manner. On my first day walk along the shoreline near the village, this bull fur seal surprised me and was very vocal in his dislike of my presence. Others, mostly males, were occasionally seen loafing individually on rocky shorelines, but were mostly quite spooky.There are four "rookery" areas on St. George where raising of young and breeding take place. Presently, there are an estimated 200,000 fur seals using these rookery areas. This image shows a "harem" group with a "dominant male - called a "beach master" and a numbers of females with young pups.This female is sunning herself while her young lays peacefully at her side - on right.This male crawled on on Zapadni Beach one morning and didn't see me until I approached fairly close to it.Arctic foxes are quite common on St. George. I was surprised to learn that they do not turn white in winter as they apparently do in other areas. They are no longer trapped for their hides. This mother and young kit fox were curious about me and not very wary. During my stay on the island, I located perhaps 6 or more different fox litters, with 5 or 6 young in each. The males that I saw usually had more light hair on them and were solitary. This male barked at me and posed for a number of pictures. Many of the other were on the wary side. Given the size of the fox litters, their food sources must be plentiful this year. Small rodents and birds likely make up the bulk of their diet, but I didn't see any rodents in the dense vegetation and rock fields.

Here Come The Clowns!

2010-09-03T16:23:00.007-06:00

The Auklets - Least, Parakeet, and Crested - are one of the other groups of seabirds that nest on St. George Island in large numbers. However, in my opinion, they are not all that attractive, lacking much variety in plumage colors and with no distinctive pattern. Despite the lack of these attributes, these birds were really quite photogenic. I suppose that was because they were quite tame and they were vocal and animated. While I did not take as many photos of them as I did of puffins, I did fill up my cameras memory card with their images on many occasions. Below, all three species posed for me. From left to right - Parakeet, Least and Crested.Crested Auklets were not at all abundant on St. George, but I was fortunate to find them in a number of locations where they cooperated for some good photos. Other breeding areas to the north apparently have much greater numbers of this species and I just read a note where some birders on St. Lawrence Island estimated about a million of them passing a point near the town of Gambell on that island. It is easy to figure out how they got their name.Least Auklets were the smallest but by far most abundant of the group. Most apparently nested inland in the rock-fields below ridge lines where there were many burrows where they could remain relatively secure from predators, mostly Arctic Foxes.

Of the three species, I would probably rate the Parakeet Auklets as the most attractive, but that isn't saying much. They seemed to be quite a bit more abundant on the cliffs later in the season than the other species.

Puffin Mania on St. George!

2010-08-31T14:55:00.009-06:00

I fell in love during my visit on St. George Island - with Puffins!! It was love at first sight! Compared with other birds, especially those colorful ones from the tropics, puffins are really not all that beautiful. It must be their overly large orange or orange/yellow bills that attracts me. These birds have intrigued me ever since I saw my first pictures of them. But the St. George birds were the first live ones I ever saw in their breeding plumage, with the large, colorful base to their bills and their orange legs and feet. In between, they are mostly just black and white. Their common names - Horned Puffins and Tufted Puffins - are not especially noteworthy for such distinctive species, although I certainly do like the "Puffin" part. Of the two species, the Horned Puffin was my favorite to photograph.

In my first few days on the island, I was fortunate enough to get quite a few good images of these favorites, and quite near the town site. Their abundance in no way matched that of the other birds that used the cliffs for breeding/nesting sites. Most often, I had to look carefully to find them among the myriads of kittiwakes and murres that adorned the cliffs. But you would never know that fact based on a perusal of all of my photos. The hundreds - or maybe a thousand - pictures I took of Puffins were far in excess of their real abundance. Several times, after reviewing the library of photo images I had accumulated on my computer, I said to myself "No more pictures of puffins, I have more than I need already". Then the next time I walked along the cliffs and viewed a few of these unique seabirds, I would think to myself, "Why not take a few more pictures? I can always eliminate the ones that are not satisfactory." This sequence of thoughts and events happened again, and again, and again.......

Now it is time to select some of my favorite Puffin images - and that is a really difficult chore for me. If you don't agree with my selections, you can always go to my Flickr site for more options!

It is not difficult to differentiate these two species. Tufted Puffins have a row of creamy white feathers extending back over their eye and white face, with a body that is all black. Horned Puffins have a small horn-like projection above each eye, with white undersides and black feathers above. Both species were quite easy to approach when perched near the top of cliffs, and some of my pictures I took from perhaps 25-30 feet away. These birds even induced me to overcome my acrophobia and lean over cliffs to get better shots of them. In one location, I had my friend Vern hold on to my legs so that I could get in a better photo shooting position. The only disappointment I had with these birds is that I never saw any young ones. The adults nest in crevices and holes in the cliff faces and no young ventured out in the open while I was looking.

Enough with all of the chatter! Below are about a dozen of my favorites - with no interruptions from me!! Remember, you can enlarge an image by clicking on it.

St. George Scenery

2010-08-29T08:46:00.012-06:00

A carpet of blues and intense greens greeted me on my initial drive from the Airport on the south side of St. George to the town where I would spend much of the next 37 days. The blues were mostly the result of a species of Lupine that I have seen referred to variously as Nootka or Arctic Lupine. Interspersed within these large patches of blue were yellow Arctic Poppies, and a number of other flower species in full bloom. The main east/west ridge line bisecting the island had a few snow banks remaining that made for a nice contrast. The greens, reminiscent of Ireland, were composed of several species of wide-bladed grasses and other variable shades of green consisting mostly of moss and lichen covered rock fields, with a variety of sedges.
St. George seems to be primarily of volcanic origin. It is different from its sister island St. Paul in that it is more topographically diverse and has few beaches that are accessible for walking. Zapadni Beach just to the west of the harbor complex on the south side of the island is about the only easily accessible beach for walking. Zapadni was is a black sand beach with some designs made by wave action on broken sea shell fragments, and kelp washed up during high tides. The few other beach areas such as Garden Cove are reached only after a considerable hike. Most of the other shoreline areas consist of cliffs ranging up to over 1,000 feet at High Bluff. A very rough guess on my part would estimate a shoreline of perhaps 40 or more miles with no more than about 5% being walkable, sandy beach. But the many miles of cliffs (Vern Schneider photo)are the primary reason that the island supports the estimated 2.5 million nesting seabirds.

While we didn't have a lot of sunny days to highlight the vibrant colors of the island, we took advantage of the sun when it appeared to take lots of pictures. A hike to First Bluff several miles west of town provided some good opportunities for flower pictures. Here, great friend Vern Schneider who stayed with me for 3 weeks, focuses in on a few of the plethora of flowers we found there. But foggy and cloudy days also provided some great opportunities for capturing scenes with a very serene aspect. As the summer progressed, other flower species began their blooming process and made for colorful panoramas.The Bering Sea is famous for savage winter storms. We did see some wind and high swells while we were there. But they were nothing like what winter sometimes brings to the Bering Sea. February 2008 brought winds of 120 knots that blew the roofs off some houses in town. The image below is about as close as I got to experiencing a sunset on St. George.

St. George, AK - The Town

2010-08-27T09:35:00.007-06:00

All of the permanent residents of the Island of St. George live in the "Town" of St. George. To me, "Village" seemed like a more appropriate moniker than "town". The locals estimated for me that fewer than 100 permanent residents now live there. The large majority are of the Aleut or Unangan cultures and their ancestors were brought to the island in the late 1700's as slaves by Russian fur traders. Their surnames are mostly of Russian origin. Temporary residents visit the island mostly during the summer months, and the majority are researchers studying and monitoring the tremendous wildlife populations located there. Other visitors include birders, some from other countries, and a few hunters. During my stay on St. George, I was provided with an 800-900 square foot, 2-bedroom house. It was a little rough looking on the outside due to harsh weather conditions, but was very nice and comfortable on the inside. Temporary visitors and some construction workers stay in either homes that are rented from residents or in the hotel. The latter has about 10 rooms and cooking facilities but does not serve meals. As mentioned is a previous post, the beautiful Russian Orthodox Church is the focal point of the village. The interior of this building is beautifully decorated and maintained. Other major buildings include the school which was undergoing some renovations while I was there and the Sealing Plant, locally called the "wash house", where the Northern Fur Seal harvest was processed prior to the cessation of that industry in the 1970's. Other large buildings include the municipal and maintenance facilities, the recreation center which also houses the "Traditional Council" offices, and the grocery store (canteen) which house the Post Office and the Tanaq Corporation, the native administrative office. The cliff located just behind that latter turned out to be one of the best locations I found for taking bird pictures. There are no restaurants, bars, banks, hardware stores or similar commercial business located on the island. All items of this nature must be ordered and shipped from the mainland. Planning ahead is a significant aspect of life on St. George.

Community activities of various sorts were held in the Recreation Center. Each year, at least several small cruise ships visit St. George and are treated to tours of the number of island attractions and then escorted to the rec center for a pot luck meal prepared by locals and native dances. The meals feature local foods such as seal, reindeer, and halibut, all delicious! One Friday evening while I was there, a three-person band of locals played music well into the early morning. I regret the fact that I was too tired to join in the festivities.Future posts on my St. George experiences will include: my duties at the airport, the spectacular flowers of the island, northern fur seals and arctic foxes, scenery, and, of course, a number of entries on the Birds of St. George.

Summer on St. George

2010-08-25T08:37:00.009-06:00

It's about time! Please excuse my long hiatus from this forum and I hope not too many of my readers have forgotten about me. I have a good excuse! On 12 July, I boarded a plane in Helena and headed to St. George Island in the Bering Sea off the west coast of Alaska. St. George is part of the Pribilof group of islands located about 800 miles west of Anchorage. Historically, these islands were best known for the harvesting of Northern Fur Seals. About 70% of the world's population -800,000 - of this species spend the summer and raise their young on these islands, with sister island St. Paul supporting the majority. The fur seal harvest was discontinued on St. George in the early 1970's and a little later on St. Paul. My experiences on St. George, however, were much broader and more interesting than the seals. The history and culture, the bird life, the flowers, the island itself, the weather, and many other aspects of my visit kept my interest and mind occupied for the entire 37 days I lived there. Unfortunately, my plan to post occasional blogs about my visit were thwarted by a lack of good Internet access at my residence.

The island of St. George encompasses about 35 square miles of land, the highest elevation of which is 1012 feet above the sea. There are no trees on the island except for a scraggly old spruce struggling to survive on the church grounds. But the carpet of flowers and other lush vegetation and topographic features formed a landscape that was beautiful to behold. The summer season is on the cloudy side with frequent fog, but to me, these conditions were part of the allure of St. George. Birds and bird photography were the attraction that beckoned me to St. George. Numbers of birds were incredible. In fact, I have not yet come up with a adjective that adequately describes their numbers.The cliffs that surround that 35 square miles of land support about 2.5 million breeding sea birds, including a number of species I had never seen before. And there are many more, mostly smaller birds, that breed on inland habitats.
While residing on the island, I was actually employed, an unusual situation for me. Under certain weather conditions, the relatively newly paved airplane runway on the south side of St. George attracts large numbers of Kittiwakes, a type of gull. They like to sit on the runway and are a potential hazard to landing planes. My job was to make sure that there were no birds present when planes were scheduled to land. More about that in a later blog.

While St. George is best known for its seal harvest history and its incredible number of breeding sea birds, the real icon of the island, at least to me, was the Russian Orthodox Church that was built in 1936. It is located in about the center of the town/village and its bell-tower rises above all other structures and can be seen from anywhere the town is viewable on the north side of the island. Harsh weather conditions, especially in winter, make upkeep of the church difficult, but it none-the-less shines from afar.

This initial post about my St. George experience is just the preface to many more that will be forthcoming over the next month or so. Below is a sample image of my favorite bird of the trip. More to be posted later.

May and June Birds!

2010-07-08T12:39:00.006-06:00

This note will consist mostly of bird images I acquired in the month of June. May and June are among the best months of the year for bird pictures because there are opportunities for migrants, the breeding birds are on their territories, and most adult birds are in full breeding plumage. Enjoy!

Cinnamon teal are certainly aply named. McCown's Longspurs are found on dry, sparsely vegetated prairie sites. There is no doubt about the ID of American Avocets. Marbled Godwits are frequently pretty tame during breeding season. Nesting Black-necked Stilts are hard to miss. Black-crowned Night-Herons seem to be more common than in past years. Uplands Sandpipers seem to be quite abundant with our plentiful rainfall and good grass this year. This Ruffed Grouse was pretty tame and liked to eat the aspen buds on this tree. The Western Meadowlark is the Montana State bird and everyone's favorite! Western Tanagers were quite common in the lower elevations this spring during our frequent rainy and cool periods. This female Violet-green Swallow found a colorful resting place. Spotted Towhees are common and colorful! Green-tailed Towhees seem to prefer dry hillsides. Sparrow's are generally not thought of as being very colorful, but this Nelson's Sparrow image from the NE corner of MT looks pretty sharp to me!!

Dragons & Damsels

2010-06-29T17:21:00.005-06:00

Our cool Montana weather during most of May and June seems to have put a bit of a damper on my pursuit of Odonates - Dragonflies and Damselflies. But the warmer weather in the past several days has found me out in some favorites locations swatting mosquitoes and searching for these fascinating insects. While the variety of species to be found is a bit slim this early in the season, there are some good, colorful "bugs" to be found. I am going to just post some of the better images I have managed to obtain over the past week or so with very little dialogue. Enjoy!

You can't get much bluer than the eyes on this Blue-eyed Darner! Vivid Dancers are both vivid in color and sort of dance when they fly. Flame skimmers are one of my favorites and they are pretty easy to approach on their selected perches. California darners are among the earliest of the darner group to appear each spring. As are these very small and delicate Pacific Forktails. Not too much color on these Dot-tailed Whitefaces, but it is easy to see how they got their name! Four-spotted Skimmers are found throughout the northern hemisphere, and are usually quite common.

Ash-throated Flycatcher

2010-06-25T08:31:00.004-06:00

On 17 June, a cloudy, rainy day, I headed to the Kmart Ponds on the north edge of Helena to check on a Wilson's snipe nest that I had been monitoring. While walking toward the nest site, a largish flycatcher that was an unfamiliar Montana bird for me flushed from some weeds in front of me and perched not too far away. I quickly got my binoculars on it and its size, very light chest and abdomen along with a darkish, crested head quickly lead me to the conclusion that I had something special. The bird looked familiar to me and I guessed that it might be a flycatcher more commonly found in the SW part of the country, an Ash-throated Flycatcher, which I had observed in Arizona a number of times.

It is a rare occasion that the camera I habitually hang over my shoulder does not have my large telephoto attached. But on this occasion, I had a different, less powerful lens because I was checking on the snipe nest. But I took some photos anyway, and along with the mental notes I had taken, I returned to my vehicle to take a look at my bird field guide. The combination of the photo images and my mental notes supported my initial tentative assessment that this may indeed be an Ash-throated Flycatcher. Enlarging the images on my home computer convinced me that this was the correct identification. An inquiry of the Montana Bird Database revealed that there were 11 previous records for this species in Montana, but only two of those records were after the 1970's. So this was indeed a pretty rare sighting in the state. But the observation must first be reviewed by the Montana Bird Records Committee before it becomes official

I quickly got the word out on our Montana Birding listserve - the MOB - and a number of folks came looking for the bird over the past week or so. Unfortunately, to my knowledge, only one other person was fortunate enough to relocate the bird, although I sighted it on 3 of 4 occasions that I looked. This is the last picture I got of this rare Montana bird.

What a Difference a Month Makes!!

2010-06-20T17:15:00.005-06:00

On 18 May of this year, I was fortunate to get a few photos of a Sandhill Crane "colt" that was several days old and still on the nest with a parent. As you can see from these images(which I used in a previous blog), this young crane is quite diminutive in stature. Over the past month, I have encountered this crane family on a number of occasions, providing me the opportunity to monitor the growth of this colt - as young cranes are named. On these intermittent encounters, I have moved away from the family each time I saw them so as to not disturb them. But on this past Friday, 18 June, exactly one month since my initial photos of the young colt, I came up over a rise and the family group was directly in front of me. There were several good opportunities for photos, so as you might guess, I took advantage of them. Here is what I saw! The growth rate of that young one has been astounding. Weight/height comparisons would be interesting over that one month period. A quick internet search revealed that the colt may be ready to fly in the 9-10 week range. Since this brooding area is confined by highways, buildings, and tight fencing, flight is about the only way that the colt will be able to escape the area. So hopefully, it will do well over the next 5 weeks or so and then be able to fly away.

Last year, this same pair hatched 2 young which remained in the area for at least a month, when I lost track of them. So I'm not sure about the survival and fledging of those young. Maybe this year, I or some other lucky birder will see the young colt fly away!!

Sage Birds

2010-06-16T08:03:00.007-06:00

Monday was the first nice, summer-like day we have had in a while, so I took advantage and headed south to the Bannack area - Montana's First Territorial Capitol. The "Ghost Town" preserved here by a Montana State Park is one of the more photogenic cultural sites in our state, and probably my favorite site of its type for photography. But my target for the day was the bird communities in the nearby extensive sagebrush habitats. This is about the only area in MT where gray flycatchers and sage sparrows are found. But other sparrow species such as Brewer's Sparrows and Vesper Sparrows plus sage thrashers are found here in abundance, and there are usually a few bonus birds found in the mixture. This years bonus birds were a Willet sitting on a sage brush plant. They are more commonly found along shorelines. And then, a little farther down the road, there were a number of Common Nighthawks resting on a jack-leg fence apparently digesting their morning catch of insects. There are not a lot of vibrant colors on these birds of the day, but they all have special traits that attract me back to this special location every year.

Fairy Slipper Time

2010-06-10T13:07:00.007-06:00

As with many people, orchids have always fascinated me. And for the past several years, I have been endeavoring to capture some quality images of some Montana orchid species. On Tuesday of this week, I began hiking a mountain foothill trail in the Rimini Drainage west of Helena to look for a few bird species I had not yet observed for the year. Not very far along the trail, I noticed a few Fairy Slipper Orchids - one of my favorites and probably the most abundant species in Montana. Farther along, they became more obvious, with some clumps of a dozen or more flowers. While I had obtained some some pretty good images last June, I could not resist the opportunity to change to my macro lens and take more! Here are a few of the results.

MT Audubon/Centennial Valley Birding Trip

2010-06-01T08:52:00.012-06:00

All's Well that Ends Well!! That cliche is a very apt description of our Montana Audubon sponsored Memorial Day Weekend birding excursion into the fantastic Centennial Valley of southwestern Montana. The beginning of our weekend in the Valley was a little on the "iffy" side. As we progressed toward our destination - Elk Lake Resort - the roads began to get progressively more muddy. Then, about 4 miles from the resort, we entered an especially notorious portion of the road. And sure enough, our 12-passenger, 2-wheel drive van became hopelessly stuck! We exited and took a quick look at the situation, tried to back out of the problem, and concluded that we weren't going anywhere. On a whim, I reached for my cell phone, not really expecting to have coverage in this remote part of Montana. But success was at hand! I quickly reached Lerrina and Craig Collins at the resort. In about about 10 minutes, Craig came to our rescue and handily pulled us through the remainder of the bad portions of the road. He waited for the other van that was part of our group and helped them also. This is just one example of the super service and hospitality that Craig and Lerrina provide on a regular basis. The great food and accommodations are something we look forward to each year!
We did a little birding that evening near the resort and had the usual great meal before retiring for the evening.

The weather remained on the marginal side with some showers and a little frozen precip, but that did not dampen the enthusiasm of this great group of birders. The next day, we spent most of our time in and around the Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. This is a huge lake/wetland complex with some associated sagebrush, grasslands, and mountain foothill habitat, with lowest elevations almost 7000 feet. Breeding Trumpeter Swans are the major attraction at this refuge but there are many other great birding opportunities there also.

Some of the highlights of the trip, as expressed by the participants, were Trumpeter swans in a number of locations, Ferruginous Hawks, a nice gathering of sandhill Cranes with some engaging in their unique courtship dance, and Greater Sage-Grouse on a breeding lek on our return to the lodge one evening from a meal at the J BAR L Ranch! Sage Grouse are not usually observed displaying this late in the year or in the evenings, so this was a real bonus for us.

Birding in the vicinity of the lodge was also quite good with species such as Cassin's Finches, Dark-eyed Juncos, Black-headed Grosbeaks, and American Goldfinches easy to spot. Our total bird tally for the trip was about 110 species. However, with all the great birding we experienced, a trip such as this is much more enjoyable with a great bunch of people - and that is what we had accompanying us. And though the weather might have provided some reason, there was not a "whiner" in the bunch!!!Thanks to all of you!! And I hope to see you again soon - with binoculars in hand!! Additional pictures from this trip are available at my Flickr Site!

Red Knots Galore!

2010-05-21T08:10:00.005-06:00

In the half dozen or more times I have visited Gray's Harbor, near Westport, WA during the spring shorebird migration, I have never observed or photographed a Red Knot. So while I don't usually have target birds when I visit an area, I was determined this year to find and photograph this species because it is one of the few remaining shorebirds that is missing from my bird image library.

I arrived at one of the better locations for shorebirds - Bottle Beach - about 2 hours before high tide. Migration was apparently mostly over for the year as my May 13 arrival date was on the late side. As I arrived at the beach, there was a couple of birders sitting on some driftwood and I engaged them in conversation for a few minutes. They, too, were looking specifically for Red Knot and had not seen any from their vantage point. There was a photographer positioned out near the water's edge near a series of old pilings that was a favorite site for taking shorebird images. I walked to the east of him about a hundred yards before positioning myself to view the shorebirds that were feeding mostly along the water/shoreline interface. SUCCESS!! Scattered amongst the numerous flocks of shorebirds - mostly Dunlins and Western Sandpipers - were literally hundreds of Red Knots. In the ensuing 90 minutes or so, I proceeded to fill the entire 8GB flash card in my camera with shorebird images, focusing mostly on Red Knots. Of course, in my haste to get out on to the beach, I had forgotten to take extra cards with me! Here are some of the results. The Red Knots pretty much stand out in a crowd - sitting or flying as you can see in the following shots. I was also fortunate enough to get images of a banded/tagged Red Knot that had been captured about 3-4 years previously in Baja California.

The Black-bellied Plovers in their tuxedo-like breeding plumage are even easier to spot.This Dunlin is not quite in full breeding plumage yet!Western Sandpipers are among my favorites, especially when they decide to rest for a while.In Montana, almost all of the Dowitchers we see are Long-billed. But the Gray's harbor shorebird migration provides the opportunity to view both Long- and Short-billed Dowitchers, although the latter, such as the following, predominate. The shorebird migration thru this area is one of of those great spectacles of nature that I never tire of watching. I shall return to Bottle Beach!

Sandhill Crane Nest Success!

2010-05-20T08:14:00.006-06:00

For the past 3 years, and possibly longer, a pair of Sandhill Cranes has been nesting in almost exactly the same location on a small cattail wetland near Helena. Nest success in 2008 was unknown since I was not able to monitor it after I first discovered it. But last year, there were 2 "colts" hatched and reared in the area for at least a month before they disappeared or moved. This year, I first located the nest site with incubating adult on April 16, and checked again periodically to follow the status of the nesting attempt.

On Monday of this week, as I viewed the adult attending the nest, I noticed that she seemed to be sitting differently than when I have viewed her at other times while she was incubating. So I looked again on Tuesday, and there was a young crane standing in front of her as she remained on the nest. Since I was not carrying my camera at the time, something that rarely occurs, I raced back to my vehicle to retrieve camera and tripod in hopes that the young one would still be present when I returned. And lucky for me, both the adult and young remained on the nest. Now the young "colt", as young cranes are named, was climbing over the back of the adult and obtaining good photo images was difficult. So I located a good hiding place and waited for the colt to reappear. I could see occasional movement on the back of the adult where the colt was apparently enclosed by the adult's feathers. After about 30 minutes, the colt reappeared and climbed up on its mother's back, and I was able to get some photo images. Then the adult decided to stand up, but she stayed on the nest and seemed to be readjusting some of the nesting material while doting on her youngster. Apparently, my location was far enough away that she did not seem to be especially disturbed by my presence. For this, I felt very fortunate because cranes seem to be quite vigilant and wary of intruders, and I certainly did not want to disturb this nesting effort in any way. The next day, Wednesday, I returned to again take a look. The birds were now gone from the nesting area, but I soon located them, now with the other adult pair member in attendance. They were a hundred yards or more away along another pond and headed toward a nearby grassy area to do some feeding. And even at this distance, one member of the pair stayed with the colt while the other came toward me in a defensive action. Not wanting to disturb them, I vacated the area. As I was leaving, a red fox ran up over the dike and disappeared in a nearby gravel pit area. No young colt for breakfast today!!

First Anniversary

2010-05-06T10:35:00.005-06:00

It was one year ago today that I began writing these periodic blogs. This was an experiment on my part to see if it was something that I would enjoy and that it served my intended purpose - a convenient way to write, share, and preserve my thoughts in electronic diary form. For the first 3 months, I was quite diligent, posting a new blog about twice a week. With the newness wearing off after that and summertime activities competing for time, my productivity declined to the range of 3 to 4 entries per month. This was of some concern to me because in my experience with other blogs, if they weren't active on at least a weekly basis, my interest in following them waned. But there had to be some sort of balance here between that concern and my available time for getting photos and coming up with new topics. About one new blog per week or 10 days seems to be where I'm most comfortable, and where I don't have to force myself to prepare something that doesn't amount to much. For you faithful followers out there, I hope this is satisfactory and that the relatively low frequency is enough to maintain your interest.

The one aspect of this effort that I am especially pleased with is the relative ease of retrieving older blogs when the desire or need arises. Hand written trip/travel diaries I have kept fairly faithfully in the past have a way of disappearing into desk drawers or under piles of documents where they are difficult to find. I am looking forward to using this blog "vehicle" as my diary for upcoming trips, as I did with the Ecuador series. In some instances, these will be "after the fact" entries because of a lack of internet access or not traveling with a computer. But they will still serve my purposes.

It is a cold and somewhat snowy day here in Helena again, so not much new to publish in the way of photo images. But here are a few that I took on a similar day in mid-April, when there were lots of birds using my feeders. Nothing especially fancy here, but handsome birds none the less!

House finches like this male are the most common visitors to my feeders. But this winter, especially in March and April, Dark-eyed Juncos were unusually common, with perhaps 30 or more present each day during one peak period. The Slate-colored variety(below) are usually the most common here during winter, but early spring juncos this year were dominated by the Oregon variety.

Bitterroot Blues!

2010-04-30T07:44:00.012-06:00

In the late 1960's, I worked on a blue grouse research project in the Skalkaho drainage of the Sapphire Mountains southeast of Hamilton, MT. About 10 days ago, an opportunity to revisit this area was too much for me to resist, and I made 2 early morning trips into my old haunts. As might be expected, there have been a few changes in the 40+ year period. The accepted name for these Blue Grouse has now been changed to Dusky Grouse. Genetic studies and other characteristics have lead those scientists who deal with these things to separate our Rocky Mountain birds from those inhabiting on the Pacific Coast ranges, the latter now named Sooty Grouse.

It didn't take long for other changes to strike me. On my drive up to the study area, several bighorn sheep crossed the road in front of me at one point. In the more than 200+ trips I had made into this area in the late 1960's, bighorns were never seen. They are a new and welcome addition. As I ascended the steep, narrow gravel road up to the study area, there were some rather obvious changes in the vegetation, with the young conifer thickets that were the center of grouse breeding territories noticeably different. Some of this change was due to increasing age, and some was due to an ill-advised thinning project implemented by the Forest Service a number of years ago. These changes left me somewhat concerned that some of the area might no longer be suitable for breeding blue/dusky grouse. But my fears were soon allayed. I stopped several times to listen for the distinctive "hooting" and wing clap sounds that signal the presence of these mountain grouse. And it wasn't long before I followed these sounds to my first displaying male grouse. It was in the same area where I had located a breeding territory 43 years previously.

Dusky grouse, like people and other animals , seem to have differing personalities. Some are brazen and outgoing, and others are somewhat retiring and shy. My first male of the day was of the latter persuasion, so my attempts at good photo images were not very successful. This male was a little less shy but still not very cooperative. But later that morning, I was fortunate to find a more accommodating male, albeit one whose tail was just regrowing, perhaps after a lucky escape from a predator of some sort. Here is the more friendly fellow with the stubby tail! Males would often flush into a nearby tree where they were often very difficult to spot and get pictures of. But occasionally, they posed in the open. When I was working in this area in the 1960's, my data indicated that the peak of the breeding season for these grouse was about May 7-10 or so. This year, I was about 2 weeks earlier than that, but there seemed to be plenty of activity, and some females were found throughout each morning. This one posed nicely for me along the side of the road. At one of my initial listening stops, the sound of a new, bonus bird was heard, a gobbling wild turkey tom! This was certainly unexpected, but perhaps not unusual in this scattered Ponderosa Pine habitat which is typical of where this species is often found in Montana. On my trip into the area on the second morning, I was rewarded with a tom turkey displaying for several nearby hens. It was comforting for me to know that these grouse that I had worked with and come to know over a 3-year period were still easily found in many of the same places. Were they as abundant as they were 40+ years ago? That is a question that cannot be reasonably answered in such a short visit. But my curiosity about their presence was resolved and the reminiscing I enjoyed made for a very fulfilling experience on this Return to the Bitterroot Blues!

Leucistic Redtail in Helena Valley

2010-04-16T07:56:00.008-06:00

In January, I wrote about a leucistic red-tailed hawk that was present in the Helena Valley since last summer. This bird was on the "spooky" side and I had not been able to get any very good images of it when I first sighted it in January. The landowner and birder who first reported this unusual bird called last week to report that she had found a nest that this white hawk and a partner had been attending. So yesterday, I accompanied her - Marsha - to take a look.

Marsha had been doing her homework and noted that the white hawk was smaller than the other pair member so was likely a male bird. The birds were around the nest but not especially attendant to it, so perhaps they were not yet incubating or maybe there were no eggs at all. The nest itself was a bit disheveled and perhaps had been damaged by the strong winds of the past week. Whatever the case, it was a great day to be outside looking at such a beautiful bird. We first spotted it soaring quite high in the mostly calm air.As it circled, the sun through its wings highlighted the mostly pure white primaries. About 5 of the tail feathers were mostly light red, more so than I recalled from my first sighting of the bird. And the under wing coverts showed some pigment to go along with the darkish throat patch. What a beautiful bird it is! The partner and apparent female of the pair was obviously larger when the two were seen soaring near each other. It was pretty much a typically plumaged western redtail.

As we watched these birds soaring, several other raptors came by and our white bird initiated some interaction with them, perhaps in defense of the nest site. These included a Rough-legged Hawk, heading north to its breeding grounds in Canada/Alaska. And then there was a Cooper's Hawk, the only raptor of the day smaller than the white bird. A sub-adult bald eagle also drew a little action from same. But several turkey vultures soaring in the vicinity of this probable male white redtail seemed to be ignored, perhaps because they had been frequenting the area for a number of days! We did get a few dorsal views of the bird, and the only pigmented feathers apparent in that view were the tail feathers. This gorgeous white redtail remained soaring quite high in the air while we watched, so I never did get high quality images of it, but this anomaly of nature sure was quite a sight.

Thanks Marsha for sharing this great find of yours!

Vagrancy in Birds

2010-04-14T12:29:00.008-06:00

A vagrant bird is an individual that appears in an area well outside of the known range for that species. Several weeks ago, a Carolina wren was ID'ed near Arlee, MT, about 25 miles north of Missoula. Pending acceptance by the Montana Bird Records Committee, this will be the first recorded appearance of this species in Montana, and will grow the Montana bird list to 425 species. The species has previously been recorded for Alberta, and southern WY and SD. These were also very rare sightings. Some may question the significance of such a record, but it is important to track these occurrences so that vagrancy is not confused with the range expansion that is occurring in MT with some other species. High quality photo images of the wren were difficult to get because of low light conditions in the riparian habitat where it was located. But I did manage to get a few!
Last summer, another unusual vagrancy occurred when an Eastern Meadowlark was found in the Madison River Valley just south of Ennis. If this species were to be spotted in MT, it would seem most likely that it would be found along the eastern border with the Dakotas rather than 400 miles to the west. This record is just as or perhaps more unusual than the Carolina wren. In both of these instances, the birds' song was the factor that lead to the initial discovery of the species. While the plumage patterns and colors of the wren are quite distinctive, the eastern Meadowlark appears very much like its eastern counterpart, and so would likely be more easily overlooked if it were not for its distinctive song.

Sightings of rare and/or vagrant bird in MT will continue to spark the interest of dedicated birders. And the "listers" among us will continue to put mileage on their vehicles in the hopes that they can add one more notch to their Montana Bird Lists! That keeps the interest and excitement going in this great avocation.

Happy Birthday Brother Clifford!!

The White Geese Phenomenon

2010-04-04T09:23:00.007-06:00

At Freezout Lake near Choteau, MT last weekend, while almost everyone else was marveling at the huge flocks of white geese - mostly snow geese - , I was looking with amazement at the crowds of people! These spring concentrations of geese on this area have been occurring for many decades, and perhaps longer. But it is only within the past 10 or fewer years that Montanans have begun to flock to this wondrous place to witness and enjoy this great spectacle of nature.

On the afternoon of March 27, I stopped on my way home to Helena to see what sort of action there was at Freezout. And quite a sight it was. There was an estimated 200 or so vehicles in various locations on the area and who knows how many people. Motels in local communities were mostly full for the weekend. My recollections is that this is more vehicles than are normally present on the opening day of waterfowl hunting season. On Pond 5, there were an estimated 50,000 or so white geese resting on the water not very far from the throngs of delighted people. Hopefully, most of the folks present were cognizant of the fact that funding provided by hunters of past and present generations was responsible for the preservation and development of this area.

Instead of inserting a bunch bird pictures in this blog, I will substitute mostly images of the many folks enjoying this annual event. They include the young and restless, old and infirm, many birder friends of mine, old friends I haven't seen in many years, and lots of new faces that I hope to see in future years.

Spring Waterfowl Shoot

2010-03-25T09:26:00.012-06:00

Over the past three or so years, the juncture of my birding and photography passions has evolved into what seems to be a new tradition - a spring waterfowl shoot. Each March, the arrival of migrant waterfowl coincides with the beginning of ice melt in our Montana waterfowl marshes. Initially, the melt takes place mostly along the margins of the water bodies before openings occur farther out in the marshes and lakes. At the same time, the ice in the cattail and bulrush stands is slower to melt, probably because of the shading and insulating influences of these dense stands of vegetation. This differential melting provides a perfect opportunity to get closer to the openings used by the variety of early arriving waterfowl. And, of course, the cattails & bulrush also act as a pretty good opportunity for camouflage and hiding. In addition, these plants provide some comfort and insulation for sitting hours in one location.

The window of opportunity that these conditions present may be limited to 10 or fewer days, depending on the progression of ice melt. This year, the window was quite short because of the warm and windy weather we experienced in mid-March. In the previous 2 years, good conditions persisted longer.

To get positioned properly, one has to take into account the wind and sun direction for best photo opps. "Shooting" birds in flight is every bit as challenging with a camera as it is with a shotgun. And believe me, on a good day, I take many more shots with a camera than I ever did with a shotgun, so the success rate for the camera is generally far below that of the shotgun. But it is great fun and a fantastic way to enter the spring season of new birding/photography opportunities.

To date, this new tradition has focused mostly on the Lake Helena area of the Helena Valley and on Freezout Lake Wildlife Management area. The latter has the advantage of a potentially spectacular backdrop of the Rocky Mountain Front. Northern pintails are the are usually my prime targets, but there are numerous other species present that also spark my interest.Canvasback are also high on my list but are not nearly as abundant as other species.My photographer friends and I are not the only Montanans that "flock" to Freezout Lake at this time of year. Huge concentrations of snow geese and swans use Freezout as a way point on their migration to breeding grounds in the far north. Concentrations of 100,000 or so geese are not unusual during spring migration, and weather events sometimes temporarily slow northern movement with a resulting buildup approaching a quarter million geese. Swan numbers sometimes approach 10,000 or so, but this is somewhat unusual and a peak of 5,000 or so would be more normal. These large concentrations of waterfowl a truly an amazing spectacle of nature!

When looking at flocks of white geese, it is a challenge to see if you can distinguish the Snow geese from Ross's geese. Although the plumage is nearly exactly the same, the latter species has a smaller body and the head shape and bill are diagnostic. These are snow geese.Tundra swans are by far the most numerous of this group but trumpeters are sometimes mingled among them. Bil shape and the yellow spot usually found at the base of the Tundra swan's bill are the best way to separate these species. Click on this image to view the yellow spot.The call of the Trumpeter is also noticeably lower than that of the Tundra swans.Common goldeneye are usually fairly abundant at this time of year but seem to fly faster than other species and are difficult to get good shots of.And, of course, there is the ubiquitous mallard. I try to ignore this species because they are so common, but that is often difficult to do when they fly nearby.
Redheads can also be a challenge, but every now and then I get lucky with them - birds that is!!But with all of the different opportunities, pintails are still my species of choice. I wonder if that will change in future years. My best shot of a single pintail drake I took 2 years ago, but there is always room for improvement - and that perfect shot!!

A Change of Pace!

2010-03-18T12:44:00.009-06:00

In recent years, a pine bark beetle epidemic in the Northern Rocky Mountains has devastated stands of Ponderosa and Lodgepole Pine. I must admit that when this huge infestation hit our area around Helena, I was skeptical that it would or could do the damage that others had predicted. But all I have to do is look out my office window to the south to see what nature has wrought! Just to the south of our home in Helena, no more than 75 yards or so, there is or was a stand of Ponderosa Pine that several years ago seemed to be reasonably healthy. Then about 3-4 years ago, some of the trees began dying. This was not unexpected because that happens in nature, especially in forest stands that are too dense and in need of some natural thinning. But over that 3 or 4 year period, it appears that nearly 90 percent of the trees have died from the beetles, and the epidemic may not be over.

Over the past few weeks, the whining and buzzing of chainsaws could be heard throughout the day as dead trees were being felled and stacked for burning by crews employed by the city of Helena. Under other circumstances, my instinct would be to object to such an operation because dead trees are beneficial to many bird and other wildlife species. And indeed, the numbers and diversity of woodpecker species in other areas of dead and dying trees near Helena are noticeably greater than only several years ago. But these dead trees above our home actually border the back yards of our neighbors and likely pose a significant danger of wildfire during the hot days of summer.

This morning, as I returned home from visiting a friend, smoke billowed upwards from the remains of the Ponderosa Pine forest just to the south of our home. Fire crews were igniting and tending to the numerous piles of slash that remained from the weeks of chainsaw action. And I concluded that in this instance, that is a good thing! As you might expect, there is some debate about the conclusion by some experts that this insect infestation has been exacerbated by the trend to warmer temperatures in our area over the past several decades. They say these Pine Bark Beetles do not fare well during periods of intense cold that use to be the norm around here. I don't know whether this is the case or not. But I do know that this insect epidemic seems to be the worst to hit forests in the Northern Rocky Mountains in recorded history - so there is certainly something going on in nature that should have a rational explanation!

I took the following series of photos to record the happenings of the day to compare them with what the area will look like several years down the road. Hopefully, there will be some natural tree regeneration resulting from seeds produced by the fortunate few mature trees that remain.

Some Montana Winter Birds

2010-03-12T08:44:00.005-07:00

With winter beginning to fade here in Montana, I decided to take a look at what I had acquired for bird photos over the past 4 months or so. Compared with past years, the results are on the meager side. There are at least several reasons for that - less effort on my part and what seemed to be fewer bird species and numbers in the Helena area this winter.

As a general observation, our winter birds are not as colorful as the spring migrants and summer breeders. An exception to this may be the waxwings that are among our most photogenic winter visitors. But what our other winter residents may lack in color, they seem to make up in being quite photogenic. That is to say that their color patterns make for very good photographs. And there is no better example of this than Black-capped Chickadees. Last winter, a friend who feeds birds where he lives in the pine hills south of Helena invited me to take photos of the good variety of birds he had attending his feeders. A visit there last week was productive for several species such as Red-breasted Nuthatches and Brown Creepers, many of the species present last year were no where to be seen on this latest visit.
Out in the Helena Valley, one of the species that seems to be relatively plentiful are Gray Partridge. And the few open water areas that we have in winter usually support several of our hardier waterfowl species such as one of my favorites, the Hooded Merganser. And the Missouri River below Hauser Dam is a great place to view Common Goldeneye numbering in the hundreds. Perhaps surprisingly, our National Bird - Bald Eagle - is also quite easy to find in winter, with some of them likely being residents breeders and other maybe migrants that winter here. Now, as the weather warms and the ice loses it grip on our ponds and lakes, the spring waterfowl migration is upon us. This is a great time to get out into the frozen cattail marshes and wait for opportunities to photograph some of the abundant ducks, geese, and swans that stop over on their way north. Assuming we will get some nice weather in the next week or so, my next blog will feature some of images of these fast flying targets.

Adios Ecuador - But I'll be Back!

2010-02-27T11:19:00.010-07:00

Ecuador is a country of sharp contrasts - culturally and scenically. While my visit didn't cover much more than a hundred or so miles to the east and west of the central valley - where Quito is located - the contrasting lives lead by its people and the differences in scenery added much to my appreciation and enjoyment of the country.

Quito is situated in an inter-mountain valley in the Andes, and as a result of the surrounding topography, it does not receive nearly as much precipitation as the east and west slopes of the Andes. On clear days, a number of volcanoes reaching skyward to nearly 20,000 feet in elevation can be seen. Parts of this inter-mountain valley are quite dry and resemble much of the Southwest US or even drier areas of Montana.But west of Quito on the west slope of the Andes, moisture from the Pacific Ocean banks up against the mountains to form a cloud forest vegetation type with precipitation in excess of 100 inches per year in places. This aerial view gives a perspective of how the moisture laden clouds meet up with the west slope of the Andes.The east slope of the Andes is also quite wet, being influenced by the climate of the the great Amazon Basin. As mentioned in previous blogs, the Epiphytes that adorn many of the trees on the east slopes add great beauty and diversity to this region.On the surface, Quito, a city of nearly 2 million inhabitants, probably looks like many other cities of its size around the world. Below is a photo of Quito from my hotel window. But it is the center of banking, and wealthy families on one hand, and home to many very much less financially fortunate on the other. In the rural areas of the country, there is very little sign of wealth where we visited with the exception of a few quite beautiful, but small resort facilities. This spa and resort facility was located about an hour or two east of Quito at an elevation of about 12,000 feet, near Papallacta Pass. It was not at all busy during our short visit but apparently gets much more business on weekends from wealthy Quito residents. On our first day in Ecuador, we ate lunch at a beautiful old "hacienda" type enclave near the town of Otavalo. This was certainly not typical of life in the country, but a wonderful pause from a day of birding.In rural areas, the homes are quite small and many seem to have small plots of land for gardens and animals. The market place at Otavalo was a rainbow of colors and a great place to to shop for gifts to take home to wives and family who - unfortunately - did not accompany us on this trip. The meals that were served at the lodges we stayed at were excellent, especially at San Isidro Cabanas. One of the owners of this facility - Carmen - had an advanced university degree in the culinary arts, and the gourmet meals served there certainly corroborated that fact!! The black pepper ice cream listed as the desert on this menu -click on it to enlarge - was really delicious!Perhaps in contrast (but maybe not), the meal of roast pig served on a Sunday in this town of Calacali was likely a special treat to its residents, although it did not look especially appetizing to me. The yellow "cakes" seemed to be some sort of corn or maybe potato dish. This town of Calacali was also the site of a monument to the Equator. Ecuador is equator in Spanish. That is John Shipley standing on my right. John organized this trip for me through his Kingfisher Bird Tours company and I was very pleased with the entire itinerary!This is the last Blog in my series on Ecuador. It was really a great trip and I hope to return to Ecuador in the future to visit the Galapagos Islands and perhaps visit some lower elevation lodges in the Amazon Basin. I hope you enjoyed this series as much as I enjoyed putting it together. This coming summer, I'll be spending about a month on St. George Island of the Pribilof group in the Bering Sea west of Alaska. Although good Internet access there may be problematic, I hope to be able to do a series on my stay there - while I'm there!

Additional Ecuadorian Birds

2010-02-14T16:53:00.009-07:00

Besides all of the charismatic and colorful bird species I have focused on in previous blogs, there are, of course, lots of everyday type species that are not especially noteworthy. The following images generally represent species groups that we find commonly in North America. It is interesting that upon the first sighting of most of these species, one can get a pretty good idea of what group/family they belong to because of experience with and knowledge of their North American relatives. General shape and appearance, plus behavior, seem to be the primary characteristics that evoke this familiarity.

For those of you who are birders, and maybe some who are not, one quick glance at this bird should give you a hint that it is shaped much like our robin. It is a Great Thrush, larger, but very closely related to our robin!This species hoped around on the ground a lot and it was quite common. It is a Rufous-collared Sparrow, very similar in habitat preference and behavior to many of our sparrows.Although we are used to seeing members of this family gleaning insects in trees, some members of the group prefer ground feeding and this is one of them. This is a Russet-crowned Warbler.This warbler species is a tree dweller and similar in behavior to our American Redstart. One of the interesting aspects of my trip was the number of North American breeding warblers that we saw. Among the most abundant of these were the Blackburnian and Canada Warblers, with fewer numbers of Black-and-white, Blackpoll, American Redstart, and Tropical Parula. The following is a Spectacled Whitestart.Owls are always of interest, even with non-birders. We saw only three species, including this Rufescent Screech-Owl that came easily to a recorded call one evening after dinner while staying at Las Gralarias Lodge and Reserve One other interesting owl we saw was at San Isidro Cabanas and is referred to mostly as the San Isidro Owl. The species of this owl has yet to be determined, but some relatively recent DNA sampling will hopefully lead to a conclusion in the near future. A Short-eared owl was the only other species observed.

This species may be an exception to familiarity leading to partial ID, but I had seen it previously in SW Mexico so determined rather quickly that it was a Masked Tityra.A Cinnamon Flycatcher - the color certainly aided in the ID of this one.This is a group with which I was not very familiar, but it belongs to the Tanagers, one of the most abundant groups in Ecuador with over 130 species. It is a Masked Flowerpiercer.Of course, you all know to which group this pair belongs, but the habitat they are found in is a bit different. These are Torrent Ducks and they are found year-round in very steep gradient rivers and streams, perhaps similar to our Harlequin Ducks. If you click on the image to enlarge it, note the relatively large feet that surely are indicative of the very swift waters they inhabit.Birders could make a very good guess as to this species - an Ecuadorian Rail. It was recently split off as a separate species from our Virginia rail.I included this image more for the setting than the species - a Russet-backed Orependula. The Epiphytes that adorn many or most of the trees in the Ecuadorian Andes often provide a truly idyllic setting for viewing birds. Again, click on the image to get a better feel for the vegetative "decorations" on this tree.And finally, another species that can rather easily be placed in its proper family by its shape and raucous behavior is the Inca Jay. Numbers of them would gather each morning near the vegetation surrounding the San Isidro Lodge buildings to feast on the moths that had been attracted to the lights the previous night.
This concludes the bird images that I will post in this Ecuador series. My concluding episode will focus on the overall view of the scenery of Ecuador - that I hope to experience again in the near future!

Hummingbird Heaven in Ecuador

2010-02-11T12:45:00.010-07:00

Hummingbirds really are fantastic! They are beautiful, photogenic, and very cooperative - at least most of them. And Ecuador is blessed with over 130 species of hummers. We saw about 50 species in our 11 or so days of looking, and I got photo images of perhaps 25-30 of those species. While many of the images were of birds sitting at feeders, a setting that I am not very fond of, some species were quite accommodating by sitting at other nearby sites. More hummer images - and other Ecuador bird species - can be viewed on my Flickr Site.

While hummers in general may not display the variety of colors that other groups possess, I think it must be the iridescence of their feathers that makes many of them so attractive to me. Given the right lighting conditions, some look like they have a light bulb inside of them. Others may not be especially colorful or iridescent, but they have unique features like the very long bill on the swordbill hummers or the long tail feathers on the Sylphs. I did manage to get some video of a swordbill hummer coming to a feeder - preceded by several other species. Hopefully, the video will play on your computer. Sometimes on mine, it stops several times before restarting.

Sword-billed Hummingbird - bill seems to be about twice the length of the body. We saw these at several different locations. The following 3 images are Violet-tailed Sylphs - certainly near the top of my list of favorites. The range of colors on the Violet-purple Coronets was among the best of any species and they were very cooperative, often sitting fewer than 10 feet away from me.When the lighting was just right, Sparkling Violetears did just that - sparkled with an amazing brilliance that could be seen from quite a distance.The Shining Sunbeams did not come to feeders so we had to find a cooperative one feeding on flowers, in this case fuchsias. I could not get a shot of a Sapphire-vented Puffleg away from a feeder, so this image will have to do of this very regal looking hummer.The Gorgeted Sunangles were little guys!And the Fawn-breasted Brilliants were pretty common in some locations.This is about the only shot I got of an Empress Brilliant.Collared Incas added some variety with their white throats or "collars". Note the purple top spot.Chestnut-breasted Coronets were extremely tame and at one point, one tried to find some nectar in my ear! This image was taken with the little point-and-shoot camera I had with me. Buff-tailed Coronets were also quite common in places. They had a habit of keeping their wings open for a few seconds when they landed. These little Booted Racket-tails were another species high on my list of favorites. The "boots" and the long tail made this one very easy to ID - not one easily forgotten!Now it is time to try the video. There will be several species at the feeder before the swordbill hummer shows up. Hopefully it will play OK for you!

My next Blog in this series will show the Peoples Faces of Ecuador.

Ecuador - Faces of the People

2010-02-06T21:47:00.011-07:00

When traveling to different countries in the world, it is always interesting to people watch. To me, this is a great way to get a "feel" for the country and what sort of lives they live. Ecuador was a fine example of this. Quito is a large city - over 2,000,000 residents - that shows wealth and poverty in the faces of its citizens, with poverty being dominant. In a general way, this may not differ much from the US and Western Europe, but in degree, there may be large differences. Many of the homes people live in seem to be quite small and still under construction. This may be due to what I understand is a law that spares owners from real estate taxes while their home is still under construction. Once you leave the city, there is very little sign of wealth, with most people living in quite small homes and almost everyone with a small garden space, or a relatively small farm with land cleared for grazing.

Differences in the dress of distinct native cultures also are evident. Spanish culture seems to be much more prevalent in the cities than in the countryside. Notice the variations in dress and head wear on some of the accompanying images. One wonders if these distinctions in culture will survive many more generations. In spite of the apparent poverty in rural areas, the people were generally well dressed and cleanly clothed.

Notice the light colored eyes on this elderly lady.Rubber boots are the norm for rural residents, especially farmers.
And transportation by horse or mule is the standard. Several times, we encountered individuals carrying large 10-gallon milk containers on their backs.As in all countries, the children are beautiful!
The head wear on this lady was different from others we had seen. She was tending livestock at Yanacocha, elevation about 12,000 feet.
The back of small pickup trucks were often filled with passengers headed to "town" for the day.
At the famous marketplace town of Otavalo, there were lots of "bargains" available. Our visit there was on a rainy afternoon, so there were few people shopping. But the different cultures and financial status of the booth owners and shoppers there was fairly obvious.

A few dollars a day was probably a good income for some of the locals.
Our driver -Nestor Alban - people watches while he waits for us to complete some shopping at Otavalo Market.All the people we met and associated in Ecuador were friendly. It was a great introduction to a country and multiple cultures I was not familiar with!

Flowers the Color of Gold

2010-02-06T17:24:00.007-07:00

One of the great side benefits of the trip to Ecuador was the relative abundance of flower species new to me. I don't know whether or not I was there during the best season for flowers, but it was plenty good for me. And as with birds, the urge to record each new species with my camera sometimes left me lagging behind the other birders. So here is some of what I captured digitally with my camera - using mostly the small point-and-shoot I mentioned previously. The names of many shall remain unknown but I may note the group/family they belong to if I'm aware of it.

Possibly a legume?
No idea on these!The following two seem to be members of the Heliconia group - with leaves like banana trees.As you might expect, the wet climate was conducive to the growth of many mushroom species.
A honeysuckle type?A Bromeliad!
Orchids a plenty!
Don't know this one!This Lupine species was fairly common at higher elevations - 10,000'+. It was more woody than herbaceous.Next are the Hummingbirds. Wish I could post them all - but I'll provide my Flickr site address so you can see more there.